The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being 3030300242, 9783030300241

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Satinder Dhiman Editor

The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being

The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being

Satinder Dhiman Editor

The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being With 80 Figures and 92 Tables

Editor Satinder Dhiman School of Business Woodbury University Burbank, CA, USA

ISBN 978-3-030-30024-1 ISBN 978-3-030-30025-8 (eBook) ISBN 978-3-030-30026-5 (print and electronic bundle) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Prolegomenon

Great is the struggle and divine the task. The prize is a kingdom, freedom, serenity and peace. ~Epictetus, Discourses 2.18.28

The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being presents diverse perspectives and strategies that can serve as pathways to living a life that is eudaimôn, a term the ancient Greek philosophers used for a life “well-lived” marked by “happiness,” “fulfillment,” or “flourishing.” It takes as axiomatic that personal flourishing or wellbeing (eudaimonia) or living well (eu zên) is the foundation upon which the edifice of workplace well-being is built securely; for organizational well-being is the sum total of the well-being of its constituent individuals and politics is ethics writ large. If one needs to be the change one wants to bring about in the world, then the road to workplace happiness begins with first cultivating virtuous happiness at the individual level.

Eudaimonia: The Supreme Good! The central focus of all classical systems of philosophy is the question concerning the sovereign good – the summum bonum, and they agree that the supreme good is eudaimonia and that living a life of moral virtue is the path to abiding happiness. Eudaimonia (generally translated as “happiness,” “flourishing,” or “living well” or “well-being”) is also a key concept in all ethical and political philosophy. The Greek wisdom tradition equates well-being with living a virtuous life, that is, a life lived in accordance with four cardinal virtues – wisdom, justice, moderation, and courage. It garners the view that moral virtue is the gateway to happiness and that being good and being happy are vitally interlinked. The eudaimonic happiness is not a passing mood or a fleeting feeling of elation but rather an abiding state of felicity emanating from leading a life that is worth living – a life of virtue or moral excellence. The wisdom of virtuous living is particularly relevant in the present turbulent times when humanity seems to have lost its moral and spiritual bearings. If “an unexamined life is not worth living,” as Socrates averred in Apology (38a), then

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self-examination – the “regular monitoring and assessment of our own moral progress” – becomes the whetstone on which to hone one’s character and gauge one’s success in attaining happiness and well-being. Being good and doing good then becomes synonymous with living a happy, flourishing life. For the true end of life is not just to live, but to live well; not just to be, but also to be good (Plato, Crito 48b; Republic 352d, 344e 1–3; Gorgias 472c, 487e, 492d, and 500b–d).1 Plato sums up the essence of virtuous life and leadership in this final recommendation: “Always follow the upward path of righteousness, practicing justice with the help of wisdom” (Republic 621c). Then we shall fare well, we shall do well, we shall be well.2 The goal is not to choose the right but to become the sort of person who cannot choose the wrong and who no longer has any choice in the matter.3 The good person no longer has any choice.

Everyone Wants to Be Happy! Happiness is a universally cherished goal; however, what constitutes happiness or well-being remains largely controversial.4 Ryan and Deci state that current research on well-being has been derived from arguably two most accepted general perspectives: the hedonic approach, which focuses on happiness and defines well-being in terms of pleasure attainment and pain avoidance, and the eudaimonic approach, which focuses on meaning and self-realization and defines well-being in terms of the degree to which a person is fully functioning.5 The distinction of well-being as hedonia and eudemonia is based on ancient Greek Philosophy. Scholars agree that the eudaimonic view of happiness can be traced to Aristotle and is aligned with various twentieth-century intellectual

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See: Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns (Editors), The Collected Dialogues of Plato: Including the Letters (Bollingen Series LXXI) (New Jersey: Princeton University Press; New Impression edition, 2005). Also see: John M. Cooper (Editor), D. S. Hutchinson (Editor), Plato: Complete Works (Indianapolis, Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Co., 1997). 2 The very last words of the Republic are, “We shall fare well.” See: David Roochnik, Lectures on Plato’s Republic “The Myth of Er” and “Summary and Overview,” Lecture no. 22 and 23. The Great Courses. Available at: https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/plato-s-republic.html 3 Plato, G. M. A. Grube, trans., Five Dialouges: Ethyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo, 2nd edition, revised by John M. Copper (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Co., 2002), ix–x. [Emphasis in the original]. 4 See: Aristotle, W.D. Ross, trans., The Nicomachean Ethics (New York: World Library Classics, 2009). In Book 1, Chapter 4 of N.E., Aristotle says that although there is very general agreement, for both the general run of men and people of superior refinement, that “happiness is the highest good achievable by action” and they “identify living well and doing well with being happy,” but with regard to what happiness is, they differ and the many do not give the same account as the wise. 5 Richard M. Ryan & Edward L. Deci, On happiness and human potentials: A review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annual Review of Psychology, 2001, 52(1), 141–166.

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traditions and psychological traditions, including humanistic psychology and positive psychology.6 Eudaimonic happiness, the true happiness, however, does not “hap-pen”; we are responsible for it: for it is the result of living a virtuous life – the result of being good and doing good. It does not happen by chance; it is a choice. The pursuit of true happiness is a matter of being; it cannot be guaranteed constitutionally. As Benjamin Franklin gently reminds us, “The Constitution only guarantees you the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”7 To explain further, hedonia refers to the attainment of well-being through pleasure seeking and pain avoiding, whereas eudaimonia relates to the pursuit of the authentic self, a meaningful life, virtuous activities, and personal growth in one’s life.8 Hedonia pertains to feelings that are transient, whereby eudaimonia refers to more sustainable processes. Perhaps a better way to approach these concepts is to view them as complimentary. This perspective is also highlighted in most of the research conducted in the field of positive psychology. Eudaimonia is achieved by harnessing the best virtues of character and thought within us through living a life infused with meaning, purpose, and contribution.

Being Good and Being Happy! For Socrates, “to do good” is “to fare well” and “to do evil” is “to fare ill.” The happy person both lives well and does well. For Plato, moral evil is a disease of the soul and happiness is identical with the health or well-being of the soul. The “Good” is the cause of all that is right and fair in everything. In the final reckoning, the highest human good consists in knowing how to live rightly, in living an “examined life” and “growing daily in goodness” – our single most important duty being “tending the soul” and making it “as good as possible.”

The Philosophy of Ubuntu: I Am Because We Are! Ubuntu is a South African (specifically, Nguni) word for humanness, signifying our shared humanity – we are only human through the humanity of others. It is best known as a humanist philosophy associated with Nelson Mandela and Archbishop 6

See: Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan, Hedonia, Eudaimonia, and Well-Being: An Introduction. Journal of Happiness Studies (2008) 9:1–1. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-006-9018-1. 7 Cited in Susan A. David, Ilona B. Oniwell, and Amanda Conley Ayers, (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Happiness (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 8. 8 See: Alan S. Waterman, Ed., The Best Within Us: Positive Psychology Perspectives on Eudaimonia (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2013).

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Desmond Tutu. Tutu sums up his understanding of how to exhibit Ubuntu as follows: “I participate, I share.”9 Desmond Tutu explains the universal value of Ubuntu as follows: Africans have a thing called Ubuntu. It is about the essence of being human, it is part of the gift that Africa will give the world. It embraces hospitality, caring about others, being willing to go the extra mile for the sake of another. We believe that a person is a person through other persons, that my humanity is caught up, bound up, inextricably, with yours. When I dehumanize you, I inexorably dehumanize myself. The solitary human being is a contradiction in terms. Therefore you seek to work for the common good because your humanity comes into its own in the community, in belonging. (Ubuntu Age, 2012)

The Kenyan literary scholar James Ogude believes Ubuntu might serve as a counterbalance to the rampant individualism that’s so pervasive in the contemporary world.10 Since the philosophy of Ubuntu is about dialogue, people coming together and talking at the level of community, it can serve as a universal ethic to bind communities together and in healing and bringing peace all around. In one of their books, Ubuntu and the Reconstitution of Community (2019), published by Indiana University Press, James Ogude et al. aver that there is a sense in which, at every point, society needs to renew itself in order to move forward, especially during moments of crisis, conflict, and trauma.11 This is highly relevant in the present world of polarized communities to initiate healing and to restore inclusivity, global justice, and human rights. The following narrative captures the spirit of Ubuntu splendidly: At the Festival of Peace, in Florianopolis, South Brazil, the journalist and philosopher Lia Diskin related a beautiful and touching story of a tribe in Africa she called Ubuntu. She explained how an anthropologist had been studying the habits and customs of this tribe, and when he finished his work, had to wait for transportation that would take him to the airport to return home. He’d always been surrounded by the children of the tribe, so to help pass the time before he left, he proposed a game for the children to play.

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Thaddeus Metz, What Archbishop Tutu’s Ubuntu credo teaches the world about justice and harmony, Oct. 4, 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2020: https://theconversation.com/what-archbishoptutus-ubuntu-credo-teaches-the-world-about-justice-and-harmony-84730 10 Steve Paulson, ‘I Am Because We Are:’ The African Philosophy of Ubuntu. From an interview of James Ogude, Professor of African Literature and Cultures, author/editor, Ubuntu and Personhood, Africa World Press, 2018. Interviewers: Steve Paulson and Anne Strainchamps. Posted March 5, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020: https://www.ttbook.org/interview/i-am-because-we-are-africanphilosophy-ubuntu. Complete interview transcript available at CHC IDEAS: https://chcinetwork. org/ideas/i-am-because-you-are-an-interview-with-james-ogude 11 See: James Ogude, Ubuntu and the Reconstitution of Community (World Philosophies) (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2019), 1–2.

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He’d bought lots of candy and sweets in the city, so he put everything in a basket with a beautiful ribbon attached. He placed it under a solitary tree, and then he called the kids together. He drew a line on the ground and explained that they should wait behind the line for his signal. And that when he said “Go!” they should rush over to the basket, and the first to arrive there would win all the candies. When he said “Go!” they all unexpectedly held each other’s hands and ran off towards the tree as a group. Once there, they simply shared the candy with each other and happily ate it. The anthropologist was very surprised. He asked them why they had all gone together, especially if the first one to arrive at the tree could have won everything in the basket – all the sweets. A young girl simply replied: “How can one of us be happy if all the others are sad?” The anthropologist was dumbfounded! For months and months he’d been studying the tribe, yet it was only now that he really understood their true essence.12 The message of this story is clear: When we seek to work for the common good, everyone benefits. Our collective well-being is inexplicably linked to the well-being of each and every one of us. It is so because our humanity comes into its own when we are in community, in belonging. Kinship is the bond that holds us together. Archbishop Desmond Tutu drew on the concept of Ubuntu when he led South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which helped South Africa reckon with its history of apartheid. Ubuntu promotes restorative justice and a community-centric ethos.13 It is about the essence of being human, partaking in our shared destiny. The solitary human being all by himself or herself doesn’t really exist. It’s a contradiction in terms. As Desmond Tutu has rightly observed, “We are different so that we can know our need of one another, for no one is ultimately self-sufficient. The completely self-sufficient person would be sub-human.”14 The quest for personal well-being cannot be pursued in isolation. It needs to emanate from (and culminate in) recognizing our shared humanity and dynamic interdependence. Personal well-being is the by-product of working for the wellbeing of all beings. The “tending of soul” at the individual level needs to be informed by the egalitarian philosophy of Ubuntu to ensure community or workplace wellbeing. Only then we can have happy individuals and a harmonious society.

This story is widely shared on the net. This version was retrieved on June 25, 2020, from “This is the Age of Ubuntu” posted at https://www.harisingh.com/UbuntuAge.htm. While the authenticity of this story may not be established, the sentiment and the force of the underlying philosophy of Ubuntu itself are undeniably real. 13 See: Desmond Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness (New York: Random House, 1999). 14 Ibid, 214. 12

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Being Grateful for Our Shared Destiny! Epictetus reminds us that we can be grateful simply for our chance to play a part in the human drama and honor the profound mystery that we have together, our shared destiny. Humble and grateful, we can sing with Epictetus, “Wherever I go it will be well with me” (Discourses, 4.7.14). The wise person does everything in accordance with the spirit that dwells within and the Divine Will that fashions the universe. May we all be so fortunate! Bon Voyage and Godspeed! Satinder Dhiman

Contents

Volume 1 Part I 1

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Workplace Well-Being: Theory and Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Being Good and Being Happy: Eudaimonic Well-Being Insights from Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Satinder Dhiman

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Improving the Quality of Work Life: An Interdisciplinary Lens into the Worker Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Branka V. Olson, Carol McGuire, and Angela Crawford

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Efficient Diversity Management for Workplace Well-Being Deniz Zaptcioglu Celikdemir and Alev Katrinli

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How Chinese Conceptualize Employee Well-Being Li Liu

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What Are the Key Components of Workplace Well-Being?: Examining Real-Life Experiences in Different Work Contexts . . . Caroline Rook, Anne O’Brien, and Inmaculada Adarves-Yorno

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Positive Psychological Well-Being at Work: The Role of Eudaimonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Susan der Kinderen and Svetlana N. Khapova

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Well-Being at Work: A Balanced Approach to Positive Organizational Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jamie A. Gruman and Ellen Choi

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Part II 8

Workplace Well-Being: Meaning and Leadership . . . . . . . .

Fostering Workplace Well-Being Through Servant Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gary Roberts

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Contents

Leadership in Virtual Organizations: Influence on Workplace Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Kohntopp and Jack McCann

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Diverse Personalities, Egos, Roles, and Relations: Toward Workplace Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Petros G. Malakyan, Tim Schlak, and Wenli Wang

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Workplace Well-Being and Human Flourishing: A Case Model of Homeboy Industries and Reducing Gang Recidivism . . . H. Eric Schockman and Cody Thompson

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Seeking Meaning for the Contemporary Workplace: Insights from the Desert Fathers and Mothers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael R. Carey and Dung Q. Tran

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Fostering a Sense of Belonging in the Workplace: Enhancing Well-Being and a Positive and Coherent Sense of Self . . . . . . . . . . Lee Waller

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Happiness and Workplace Well-Being: Transformational Leadership and the Role of Ethical and Spiritual Values . . . . . . . . Varinder Kumar and Satinder Dhiman

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Part III 15

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Workplace Well-Being, Spirituality and Secular Ethics . . .

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The Languages of Spirituality and Science: Two Fraternal Twins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrea Cherman and Francisco Eduardo Moreira Azeredo

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Meaningful Work and Human Flourishing: Communication Lessons from the Judeo-Christian Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jon P. Radwan and Benjamin D. Giffone

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Western Wisdom Traditions and Workplace Spirituality Douglas J. Cremer and Phyllis A. Cremer

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Spiritual Values for Utilizing HR in Organizations: Evidence from Indigenous Knowledge of Organizational Management in Sri Lanka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yashoda Bandara, Kumudinie Dissanayake, Rohana Ulluwishewa, and Anura Uthumange

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Some Reflections on Achieving Happiness at the Workplace Through Practical Buddhism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rohana Ulluwishewa, Anura Uthumange, Ranisha Weerakoon, and Denzil Perera

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Enhancing Workplace Well-Being Through Understanding the Three Personality Types: Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas According to Samkhya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Satish Modh

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Renewing the Soul: A Workplace Wellness Strategy Grounded in Redemption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joseph J. Bucci

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Organizational Spiritual Maturity (OSM): The Root of Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adam S. Freer and Peter J. Robertson

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Spiritual Well-Being of Business School Faculty Dunia A. Harajli

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Happiness at Work with Contentment: Enriching Workplace Well-Being Through Ancient Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nidhi Kaushal

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Workplace Spirituality: An Antidote to Employee Burnout Chitra Khari and Shuchi Sinha

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Having an Ethical Mindset Might Enhance Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Theodora Issa

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Wellbeing and Spirituality: Insights from the World’s Wisdom Traditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Olga Louchakova-Schwartz

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Volume 2 Part IV 28

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Work Alienation and Disengagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Toxic Leadership and Workplace Bullying: The Role of Followers and Possible Coping Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bekir Emre Kurtulmuş

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Work Alienation and Disengagement: Sexual Harassment and Uber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paula Alexander Becker

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Impact of Workplace Bullying on Employees’ Mental Health and Self-Worth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Susmita Suggala, Sujo Thomas, and Sonal Kureshi

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Improving Engagement During Times of Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . Melissa A. Norcross and Patrick Farran

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Contents

Employee Well-Being Under Corporate Psychopath Leaders . . . . Clive R. Boddy, Ellis Malovany, Aylin Kunter, and Gregory Gull

Part V Workplace fulfilment, Flourishing, and Mindfulness at Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

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Women in Leadership and Work-Family Integration: Strategies for Fulfillment and Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kerri Heath and Margaret J. Weber

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Purpose, Meaning, and Well-Being at Work Effie Savvides and Eleni Stavrou

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Hedonic Versus (True) Eudaimonic Well-Being in Organizations . . . Patricia Grant and Peter McGhee

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Yoga Sutras and Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anil K. Maheshwari and Margaret Rose P. Werd

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Toxic Leadership: Managing Its Poisonous Effects on Employees and Organizational Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Emem Laguda

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Employee Engagement: Keys to Organizational Success . . . . . . . . 1001 Lesley Clack

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Purpose, Meaning, Joy, and Fulfillment at Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1029 J. Lyle Story

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Mindfulness, Wellness, and Spirituality in the Workplace . . . . . . . 1063 Anne K. Randerson

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Sustainable Happiness, Well-Being, and Mindfulness in the Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085 Zahra Bhojani and Elizabeth C. Kurucz

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Leader Mindfulness: Well-Being Throughout the Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1111 Anouk Decuypere, Mieke Audenaert, and Adelien Decramer

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How Wakeful Leaders Create Flourishing Workplaces . . . . . . . . . 1139 Joan Marques

Part VI Workplace Well-Being: New Perspectives and Future Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

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The Management of Emotional Labor in the Work of Australian University Business School Academics and the Implications for Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1165 John Hatzinikolakis and Joanna Elizabeth Crossman

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A Humanistic Perspective for Management Research: Protecting Dignity and Promoting Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1187 Michael Pirson

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The Internal Conversation of How Human Objects Speak . . . . . . 1209 Orneita Burton, Seonhee Jeong, and Samantha Hill

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Well-Being at Workplace: A Perspective from Traditions of Yoga and Ayurveda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1237 Chirag Dagar and Ashish Pandey

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The Mediation Effect of Psychological Safety on the Relationship Between Interactional Injustice and Innovative Work Behavior . . . 1265 Ayca Kubra Hizarci Payne and Alev Katrinli

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Self-Leadership: Neuroscientific Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1285 Omowumi Ogunyemi and Adaora Onaga

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Wellbeing in the Workplace: A New Conceptual Model and Implications for Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1307 Meera Alagaraja

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Respect and Recognition of the Work as Building Blocks of the Workplace: A Work-Psychological Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1329 Nidhi Kaushal

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“What Contributes to Family Therapist Trainees’ Health?” An Investigation into the Context of Professional and Workplace Health and Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1353 Claude-Hélène Mayer and Rudolf Oosthuizen

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Working for Inclusion: Addressing Legal and Ethical Safeguards for LGBTQ Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1379 Elizabeth F. R. Gingerich

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Let My People Go: Emancipating Values as a Remedy for Religious Role Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1405 Mumphord Kendall

Part VII 55

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

More than Happiness: A Stoic Guide to Human Flourishing Satinder Dhiman

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Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1473

About the Editor

Satinder K. Dhiman Ph.D., Ed.D., MBA, M.Com (Gold Medalist) Scholar | Author | Associate Dean | Chair and Director, MBA | Accreditation Evaluator |Well-being Consultant | Professor Recognized as a lead thinker for his pioneering contributions to the field of transformational leadership, workplace spirituality, workplace well-being, sustainability, and fulfillment in personal and professional arena, Professor Dhiman is a sought-after keynote speaker at regional, national, and international conferences. In 2013, Professor Dhiman was invited to be the opening speaker at the prestigious TEDx Conference @ College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, California. Since then, he has led several major national and international conferences as co-organizer and/or as track chair. With an instructional and research focus on leadership and organizational behavior – and with specific concentration on sustainability, workplace spirituality, and well-being – Professor Dhiman holds a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from Tilburg University, the Netherlands; an Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University, Los Angeles; an MBA from West Coast University, Los Angeles; and a Master’s degree in Commerce from Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, having earned the Gold Medal. He has also completed advanced executive leadership programs at Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton. Recipient of several national and international academic and professional honors, Professor Dhiman won the Woodbury University Ambassador of the Year Award in 2015 and 2017 and MBA Professor of the xvii

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About the Editor

Year Award in 2015; Scholarly and Creative Writing Award, 2019; Most Valuable MBA Professor Award, 2018; Most Inspirational and Most Charismatic MBA Teacher Award 2012, 2013/2014/2018; the Steve Allen Excellence in Education Award in 2006: and the prestigious ACBSP International Teacher of the Year Award in 2004. Most recently, Professor Dhiman chaired a symposium at the Academy of Management that received 2019 Best Symposium Proposal Award. He was also invited by Monash University, Australia, to lead a track in Spirituality in Management in the 16th International Conference in Business Management, held during December 12–15, 2019. Professor Dhiman has done over 65 conference presentations and more than 60 invited keynotes, plenary sessions, distinguished key guest lectures, and creative workshops – nationally and internationally – and has published over 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. He is author, translator, editor, co-author, and co-editor of more than 35 management, leadership, spirituality, and accounting related books and research monographs. His recent books include Bhagavad Gītā and Leadership: A Catalyst for Organizational Transformation (2019 – Palgrave Macmillan); Managing by the Bhagavad Gītā: Timeless Lessons for Today’s Managers (2018 – Springer; with Amar); Holistic Leadership (Palgrave 2017), Gandhi and Leadership (Palgrave 2015), Seven Habits of Highly Fulfilled People (2012); and co-editing and co-authoring, with Marques, Spirituality and Sustainability (Springer 2016), Leadership Today (Springer 2016), and Engaged Leadership (Springer, 2018); New Horizons in Positive Leadership and Change; and Social Entrepreneurship and Corporate Social Responsibility (2020 – Springer). He has also translated several Indian spiritual classics into English, including the Sahaja Gītā. He is the Editor-in-Chief of four multi-author Major Reference Works: Springer Handbook of Engaged Sustainability (2018 – Springer International, Switzerland) and Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Fulfillment (2018 – Palgrave Macmillan, USA); Routledge Companion to Mindfulness at Work (2020); Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being (2020 – Palgrave Macmillan); Editor-in-Chief of Palgrave Studies in Workplace Spirituality and Fulfillment; Routledge

About the Editor

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Frontiers in Sustainable Business; and lead editor of Springer Series in Management, Change, Strategy and Positive Leadership. Some of his forthcoming titles include Routledge Companion to Leadership and Change; Leading without Power: A Model of Highly Fulfilled Leaders (2021 – Palgrave Macmillan); Conscious Consumption: Healthy, Humane and Sustainable Living (2021 – Routledge, UK); Wise Leadership for Turbulent Times (2021 – Routledge, UK); and New Horizons in Management, Leadership and Sustainability: Innovative Case Studies and Solutions for Emerging Economies (2020 – Springer; with Samaratunge). Currently, Professor Dhiman serves as the Associate Dean, Chair, and Director of the MBA Program and as Professor of Management at Woodbury University, Burbank, California. He has served as the Chair for a special MBA Program for Mercedes-Benz executives, China. Professor Dhiman also serves as Accreditation Consultant, Evaluator, and Site Visit Team Leader for the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) for various universities in America, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Professor Dhiman is the Founder-Director of Forever Fulfilled, a Los Angeles-based well-being consultancy that focuses on workplace wellness, workplace spirituality, and self-leadership. He has served as the President of International Chamber for Service Industry (ICSI: 2016–2018) and now serves as a distinguished Patron, International Chamber for Service Industry (ICSI).

Contributors

Inmaculada Adarves-Yorno University of Exeter Business School, Exeter, UK Meera Alagaraja University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA Mieke Audenaert Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium Francisco Eduardo Moreira Azeredo Sangha Maha Muni do Brasil Co-Founder, Brazilian Soto Zen Society, Pirenopolis, GO, Brazil Yashoda Bandara Department of Business Management, Faculty of Management Studies, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka Paula Alexander Becker Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ, USA Zahra Bhojani Department of Management, Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada Clive R. Boddy Business School, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia Joseph J. Bucci Business, Leadership and Management Department, College of Arts and Sciences, Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA, USA Orneita Burton Abilene Christian University, Abilene, TX, USA Michael R. Carey Department of Organizational Leadership, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA, USA Deniz Zaptcioglu Celikdemir Yasar University, Izmir, Turkey Andrea Cherman The Polytechnic School, Arizona State University, Mesa, AZ, USA Ellen Choi Ted Rogers School of Business, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada Lesley Clack College of Public Health, Health Sciences Campus, Wright Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA Angela Crawford Thomas More University, Crestview Hills, KY, USA xxi

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Contributors

Douglas J. Cremer Woodbury University, Burbank, CA, USA Phyllis A. Cremer Saint Elizabeth School, Altadena, CA, USA Joanna Elizabeth Crossman School of Business, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia Chirag Dagar Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India Adelien Decramer Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium Anouk Decuypere Department Marketing, Innovation and Organization, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium Susan der Kinderen School of Business and Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands Satinder Dhiman School of Business, Woodbury University, Burbank, CA, USA Kumudinie Dissanayake Department of Management and Organization Studies, Faculty of Management and Finance, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka Patrick Farran University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA Adam S. Freer Department of Health, Housing and Human Services, Clackamas County, OR, USA Benjamin D. Giffone Center for Faith and Human Flourishing, LCC International University, Klaipėda, Lithuania Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa Elizabeth F. R. Gingerich Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN, USA Patricia Grant Kenvale College of Hospitality, Cookery and Events, Sydney, NSW, Australia Jamie A. Gruman Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada Gregory Gull Capella University, Minneapolis, MN, USA Dunia A. Harajli Adnan Kassar School of Business, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon John Hatzinikolakis School of Business, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia Kerri Heath Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA, USA Samantha Hill Abilene Christian University, Abilene, TX, USA

Contributors

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Theodora Issa Faculty of Business and Law, School of Management, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia Seonhee Jeong Wittenberg University, Springfield, OH, USA Alev Katrinli Faculty of Business, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey Nidhi Kaushal Yamunanagar, Haryana, India Mumphord Kendall DeVoe School of Business, Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, IN, USA Svetlana N. Khapova School of Business and Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands Chitra Khari Institute of Management, Nirma University, Ahmedabad, India Thomas Kohntopp College of Management and Technology, Walden University, Minneapolis, MN, USA Varinder Kumar N.J.S.A. Govt College, Kapurthala, Punjab, India Aylin Kunter Middlesex University, London, UK Sonal Kureshi Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India Bekir Emre Kurtulmuş Kuwait College of Science and Technology, Kuwait, Kuwait Elizabeth C. Kurucz Department of Management, Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada Emem Laguda Healthcare Leadership Academy, Lagos, Nigeria Li Liu Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia Olga Louchakova-Schwartz University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA Anil K. Maheshwari Maharishi International University, Fairfield, IA, USA Petros G. Malakyan Robert Morris University, Moon Township, PA, USA Ellis Malovany Access Global Partners, New York, NY, USA Joan Marques School of Business, Woodbury University, Burbank, CA, USA Claude-Hélène Mayer Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa Institut für Therapeutische Kommunikation und Sprachgebrauch, EuropaUniversität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany Jack McCann Department of Business, Union College KY, Middlesboro, KY, USA

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Contributors

Peter McGhee Business and Law, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand Carol McGuire Miami University, Oxford, OH, USA Satish Modh Vivekananda Education Society’s Institute of Management, Mumbai, India Melissa A. Norcross Ad Lucem Group, Goshen, IN, USA Anne O’Brien University of Exeter, Exeter, UK Omowumi Ogunyemi Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria Branka V. Olson School of Architecture, Woodbury University, Burbank, CA, USA Environmental Design, Case Western Reserve University, Los Angeles, CA, USA Adaora Onaga Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria Rudolf Oosthuizen Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, School of Management Sciences, College of Economic and Management Sciences, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa Ashish Pandey Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India Ayca Kubra Hizarci Payne Faculty of Business, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey Denzil Perera Hayleys Applitek at Hayleys Aventura, Colombo, Sri Lanka Michael Pirson Fordham University, New York City, NY, USA Jon P. Radwan Institute for Communication and Religion, College of Communication and the Arts, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ, USA Anne K. Randerson Global Studies Department, California State University, San Marcos, San Marcos, CA, USA Gary Roberts Robertson School of Government, Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA, USA Peter J. Robertson USC Price School of Public Policy, Los Angeles, CA, USA Caroline Rook Henley Business School, Henley-on-Thames, UK Effie Savvides University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus Tim Schlak Robert Morris University, Moon Township, PA, USA H. Eric Schockman Center for Leadership, Woodbury University, Burbank, CA, USA

Contributors

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Shuchi Sinha Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India Eleni Stavrou University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus J. Lyle Story School of Divinity, Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA, USA Susmita Suggala LJIMBA, Gujarat Technological University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India Sujo Thomas Amrut Mody School of Management, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India Cody Thompson Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA, USA Dung Q. Tran Department of Organizational Leadership, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA, USA Rohana Ulluwishewa Center for Spirituality in Sustainable Business Management, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Gangodawila, Sri Lanka Anura Uthumange Center for Spirituality in Sustainable Business Management, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Gangodawila, Sri Lanka Lee Waller Faculty, Ashridge at Hult International Business School, Berkhamsted, UK Wenli Wang Robert Morris University, Moon Township, PA, USA Margaret J. Weber Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA, USA Ranisha Weerakoon Center for Spirituality in Sustainable Business Management, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Gangodawila, Sri Lanka Margaret Rose P. Werd Maharishi International University, Fairfield, IA, USA

Part I Workplace Well-Being: Theory and Practice

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Being Good and Being Happy: Eudaimonic Well-Being Insights from Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle Satinder Dhiman

Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Seeking Happiness ¼ Living a Virtuous Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Happiness: Hedonic Well-Being Versus Eudaimonic Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maslow, Self-Actualization, Happiness, and Life worth Living! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Positive Psychology and Eudaimonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Socrates on Eudaimonia: Living an Examined Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Apology: Socrates’ Swan Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Being Good and Being Happy: Eudaimonic Insights from Plato’s Republic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What is Justice? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Living a Just, Virtuous Life, Leads to Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nicomachean Ethics: Living Eudaimonic Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eudaimonia: Happiness and Its Constituents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aristotle’s Theory of Golden Mean and Flourishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Concluding Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

Eudaimonia (generally translated as “happiness,” “flourishing,” or “well-being”) is a key concept in ancient Greek ethical and political philosophy. This chapter explores eudaimonic well-being insights from the Greek wisdom tradition that equates well-being with living a virtuous life; that is, a life lived in accordance with four cardinal virtues – wisdom, justice, moderation, and courage. It garners the view that moral virtue is the gateway to happiness and that being good and being happy are vitally interlinked. Drawing upon the moral writings of Plato and Aristotle, it takes as axiomatic that personal flourishing or well-being (eudaimonia) or living well (eu zên) is the foundation upon which the edifice of workplace well-being is built; for, organizational well-being is the sum total of the S. Dhiman (*) School of Business, Woodbury University, Burbank, CA, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_1

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well-being of its constituent individuals and politics is ethics writ large. The eudaimonic happiness is not a passing mood or a fleeting feeling of elation but rather an abiding state of felicity emanating from leading a life that is worth living – which for the Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle would be a life of virtue or moral excellence. The wisdom of these ancient philosophers is particularly relevant in the present turbulent times when humanity seems to have lost its moral and spiritual bearings. These thinkers viewed philosophy as a way of life, a sort of spiritual exercise, and as an ongoing project of moral self-development. If “an unexamined life is not worth living,” as Socrates averred in Apology (38a), then selfexamination – the “regular monitoring and assessment of our own moral progress” –becomes the whetstone on which to hone one’s character and gauge one’s success in attaining happiness and well-being. Being good and doing good then becomes synonymous with living a happy, flourishing life. For the true end of life, as Plato affirms in many of his dialogues, is not just to live, but to live well; not just to be, but also to be good. Keywords

Workplace Well-being · Happiness · Eudaimonia · Hedonia · Human Flourishing · Virtue Ethics · Happiness at Work · Plato’s Republic · Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics

Introduction For it is no trifling matter we are discussing, but about how we must live. (Republic 352d, 344e; Gorgias 472c, 487e, 492d, and 500b-d)1

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All references to Plato’s dialogues in this chapter are to Stephanus page numbers, usually found in the margins in all modern editions and translations. The translations are mostly by Benjamin Jowett, unless otherwise stated. Sometime a slightly modernized version of Jowett’s rendering is used, always remaining true to its spirit, never to alter the true meaning of the text. All of Plato’s dialogues, translated by Benjamin Jowett (which many scholars regard as the best overall translation of Plato’s dialogues), are available at: https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/plato/index.htm Perhaps the most widely used edition of Plato’s dialogues is Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns (Editors), The Collected Dialogues of Plato: Including the Letters (Bollingen Series LXXI) (New Jersey: Princeton University Press; New Impression edition, 2005). Also see: John M. Cooper (Editor), D. S. Hutchinson (Editor), Plato: Complete Works (Indianapolis, Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Co. 1997); Robin Waterfield, (trans.), Plato’s Republic (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998); Allan Bloom (trans.), The Republic of Plato, 3rd edition (New York: Basic Books, 2016). Two translations of Plato’s Republic stand out: F. M. Cornford, trans., The Republic of Plato (New York: Oxford University Press, 1955); G. M. A Grube, Plato: Republic, 2nd edition, revised by C.D.C Reeve (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1992). Grube/Reeve provide perhaps the best overall modern translation of the Republic.

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As is evident from the above quote, Plato in his various dialogues is concerned with the question of questions: How to live the best life. This chapter explores insights from the Greek wisdom tradition about achieving happiness (eudaimonia) by living a good, virtuous life. It primarily draws upon the moral writings of Plato (the early “Socratic” Dialogues and, especially, the Republic) and Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics) – the two most influential philosophers in the history of Western moral philosophy. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and other ancient philosophers did not distinguish between “being good” and “being happy.” For them, the best human life was a life lived in the ongoing pursuit of virtue, a life in which there is a coincidence of happiness and moral virtue. They believed that happiness is something one can influence through one’s own effort of philosophical reflection and virtuous activity.2 In the modern times, philosophy has lost its true fervor in that it has become more of an intellectual exercise, relegated to the ivory towers of academia. The wisdom of these ancient philosophers is particularly relevant in the present turbulent times because these thinkers viewed philosophy as a way of life, as a sort of spiritual exercise, as an ongoing project of moral self-development. As the great German poet, Goethe reminded us, “Knowing is not enough, we must also apply; willing is not enough, we must also do.”3 If “an unexamined life is not worth living,” as Socrates averred in Apology (38a), then self-examination – the “regular monitoring and assessment of our own moral progress” – becomes the whetstone on which to hone one’s character and to gauge one’s success in attaining happiness and wellbeing. This chapter takes as axiomatic that personal flourishing or well-being (eudaimonia) or living well (eu zên) is the foundation upon which the edifice of workplace well-being is built; for, organizational well-being is the sum total of the well-being of its constituent individuals and politics is ethics writ large. Moreover, no one can lead others, who cannot first lead oneself. If one needs to be the change one wants to bring about in the world, then the road to workplace happiness begins with first cultivating virtuous happiness at the individual level.

Seeking Happiness 5 Living a Virtuous Life Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were the first great thinkers to link virtue to happiness. It was an important connection that undergird their entire system of ethics and politics – which for them was social ethics. As Gerasimos Santas has observed, “relation of virtue to happiness is an important one for any system of ethics in which 2

For our changing perspectives of happiness throughout the history, see: Darrin McMahon, Happiness: A History (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press/Grove Press, 2006) and Nicholas White, A Brief History of Happiness (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006). 3 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Bailey Saunders, trans., Maxims and Reflections, Maxim 324. Retrieved February 15, 2020: http://monadnock.net/goethe/maxims.html

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happiness is both the final good and also the ultimate motive for all human action. For unless it can be shown that there is some significant connection between virtue and happiness (vice and unhappiness), it will be difficult if not impossible both to justify the pursuit of virtue and to motivate men for it.”4 Happiness is an enduring state of well-being that encompasses living a good life – that is, a life guided by moral reasoning, a life infused with a sense of meaning and purpose for the good of others. The eudaimonic happiness is not a passing mood or a fleeting feeling of elation but rather an abiding state of felicity emanating from leading a life that is worth living – which for the Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle would be a life of virtue or moral excellence. This is the central message of this chapter. The Greek model of an ideal life was integration of soul along the lines of reason, passions, and desires following. Accordingly, they defined happiness as the “exercise of human faculties along the lines of excellence.” This conception of eudaimonia is based on living a life in accordance with four cardinal virtues – wisdom, justice, moderation, and courage. It was a live of philosophy, lived wisely, with courage and moderation, following the light of reason. Reason must be the charioteer, and it is precisely the reason alone which marks us off as different from the animal world. In the following sections, we explore the Greek model of happiness based on living a worthwhile life.

Happiness: Hedonic Well-Being Versus Eudaimonic Well-Being Everyone wants to be happy; however, what constitutes happiness or well-being remains largely controversial.5 Ryan and Deci state that that current research on well-being has been derived from arguably two most accepted general perspectives: the hedonic approach, which focuses on happiness and defines well-being in terms of pleasure attainment and pain avoidance; and the eudaimonic approach, which focuses on meaning and self-realization and defines well-being in terms of the degree to which a person is fully functioning.6 A third approach to well-being called evaluative refers to a person’s judgement about how satisfied they are with their life.7 The distinction of well-being as hedonia and eudemonia is based on ancient Greek Philosophy. Scholars agree that the eudaimonic view of happiness can be 4

Gerasimos Xenophon Santas, Socrates: Philosophy in Plato’s Early Dialogues (Boston, MA: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982), pp. 218–219. 5 See: Aristotle., W.D. Ross, The Nicomachean Ethics (New York: World Library Classics, 2009). In Book 1, Chapter 4 of N.E., Aristotle says that although there is very general agreement, for both the general run of men and people of superior refinement, that “happiness is the highest good achievable by action,” and they “identify living well and doing well with being happy;” but with regard to what happiness is they differ, and the many do not give the same account as the wise. 6 Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2001). On happiness and human potentials: A review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), 141–166. 7 Steptoe, A., Deaton, A., & Stone, A. (2015). Subjective well-being, health, and ageing. The Lancet, 385(9968), 640–648.

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traced to Aristotle and is aligned with various twentieth century intellectual traditions and psychological traditions, including humanistic psychology and positive psychology.8 Hedonic pertains to “affective-related” or “pleasure-centered” aspects of well-being denoted by such concepts as happiness, emotional well-being, subjective well-being, pleasure/pain affect. According to Kraut, hedonia refers to “the belief that one is getting important things one wants, as well as certain pleasant affects that normally go along with this belief.”9 Eudaimonic well-being seems to capture concepts such as flourishing, optimal functioning, self-actualization, self-realization, personal meaning and growth – in short, living a life in the pursuit of virtue and excellence.10 According to Waterman, eudaimonia may be defined as “an ethical theory that calls people to recognize and to live in accordance with the daimon or true self.”11 We can compare this distinction to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – hedonic well-being representing the lower half of Maslow’s pyramid and eudaimonic well-being pertaining to the upper part, representing sense of belonging, purpose, and self-actualization. Similarly, this distinction of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being seems to correspond to Martin Seligman’s concepts of the pleasant life (hedonic happiness) and meaningful life (eudaimonic happiness).12 Vlastos explains that the Greek term “eudaimonia” is tricky to translate in the English language: “‘Happiness’ for eὐδαιμoνία (eudaimonia) is a more contentious matter. Leading Aristotelians, Ross and Ackrill, have claimed that ‘well-being’ would be a better translation. But in their own translations of the Nicomachean Ethics both stick to ‘happiness’ all the same. It is not hard to see why they would and should. ‘Well-being’ has no adjectival or adverbial forms.”13 Etymologically, the word “happy” comes from “hap” (n.), meaning “chance, fortune.” Darrin M. McMahon notes in his book, Happiness: A History:

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See: Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan, Hedonia, Eudaimonia, and Well-Being: An Introduction. Journal of Happiness Studies (2008) 9:1–1. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-006-9018-1. 9 Kraut, R.: 1979, ‘Two conceptions of happiness,’ Philosophical Review 87, pp. 167–196. 10 See: M. Joseph Sirgy, The Psychology of Quality of Life: Hedonic Well-Being, Life Satisfaction, and Eudaimonia (New York: Springer, 2018), vii, 1. In this fine study, Sirgy provides three divisions, corresponding to Martin Seligman’s pleasant life, engaged life, and meaningful life: Psychological happiness seems to capture affective-related concepts of well-being such as hedonic well-being, emotional well-being, and positive/negative affect. Prudential happiness is a more macrolevel concept. It incorporates a variety of well-being concepts such as life satisfaction, perceived QOL, domain satisfaction, and subjective well-being. Finally, perfectionist happiness is a more macrolevel concept that seems to capture concepts such as eudaimonia, flourishing, positive mental health, psychological well-being, and personal development. 11 Alan S. Waterman (1993). Two conceptions of happiness: Contrasts of personal expressiveness (eudaimonia) and hedonic enjoyment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 678–691. 12 See: Martin Seligman, Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment (New York: Free Press, 2002); Martin Seligman, Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being (New York: Free Press, 2012). 13 Vlastos, G. (1984). Happiness and virtue in Socrates’ moral theory. Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society, 30, 181–213. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068673500004685.

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S. Dhiman It is a striking fact that in virtually every Indo-European language, the modern word for happiness is a cognate with luck, fortune, or fate. The root of “happiness,’ for example, is the Middle English and Old Norse happ, meaning chance, fortune, what happens in the world, giving us such words as “happenstance,” “haphazard,” “hapless,” and “perhaps.”14

Eudaimonic happiness, the true happiness, however, does not “hap-pen;” we are responsible for it: for it is the result of living a virtuous life – the result of being good and doing good. For the purpose of life is not just to live but to live well, not just to be but also to be good. To explain further, hedonia refers to the attainment of wellbeing through pleasure-seeking and pain avoiding, whereas eudaimonia relates to the pursuit of the authentic self, a meaningful life, virtuous activities, and personal growth in one’s life.15 Hedonia pertains to feelings that are transient, whereby the eudaimonia refers to more sustainable processes. Huta and Waterman explain the concept of eudaimonia succinctly: . . .the most common elements in definitions of eudaimonia are growth, authenticity, meaning, and excellence. Together, these concepts provide a reasonable idea of what the majority of researchers mean by eudaimonia.16

Eudaimonia is not merely feeling certain way, but being certain way. True happiness never happ-ens; we are responsible for it: for it is the result of virtue. It does not happen by chance; it is a choice. As Benjamin Franklin gently reminds us, “The Constitution only guarantees you the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”17 Perhaps a better way to approach these concepts is to view them as complimentary. This perspective is also highlighted in most of the research conducted in the field of positive psychology. As Alan S. Waterman has noted, “Although philosophy continues to pit hedonism and eudaimonism against one another, theoretical and empirical work in psychology leads to the conclusion that eudaimonic functioning is the most reliable basis for life satisfaction.”18 According to this view, eudaimonia is achieved by harnessing the best virtues of character and thought within us through living a life infused with meaning, purpose, and contribution. As is evident from the figure below (Fig. 1), Eudaimonia literally means a lasting state attained by living a morally good life, favored by the divinity within.

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Darrin McMahon, Happiness: A History (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press/Grove Press, 2006), 10–11. 15 See: Alan S. Waterman, Ed., The Best Within Us: Positive Psychology Perspectives on Eudaimonia (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2013). 16 Huta, V., & Waterman, A. S. (2013). Eudaimonia and its distinction from hedonia: Developing a classification and terminology for understanding conceptual and operational definitions. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15(6), 1425–1456 (1448). 17 Cited in Susan A. David, Ilona B. Oniwell, and Amanda Conley Ayers, (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Happiness (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 8. 18 For details, see: Alan S. Waterman, Ed., The Best Within Us: Positive Psychology Perspectives on Eudaimonia (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2013).

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Fig. 1 Living a blessed life

In this chapter, unless otherwise stated, we will use the terms “well-being” and “happiness” interchangeably, with the understanding that by “happiness” is meant euduaimonic happiness, an objective state of well-being, the result of living a good life, a life of virtue/excellence. Before turning to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle for their eudaimonic insights, we briefly consider the contribution of one of the recent thinkers, Abraham Maslow, and some findings from the field of positive psychology regarding eudaimonia and wellbeing.

Maslow, Self-Actualization, Happiness, and Life worth Living! Abraham Maslow has been called the prophet of human potential. Maslow considered striving “to be the best one is capable of becoming” to be the sine qua non of human happiness: “If you deliberately plan to be less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you will be deeply unhappy for the rest of your life. You will be evading your own capacities, your own possibilities.”19 Maslow further clarifies the link between self-actualization and happiness: This business of self-actualization via a commitment to an important job and to worthwhile work could also be said, then, to be the path to human happiness. . . happiness is an epiphenomenon, a by-product, something not to be sought directly but an indirect reward or virtue . . .. The only happy people I know are the ones who are working well at something they consider important. . . this was universal truth for all my self-actualizing subjects. They

19

Abraham H. Maslow, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature (New York: Penguin/Arkana, 1993), 35. (Italics added).

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It is true that cultivation of one’s capacities requires hard work, dedication, discipline, training, practice, and often postponement of pleasure. This understanding is in keeping with the Greek ideal that defines happiness as the “exercise of human faculties along the lines of excellence;” for, mediocrity is no path to fulfillment. It is difficult to conceive of a feeling of satisfaction or self-pride, says Maslow if one were “working in some chewing gum factory, or a phony advertising agency, or in some factory that turned out shoddy furniture. Real achievement means inevitably a worthy and virtuous task. To do some idiotic job very well is certainly not real achievement. . . what is not worth doing is not worth doing well.”21 By extension, what is worth doing is worth doing well.

Positive Psychology and Eudaimonia Positive psychology takes the four cardinal virtues of wisdom, justice, moderation, and courage and adds two more – humanity and transcendence – to arrive at a list of six virtues or core characteristics that are universally valued.22 One may argue that, broadly speaking, “humanity” is a part of justice and “transcendence” is a part of wisdom. Seligman, one of the founders of positive psychology, explores the concept of meaningful life in the context of authentic happiness. Building on Aristotle’s work, Seligman describes good life as the exercise of one’s “signature strengths.” In a meaningful life, we share these strengths with a greater circle of humanity. Seligman believes that authentic happiness is experienced when we optimally exercise our signature strengths and share them with others. Seligman states that authentic happiness has three interrelated constituents – pleasure, strengths, and meaning: 1. The pleasant life, in which we successfully pursue positive emotions about the present, past, and future. 2. The good life, in which we use our signature strengths to obtain abundant gratification in the main realms of our life. 3. The meaningful life, in which we use our signature strengths and virtues in the service of something much larger than we are – and the larger that something is, the more meaning our lives have.23 20

Abraham H. Maslow, Maslow on Management (New York: Wiley, 1998), 8–9. (Italics added). Maslow, Maslow on Management, 16. 22 Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman, Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004). 23 Martin Seligman, Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment (New York: Free Press, 2002), 260–262. [emphasis added] 21

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To live all three lives, concludes Seligman, is to lead a full life.24 A little reflection will show that both the pleasant and the good life are limited in scope and meaning. Only a life lived in service of a cause larger than oneself holds true meaning.

Socrates on Eudaimonia: Living an Examined Life An unexamined life is not worth living. ~Socrates, Apology, 38a

The telling phrase “living an examined life” captures the essence of Socrates’ teachings about a good, virtuous life. An examined life is a philosophical life, a life devoted to the pursuit of wisdom. Socrates offers self-examination as the whetstone on which to hone one’s character, to polish one’s mirror. For character, Socrates believed, is the arbiter of happiness and virtuous activity is the key, both necessary and sufficient, for eudaimonia. Socrates has been called the greatest of philosophers. Stoics, Hedonists, and Cynics have all claimed him as their chief inspiration and model.25 In the concluding lines of the Phaedo, Plato describes Socrates as “the best, and wisest and most righteous man,” then living (II 8a16–17).26 More than anyone, he embodied the true philosophical spirit for Plato.27 The wisdom and the lived example of these philosophers – particularly Socrates – can serve as a powerful example to pattern our lives, to set our house in order. Underscoring the importance of teaching through life, Nietzsche wrote in his essay “Schopenhauer as Educator,” I profit from a philosopher only insofar as he can be an example. [. . .] But this example must be supplied by his outward life and not merely in his books – in the way, that is, in which the philosophers of Greece taught, through their bearing, what they wore and ate, and their morals, rather than by what they said, let alone by what they wrote.28

Socrates, like the Buddha and Christ, did not write anything. Their teachings were of higher order. For this patron saint of philosophy and the first martyr of free speech, his very life was his message. Socrates seems to be the first to make eudaimonia (happiness, the good life) a supreme goal in ethics. In order to reconstruct Socrates’ views on role of virtue in human happiness, we will mainly focus on two Socratic dialogues: Euthydemus and Apology, and some relevant parts of Meno and Gorgias. In Meno 87c-89a, Socrates avers that knowledge of the good guides the soul toward happiness (cf. Euthydemus 24

Ibid., 249. Douglas Soccio, Archetypes of Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy (New York: Cengage Learning; 9 edition, 2015), 95. 26 George Klosko, The Development of Plato’s Political Theory (New York: Methuen, Inc., 1986), 1. 27 See: C.D.C. Reeve, Blindness and Reorientation Problems in Plato’s Republic (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), ix. 28 Fredrick Nietzsche, R. J. Hollingdale, trans., Untimely Meditations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 136. 25

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278e-282a). And at Gorgias 507a-c, Socrates suggests that the virtuous person, acting in accordance with wisdom, attains happiness.29 “Life,” says a fine Greek adage, is the gift of nature; but beautiful living is the gift of wisdom.”30 Socratic ethics, observes Gerasimos Santas, consists primarily in two main related views: the view that virtue is knowledge (Meno 87e-89a; cf. Euthydemus 278d282a). . . and the view that virtue brings happiness and vice misery (Gorgias 508).31 According to Terence Irwin, “The Euthydemus offers the clearest account of the role of happiness in Socrates’ argument.”32 Plato’s Apology is regarded as “the closest thing we have to an account of what Socrates actually said at a concrete point in his life.”33 With this background, we examine what Socrates considers as the chief determinants of human happiness, eudaimonia. In one of the Plato’s early period dialogues titled Euthydemus, Socrates takes up the question, how can we be happy? In order to start the discussion about what is really good and bad, Socrates states that we all desire happiness through many goods such as wealth, health and beauty, and other personal gifts, including good birth, power, honor, and fame. In this part of the dialogue, Socrates speaks about the four cardinal virtues – courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom – and establishes that they are among the goods that are desirable for happiness (Euthydemus, 278e-279c). A bit later Socrates continues, pressing the inquiry further and clarifying that mere possession of good things is not enough for happiness; happiness lies in making use of good things for good purpose, for a person may use them rightly or wrongly: And if a person had wealth and all the goods of which we were just now speaking, and did not use them, would he be happy because he possessed them? No indeed, Socrates. Then, I said, a man who would be happy must not only have the good things, but he must also use them; there is no advantage in merely having them? True. Well, Cleinias, but if you have the use as well as the possession of good things, is that sufficient to confer happiness? Yes, in my opinion. And may a person use them either rightly or wrongly? He must use them rightly. That is quite true, I said. And the wrong use of a thing is far worse than the non-use; for the one is an evil, and the other is neither a good nor an evil. You admit that? He assented. [Plato, Euthydemus, 280b-281a, trans. Jowett]

29

James M. Ambury, Socrates (469—399 B.C.E.), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved Feb 1, 2020: https://www.iep.utm.edu/socrates/#SSH2cv [emphasis added]. 30 Cited in Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and the Opinions of the Great Philosophers (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1962/1933), 52. 31 Gerasimos Xenophon Santas, Socrates: Philosophy in Plato’s Early Dialogues (Boston, MA: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982), p. xi. 32 Terence Irwin, Plato’s Ethics (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 52. [Emphasis added]. 33 James M. Ambury, Socrates (469—399 B.C.E.), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved Feb 1, 2020: https://www.iep.utm.edu/socrates/#SSH2cv

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Now Socrates comes to crux of his argument: Then, I said, Cleinias, the sum of the matter appears to be that the goods of which we spoke before are not to be regarded as goods in themselves, but the degree of good and evil in them depends on whether they are or are not under the guidance of knowledge: under the guidance of ignorance, they are greater evils than their opposites, inasmuch as they are more able to minister to the evil principle which rules them; and when under the guidance of wisdom and prudence, they are greater goods: but in themselves they are nothing? That, he replied, is obvious.

The gist of the argument so far is this: The only good reason to have conventional goods (health, wealth, fame, success, etc.) is to live a virtuous life. Desire for wealth, etc. is virtuous when it is rooted in seeking the higher things – that are good for the individual and the society. And for that, we need the guiding light of wisdom, a special form of knowledge that pertains to right and wrong, good and bad. In this sense, we can indeed understand the paradoxical Socratic statements that virtue alone is knowledge and vice alone is ignorance. The discussion continues: “So what follows from what we’ve said? Isn’t it this, that of the other things none is either good or bad, and that of these two, wisdom is good and ignorance bad?”He agreed. [Plato, Euthydemus, 281d-e, trans. Jowett, slightly modified)

Finally, Socrates comes to the following conclusion in Euthydemus, stating that we need wisdom to make good use of all the goods, which are neither good nor bad in themselves: “Well then let’s have a look at what’s left,” I said. “Since all of us desire to be happy, and since we evidently become so on account of our use—that is our good use—of other things, and since knowledge is what provides this goodness of use and also good fortune, every man must, as seems plausible, prepare himself by every means for this: to be as wise as possible. Right?” ‘Yes,” he said. (281e2-282a7)

Essentially, Socrates examines two categories of “goods” that constitute happiness: the first list includes wealth, health, good looks, and honor; while courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom comprise the other. Socrates then argues that no good thing is beneficial unless its use is guided by wisdom. The items on the first list are neither good nor bad in themselves – good when guided by wisdom and bad when not so guided. Hence, the principal good to pursue is wisdom if our goal is full and complete happiness. Terence Irwin in his masterly study of Plato’s moral theory presents the gist of Socrates’ thesis in Euthydemus 278–282 as follows: Socrates takes it to be generally agreed that we achieve happiness by gaining many goods (279a1–4), but he argues that the only good we need is wisdom. He argues in three stages: (1) Happiness does not require good fortune added to wisdom (279c4–280a8). (2) Wisdom is necessary and sufficient for the correct and successful use of other goods (280b1–281b4). (3) Wisdom is the only good (281b4–e5). From this Socrates concludes that if we want to secure happiness, we need not acquire many goods; we need only acquire wisdom (282a1–d3).34

34

Terence Irwin, Plato’s Ethics, p. 55.

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Thus, Socrates maintains that wisdom alone is necessary and sufficient for happiness. Therefore, we should pursue wisdom because “it is the only thing that makes a human being happy and fortunate” (282c9-d1).35 While scholars continue to debate about the unassailability of Socrates’ absolutist view that wisdom is necessary for happiness (vide Euthydemus 278–282),36 “Socrates,” says Klosko, “is content to occupy a position that falls somewhere between the Cynics’ rejection of everything but virtue and Aristotle’s position that external goods are necessary for happiness.”37 The next section explores one famous Socratic dialogue, The Apology, to discover his views on the primacy of moral virtue in living a good life.

The Apology: Socrates’ Swan Song Plato’s Apology may not be the exact transcription of what Socrates really said at his trial, but it is “the closest thing we have to an account of what Socrates actually said at a concrete point in his life.”38 Socrates’ chief concerns in life were: Selfknowledge and knowledge of the right way to live. “Taking life as a whole,” Socrates asked, “which of the ends we pursue are really and intrinsically valuable, not mere means to something else we think desirable.”39 F.M. Cornford in his fine study explains Socrates’ mission in the following words: Socrates held that happiness was to be found in what he called the perfection of human soul—‘making one’s soul as good as possible’—and that all other ends which men desire were strictly of no value in themselves. If they were worth pursuing at all, they were so only as a means to the perfection of soul.40

Cornford’s observation is supported by the fact that Socrates repeatedly exhorts those present at his trial to take care of their souls above all (29d9–e3; 30a-b; 36c).41

35 See: Terence Irwin, Plato’s Ethics, pp. 52–64, and Chaps. 4–5 for an excellent discussion of Socratic view of the rational and psychological eudaimonism. 36 For detailed discussion of Socrates’ sufficiency thesis, see Russell E. Jones, Wisdom and Happiness in Euthydemus 278–282, Philosopher’s Imprint, Vol. 13, No. 14, July 2013. Retrieved February 15, 2020: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/p/pod/dod-idx/wisdom-and-happiness-ineuthydemus-278282.pdf?c=phimp;idno=3521354.0013.014;format=pdf 37 George Klosko, Socrates on Goods and Happiness, History of Philosophy Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 3, Plato and Aristotle Issue, July 1987, pp. 251–264. 38 James M. Ambury, Socrates (469—399 B.C.E.), Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved Feb 1, 2020: https://www.iep.utm.edu/socrates/#SSH2cv 39 See: F. M. Cornford, Before and After Socrates (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1974), pp. 32–34. 40 Ibid., 35. 41 To ‘take care of soul’ means to make it as morally good (excellent) as possible for the sake of becoming as good and as wise a human being as possible. Thus for Socrates, to ‘take care of one’s soul’ essentially means to strive to make oneself a thoroughly ethical human being—using reason as one’s guide. For Socrates, self-knowledge mainly involved knowledge of the moral values, knowing what is right what is wrong. This faculty of insight into right and wrong resides in the soul.

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Socrates himself tells us about his mission in the Apology (29c-30a) – a speech made by him in his own defense – addressing a jury of 501 people: For I have no other business but to go about persuading you all, both young and old, to care less for your bodies and your wealth than for the perfection of your souls, and to make that your first concern, and telling you that goodness does not come from wealth, but it is goodness that makes wealth or anything else, in public or private life, a thing of value.42

He avows that he will not change his ways though he were to “die a thousand deaths” (Apology 30b). Pointing out the unique importance of this perspective of spiritual perfection in the history of human thought, Cornford avers, “Socrates’ claim to rank among the greatest philosophers rests upon his discovery of this soul and of a morality of spiritual aspiration.”43 When Socrates prayed, he asked only for “good gifts,” for the gods know best what things are good. Socrates’ seminal observation at the end of Apology (41d) is highly relevant to our inquiry: “Nothing can harm a good person either in life or after death.” How so? Socrates is clear on this fundamental point: The eternal law (Logos) forbids a better person to be hurt by the worse (Apology 30d). No evil can happen to a good person because such a person knows that my “real self” is my “soul,” and my soul cannot be harmed from outside. The evil that happens to a person comes from the outside and can only harm that person’s body. The only evil that can harm a person’s soul comes from within. No one else can make one foolish or wicked – against one’s will; and no one else but oneself can make one wise and virtuous. The wisdom and virtue reside in the soul, and no one can rob us of these inner treasures. That is why it is so important to know oneself, which is the essence of wisdom. As Peter Kreeft has put it, “You can be knowledgeable without knowing yourself, but you cannot be wise without knowing yourself.”44 Socrates has solved the riddle of Delphic oracle’s maxim, “Know Thyself” (gnōthi seauton). Know your true self as the soul and cultivate it by growing in goodness (virtue) – “let no day pass without discussing goodness (38a).” This was a radical concept in the history of human consciousness with far-reaching consequences for human happiness: If happiness comes from goodness, from being virtuous, then happiness cannot just happen; it is a choice. We are responsible for our own happiness. If we really knew that we are essentially our soul and that our true happiness comes only through having a virtuous soul, we will love virtue and cultivate it above all else. “Socrates’ discovery,” writes F. M. Cornford, “was that the true self is not the body but the soul. And by the soul he meant the seat of that ideal faculty of insight which can know good from evil and infallibly choose the good. Selfknowledge implies the recognition of this true self.”45 Happiness consists in the good of the soul. Therefore, to make the soul as good as possible is the supreme 42

Ibid., pp. 36–37. [Emphasis added] F.M. Cornford, Before and After Socrates, p. 37. 44 Peter Kreeft, Philosophy 101 by Socrates: An Introduction to Philosophy via Plato’s Apology (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2002), 16. 45 F.M. Cornford, Before and After Socrates, 50-51. 43

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business of human life. In the Apology 29d–e, Socrates promises the Athenian jurors that he will never let them ignore the “care of the soul” as long as he can breathe. This is the crux of Socratic wisdom on eudaimonic well-being, as also splendidly enunciated in three aphorisms by Professor Peter Kreeft: 1. We always seek our own good and not our own harm. We always seek happiness. 2. If you know yourself, then you know that the self is the soul and your own true good is the good of your soul. 3. If you know your soul well enough, then you know that virtue is the only way to happiness because virtue is the “health of the soul.”46 We may add another nugget of Socratic wisdom that displays the essential link between virtue and happiness from Plato’s dialogue Gorgias 470e: Virtue brings happiness and vice misery.47 Socrates says, “In my opinion, it takes true goodness to make a man or a woman happy, and an immoral, wicked person is unhappy.” A good person can never be harmed. This great paradox of paradoxes is the rarest finding of Socrates’ entire life, his final assertion, and exhortation: “Keep this one truth in mind, that a good man cannot be harmed either in life or in death, and his affairs are not neglected by the gods.”48 (Apology, 41d) Socrates died as he lived – bravely facing his death with equanimity, even cheerfully, discussing philosophy with his friends in the moments before he drank hemlock. As someone who lived a virtuous life and believed in the eternality of the soul, he was fearless in face of death, for he believed it was the ultimate release of the soul from the limitations of the body. Socrates ends the Apology (42a) exactly where he began (17a), “I do not know.” And he lets God have the last word: “The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways – I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows.”49 A. E. Taylor, in his masterly little volume titled Socrates, provides us a clear and balanced assessment of Socrates’ contribution to European civilization in terms of his conception of soul and its connection to happiness through virtue: It was Socrates who, so far as can be seen, created the conception of the soul. . .something which is the seat of his normal waking intelligence and moral character,. . .his supreme business in life is to make most of it and do the best for it. . ..we must believe Plato’s representations of his Master’s firm conviction of the soul’s immortality, and. . .its essential divinity. . ..This is the real justification of a mission to preach to all, in season and out of season, the single duty of “tending the soul” and “making it as good as possible,” whatever the cost to one’s fortune or one’s body.50

46

Peter Kreeft, Ethics: A History of Moral Thought. Course Guide (Maryland: Recorded Books, LLC, 2003), 17–18. 47 See: Robin Waterfield, Plato Gorgias, translated with an introduction and notes (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 43. Socrates says, ‘In my opinion, it takes true goodness to make a man or a woman happy, and an immoral, wicked person is unhappy.’ 48 Seneca would later echo the same insight: No evil or misfortune can behalf a good person. 49 Plato, trans., Benjamin Jowett, The Trial and Death of Socrates (with an Introduction by Emma Woolerton) (London: Arcturus Publishing Ltd., 2010), 37. 50 A. E. Taylor, Socrates (New York: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1953), pp. 132–133, 138.

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While in the prison waiting for the final hour when he would be given hemlock, Socrates’ friend, Crito offered him a way out to escape. Socrates refused and choose instead to continue his journey, staying exactly where he was! For, “he can do no other, but must tread the path appointed for him by God.”51 This was the end, Plato tells us, of “the best and wisest and most righteous man” then living (Phaedo II8a). We shall not see one like him again.

Being Good and Being Happy: Eudaimonic Insights from Plato’s Republic Plato’s Republic is not about political state, it is mainly about the state of soul: the “inner republic,” the right ordering of our soul.52 When Plato first met Socrates, he had a sort of religious conversion – a life changing experience. Before he met 51

Paul Shorey, What Plato Said, p. 85. For coherence in the main ‘moral argument’ in Plato, see: Julia Annas, An Introduction to Plato’s Republic (New York: Oxford Claredon Press, 1981)—“The single most important book on Republic, and the essential starting-point for further work,” according to Robin Waterfield—See: Robin Waterfield, (trans.), Plato’s Republic (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), p. lxiv; See also: Gerasimos Santas, Understanding Plato’s Republic (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010); Nicholas P. White, A Companion to Plato’s Republic (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1979); and for a detailed scholarly study, and a proper understanding of Plato’s moral philosophy, see: Terence Irwin, Plato’s Ethics (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995). I find R. L. Nettleship’s masterly essay, ‘Plato’s Conception of Goodness and Good’ (pp. 237–394) published in the first volume of Philosophical Lectures and Remains of Richard Lewis Nettleship (London: The Macmillan Company, 1897) to be the most valuable resource in this regard. As J. H. Muirhead put it in his review of this volume: “Probably there is nothing better on Plato in the language, perhaps in existence, than the “Essay on his Conception of Goodness and the Good. And the secret of this success is that Nettleship has not only read himself, but lives himself into the ideas he expounds.” Nettleship studied with the legendary Benjamin Jowett and his book, Lectures on the Republic of Plato (London: The Macmillan Company, 1897/1929), published more than 100 years ago, is perhaps the most important single book in English language on the interpretation of the Republic. As Bernard Bosanquet, in his book review of Nettleship’s Lectures on the Republic of Plato, says: “By a very long way the best extant introduction to Plato’s Republic; . . .good from beginning to end.” To serious students of Plato’s dialogues, five more books can be recommended: George Grote, Plato, and the Other Companions of Sokrates, Vol. 4. (London: John Murray, 1865); Constantin Ritter, The Essence of Plato’s Philosophy (New York: The Dial Press, 1933); A. E. Taylor, Plato: The Man and His Work (London: Methuen & Co Ltd., 1960); N. R. Murphy, The Interpretation of Plato’s Republic (London: Oxford Clarendon Press, 1951); and G. M. A. Grube, Plato’s Thought (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1958). Paul Shorey’s classic book, The Unity of Plato’s Thought (The University of Chicago Press, 1903), is also highly recommended. Paul Shorey was a serious classical scholar. After his death in 1934, one of many articles published about him asserted that he knew all 15,693 lines of the Iliad by heart! See: “Paul Shorey 1857–1934.” Classical Philology 29 (3) (July 1934), 185–188. His introductions to masterly translation of Plato’s Republic (published in two volumes in the Loeb Library) are marvels of exegetical genius and scrupulous fidelity. Readers may get a glimpse of his interpretive depth and sweep from Paul Shorey, What Plato Said (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1933/1967). Spanning almost 700 pages, ‘this book is a resume of the entire body of the Platonic writings.’ 52

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Socrates, Plato used to write poetry and dramas and wanted to make a fame and fortune in the tradition of Aeschylus and Sophocles. After he met Socrates, he publicly burned all his writings and devoted the rest of his life to writing the conversations of his teacher, Socrates! Although he burned his poetry in public, he could not burn up the poet in his heart. He started writing poetic dramas in the form of dialogues featuring his beloved teacher, Socrates. In this section, we will focus on Plato’s magnum opus, The Republic, the single most influential book in the history of Western philosophy. In this book, he shows that moral virtue is the only true path to happiness. Thomas Taylor, an eighteenth century Neoplatonist whose translations were influential on William Blake, P. B. Shelley, Coleridge, and William Wordsworth – the first scholar to translate the entire corpus of Plato and Aristotle into English – writes, “. . .the philosophy of Plato. . .is the parent of all that ennobles man. . ..”53 Ralph Waldo Emerson, puts it quite simply and succinctly, “Plato is philosophy, philosophy is Plato.”54 A. N. Whitehead, a former professor at Harvard and a leading philosopher of the twentieth century, perhaps with some exaggeration, has famously quipped, “The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.”55 Huxley calls the Republic “noble, philosophical romance.”56 These accolades rightfully highlight the importance of the Republic in Western civilization. The Republic is a book about the entire human condition and is unique in many ways. In the Republic, Socrates provides a comprehensive argument in defense of the just life and its relation to happiness (eudaimonia). Plato’s Republic is less a model for the ideal society more a template for human soul. It is a book about ethics, disguised as politics. In it, Plato undertakes to bring out the perennial conflict between power and knowledge. Its central message: To be good is to be happy. Plato argues throughout the ten books of the Republic that happiness and goodness are so vitally linked that it is not possible to be really happy without being good. In Plato’s view, the power should reside with a person of knowledge because only a wise person can use power virtuously, for the good of the whole. Hence, Plato’s famous observation that humanity will not be saved of trouble until philosophers become kings or kings become philosophers. Plato says that philosophers, the wise ones, should be the leaders of the society. For only the wise ones can put the good of the community ahead of their own good. Only when wise rule that the justice will prevail. And only in a just society, people can live well and happily. This has far-reaching implications for living a fulfilling life, for leadership and for governance. Plato takes politics as ethics writ large; organizations/communities/

53

Thomas Taylor, Introduction to the Philosophy and Writings of Plato (Gearhart, OR: Watchmaker Publishing, 2010), 1. 54 Ralph Waldo Emerson, Plato; or, The Philosopher: Representative Men (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996). 55 A. N. Whitehead, Process and Reality (New York: Free Press, 1979), 39. 56 Cited in Paul Shorey, trans, Republic, Introduction, vol. 1, xxxi.

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states/nations representing the macrocosm of which an individual is a vital part – individuals working toward the good of the whole. Put differently, the well-being of the individual is contingent upon the ordered unity of the whole and vice versa.

What is Justice?57 The Republic, Nettleship tells us, is a book about human life and the human soul or human nature, and the real question in it is, as Plato says, how to live best (344e).58 In the Republic, Socrates provides a comprehensive argument in defense of the just life and its relation to happiness (eudaimonia). Socrates addresses the first question “what is justice” both in terms of political communities and in terms of the individual person or soul. He does this to address the second and driving question of the dialogue: “is the just person happier than the unjust person?” or “what is the relation of justice to happiness?.”59 According to C. D. C Reeve, “The Republic is specifically about the virtue of justice and whether it pays better dividends in terms of happiness than does injustice.”60 For Plato, justice is the key, all-inclusive virtue, the most comprehensive of the Greek names for virtues. It is the whole domain of human conduct. In its widest sense, as Aristotle tells us, it is equivalent to “the whole of virtue as shown in our dealings with others.” [Nicomachean Ethics V. i. 15 and 20]61 The word “just” in Greek language means our conduct as it affects others – all what we expect from others, and all that what others have a right to expect from us. Hence, it means good conduct, righteousness, fair, honest, legally right, lawful—in short, what one ought to do. This is what Socrates is interested in finding out in the Republic: How we ought to live? How best leaders ought to lead? Therefore, the Republic essentially addresses two central questions: 1. What is justice, in its essence, which is to say, what is righteousness? 2. Why living a just life, a righteous life, always leads to happiness?

As we shall see, the word ‘justice’ is used in the dual sense in the Republic: conventional sense, denoting fairness of one’s conduct toward others; and in the special sense, denoting psychic harmony between the three parts of the soul, or self: reason, spirit, and desire—Reason restraining desire with the help of spirit (will and emotion). 58 Richard Lewis Nettleship, Lectures on the Republic of Plato, 5. 59 See: Antonis Coumoundouros, Plato: The Republic. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved September 9, 2019: https://www.iep.utm.edu/republic/ 60 C. D. C. Reeve, trans., Plato Republic (Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Co, 2004), xii. 61 Cited in Richard Lewis Nettleship, Lectures on the Republic of Plato, (Honolulu, Hawaii, University Press of the Pacific, 2003, reprint edition), 5. This book is considered a benchmark of Plato scholarship. Published originally in 1890, it is regarded as ‘by a very long way, the best extant introduction to Plato’s Republic,’ according to Bernard Bosanquet. 57

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In the book I of the Republic, various definitions of the justice are presented by the interlocutors which are successively dismissed by Socrates, demonstrating their logical inconsistency. From Cephalus’ casual remarks, Socrates extracts a definition of justice – “telling the truth and giving back what is owed” (331c). Socrates then refutes this definition by counter-example – suppose you borrowed a weapon from a friend and the friend became insane. Would it be just to return the weapon to him or to tell him the truth? Polemarchus, Cephalus’s son, revises the definition stating, that justice is “giving everyone what is fitting” – quoting the Greek poet, Simonides (332a-b). “Should one also give one’s enemies whatever is owed to them?” asks Socrates. That would mean, treat your friends nicely and enemies badly? Socrates thus rejects this conventional Greek formula, “Help your friends and harm your enemies,” stating “it is not the function of a good person to do evil to any.”62 Virtue is good and good is always good and cannot harm; therefore, it is never just to harm anyone (335e). At this point, Thrasymachus, the sophist, barges in, affirming that justice is “advantage of the (politically) stronger” (338c) – a mask painted on the face of power. Might is right. A ruler is always just. Socrates suggests that even a ruler sometimes makes a mistake. Thrasymachus then uses a new tack. Injustice, he says, is virtuous and justice is vicious. What ensues is a series of complex refutations and counter-arguments in which Socrates tries to answer the relativistic claim that “justice is what the stronger believes to be his advantage” (340b). Socrates offers Thrasymachus an elaborate and complex argument to the conclusion that “injustice is never more profitable than justice” (354a). Thrasymachus is silenced by the dialectic but Socrates is not satisfied. He admits that despite all his refutations, he has neither defined justice nor proven yet that a life of justice is better than living unjustly (354c). “The second book opens,” Paul Shorey tells us, “with what Mill describes as a ‘monument of the essential fairness of Plato’s mind’—a powerful restatement of the theory of Tharsymachus by the brothers of Plato, Glaucon and Adeimantus.”63 In the beginning of Book II of the Republic, Glaucon and Adeimantus challenge Socrates to show that being just really does further happiness better than being unjust by focusing on justice in and of itself, as a harbinger of human happiness: Do not merely demonstrate to us by argument that justice is stronger than injustice, but tell us what each one itself does, because of itself, to someone who possesses it that makes the one bad and the other good. . . . You agree that justice is one of the greatest goods, the ones that are worth having for the sake of their consequences, but much more so for their own sake— such as seeing, hearing, knowing, being healthy, of course, and all the others that are genuine goods by nature and not simply by repute. This is what I want you to praise about justice. How does it—because of its very self—benefit its possessor, and how does injustice harm him? (Rep. II, 367b3-d3)

62

Paul Shorey, trans., The Republic—Part I, Books I-IV, Introduction, ix. Ibid., x. [Emphasis added]

63

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“This is the challenge” for Socrates, Paul Shorey tells us and “the remainder of the Republic is an answer to it.”64 Socrates responds to this challenge through a two-step strategy: Socrates must show that justice is choice worthy (a) because of itself, and (b) because of its consequences (357a–358a). Socrates does not complete his argument for (a) until the end of Book IX. Socrates shifts the discussion from individual justice to political justice, suggesting that the nature of justice is more easily to be discovered in the macrocosm, the state, than in the microcosm, the individual. He will first construct an ideal city – Kallipolis – and having located justice in it, he will then look for it in the individual soul.65 Books II–IV are thus devoted to the “construction” of an “ideal” political regime with its three major classes (producers, guardians, and rulers) and their relation to the tripartite structure of the soul (appetitive, spirited, and rational). The logic of this shift from individual to state (in the form of famous “state-soul analogy”), as noted before, is that it is easier to study the operation of justice in a city than in an individual soul. Like during an eye exam, we are first shown big letters and then the small ones on the eye chart. After all, the city, says Socrates, is individual soul writ large (368d). The construction project of ideal city involves a system of elementary education described in Books II and III. Kallipolis, being completely good, and now established, must have all the cardinal virtues: wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice (427d-e). Having concluded the search for finding these virtues and identifying them with distinct structural features of the good city (434d) – wisdom with rulers/philosophers, courage with guardians/soldiers, and temperance with producers – Socrates goes to show the same structural features identical to the virtues in the individual soul (434d–435a). To accomplish this, a threefold division of the soul becomes necessary. The soul of each individual is divided into three parts, in the same manner a city is. Here, for the first time, Plato presents a complete map of the mind, with its division of the soul into three parts – appetitive, spirited, rational, corresponding to the three major classes in the city – producers, guardians, rulers (435c-441c).66 A detailed discussion of the virtues in the individual soul ensues (441c-445b). The virtue of the appetitive part is temperance, of the spirited part courage, and of the rational part wisdom. What is justice, then? Justice is the harmonious functioning of the parts for the good of the whole. Finally, Plato defines justice for the city as minding one’s own business, “the having and doing of one’s own” (434a).67 That is, producers, guardians, rulers doing their respective work in harmony and for the good of the entire city. Similarly, justice in the individual is defined as the “interior harmony,” each part doing its part, well: “each one of us in whom each part is

64

Pual Shorey, What Plato Said, 216. C.D.C Reeve, Plato Republic, xxx. 66 See: G. M. A Grube and C. D. C. Reeve, trans., Plato Republic (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, 1992), 94. 67 Ibid., 109. 65

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doing its own work will himself be just and do his own” (441e).68 Thus, justice is in a community what health is in a body – the harmonious functioning of the parts for the good of the whole. Socrates concludes Book IV by affirming that justice amounts to the health of the soul, fine condition, and well-being of the soul: a just soul is a soul with its parts arranged appropriately, and is thus a healthy soul. An unjust soul, on the other hand, is an unhealthy soul (444e). Moral good is the health of the soul and moral evil is a disease of the soul. Given this fact, we are now in a position to state at least provisionally that it pays to be just. After all, it is obvious that health is something desirable in itself, so if justice is the health of the soul then it too should be desirable in itself as well. Although Glaucon is ready at this point to answer the central question of the Republic – whether it is more profitable to be just or unjust (445a), Socrates still feels that more thought-work needs to be done to make the argument complete in favor of justice’s superiority. He does not complete his response until the end of Book IX.

Living a Just, Virtuous Life, Leads to Happiness Since, we agreed that justice is soul’s virtue, and injustice is its vice, it follows that anyone who lives well is blessed and happy. Therefore, a just person is happy, and an unjust one wretched.69 (Republic 353e-354a)

This is how book I of the Republic concludes. Essentially, Socrates tells us that they have been discussing three questions: What is the true meaning of justice, whether or not it is a virtue, or whether it makes a person happy or unhappy (Republic 354b-c). The last question – whether justice is good for us and makes us happy – lies at the heart of the Republic. “The last question is discussed,” Gerasimos Santas tells us, “repeatedly from beginning to end most significantly in Books I, II, IV, IX, X.”70 George Grote explains clearly the link between justice and happiness, Plato emphatically proclaims his conviction, that the just man is happy in and through his justice, quite apart from all consideration of consequences – yet that the consequences also will be such as to add to his happiness, both during life as well as after death: and the unjust man unhappy in and through his injustice. [Plato. Republic, Book I, 350 D, 354 A.] 71

Grote succinctly states that just person is happy, regardless of consequence, which will also be good – both in life and death. In the book IX of the Republic, 68

Ibid., 119. G. M. A Grube and C. D. C. Reeve, trans., Plato Republic (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, 1992), 31. 70 Gerasimos Santas, Understanding Plato’s Republic, p. 5. 71 George Grote, Plato, and the Other Companions of Sokrates, Vol. 4, p. 26. 69

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Plato finally brings together all the thought-positions to answer the central question, namely, the just life is happier than the unjust. He presents four lines of reasoning, as follows: The just life is proved the happier: 1. By the contrasted happiness of the ideal and the unhappiness of the tyrannized state (577 c ff.). 2. The person who lives mainly for the higher spiritual satisfactions has necessarily had experience of the pleasures of sense and ambition also. He only can compare and judge. The devotees of sense and ambition know little or nothing of the higher happiness of the intellect and the soul. 3. The pleasures of senses are essentially negative, not to say worthless, because they are preconditioned by equivalent wants which are pains. 4. By the analogy of health and disease, with which the fourth book provisionally concluded the argument: The immoral soul is diseased and cannot enjoy true happiness.72 Plato concluded book IV 444e, stating that “virtue seems, then, to be a kind of health, fine condition, and well-being of the soul, while vice is disease, shameful condition, and weakness.”73 What Plato is saying here is that immoral soul is a diseased soul (444d) and cannot enjoy true happiness. This provisional conclusion is going to be the final answer to the question (that justice always benefits) at the end of Book IX 588, 591-592. For Plato, “justice in man and state is health. It is absurd to maintain that an unjust man can be happier than the just as it would be to argue that the unhealthy man is happier than the healthy.”74 This health-happiness and diseaseunhappiness analogy is the final deciding argument Plato uses both at the end of Book IV and IX to prove that a just person is happy and an unjust is unhappy – the assertion with which Book I concluded (354a). We have come full circle! Thus, the conclusion of the Republic hinges on establishing how justice intrinsically brings happiness (that a virtuous person will be happy just by being virtuous, regardless of the material rewards in this world or rewards in the next world). As Sharples has rightly noted, Even Plato in the Republic has Socrates commend justice to others by the rewards it brings to oneself, not indeed the material rewards (though once the argument is concluded these are rather optimistically added in; 612D—614A) or rewards in the next world (614A ff.), but the intrinsic reward of happiness which justice brings (361C; 367D; 445A; 588A ff.).75

72

Paul Shorey, trans., The Republic—Part I, Books I-V, xx-xxi. G. M. A Grube and C. D. C. Reeve, trans., Plato Republic, 121. 74 Paul Shorey, trans., The Republic—Part I, Books I-V, xvi. 75 R. W. Sharples, Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics: An Introduction to Hellenistic Philosophy (UK: Routledge, 1996), 83. [Emphasis added]. 73

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Toward the end of Book X (618c-619b), Plato tells us that the greatest happiness for man, in this life and every future existence, lies in one’s “ability to choose between the worse and the better life with reference to the constitution of soul, calling a life worse or better according as it leads to the soul becoming more unjust or more just.”76 The most valuable knowledge, in Plato’s view, is that which enables us to distinguish the good life from bad and always and everywhere helps us to make the best possible choice (618c). The basic message is that happiness is vitally linked to being virtuous and being wise. Only a wise and a virtuous person can lead a good, flourishing life worth the name. But the good life can only be lived in a just society. And this is possible only when the nations are ruled by wise and virtuous leaders. What is true for one person is also true for the city-state and vice versa. This is the conclusion of the Republic, the greatest book in the history of Western civilization. In the next section, we consider Aristotle’s perspective on eudaimonia who defined happiness “as the activity of soul in accordance with complete virtue (EN 1098a18).”77

Nicomachean Ethics: Living Eudaimonic Life We study ethics, says Aristotle, not in order to know what goodness is but in order to become good. (Nicomachean Ethics 1103b27)78

As is evident from the above quote, Aristotle’s aim is practical: how to live a good life. The goal of ethics is not mere learning about right and wrong but being good and doing good. In Aristotle’s view, the concept of eudaimonia, “living well” and “doing well” depends upon moral virtue and excellence – realizing one’s full potential. As we have seen earlier in this chapter, the Greek conception of eudaimonia is based on living a life in accordance with four cardinal virtues – wisdom, justice, moderation, and courage. The main difference between Socrates/Plato and Aristotle’s conception of happiness is that Aristotle, true to his practical approach, includes some external goods to the list of desirable things for happiness, namely, friendship, and good fortune or luck. According to Aristotle, “He is happy who lives in accordance with complete virtue and is sufficiently equipped with external goods, not for some chance period but throughout a complete life.”79 76

F. M. Cornford, trans., The Republic of Plato (New York: Oxford University Press, 1955), 356. W. D. Ross, trans., Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle (New York: World Library Classics, 2009), 13. 78 Hereafter, references to Nicomachean Ethics are presented according to the Bekker pagination scheme, a standard form of citation to the works of Aristotle. For example, the Bekker number denoting the beginning of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics is 1094a1, refers to line 1 of the left-hand column of page 1094 of Bekker’s edition. It is standard to abbreviate Nicomachean Ethics as EN, based on its Greek title, Ethica Nicomachea. All quotations from Nicomachean Ethics are in W. D. Ross’ translation, unless otherwise stated. 79 EN 1101a15-17. 77

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Aristotle defines a happy life in terms of a good life: To say that somebody is happy is the very same thing as saying that one is living a life worth living. Aristotle uses the Greek concept of eudaimonia to fully express his views on what he considers to be a life well lived. His definition of eudaimonia can be roughly stated as the exercise of human faculties along the lines of excellence, in a life affording them full expression. According to Aristotle, good life is identical with eudaimonia, which is defined as living and faring well and is denoted by the “activity of the soul exhibiting the highest and most complete excellence in a complete life. . .. The key terms are ‘action,’ ‘excellence,’ and ‘reason.’”80 It must be noted that happiness is not mere pleasure, although a happy person feels pleasure. Experience and observation dictate that sensuous gratification is not an abiding route to happiness. Human apparatus is doomed, so to speak, ab initio, by the operation of what is called the law of diminishing marginal utility; that is, as we consume more and more units of a specific commodity, the utility of the successive units diminishes. This applies equally to all our experiences directed at consuming pleasures. Durant further clarifies: Surely sense pleasure is not the way: that road is a circle: as Socrates phrased the coarser Epicurean idea, we scratch that we may itch, and itch that we may scratch. . .. No, happiness must be a pleasure of mind, and we may trust it only when it comes from the pursuit or the capture of truth.81

Therefore, for Aristotle, happiness is the “virtuous activity of the soul in accordance with reason.” Aristotle employs the word “hexis”82 (from Latin “habitus”) in a very special sense, denoting “moral habituation” or a dynamically “active state of moral virtue.” Urmson clarifies that, in Aristotle’s view, “the wise man who wishes for the best life will accept the requirements of morality.”83 Aristotle further clarifies that, to be happy, we should seek what is good for us in the long run for we cannot become happy by living for the pleasures of the moment. Aristotle includes among the main constituents of happiness such things as health and wealth, knowledge and friendship, good fortune, and a good moral character. Thus, for Aristotle, a life lived in accordance with excellence in moral and intellectual virtue constitutes the essence of a happy life: “He is happy who lives in accordance with complete virtue and is sufficiently equipped with external goods, not for some chance period but throughout a complete life. . ..A good life is one that has been lived by making morally virtuous choices or decisions.”84 As we have seen throughout this chapter, morality is the basis and the touchstone of a fulfilled life. 80

J.O. Urmson, Aristotle’s Ethics (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2001), 11, 17–18, 20. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, 76. 82 W.D. Ross rendered “hexis” as a state of character. See David Ross, translation of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980). 83 J.O. Urmson, Aristotle’s Ethics, 2. 84 Mortimer Adler, Arsitotle for Everybody: Difficult Thought Made Easy (New York: Bantam Books, 1980). Emphasis added. 81

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Eudaimonia: Happiness and Its Constituents At the very opening of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle tells us that every action and pursuit is thought to aim at some real or perceived good.85 Some things we pursue for their own sake while others we desire for the sake of something else. If there were no such thing which we desire for its own sake, this process will continue infinitely. To avoid infinite regress, Aristotle clarifies the economics of means and ends, thusly: “If, then, there is some end of the things that we do, which we desire for its own sake (everything else being desired for the sake of this), and if we do not choose everything for the sake of something else (for at that rate the process could go on to infinity, so that our desire would be empty and vain), clearly this must be the good and the chief good.”86 This chief good, Aristotle calls eudaimonia, or living well. Thus, Aristotle regards happiness to be “the chief human good,” and that everyone pursues it for its own sake and for its own sake alone. Aristotle begins Book I part V of his treatise on Rhetoric stating that all individuals and groups strive toward a single, supreme goal which is happiness (eudaimonia) and its constituent parts. Then he goes on to describe happiness in the following ways: . . .as prosperity combined with virtue; or as independence of life; or as the secure enjoyment of the maximum of pleasure; or as a good condition of property and body, together with the power of guarding one's property and body and making use of them. That happiness is one or more of these things, pretty well everybody agrees.87

From this definition of happiness, Aristotle proceeds to take the following as the constituent parts of happiness: good birth, plenty of friends, good friends, wealth, good children, plenty of children, a happy old age, also such bodily excellences as health, beauty, strength, large stature, athletic powers, together with fame, honor, good luck, and virtue. A man cannot fail to be completely independent if he possesses these internal and these external goods; for besides these, there are no others to have. (Goods of the soul and of the body are internal. Good birth, friends, money, and honor are external.) Further, we think that he should possess resources and luck, in order to make his life really secure.88 This seems to mean that having the sum of all these elements is a sufficient condition for being happy; after all, who would refuse to admit that a person who had all twelve of these elements was in fact happy? This description of happiness (and its constituents) is very much in line with what Aristotle’s other works, such as the Nicomachean Ethics. In EN, for example, Aristotle maintains that there are external goods the possession of which is a

85

EN 1094a1-2. EN 1094a18-23. 87 W. Rhys Roberts, trans., Rhetoric Aristotle (New York: Dover Publications, 2004), 17. 88 Ibid., 18. 86

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necessary condition for happiness, so that if even one of them is missing, a person can hardly be called happy. Aristotle claims that to live a happy, flourishing life – that is, to achieve eudaimonia – one needs such things as honor, wealth, friends, and political power. He groups these things together as the external goods, since they are all external, spatially, to any given person. According to Aristotle, the Chief Good, eudaimonia, must: (a) (b) (c) (d)

Be desired for its own sake Be such that we desire other things for its sake Be complete and final, never chosen for anything other than itself Be self-sufficient to make a life lacking in nothing89

After determining happiness to be something final and self-sufficient as the end of all things and actions, Aristotle, in order to get clearer understanding of its real nature, introduces the idea of human function in terms of the Rational Nature as a unique human endowment. The fulfillment of purpose or function of a thing, its arête, lies in its functional excellence unique to it.90 Aristotle’s use of the Greek word, arête, is broader than moral “virtue” or excellence. It includes all manner of functional excellences, “including but extending beyond moral virtues.”91 For example, the arête of a horse lies in swiftness and there is nothing moral about swiftness. Strictly speaking, the notion of arête is bound up with the fulfillment of purpose or function unique to a thing in the highest possible sense. As Christopher Shields explains. . .“when he says that happiness consists in an activity in ‘accordance with virtue’ (kat’ aretên; EN1098a18), Aristotle means that it is a kind of excellent activity, and not merely morally virtuous activity. The suggestion that only excellently executed or virtuously performed rational activity constitutes human happiness provides the impetus for Aristotle’s virtue ethics.”92 In this manner, Aristotle establishes the arête (virtue or chief function) of a human being to be rational activity. Therefore, the function of an excellent person is to do this well or finely. If this is the case, concludes Aristotle, human good [eudaimonia] turns out to be activity of soul in accordance with virtue, and if there are more than one virtue, in accordance with the best and most complete. But we must add “in a complete life.” For one swallow does not make a summer, nor does one day; and so too one day, or a short time, does not make a man blessed and happy.93 Aristotle’s conception of eudaimonia promises a middle ground between the Socratic view that virtue is sufficient for living a worthwhile life and the more 89

EN 1094-1097b. Cf. The Bhagavad Gī tā defines yoga as the excellence in action (yogah. Karmasu kaus´alam: Gī tā 2.50). There is nothing uplifting about mediocrity. 91 See: Christopher Shields, “Aristotle,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = . 92 Ibid. 93 EN 1098a16-20. 90

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commonplace view that human flourishing or well-being rests primarily on wealth, fortune, and other worldly goods that are not always in our control. Always true to his commitment to find golden mean between extremes, Aristotle regards eudaimōn life to be a life lived in the pursuit and practice of moral virtue or “excellently executed or virtuously performed rational activity,”94 while at the same time recognizing the need and importance of bodily goods such as health and external goods such as friendship, wealth, and good fortune. Toward the end of Nicomachean Ethics, Book X, Aristotle revisits the issue of defining happiness to put final touches. He observes, “If happiness is activity in accordance with virtue, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest virtue; and this will be that of the best thing in us. . ..the activity of this in accordance with its proper virtue will be perfect happiness.”95 What is that activity? It is contemplation of truth for its own sake. With this Aristotle’s conception of happiness comes full circle. We can summarize Aristotle’s position on happiness in the following propositions: 1. Every action and pursuit are thought to aim at some real or perceived good. 2. Some things are desired for their own sake while others are desired for the sake of other things. 3. There must be some “Chief Good,” otherwise our action and desires would be “empty and vain.” 4. This “Chief Good” must be desired for its own sake and for its own sake alone – everything else being desired for the sake of this “Chief Good.” 5. Aristotle calls this Chief Good happiness, eudaimonia, translated as “living well,” or “doing well.” 6. This Chief Good must satisfy the following criteria: (a) It must be desired for its own sake and its own sake alone. (b) Everything else is desired for its sake. (c) It must be self-sufficient and complete. (d) It must be final. 7. This Chief Good means the highest good or end that humans can achieve. 8. To discover the highest good humans can achieve, Aristotle introduces the concept of proper function – an activity that is specific and unique to a certain thing. Aristotle calls it “rational activity.” 9. This is also called arête of a thing, which means virtue but also the highest functional excellence of a thing in the broad sense. Just as the arête of a horse is swiftness even so living rationally and morally well is the arête of a human being. 10. Acting morally well should become a settled disposition, a habit, a second nature, a matter of character for the moral agent.

See: Christopher Shields, “Aristotle,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. EN 1177a12-18. See: W. D. Ross, trans., Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle, pp. 172–173.

94 95

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11. Aristotle regards utmost excellence of our rational nature to be “contemplation of highest truths.” 12. Thus, our happiness, eudaimonia, lies in living rationally and morally, well. As F. M. Cornford states, “The [Nicomachean] Ethics teaches that the end of man is the perfect exercise of the highest function essential to our nature. . .”96

Aristotle’s Theory of Golden Mean and Flourishing We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.97 – Aristotle.

Aristotle believed that excellence is achieved through habituation. By repeated practice, good moral behavior becomes a matter of habit or second nature. He also emphasized that virtue of character or good moral behavior is the desirable mean between two extremes – one of excess and the other of deficiency. The key to acting morally lies in finding a moderate position between those two extremes. For example, courage is a virtue, but if taken to excess it would appear as recklessness, and, in deficiency, as cowardice. In his work titled Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle explains the development of virtues essential for achieving the ultimate goal, happiness. It must be noted that the golden mean is not the exact arithmetical mean; it depends on the situation. There is no universal middle that would apply to every situation. Different degrees may be needed for different situation. In a posthumously published manuscript titled Heroes of History, Durant captures the essence of Aristotle’s view of happiness succinctly: “The goal of conduct is happiness, but the secret of happiness is virtue, and the best virtue is intelligence—a careful consideration of the reality, the goals and the means; usually, ‘virtue’ is a golden mean between the extremes.”98 There are three pillars to Aristotle’s theory of golden mean: First, a good person is in a state of equilibrium. Equilibrium is the right feelings at the right time about the right things, toward the right people, for the right end, and in the right way. The second pillar states that the mean we should strive for is relative to us. Aristotle’s golden mean is not a one-size-fits-all strategy. The third pillar is that each virtue falls between two vices. The virtue lies in the golden mean which is not the exact middle of two vices. Knowing what is exactly appropriate in a given situation requires prolonged moral training. Aristotle believed that proper participation in each of these three pillars is necessary for a person to lead a virtuous and therefore happy life.99 96

F. M. Cornford, Before and After Socrates (London: The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, 1974), 102. 97 Cited in Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, 74. 98 Will Durant, Heroes of History: A Brief History of Civilization from Ancient Times to the Dawn of the Modern Age (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001), 105. 99 Golden Mean (philosophy), New World Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 21, 2016: http://www. newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Golden_mean_(philosophy)

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Excellence, according to Aristotle, is not an innate gift; it is a conscious attainment achieved through repeated practice until it becomes a settled disposition, for we are what we repeatedly do. The last sentence of the Ethics of Spinoza reads, “Sed omnia praeclaratam difficilia quam rara sunt” – But everything great is just as difficult to realize as it is rare to find.100 The gods are willing to give us what we want, but not for free. They love to see us toil and sweat. Happiness is a conquest, not a gift that gods grant randomly.101 Why should it be otherwise? Aristotle’s conception of excellence finds a close parallel in the Bhagavad Gī tā’s conception of yoga: Śrī Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna that, Yoga is excellence in action (योगः कौशलम् २।५० yogaḥ karmasu kaus´alam 2.50).

Concluding Thoughts As the foregoing pages have shown, according to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, happiness consists of the good of the soul and virtue alone is happiness. Actually, it is identical with health of the soul, with virtue. Put differently, happiness is not the byproduct of good life; it is good life! Plato believed that the only true aim of the political art is to make people happier by making them better (Euthydemus 291c ff.). To “make the soul as good as possible” is the supreme business of life. Accordingly, the question of questions is – how shall one so order one’s life as to life best? Socrates advocated living an “examined life” – “‘letting no day pass without discussing virtue.” He regarded such life to be “the greatest good for human beings” (Apology 38a-6). The Republic is concerned with the most important question “the question of how to live one’s whole life” (344 e 1-3, 352d). It is less about the ordering of the political state; it is more about the state of our soul – the inner republic – the right ruling or ordering/fashioning of the inner city within our soul. And if we heed, along with Glaucon, to the lessons taught in the Republic – about cultivating a virtuous soul and living a life of righteousness; such lessons, Socrates advises us, . . .may preserve us, and we shall cross the River of Forgetfulness without defiling our souls. . .So shall we hold ever to the upward path and pursue righteousness with wisdom in all that we do. That we may be dear to ourselves and to the gods both during our sojourn here and hereafter. And thus both in this life and in that journey of a thousand years which we have described, we shall fare well and be happy. [Book X, conclusion, 621 c-d]102

See Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy, 189. Durant renders it as follows: ‘But all excellent things are as difficult as they are rare.’ 101 See: Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness (New York: W. W. Norton Company, 2013; originally published 1930). 102 Paul Shorey’s translation slightly modified. [Emphasis added]. 100

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By way of conclusion of the Republic, in Book X, Plato presents the Myth of Er, placed strategically at the very end (Book X, 614-621). The implications of the myth are that, basically, humanity has only two choices: (a) Philosophy on one hand (b) Tyranny on the other Not to choose one is to choose the other. In the ten books of the Republic, Plato urges us to live a life of philosophy – to live wisely, with courage and moderation, guided by the inner light of our own reason. Because “philosophizing is so important for human welfare, indeed, that Socrates is willing to accept execution rather than give it up”103 (Apology 29b–d, 30a, 36c–e, 38a, 41b–c). According to Plato, the highest wisdom lies in being able to discern between good and evil; and so, to choose with utmost care always and everywhere the best life that is available to us (618c). In Plato’s Republic, the choice of good and evil is always with reference to the health of the soul – calling evil to the life which will make the soul more unjust, and good to the life which will make the soul more just. This is the way, Plato tells us, at the end of his masterpiece, that a human being becomes the most happy and the most fortunate (619b). The very last words of the Republic – “we shall fare well (621d)” 104 – tell us that the Republic is about living well or faring well. How may we live well? Plato’s answer is succinct: “by always seeking wisdom with one’s whole heart during one’s earthly journey (Republic 619d-e).”105 Plato sums up the essence of virtue ethics in this final recommendation: “Always follow the upward path of righteousness, practicing justice with the help of wisdom” (621c). Then we shall fare well, we shall do well, we shall be well.106 This is also the conclusion of humanity’s sages and seers of all times and climes: true happiness lies in being good and doing good, following the path of uprightness and practicing righteousness. They are silent witness to this fact that the “only sure way of doing good to others is to try to be good oneself.” For, good, as Socrates

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C. D. C. Reeve, trans., Plato Republic, xii. F. M. Cornford, tr. The Republic of Plato, 359. 105 Ibid., 357. [Slightly modified]. 106 The very last words of the Republic are, ‘We shall fare well.’ See: David Roochnik, Lectures on Plato’s Republic: ‘The Myth of Er’ and ‘Summary and Overview,’ Lecture no. 22 and 23. The Great Courses. Available at: https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/plato-s-republic.html This masterly series of 24 lectures by Professor Roochnik are among the best in their class. Along with Professor Michael Sugrue’s 16 lectures titled “Plato, Socrates, and the Dialogues,” they constitute the best that the Great Courses Series had to offer. https://www.thegreatcourses.com/ courses/plato-socrates-and-the-dialogues.html Most public libraries carry these and they are also freely available on the net. 104

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assures us, is not good because it is loved by the gods; rather it is loved by the gods because it is good.107 This vision of goodness is a never-ending quest to go further along our own unique path. We conclude with the ever-audacious counsel of Fredrick Nietzsche: “There exists in the world a single path along which no one can go except you: whither does it lead? Do not ask, go along it.”108

Cross-References ▶ Happiness at Work with Contentment: Enriching Workplace Well-Being Through Ancient Wisdom ▶ Meaningful Work and Human Flourishing: Communication Lessons from the Judeo-Christian Tradition ▶ More than Happiness: A Stoic Guide to Human Flourishing ▶ Positive Psychological Well-Being at Work: The Role of Eudaimonia ▶ Western Wisdom Traditions and Workplace Spirituality

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This is Socrates’ argument in the Euthyphro. Fredrick Nietzsche, Untimely Meditations, p. 129.

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Improving the Quality of Work Life: An Interdisciplinary Lens into the Worker Experience Branka V. Olson, Carol McGuire, and Angela Crawford

Contents Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Work as Punishment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Brief History of Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Work Motivation Theory Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Quality of Work Life and Flourishing in the Twenty-First Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Defining the Worker Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Twenty-First Century Worker and Beyond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Changing Nature of Worker Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Technology Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Connected, Disconnected Worker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Efficient, Anxious Worker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Mobile, Isolated Worker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Worker-Workspace Relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Worker Performance Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workspace History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workspace Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Future of Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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B. V. Olson (*) School of Architecture, Woodbury University, Burbank, CA, USA Environmental Design, Case Western Reserve University, Los Angeles, CA, USA e-mail: [email protected] C. McGuire Miami University, Oxford, OH, USA e-mail: [email protected] A. Crawford Thomas More University, Crestview Hills, KY, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_3

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The Worker-Centered Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Management Model-Structure (Old Versus New) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Integration of Mutual Benefit (the Worker-Centered Work Environment Framework) . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

Since the beginning of human time, work has been part of life, sometimes dreaded and sometimes enjoyed. Shifts in technology and societal trends have brought about new insights into what it means to live and work. Once relied upon for strength and muscle, humans are now more than ever becoming knowledge workers needed for the power within their minds. No longer can organizations ignore the well-being of workers if they want to succeed in a globally competitive environment. To be leverage the power of the workforce of the future requires a new approach to designing organization. Our design imagines a future where both workers and organizations can flourish live never before. Keywords

Quality of work life · Employee engagement · Worker identity · Future of work · Worker experience

Workplace Well-Being “Workplace Wellbeing relates to all aspects of working life, from the quality and safety of the physical environment, to how workers feel about their work, their working environment, the climate at work and work organization.” International Labor Organization

Work as Punishment Many Christians trace the history of work back to the day God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden after they ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of life. That was when God told Adam, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree from which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil, you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it will yield you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground – because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3: 17–19, NIV translation). Work as punishment is certainly not a positive and engaging experience based on this description. Another Adam, Adam Smith, stated, “It is

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through work that natural objects are transformed into things that people need or want.” Thus, “What everything really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it. What everything is really worth to the man who has acquired it, and who wants to dispose of it or exchange it for something else, is the toil and trouble which it can save to himself, and which it can impose upon other people” (Smith 1937). Again, we see toil and trouble, like punishment, as how work is often described. However, for many of us, work is part of the joy of life. Looking again to the Bible, we see verses that explain the important role work plays in the human experience, such as “Whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” (Colossians 3:23, NIV translation). Work brings meaning and purpose to our existence and somehow becomes an extension of who we are and a step toward who we are seeking to become. In the paragraphs which follow, we describe a brief history of work and then shift to work motivation theory. As with any of the societal changes that have occurred over time, we must understand some of the pieces of history to make sense of the present.

A Brief History of Work In very early times, work was mostly related to meeting the basic needs for your immediate and extended family, like providing food and shelter. From a worker well-being perspective, the “well-being and flourishing aspect of the human experience was about survival and procreation.” The division of labor was based on gender roles of hunting and gathering. As people realized the protection and economies of scale benefits that working together within a tribe provides, communal living became the norm. With this integration and co-mingling of people, social classes, slavery, and trade began to broaden and change the view of what it means to work and who should do the work. As trade continued and currencies were formed, building wealth also became a goal of work for many people. The concept of work has no doubt changed significantly with advances in technology and shifts in society during the progression of Medieval times to the Industrial Revolution to the current Information Age. At the start of mass production, workers were viewed as machines, because most were uneducated and needed specific instruction as to how to perform their jobs. They were needed to use their strength to dig, move, and assemble. From a managerial perspective, workers were also often viewed as replaceable cogs in a wheel moving round and round, regardless of the actual person doing the work. However, as education increased as a societal priority, innovative ideas began to replace manual tasks. For example, workplaces no longer had to rely on manpower for heavy lifting but could instead train employees to use bulldozers and forklifts to do the work. Similarly, repetitive assembly line work could be accomplished by programmed robots. The value of the human worker began to change. Workers were now relied upon for more than just productivity and strength; they were now thinking beings needed for their knowledge and intellect.

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The people, places, and technology related to what it means to work continue to evolve and change throughout history. However, what it means to be uniquely human – a breathing, thinking being with a beating heart – has not. Many fear artificial intelligence will take over the world, leaving humans hopeless and jobless, walking the earth like zombies with no purpose and nowhere to go. Our view of the future is brighter. We believe that by creating environments where employees can bring their entire selves to work – integrated with technology, place, and their individual uniqueness as a person – work, both as a place and a verb, will lead to human flourishing. Just like we need to reflect on the history of work and the sociocultural changes influencing our conceptualization of what it means to be a human who works, we also need to understand what we know about human work motivation and how that has changed over time.

Work Motivation Theory Overview In his booked titled Work Motivation: History, Theory, Research and Practice, Latham (2012) segments the way workplace motivation has been viewed since the Industrial Revolution as follows (Fig. 1):

Timeline

Research and practice themes

1900–1925 Taylorism Scientific Management (1911) and time and motion studies. Researchers focused on money and standardization as motivators to improve performance 1925–1950 Experiments, field studies, and surveys to improve performance, Hawthorne studies, Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943). Researchers began to look at motivation and job satisfaction

1950–1975 Behaviorism, with B. F Skinner (1953), focused on stimuli and response; expectancy theory (Vroom, 1964), researchers focused on need satisfaction, behavior modification, goal setting

1975–2000 Bandura’s social cognitive theory (1977) behavior as interactions between cognition, behaviors, and the environment. Job characteristics, organizational commitment, justice. Researchers began to recognize the influence of trust, fairness, and feelings in the workplace 2000–2010 Personality characteristics, intrinsic, and extrinsic motivation. Researchers revisiting self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan), person-environment fit (Chatman, 1989), cognition, social cognition, moods, and emotions

Fig. 1 Work motivation theory summary. (Latham 2012)

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As you can see from the table above, the work motivation literature and research have shifted as the nature of work and workplaces have changed, along with our ability to test various theories. However, our business education programs are still working to catch up with what we have learned about humans. If we look back 25 years in management education, you won’t find a focus on leading employees, well-being, or human flourishing at work. Back then, it was mostly about managing and controlling people. Fortunately, we are seeing a shift toward embracing the value of being uniquely human at work. Although the situation is complicated because motivation for work may change and is dependent on both internal and external factors, which creates moving targets that are difficult to explain as organizations attempt to leverage the power of a global workforce. The good news is that when we view workers as valuable people with unique needs, preferences, goals, and images as to what work means to them, we have an opportunity to build upon much of the research that has been done – and continues to be conducted – to seek to understand each worker as a unique person seeking to live out whatever it means to experience a high quality of work life.

Quality of Work Life and Flourishing in the Twenty-First Century Peter Drucker (1999) predicted that “the most valuable asset of a 21st-century institution will be its knowledge worker and their productivity” (p. 79). Drucker believed that knowledge workers ought to be viewed as human capital to be fostered and nurtured to reach their highest potential, instead of as an exploitable resource. Investments made by organizations to increase knowledge and information workers’ engagement and performance have shown limited results. Recent Gallup data indicates that the engagement level in the US knowledge workforce is at a mere 33% (Gallup 2018a). One of the contributing factors to this dismal statistic is that many organization’s core purpose in the free-market economy is to prioritize shareholder value and return on investment. The apparent disconnect between this organizational objective and workforce needs hinders progress in achieving the worker’s well-being that can advance organizational performance outcomes. While the multi-generational knowledge workforce in the digital age continues to become ever more diverse and challenging, many organizations still function under the industrial age model. According to Deloitte (2017), only 11% of management believe they know how to create an organization of the future. Academic and practitioner research has shown that the work environment has a significant impact on workers’ behavioral and performance outcomes in diverse industies and in their ability to flourish in their lives. This is especially true for knowledge and information work, which is difficult to quantify and measure, and often happens around the clock for many professional workers. With the spread of remote work, expectations for always being a call or text away, and the gig economy, the typical nine to five workday is not a reality for most workers. What we often hear called “work-life balance” is often a non-achievable goal. As employees, our reality is more of a work-life integration, which means that we need to be even more

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cognizant of the spillover effects which occur from our experiences at work, and how this integration may impact our well-being. Researchers have found that depending on the challenges and demands in our work, these have a spillover effect to our overall human flourishing (Kim and Beehr 2019). More than job satisfaction and happiness, quality of work life is the overall quality of life that is influenced by work related to how an employee would evaluate their work environment (Varghese and Jayan 2013). The Gallup-Sharecare Wellbeing Index (Gallup 2018a), which measures how people feel about and experience their daily lives, showed an overall decline from 2016 to 2017. The survey was conducted with 2.5 million individuals in the USA and showed the largest year-overyear decline in its 10-year history. The two factors of well-being with the most dramatic decline in this self-reported survey were “purpose” (liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals) and “social” (having supportive relationships and love in your life) (Gallup 2018a). Quality of work life (QWL) is a dual construct that combines elements related to job functionality, such as work design and compensation, and job experience relative to feelings of well-being and satisfaction (Danna and Griffin 1999). QWL encompasses a broad manifestation of the workers’ perception of their work environment. A definition of the QWL construct has been attempted in numerous studies surrounding social science research. Using a model of needs that measures QWL in the work domain, Sirgy et al. (2001) examined work environment, job requirements, supervisory behavior, and ancillary programs as the input variables to employee needs satisfaction. Sirgy et al. (2001) define QWL as “employee satisfaction with a variety of needs through resources, activities, and outcomes stemming from participation in the workplace.” In this chapter, the supposition is that QWL must be evaluated based on two distinct types of indicators, namely, extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic indicators are controlled by the organization, while intrinsic indicators are grounded in the worker’s personal experience. The first type falls predominantly into quantitative categories such as (a) human resource factors, compensation and benefits; (b) physical space, characteristics and locations of workspace; and (c) technology, tools and resources. These are organizational management-derived conditions based on cost and efficiency of operations. These input factors are extrinsically controlled by the organization’s corporate functions. They are driven by the corporate mission and imposed onto the workforce as conditions of employment. It is a framework that sets the norms to which workers adapt in order to remain part of the organization with the expectation of performance outcomes. The influence is onedirectional – flowing from the organization to the workforce using the corporate functions of human resources, facilities, and information systems as the mediators. In contrast, the intrinsic motivators are a manifestation of the individual worker’s dispositions and attitudes, which translate into the unique worker experience.

Defining the Worker Experience Recognizing that the life of a worker spills over into their life as a human, which determines their overall well-being and flourishing, we develop an integrated worker

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experience framework. From a workplace design perspective, we create this model of the worker experience that includes culture, technology, and workspace. As these variables come together, they create what we define here as “the worker experience” (WX). WX constitutes the affective response that the worker has to the holistic work environment. These outcomes are triggered by the work environment factors of culture, technology, and workspace but also determined by workers’ individual personality. These attitudinal and dispositional manifestations of individual personalities are the antecedents to self-reported outcome measures in academic and practitioner studies that explain the responses to the work environment. To understand the WX response, it is necessary to know the worker identity that drives it. Measuring a response to an input only explains the direction and intensity of that response, not the cause. In an organizational context, this approach explains unexpected results such as (a) an increase in pay scale without commensurate improvement in engagement; (b) the expense of new laptops without increase in connectivity; (c) investment in new office space with a decline in employee morale; and (d) open plan workspace with a reduction in collaboration. These confounding outcomes baffle organizational leadership, management consultancies, and business school academics. US companies invest billions of dollars in manipulating the work environment while not moving the needle on worker engagement. Thus, mapping the underlying causes of worker responses is imperative prior to investing time, money, and energy into developing the work environment of the future. Gallup’s Perspective on Designing Your Organization’s Employee Experience (Buono 2018) defines employee experience as “the journey an employee takes with [the] organization. It is the sum of all interactions an employee has with an employer, from pre-recruitment to post-exit. It includes everything from major milestones and personal relationships to technology use and the physical work environment.” While this definition appears to be all-encompassing, there are two concerns with this perspective: (a) employees are a shrinking proportion of the workforce with up to 36% (Gallup 2018b) of workers in an alternative work arrangement, and (b) conditions of the work environment are externally imposed forces which influence worker perceptions of the organization without insight into how that perception is formed by the worker experience. In other words, what are the dispositional characteristics of the workers – both on-site and remote – that cause them to have a positive or negative experience in the organization’s work environment? How does the organization identify and consider these worker characteristics in its decision-making to construct a positive worker experience and move the needle on worker engagement? Based on a Gallup survey, one-third of global employees agree that the mission and purpose of their organization makes them feel that their jobs are important. To increase the number of workers who feel their jobs are important, as well as raise worker engagement, should the organization tweak their mission statement and measure the response or make an effort to understand the worker personas and attitudes that reveal their individual definition of importance? Experience is an affective emotion that is personal and intrinsically motivated. It stands to reason that to influence the worker experience, it is essential to know who the worker is, in other words, the worker’s identity. Studies in organizational development have shown correlations between personality characteristics and organizational values.

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A study by Koberg and Chusmir (1987) discovered positive affective outcomes when examining congruence between individual personalities and perceptions of the organization’s culture. In fact, they found significance in job satisfaction and turnover intent if the following correlations existed (Fig. 2). There is clearly a need for a balanced approach defining the influencers of QWL that represents the interests of both the organization and the workforce. This requires a non-traditional structural model of the organization that gives equal weight to an organization’s mission and worker experience in order to optimize corporate profits as well as worker well-being. This chapter lays out the construct of the twenty-firstcentury knowledge worker experience relative to the three corporate contexts: culture, technology, and workspace. It then summarizes the traditional framework of the knowledge work organization with its fundamental, structural obstacles tied to prioritizing the WX and improving the QWL (Fig. 3). The chapter concludes by offering an alternative structural model that redefines the roles of the three major corporate functions. An inverted model of information flow is presented which focuses on the workforce at the individual level is presented; this model is used to predict WX and optimize QWL. It provides insight into ways to operationalize the model and prepare the organization to take on the gig economy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Worker Characteristic

Organization Culture

Need for Affiliation

Supportiveness

Need for Power

Bureaucracy

Need for Achievement

Innovativeness

Fig. 2 Workers’ needs supported by organizational culture Fig. 3 Quality of work life from workforce needs perspective Culture

WX Technology

Workspace

QWL

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The Twenty-First Century Worker and Beyond The Changing Nature of Worker Identity Consider the following scenario, and let’s ask ourselves how the worker experience is changing and influencing our work identities. “It is 6 am and the iPhone alarm sounds, waking me up to my favorite song that I selected specifically for how it makes me feel first thing in the morning. I get out of bed and check my smartwatch to determine how well I did or did not sleep. As I get ready for work, I pull on a pair of sweatpants and a workout top, preparing early for my midday break where I plan to hit the gym. I wake the children, as my husband presses the button on the Keurig to make himself a coffee. We all eat a gluten-free, paleo-friendly quick breakfast that was sent to us last evening by our meal delivery service. In less than 30 min, I drive the children to school, and he catches an Uber that takes him to the train station. On my way back home, I order my nonfat soy latte with extra foam from Starbucks on their app, and it is ready when I arrive. My husband texts me that he loves me, and my mother texts me to check-in and verify what time she needs to pick up the children. I also check Instagram and see that my neighbor just posted another photo of her cat. As I walk back into the house, I can see my computer is already lighting up with instant messages and email notifications. My workday as a Global Product Manager has begun, especially since my teams in Japan and the UK have already started work. After multiple Zoom and WebEx meetings, and fifty-or-so emails, I am ready for a quick break to the gym at noon. On the way back home, I pick up my pre-ordered lunch through the Panera drive-thru and then continue on. I check my watch to make sure I got “credit” for my workout, meaning that my heart rate and calories burned registered in my watch. Then, I remember that we are out of paper towels, so I yell out to Alexa and ask her to place an order on Amazon. My mother, who recently retired, picks up the children from school. At around 6 pm my husband arrives from work, and we split the running duties for each of the children’s activities, and then we meet back at home for the dinner we ordered from Grubhub, since each of us wanted to order from various locations. We stay connected with work and our social network by checking our phones as we help with our children’s homework, who also vacillate between checking text messages and helping them submit answers to their online course materials. We read a story to our youngest child, and then we have the children put their electronic devices away because it is bedtime. We end our evening as husband and wife, exhausted, sitting with our computers on our laps watching one of the hundreds of choices of television shows while working once again, before we go to bed and wake up for another day of work to begin.”

This situation above describes just one of the many thousands of variations of scenarios depicting what it means to work today. Does it sound like human flourishing? Is this what we mean by well-being? Maybe, maybe not. Growing up, some of us may remember our fathers leaving for work and mothers staying home. Or maybe we were raised by single parents, or both of our parents worked, and we came home after school to an empty house because our parents were “at work.” Work was something that you did and a place where you would go. Of course, there was plenty of work being done at home, but that was called housework, yard work, and homework. Even for office workers, they woke, dressed in their suits and ties, then headed off to work, where phones were ringing and memos were typed in typing pools. The ability to send and receive written messages electronically in seconds or search for information online did not exist yet. Of course, our

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grandparents and great grandparents also witnessed significant shifts in what constitutes work. Generations have seen shifts from sweatshops and dangerous steel mills to union protections and manufacturing technology that has ushered in more computers than humans in almost every workplace. There is no doubt work is not the same as it was 50 years ago. These monumental shifts in what it means to go to work and be a worker have led us to redefine ourselves and our identities as workers. Although humans remain the same from a biological-needs perspective in many ways, even as technological advances have infiltrated just about every area of our lives, who we are as workers today needs ongoing examination. Changes in gender roles, technology, personalization, artificial intelligence, generations, globalization, and the gig/sharing economy are just a few of the sociocultural shifts we can see from the illustration above that have created a new “normal” for what family and work life is like in the USA. Before we discuss the influence of these sociocultural changes, we first must understand what we mean by worker identity. Leaving home, going to a workplace, and engaging in work behaviors is the typical way that adults develop a worker identity (Dickie 2003). According to identity theory, a person’s identity is a set of meanings that people attach to the social roles they occupy, groups where they belong, and the ways they see themselves as unique (Stets and Serpe 2013, p. 34). Role identity is a set of internalized meanings that people associate with certain social roles they occupy in society (Stets and Burke 2000). For instance, if I am a nurse, I have a specific role identity that I associate with being in the role of a nurse which may include acting with compassion and care, wearing scrubs, and being knowledgeable for my patients. My conceptualized meaning as to how a nurse behaves will guide my behavior if I have internalized the meanings associated with “being” a nurse. As we interact with other people in our family, work, church, clubs, and so on, we begin to develop what are called group identities (Stets and Serpe 2013, p. 38). As workers, we develop our group identities as we enact our role identities with other people at work. When organizations communicate their strategy in a way that the employees feel part of something bigger than themselves, they create group identities where employees feel they belong. This group-level attachment leads to the development of shared norms and meaning. For instance, if we begin to work with and develop relationships with coworkers, we feel like we are part of a group that is separate from others, which becomes our in-group. Our identifications with the group, or employer, in this case, become stronger based on our experiences as a group member. In our consulting work and research, we found that employees often make references to “my company” or “my department.” The simple addition of the word “my” in front of the description is one indicator that someone has developed a group-level identity. A simple two-letter word helps to establish that they have internalized this group within their identity or, in this case, organization. Social identities are similar, yet different from group identities in that they are not created through interacting with other people but rather are based on how people already categorize themselves, such as by race, ethnicity, or gender. For instance, consider Susan, an executive at an IT firm. As a worker, her social identity is African American and female, while her role identity is CEO, and her group identity is likely

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attached to the IT company. If her role as CEO is a salient part of her identity, she will likely behave in ways that fit how she perceives a CEO should behave. However, she may also be influenced by her other role identities as well, such as wife, mother, board member, and so on, depending on the situation. Lastly, workers also have person identities which distinguish them from other people – these are ways in which they view themselves as unique (Burke and Stets 2009). Navigating various role, group, social, and person identities are part of the worker experience. Currently, there is much focus on helping people leverage their strengths, which are part of their person identities. People have very different combinations of strengths, which makes them unique. This person identity provides an answer to the “Who am I?” question because it allows for a person to delineate between themselves and someone else. Understanding that our work identities are comprised of role, group, and personal identities is important to discovering who we are and who we will continue to become at work. When we are working and we feel that one or more of these identities are being reinforced, we feel that our identity is being verified. This identity verification – of feeling that we are able to live out who we truly are at work – generates positive feelings (Burke and Stets 2009). The more identities that are verified, the better the person feels (Stryker 2004). To answer the question of “Who are the workers of today?,” we need to recognize how individuals use identities to categorize and differentiate themselves from other people. These role, group, social, and person identities are internalized and enacted in ways that influence how people view themselves. Over time, sociocultural changes have shifted role identities. As mentioned above, we believe there are many sociocultural areas that have been influential in changing worker identity over the past 10 years. The three we view as most impactful are what we call the three Gs: (1) gender roles, (2) generations at work, and (3) globalization. In the paragraphs which follow, we will describe each of these sociocultural influences and potential implications.

Gender Roles As flourishing involves an integration of multiple work and life roles, the shifting nature of gender roles are influencing the worker experience and also well-being. Gender roles are socially constructed, not based on biology, and are built within the social structure of society, with men and women experiencing life differently, as expectations for behavior and personality characteristics vary over time (Shehan 2018). Based on a review of the academic literature and practitioner-related research, we have found that increases in dual-income families, shifting perceptions of the roles of fathers, and the increasing educational attainment for women are some of the societal factors influencing worker identity as gender roles change. According to Crawford et al. (2019), “integrating work and life has been a prominent focus of both management scholars and practitioners” especially as the number of partners both working outside of the home has grown (p. 194). Among married couples with children, 61.1% have both parents employed (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017). Over the past several decades, fatherhood in America has also undergone some dramatic changes as roles, expectations, and behaviors of fathers

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have led to more paternal engagement (Petts et al. 2018). Although the percentage of parents who choose to stay at home has fluctuated over time, it is now only slightly above what it was in 1989, increasing from 17% to 18% of parents, while the percentage of stay-at-home fathers has increased more quickly from 4% to 7% (Livingston 2018). Albeit, research shows that at-home fathers face social stigma – and must also negotiate their masculinity – as society continues to move toward redefining masculinity in a way that incorporates childcare (Steinour 2018). One of the many support type groups formed to help reinforce the positive perception of the stay-at-home dad identity is the National At-Home Dad Network, whose members proudly wear “Dads Don’t Babysit. It’s called parenting” tee-shirts (National AtHome Dad Network 2019). For fathers who continue in the workplace, research has found that men have adapted to these changing expectations and views of fatherhood by holding multiple images of what fathering means which vary between traditional to being more engaged with their children, yet they feel constrained in discussing the stress they feel about managing their increased focus on fathering at work (Humberd et al. 2015). From a practitioner perspective, PEW Research published a report about American fathers, finding that fatherhood is increasingly a positive experience and central to a dad’s identity, with 57% of fathers stating that parenting is extremely important to their identity. More time is also spent on childcare for men, with 8 average hours per week in 2016, up from 2.5 in 1965, and 10 h per week on housework in 2016, versus 4 in 1965. Women’s roles have also shifted more toward time caring for children from an average of 10 h per week in 1965 up to 14 h per week in 2016, while time spent on housework has decreased to 16 h per week in 2016 versus 32 h per week in 1965, thanks also to many advances in home technology. While paid work for women increased significantly from an average of 9 h per week in 1965 to 25 h per week in 2016, hours worked per week decreased for men from 46 to 43 h per week during the same period. However, many working fathers (52%) also struggle with balancing work and family, which continues to be a challenge for most working mothers (60%) (Livingston and Parker 2019). The fact that fathers are more focused on balancing work and family will have implications as to how they view their relationship with work and ultimately impact their well-being. In March of 2018, PEW also published a report of gender gains and gaps in the USA, citing that the labor participation rate for women has grown from 33.9% in 1950 to 57% in 2017 while decreasing from 86.4% to 69.1% for men during the same time period (Geiger and Parker 2018). In the same report, 38% of women are college educated, while 33% of men have earned a college degree. The Department of Education is forecasting that by 2026, women will earn 150 college degrees for every 100 degrees earned by men (Perry 2017). Albeit, even with more women working outside of the home and continuing their education, gender stereotypes and pay differentials still exist, which can be detrimental to both genders. These shifts in gender roles in the workplace may take years to be understood. However, acknowledging how gender influences worker identity is pivotal to creating an environment where well-being can flourish.

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Generations at Work As we consider both stage of life and the time in which we were born as important to flourishing and well-being, we must consider the generational influences. Generations are groups that share birth years, significant experiences, and developmental stages that influence their values and behaviors (Abrams and von Frank 2014). We are working in a multi-generational workforce with four to five generations working together, creating an experience that hasn’t existed until now. Although there is always debate related to the exact dates generations begin and end and, of course, differences based on individual personalities, the generally accepted generations by date are outlined in the Table 1 below. Whether it is for financial reasons or because they want to continue to contribute, members of the silent generation continue to be part of the workforce, and baby boomers are also waiting until much later in life to retire for similar reasons. This might also be attributed to the correlation between medical advances and longer life spans. Generation X’ers are in the middle of their careers, while many millennials are starting families, and generation Z’s are just entering the workforce. Each generation is working together with very different views about how to work and how to live. From a worker identity perspective, we know that our personal and social identities can be influenced by the time in which we were born. As illustrated in the table above, generational research shows that we are influenced by our families and the culture in which we are raised, along with major events, technological advances, and shifting social norms that change the way we live and interact with one another. Think about just a few of the differences we outline below and how they may influence a person’s perspective about how work and life should be integrated. The challenges of leading and working in a multi-generational workforce calls for leaders to reconsider how they currently lead their organizations. Instead of taking a one-size-fits-all approach, these new generational dynamics require a more personal and human-to-human approach to managing and leading within an organization. The good news is that by taking generational differences into consideration and working to personalize the work environment, we also have an opportunity to create organizations where other types of diversity is welcomed. When we learn to value employees as individuals, we allow them to live out their identities, which will lead to more positive work experiences. By building upon the strengths and uniqueness of each individual, we can help every worker develop their own uniquely valued worker identity. Globalization Human flourishing and well-being is also a global challenge. In the 1960s, media theorist Marshall McLuhan coined the term the “global village” which he described as a future where humans are connected by technologies in a way that eliminates the effects of space and time so that the globe is connected metaphorically as a village (Lee 2017). Most people would agree that the expansion of technology has created connections which were never thought possible before the World Wide Web was

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Table 1 Generations at work comparison Generation Silent generation or traditionalists 1928–1945 Ages 91–74 Baby boomers 1944–1964 Ages 75–55

Generation X 1965–1980 Ages 54–39

Millennials or generation Y 1981–1995 Ages 38–24

Generation Z 1996 to present Ages < 25

Influences Raised during the great depression

Traditional family values “Flower power” generation is known for their pivotal roles in the civil rights movement, Woodstock and the Vietnam war

First generation of “latch key” kids Worldview is based on change, on the need to combat corruption, dictatorships, abuse, AIDS, a generation in search of human dignity and individual freedom, the need for stability, love, tolerance, and human rights for all Grew up making the rules rather than having their parents tell them what is right. Technology savvy. High expectations for themselves. More prone to depression, loneliness, and panic attacks at their age

Raised during the great recession. Never known life without social media or technology

Work values Traditional work practices Hierarchical style of management Hardworking Loyal Respect earned by years of experience Relationships Interpersonal communication Put work first Coined “workaholic” Live out the 9–5 American dream Respect earned through tenure and status Steady work ethic Not loyal to any company Work-life balance Independent Do not agree with hierarchical management Not a straight career path Respect earned through performance Flexibility rather than a higher tax bracket. Team oriented. Want more vacation time, casual dress, and the flexibility of working from home rather than the office. Desire to work smarter, not harder. Not impressed by job status or titles. Respect earned through performance. Have never known a world without the internet Financially focused Want job security and continuous feedback Expect to be recognized by their individual merits and contributions Competitive Do not enjoy open and shared workspaces

invented. Although we’ve had access to television and telephones, the power of seeing events real time across the globe has changed the way we view our world. From a worker identity perspective, we know that people are more geographically dispersed and the workforce is more ethnically diverse. Such differences in personal and social identities require a new perspective on worker identity since we are now requiring employees to be part of more diverse teams both physically and virtually. Even if an organization maintains most of its employees in one key location, they are still likely needing to work with clients and customers throughout the world. The globalization of business and reach of the internet can connect people with one another from across the globe within seconds.

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From a geographic perspective, employees are also expecting to be able to work from wherever they would want. The proliferation of 24-h news has also made the world “feel” smaller by creating an environment where information is always available. Everything that is said and done nearly everywhere in the world can be taped, watched, and re-watched. Such implications of a “global village” influence how employees view and establish their identities as workers. They have the social identity they relate to, ethnic backgrounds, and personal identities that define who they are as individuals. However, technology has made it accessible to interact with and compare themselves to people throughout the world, adding a different dimension as to how they view themselves as part of a broader society.

Technology Drivers “Technology is hijacking our minds and society. We must take back control, ensuring that we do not just make our world ‘smarter.’” Technologists in Silicon Valley

Technology is often cited as negatively impacting well-being. However, to determine how it might be part of the human flourishing equation, we need to look carefully at how it impacts the future of work. A discussion about the future worker and workplace must include an examination of technology’s influence on how we work. Today, technology is ubiquitous with business. Since the introduction of PCs into the workplace in 1981 (Horn and Winston 1975), organizations have revamped their way of doing business with the promise of a more efficient and productive workforce. But for all of the benefits computing power has brought to organizations, it is not without impacts to individual workers and their quality of work life. To illustrate, we outline three significant effects of technology in the workplace.

The Connected, Disconnected Worker Workers with Multichannel Communication but Fewer Relationships To flourish and experience well-being, we know that humans need relationships with other humans. Yet, our workplaces are changing and many people are becoming more isolated. When was the last time you wrote a business memo? Got on a plane to meet with your team at another location? Sent the latest budget report via interoffice mail or postal service? Twenty years ago, these were commonly used techniques to communicate ideas, direction, and performance of a company. Ten years ago, memos were replaced by email, air travel replaced by web conferencing, and mailing budget reports replaced by dashboards and on-demand reporting services within applications. Technology has changed the way people communicate in the workplace. Today smartphones, social networking sites, and chat apps have brought communication to a new level. Communication among workers and managers has become instantaneous, deliberate, collaborative, and unified. Tools have advanced beyond Microsoft Office so the workforce can send emails, text, video chat, or even video

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conference through social networking apps like WhatsApp and Skype. With this dramatic increase in collaboration comes a heightened level of flexibility in communication, allowing coworkers to facilitate continued partnerships no matter where each individual may be. Teamwork is much more engaged and boosted to a whole new level. In short, with the help of technology, your physical presence at the workplace may no longer be needed. With all the benefits granted by communication and collaboration tools introduced in the last two decades, this type of communication technology seems to eliminate face-to-face communication. Workplace relationships – which depend on interpersonal communications – are seen to suffer at the hands of technology. This condition limits (or slows) the richness of relationships created exclusively through the use of technology. It is important to recognize that this attitude toward technology’s role in the impact of workplace relationships is not universal. As mentioned in the previous section, the experience of the workers in building these relationships does differ across the generations. Millennials see technology as a natural enabler of relationships rather than an inhibitor (Myers and Sadaghiani 2010). This presents unique challenges for leaders who supervise workers across several generations. These leaders must relearn how workers’ work life is created and improved upon in the workplace (physical and virtual). What tools does a leader have to ensure a QWL for workers feeling disconnected?

The Efficient, Anxious Worker Technology-Enabled Efficient Worker ! Technology-Replacing Worker The modern workplace has experienced a complete shift in how we spend our time. Time management has been optimized, and the efforts put into everyday tasks have been lightened through technology-enabled automation, streamlining, and reengineering. Worker productivity and efforts have been improved, allowing them to place more emphasis on more important things such as precision and creativity. Let’s examine a few: 1. Technology. The proliferation of technology has accelerated the automation of tasks at work. This automation pushes to maximize efficiency and increase productivity at work. The use of computers to accomplish specific tasks at work creates the ability to make instant corrections while reducing the instances of human error. Automation means we can develop better insights into our employees through analytics and conduct conversations with our customers using chatbots fueled by artificial intelligence; this is an evolution of decisionmaking where workers are replaced by machine-learning computers. 2. Data. Early on, using databases to capture and store information can facilitate quick decision-making at work. Employees can easily access business information via one single database; this information can be edited and saved for later use. Today, organizations seek to leverage the vast amount of information they hold to better understand their customers, their competition, and each other. Big Data

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tools harness this unstructured data by turning it into deeper, more readily available insights for an organization. These new tools promote efficiency and accuracy to the delight of the organization and its bottom line. However, it also creates an efficient, yet anxious worker. This productivity increase also increases the level of expectation of clients and coworkers. Results are expected much faster than ever before. However, as much as technology has improved efficiency, it also has the potential to impede it. Kai-Fu Lee, an artificial intelligence expert, made a splash when he stated his prediction that automation will cause major changes in the workforce (Reisinger 2019). He forecasted a 40% job loss over the next 15 years for jobs susceptible to replacement by a machine. This might include accountants, physicians, and data scientists. Although Lee has been challenged by critics who state his numbers are extreme, this shift from technology-human collaboration to technology replacing humans creates an anxious worker. Leaders have a difficult job. They must balance the needs of the organization (cost efficiency, growing demands of the customer, maintaining a competitive advantage) with the needs of their workers. How do leaders create an environment where business and worker needs are met? What must they consider?

The Mobile, Isolated Worker Technology Enables Work from Anywhere, Yet Workers Experience Feelings of Isolation The use of internet and computers has eliminated the space and time boundaries of a workplace. Employees can work from anywhere at any time; this mobility makes employees stay in control of their jobs. We can answer email while waiting for the train, jump onto a call in the middle of the night to talk with colleagues halfway around the world, and instant message with our boss while at the airport. Tools like Skype, Zoom, and other virtual meeting applications save us time; we don’t have to be in meetings physically, yet information and data will still be shared in real-time. That word, efficient, creeps into the conversation. Our ability to work from anywhere at any time has become a cornerstone for most knowledge workers. Mobility to the extreme can be witnessed in the telecommuter or teleworker. These individuals use technology to create a virtual work life. Instead of coming to the office, these workers depend on technology and a home-based workspace to perform their duties. Although the term telecommuting was coined in the 1970s, it wasn’t until the 1980s that organizations began to take it seriously (Fig. 3). Benefits such as saving money on office space and reducing their carbon footprint motivated many organizations to embrace, encourage, and, in some cases, mandate telework. Workers find the flexibility and focused productivity ideal; this focused productivity is a result of being away from the distractions of the office. Today, it is estimated that 24% of workers telecommute for at least part of their work week (Fig. 4).

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2.3%

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24% Today

The number of U.S. workers telecommuting some hours each week

Fig. 4 Percentage of American workforce working from home. (Hess 2014)

For all the positive gains mobility brings, workers battle isolation. Distractions in the office often serve a purpose. Without them, workers can feel isolated from their teams, only connecting during scheduled, structured encounters. Workers who build their relationships in physical workspaces get a chance to know each other in person, sometimes sharing non-work-related information because informal, unstructured communication is allowed to exist. These concerns gain complexity in our global community, where unique expectations arise with workers from different countries, ranging from standards for worker behavior to communication preferences. Questions to consider: • How do you lead a team you cannot see? • How do you avoid an out of sight, out of mind mentality? This section describes the manner in which technology has transformed the way we work. No one questions the positive aspects of technology enablement. However, it generates a number of challenges to the quality of work life in the workplace, and leaders are expected to address these challenges. The danger is when leaders attempt to allay the concerns in isolation of other factors contributing to QWL (worker identity and the workspace itself).

Worker-Workspace Relationship Congruence between workspace functionality and employee performance is essential to the success of knowledge work organizations. Much has been invested in office work environments in support of knowledge work; however, knowledge workers are little understood and often underrepresented in the process of workspace design (Haynes 2011). Furthermore, due to the nature and diversity of knowledge work, there is still little evidence that pinpoints the type of workspace that makes

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knowledge workers more engaged and productive. The trend has been toward openplan offices with low or no partitions between the individual workspaces. As of 2017, 70% of office work environments in the USA are considered open-plan offices. The motivation was to increase collaboration and foster innovation. However, recent studies show that 58% of workers need more privacy for problemsolving and 54% of workers find their workspace to be too distracting (Belk 2017). Bernstein and Turban (2018) found that face-to-face interaction decreased by 70% and email and instant messaging increased in open office work environments. Generic, one-size-fits-all workspaces do not work. Workers are not interchangeable. While generational, gender, and cultural archetypes can provide some insight into overarching preferences, human beings are uniquely different from each other. Organizations that recognize, acknowledge, and support those differences have the ability to create a thriving work environment.

Worker Performance Factors Worker performance in knowledge work environments is difficult to define and even more difficult to measure. Research studies linking office performance and work environment are either dealing with physical conditions in the domain of environmental studies or behavioral factors in social psychology. The findings lead to conclusions that certain attributes of work environments result in better or worse worker performance (Leaman and Bordass 2004; Oseland 1999). In fact, while specific outcomes of any particular measure are uncertain, claims have been made that environmental factors can increase productivity by up to 15% (Oseland 1999). These purported cause and effect relationships seemingly established a link between environmental conditions and knowledge work productivity. Realistically, this research approach only establishes a correlation between specific attributes of workspace and self-reported outcomes. It does not explain the emotional effects that workspaces have on workers, which mediate their attitudinal and behavioral responses. Organizational behavior research indicates that one of the dominant factors that influence performance in a knowledge workforce is engagement. For the past two decades, Gallup surveys have indicated that worker engagement in the USA is holding at a mere 33%. Gallup defines engagement as being involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to the work and the workplace. (Fig. 5) (The data is collected from 1,500 employed US adults based on a 7-day rolling average. Gallup Daily: US Employee Engagement.) Kahn (1990) posited that the antecedents of engagement, such as value congruence and perceived organizational support, can be used to explain workers’ perception of physical work environments as contributing factors to engagement and job satisfaction. In fact, Crawford et al. (2010) state that perceived working conditions are common predictors of worker engagement. Thus, the physical work context can be perceived as a manifestation of the attitudes the organization has toward its workforce. A negative perception of workspace on the part of workers could suggest that management does not care about their workforce despite their contrary mission statement.

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The research in academia and practice is predominantly focused on individual perceptions of atomistic features of workspace as they correlate to behavioral or emotional outcomes conducted in post-occupancy evaluations of work environments. In a practical sense, this information is not helpful because it does not consider the basis of those perceptions. Thus, the features of desired workspace that generate positive outcomes in one set of workers cannot be replicated unless the worker characteristics that lead to the experience of said workspace are identified. In other words, who is experiencing the workspace is just as important as the workspace experience itself. Knowing the latter without the former is insufficient data for creating a work environment that would result in the desired outcome. The individual characteristics could be demographic, such as gender, age, economic status, marital status, and education level, or they could be psychographic in predicting work styles, work patterns, and dispositional preferences. Knowing worker individual and collective personas provides insight into their potential response behaviors and allows the work environment decisions to be user specific. Example: A West Coast office of a national organization with headquarters in the East Coast and locations in multiple regions across the country was facing a facilities review. The executive management decided to institute a telework policy as a perk to the administrative employees in the regional office in order to downsize the workspace and reduce the cost of a very expensive lease in downtown San Francisco. To do that, they provided a laptop to every employee to enable them to work at home 2–3 days per week to institute an unassigned workspace policy where employees share workstations. To that end, the centralized IT department negotiated a great deal with a major manufacturer to purchase laptops. The new laptops weighed 6 pounds. A majority of employees in the San Francisco regional office are female. They take public transportation to and from work and pick up children and groceries on the way home. Lugging a 6-pound laptop, plus files, on the commuter train was not feasible. Additionally, the office location was not in the best area of downtown, so the workers were worried about their safety walking to the train station while carrying large briefcases. Beyond this, many of them did not

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have the quiet space or secure connectivity to work from home. At the same time, their workspace at the office had been substantially curtailed, which meant that the commute to downtown did not ensure them a workstation when they got there. Other issues arose as well. The workers were not supplied with a business cell phone, so they had to make calls from their personal lines. Due to secure firewalls, some of the material could not be accessed from a remote location, which delayed or limited worker performance. The workers’ QWL declined dramatically.

Workspace History The definition of work environment in management research has historically focused on culture, leadership, strategy, process, and, more recently, technology. The influence of the physical workspace is not typically included as a variable in these study models. Components of the physical workspace first began attracting attention with the Hawthorne studies conducted between 1924 and 1932 at the Western Electric company by Mayo and Roethlisberger. These studies were meant to uncover the factors that improve worker productivity on assembly lines. Subsequent studies focused on understanding the impacts of atomized features of workspace that impact individual and organizational performance in a production setting using time-motion studies. However, with the shift from the industrial age to the knowledge and information age, it became increasingly more difficult to measure productivity using quantitative metrics, and the research into the worker-workspace relationship declined precipitously. As we mentioned above, the worker experience spills over into the lives of each person. These workspaces are part of well-being and flourishing for each worker. Office work environments, as they are known today, originated during the postWorld War II period when corporate headquarters began to emerge in the USA. The building boom of large-scale office building began in the 1950s and continued into the 1960s. It was a period in which office worker norms were defined. For most office workers, work consisted of repetitive tasks executed at a high level of efficiency that served the management and increased profits for the organization. The workers were expected to arrive and leave at the same time and work a set number of hours for which they received a weekly paycheck. Workers occupied workspaces comprised of either a private office or a clerical desk, and the emphasis was on uniformity, utilization efficiency, and cost containment. The headquarters which architecture built during this time period were symbols of this hierarchical, monolithic organizational model. Skyscrapers had a penthouse for the executive suites and other floors for a myriad of departments, which were organized in descending order based on their proximity to the executive leadership. Since then, the nature of work has undergone significant changes. Work has become more operationally interrelated, technologically driven, and logistically distributed (Davis 2016). Worker norms began to dissipate. To meet the changing needs of the worker, workspace had to become more flexible. In the late 1960s, Robert Probst created the workstation using modular, systems furniture, and office space was transformed from cellular private offices to “open

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plan” comprised of clusters of cubicles of uniform size and configuration, which made them interchangeable. While the open-plan office reduced the cost of construction and increased office density, it did not support the changing nature of work nor did it address the individualized and diverse needs of the worker population. It did, however, achieve two goals for the organization: (a) reducing real estate expenses and (b) controlling the image and brand of the headquarters office. While work styles (on-site, telecommuting, virtual, shared) and worker typologies (knowledge, information, freelance, remote, contract) have changed drastically over the past five decades, the symbolic brand of the corporate headquarters and the executive office continues to exist. The traditional organizational structure rooted in its corporate functions and hierarchy continues to survive. While many organizations’ stated mission claims that the workers are their most important asset, the priorities are on brand, image, and cost control, as evidenced by a recent survey by CBRE. Worker preferences and well-being are of much lesser importance when making workspace decisions (Fig. 6).

Workspace Design Workspace design is typically a collective effort on the part of multilevel, crossdisciplinary teams that encompass organizational leadership and representative workforce, as well as a myriad of design and consulting professionals. The design process consists of an ongoing interactive exchange of information and ideas among project team members leading to an implementable solution. Although design firms like to espouse the qualitative value of workspace design, numerous studies that looked at the effects of work environment design on workers and organizations have found little evidence that workspace directly impacts performance (Davenport et al. 2002; Duffy 2005). Social science research on the relationships between office 53%

Reduce Costs

52%

Flexible Lease Terms

43%

Satisfy Short-Term Need

37%

Test and Learn

29%

Entry into New Market

26%

Attract and Retain Talent Promote Innovation

19%

Source: America’s Occupier Surver, 2018 by CBRE Inc.

Fig. 6 Driving your decisions to utilize flexible office space solutions

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environment and worker performance has focused on “social” areas of work such as climate, culture, as well as work design but largely neglected the physical context of work (Baard et al. 2004; Posner et al. 1985; Rich et al. 2010; Staw et al. 1994). In contrast, research in the domain of facilities planning and design has focused on the antecedents of worker behavior, such as physical attributes and conditions of workspace that are expected to influence behavioral factors of office workers (Haynes 2007; Vischer 2007; Sundstrom et al. 1980; Brand and Smith 2005; Lee and Brand 2005). In practice, workplace design strategies are often influenced by industry trends, design styles, and handed-down traditions of generalized guiding principles. The primary source of requirements for workspace design projects is informal observations and interpretations of worker needs carried out by managers without specialized training in that task (Duffy et al. 1992). Professionals use this information to develop standard programs and modular space allocations based on user group archetypes. This approach has shown to generate only marginal success when reported through post-occupancy evaluations of office environments by individual occupants (Vischer 2002; Way and Bordass 2005). The delivery mechanisms used by architects, designers, and contractors succumb to the pressures of cost and schedule control; this does not allow for the time to evaluate the workforce needs and dispositions in order to make smart choices when it comes to workspace development. This results in a disconnect or outright rejection of the workspace by the workforce and leaves organizations dubious about their return on investment.

Future of Workspace Organizational scholars predicted the significance of knowledge work in the twentyfirst century. Peter Drucker foretold the importance of knowledge workers to organizational future performance. However, the relationships between organizations, workers, and space are continually changing. Office workspace has been redefined from static, familiar, and predictable to transitional, flexible, and virtual. Since the advent of burolandschaft (office landscape) in the 1960s, office workspace has transitioned from individual, cellular office to open-plan workstations to hoteling and touchdown spaces to no workspace at all. This created a myriad of possibilities in workspace design, as well as many concerns such as noise, privacy, and distraction, which have been extensively studied both from behavioral and design perspectives (Sundstrom et al. 1996; Evans and Johnson 2000). For a knowledge worker, this could mean sitting at a desk, in a workstation, around a conference table, in a coworking space, a coffee shop, or even the kitchen table. The impact of their perceived satisfaction with their immediate workspace, in addition to the general ambient conditions of their surroundings, could have a dramatic effect on how they feel, think, and act. Furthermore, these reactions cannot assume to be generalizable but rather unique to the individual worker’s perceptions. These personal characteristics cannot be assumed to be correlated to the worker’s job description or classification, which is typically how workspace is designated in the knowledge work environment. Thus, in the context of workspace design, the unit of analysis in

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understanding these relationships needs to shift from a group archetype to an individual-based profile.

The Worker-Centered Organization The first section of this chapter is an examination of the next generation of workers and their QWL through the lenses of identity, technology, and workspace. The next question must be “Now what? How do we address the QWL needs of the next-gen worker?” We start this section with an introduction of a business strategy paradigm shift designed to assist organizational leaders in effectively launching integrated workplace and workforce strategies that meet the demand of the current and future needs of organizations. Defining a change in organizational structure and strategy demonstrates an acknowledgment that QWL must be supported differently in today’s business landscape. This “people-centered approach” framework serves the needs of the twenty-first-century organizations who seek to build higher levels of performance, productivity, and engagement. We’ll complete our discussion by exploring how firms can transform their workforce and organization structure through a unique integration of tools and processes already existing in their organizational toolkit.

Management Model-Structure (Old Versus New) How should organizations address bringing the knowledge worker to the center of this discussion? First, we need to look at the way the organization is designed. An organization’s structure tells a great deal about its culture, level of connectedness, and work environment. Let’s look at the evolution of organizations from the traditional structure in terms of roles, accountability, and authority, where the center of decision-making and input gravitated to the upper hierarchy of organizations, and at an inverted structure, where decision-making and authority is distributed across the different levels in the organization (Fig. 7).

Leadership Versus Management As we have discussed, the nature of work is changing. As workers have become more educated, work has begun to entail solving complex problems and working with unpredictable factors, such as other people and changing industry conditions impacting workplaces. Instead of managing people and telling them what they must do, leaders of the future will need to embrace a new way of leading these next-gen members of the workforce. Ordering task completion and doing business as it has always been done will not guarantee that an organization can survive the uncertainties of the future. Instead, the viewpoint of employees as resources will be expended and replaced, and successful leaders will take the time to carefully examine signs, symbols, and language within the culture they have created. They

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Base of the Pyramid

People-centered Framework

Csuite

Workers

Workers

Mgmt.

Mgmt.

Workers

C-suite

Corporate Support Functions

Finance

Traditional Pyramid

Management

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C-suite Fig. 7 Changing organizational framework

will ensure that employees are at the center of this created culture, and they have the power to bring their entire selves to work. Organizations once asked workers to leave their personal life, emotions, and everything else non-work-related at “the door” when they arrived, but now organizations cannot afford to ask people to leave behind these pieces of themselves. To survive the changing nature of work and leverage the power of every worker, leaders will need to get to know each employee and their hopes and dreams and cast a vision that inspires them to be the best they can be at work. Their new call will be to take people with them into the future and give up control over them so they can become the best version of themselves.

Human Resources as Embedded Versus Enforcers Over time, the role of the human resources department has also evolved and changed. Employees in many organizations view HR as a threat. They see HR as enforcers of management policies. Most people would not consider being called down to HR a good day. Some of this perception has merit, especially in organizations where leaders have tasked human resources with protecting the company from lawsuits and enforcing rules and regulations as their primary responsibility. To the dismay of many human resources professionals, they have found their jobs being outsourced to consultants or payroll companies. Organizations typically outsource functions that are not core to their business. So, to not be seen as non-essential functions, which can easily be outsourced or replaced, human resource leaders need to change the nature of how they view their roles and how they embed themselves into the fabric of the organization. For example, how do employees view the role of human resources? Are they trusted and respected as a place where employees feel open to share their experiences and seek their guidance? How do leaders view human resources as a function? Do they feel they are effective in attracting and developing the talent needed for the changing nature of work? Those in human resources need to take time to evaluate their role and how they can avoid being enforcers of rules and regulations and task completers that can be outsourced to a variety of consultants and instead build their human resources organizations as the embedded glue that binds employees to the organization.

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Integration of Mutual Benefit (the Worker-Centered Work Environment Framework) As a practical application of the human-centered approach to organization strategy, this chapter introduces a structural change model (Fig. 8) which represents an inverted flow of influence from the workforce profile through the corporate functions to the organization leadership. This work environment framework (WEF) places human resources, information technology, and facilities management in service of the workforce in order to affect the QWL by providing a work environment that directly responds to the workforce profile. This structural change redefines the roles and responsibilities of the corporate functions not as a traditionally reactive, problem-solving arm of the organization but rather as a pro-active, innovative, anticipatory driver that enables the workforce and adapts the work environment to individualized needs. The integration and inversion of the three corporate functions that become the conduit of information flow from the workforce to the leadership. This new model will help us explore the QWL determinants as an opportunity to advance the understanding of what a worker experience is and how it can affect organizational success. Lastly, we will offer how firms can transform their workforce and organization structure through a unique integration of tools and processes that already exist in their organizational toolkit. Let’s break it down in detail.

Across Corporate Functions First, let’s explore an integrated, multilevel approach to QWL: horizontally across corporate functions and vertically across layers of the organization. Today’s organizations are starting to evolve their understanding that the worker matters. The workers’ QWL plays an important role in the productivity of the organization. But

Fig. 8 Work-centered work environment framework

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how do you capture it? How do you understand how to improve it? Too often, organizations take siloed approaches to the solution. Human resources, often considered the caretakers of worker QWL, may approach improvement measures through policies, training, and maybe QWL promotional events. They’ll construct surveys to measure worker QWL and create initiatives to manipulate (hopefully, improve) the number. HR addresses QWL using traditional methods. How is this effective in an untraditional workforce? Technology addresses QWL challenges by introducing technology tools implemented across the company to enhance collaboration, communication, and team building. Universal application of these tools is central to an efficient enterprise, but what does that mean for the workers or team of workers who need something different? Facilities designers have been known to approach QWL using evolved methods: open workspace, skylights, unconventional seating, and playrooms. But even with the out-of-the-box design, is it improving the QWL of workers? Are the archetype approaches still in play? These corporate functions recognize and try to address the needs of their worker QWL but in isolation of each other. What would happen if human resources, technology, and facilities management design integrated the discussion? The work environment framework places the worker in the center and develops a unified approach that brings the best of policy/human support, technology, and workplace design together. This coalescence across the three legs of corporate functions provides the support for the worker in an approach that addresses the worker’s QWL in a holistic manner. This also provides a certain degree of efficiency across the organization as the corporate functions (1) aren’t competing for the same resources, (2) aren’t undoing each other’s work, and (3) are aiding cross-organization communication.

Bottom-Up Information Flow The previous section described improved interorganizational communication as a benefit to the proposed model. Communication is such a cornerstone and contributor in much of a worker’s perception of the quality of their work life. But how often is the worker part of the conversation regarding worker QWL? A worker may be solicited for requirements or needs from human resources, technology, and facilities management, usually in the form of an annual or one-time survey. The purpose is to summarize, create themes, and elicit findings. These findings are often presented to leadership so that leadership can determine how work life is to be constructed for their workers. Is this the best way to uncover unique characteristics of workers? Are these characteristics which could unlock worker potential in ways not yet seen? The work environment framework fundamentally shifts the flow of information from topdown, to a facilitated bottom-up flow. It is important to note that this does not mean leadership has no input in how worker QWL is shaped since considerations such as budget and strategic direction must be taken into account. We are also not suggesting that this be a worker free-for-all where any and all requests be granted. Neither of these points would provide the desired effect. Instead, mechanisms would be put in place that organize individual worker needs rather than consolidating worker needs into archetypes prior to fulfillment. This ensures that worker needs are traceable from

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Fig. 9 Worker’s needs mapping chart

need to fulfillment rather than summarized with workers who may have some similarity. Organizations may be hesitant with opening this door as it sounds expensive and difficult to manage. But there are techniques to make these worker needs organized. The example in Fig. 9 shows a team, led by Ed. By collecting all of the needs of his team (including himself, since he’s also a worker), Ed can easily identify where he has consistent needs from workers while the worker is allowed to have their own combination. This team example can then be rolled up to the rest of the organization where economies of scale can be gained. Workers construct the components that make up their own QWL, while the organization can easily consolidate the needs for manageability.

Workspace Influence Workplace is the physical and emotional context in which the knowledge organization happens. It can be a representation of the brand and the image of the organization at the 30,000-foot view. It can also express the culture and climate of the management and workforce at the 10,000-foot altitude. However, where it has the potentially greatest impact is at the ground level with each individual worker and their experience. It is the collective experience of the workers that add up to the sum of the output to determine the performance level of the organization as a whole. Enabling corporate functions to focus on the individualized needs of the worker population creates a dataset that is the basis for targeted executive decision-making. This is especially true of the facility management role as it touches the needs of workers on both functional and emotional levels. Providing a safe and supportive workspace that is not only activity-based but also personality-based is essential to optimizing worker performance. This is in place of the generic, standardized, onesize-fits-all policies or the least costly, most expedient solutions to which workers are expected to adapt over time. The notion that addressing the individual needs of workers is too big an administrative job or that workers come and go and cannot be tracked is simply admitting that workers do not matter. It is the misguided belief that organizational performance is independent of worker performance. We already know that in knowledge work enterprises, this is not the case. We also know that the knowledge worker experience of their workplace significantly influences their cognitive and affective job engagement and directly impacts their problem-solving performance levels (Olson 2016). Thus, the integrated effort on the part of the

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corporate functions to understand the individualized worker experience of their workplace drives the QWL that ensures organizational success.

Conclusion The “people-centered approach” framework serves the needs of the next-generation organization who seeks to build higher levels of performance, productivity, and engagement. By reimagining firms through this cross-disciplinary, cross-functional lens, we provide leaders with a comprehension of the power of these mechanisms at work and in turn allows for more competent decision-makers and protectors of their workspace, human, and technology investment while delivering value to the business.

Cross-References ▶ A Humanistic Perspective for Management Research: Protecting Dignity and Promoting Well-Being ▶ How Wakeful Leaders Create Flourishing Workplaces ▶ Mindfulness, Wellness, and Spirituality in the Workplace ▶ Purpose, Meaning, Joy, and Fulfillment at Work ▶ Purpose, Meaning, and Well-Being at Work

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Efficient Diversity Management for Workplace Well-Being Deniz Zaptcioglu Celikdemir and Alev Katrinli

Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Organization and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Management Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Classical Management Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Diversity Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cultural Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Advantages and Benefits of Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Disadvantages and Challenges of Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ethical Considerations for Diversity and Diversity Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Impact of Efficient and Effective Diversity Management on Worker and Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

An organization should be efficient and effective in order to reach its organizational goals. In order for the organization to realize its goals, it should enable worker and workplace well-being. Within globalization and the increase in the usage of technology, a more diverse workforce is being created. The diverse workforce is composed of various employees. These diversities can be in terms of race, gender, age, education, ethnicity, or culture. Even though there are some laws and regulations regarding diversity management, there is still discrimination to many employees representing minorities, which end up with loss of workplace D. Z. Celikdemir (*) Yasar University, Izmir, Turkey e-mail: [email protected] A. Katrinli Faculty of Business, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_5

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well-being in the organization. Managers and employers should gain experience in managing diverse workforce. If the managers can implement efficient and diversity management, they could enable competitive advantage for the organization. For the managers to provide worker and workplace well-being, they should implement efficient and effective diversity management. The chapter presents the impact of efficient diversity management on worker and workplace well-being. The aim of this chapter is to explain the concept of workplace wellbeing by considering the effect of diversity management. Thus, the relationship between workplace well-being and effective and efficient diversity management is focused in this chapter. Workplace well-being is defined. Following that, diversity management is explained in terms of race, gender, age, and nationality. The benefits and challenges of diversity management are also emphasized. In addition, ethical considerations for diversity management are explained as well. At the end, the relationship between efficient diversity management and workplace well-being is emphasized. This chapter would shed light to both executives and scholars to understand the importance of efficient diversity management. Keywords

Management · Diversity · Effective diversity management · Workplace wellbeing · Ethics

Introduction The world has become a single market due to globalization and technological advancements. The increment in globalization and competition has taken the attention to diversity management (Colquitt et al. 2011; Ivancevich and Gilbert 2000; Robbins and Judge 2013). For each organization to be effective and efficient, to realize their goals, they should provide workplace well-being. For managers to provide workplace well-being with various employees from different backgrounds requires effective diversity management (Daft 1998; Robbins and Coulter 2009; Kocel 2005; Mucuk 2013). Diversity management is crucial especially in global firms, which consists of a wide array of employees having different origins. For an organization to be efficient and effective, diversity management should be taken into account. Besides race differences, which are experienced more in global or international firms, gender-based discrimination has taken place in almost every organization (Colquitt et al. 2011; Ivancevich and Gilbert 2000; Robbins and Judge 2013). In this chapter, it is aimed to represent the impact of diversity management on workplace well-being. Since there is a diverse workforce, managers should know how to manage diverse workforce efficiently and effectively in order to enable worker and workplace well-being. The major aim of this chapter is to explain the importance of effective diversity management especially regarding gender- or

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race-based discriminations to enable workplace well-being. The outline of the chapter will be formed of four parts. In the first part, definition of organization, efficiency and effectiveness of an organization, and organizational aims will be described. Following this, workplace well-being will be explained. The chapter would proceed with explanation of diversity management which is based on literature review. The importance and necessity of diversity management for organization’s well-being will be emphasized, and the steps that should be taken for effective diversity management will be given. In the last part, the relationship between diversity management and workplace well-being will be considered. In addition to this, the importance of effective diversity management to enable workplace well-being will also be emphasized. In order to prevent conflicts and to resolve conflicts when it exists, effective diversity management plays a vital role. Especially, managing diverse groups is a tactful job, and it is most likely to have conflicts. When the importance of effective and efficient diversity management is considered for the welfare of the organization, it can be stated that this chapter would be beneficial for both academicians and business people to be used in lectures or training programs about diversity management. Throughout the development of the chapter, each concept regarding the subject will be stated under different headings. The definitions and explanations taken place all through the chapter will be formed based on literature review and empirical evidences by using academic English. As a result, it is expected that the chapter will be useful for both academicians and businessmen in understanding the importance of diversity management for workplace well-being.

Organization and Management An organization is formed of people who work to realize common aims. It is a mechanism which aims to obtain organizational goals. Whether an organization is a profit or nonprofit one, each has its own aims and work to make these aims real (Sabuncuoğlu and Tokol 1997; Daft 1998; Kocel 2005; Mucuk 2013). Mostly profit organizations which focus on business activity would be the concern of the chapter. Every organization regardless of its size, type, and sector has organizational aims. The aims of organizations can be listed as higher income and profitability; sustainability, to make contribution to the society by producing products or rendering services; and lastly corporate social responsibility. Even though business organizations are various, their common feature is transformation process of inputs into outputs. Besides these organizational aims, each organization has some specific goals related with the business, which the organization is involved in. Organizations take a path in order to realize their goals. Following the right path should enable them to be effective and efficient. Effectiveness is defined as “doing right business.” An effective organization is doing the right business, which it has expertise, knowledge, and adequate sources to do that business. Efficiency is defined as “doing the business right.” An efficient organization is having the maximum output by using minimum input. For an organization to be successful, the organization should

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reach its own goals and should be effective and efficient at the same time (Sabuncuoğlu and Tokol 1997; Daft 1998; Kocel 2005; Mucuk 2013). During this process, the organization should consider the well-being of its employees as well. Worker well-being is part of the workplace well-being. Therefore, at the first stage, the organization should provide well-being of its workers to enable effectiveness and efficiency, which is also related with the management style of the organization (Daft 1998; Robbins and Coulter 2009; Kocel 2005; Mucuk 2013). In order to enable effectiveness and efficiency of the organization, the management of the organization should be well handled. Management functions which are planning, organizing, leading, coordinating, and controlling should be implemented. To obtain organizational goals, management function should be efficiently implemented (Sabuncuoğlu and Tokol 1997; Daft 1998; Kocel 2005; Mucuk 2013). Over the last decades, many researches had taken place in order to enhance effectiveness and efficiency of the organizations. Management theories reflect the development of management styles in a timeline. Management theories are categorized under four different eras: classical management theories, behavioral theories, modern theories, and postmodern theories. To understand effective and efficient management and how well-being of workers and workplace has become crucial, one has to grasp management theories in detail.

Management Theories Classical Management Theories Classical management theories are the founders of the effective management theories. Taylor and Fayol are considered as the milestones for the development of management as a concept. Within the industrial revolution, factories and organizations which are in production sector start to encounter with problems. The origin of the problems depends on managerial issues. The managers’ tasks were tough at those times because they had to cope with the high number of workers, operations, and machines at the same time. Classical management theories have rooted from this point. Their aim is to enable effective and efficient organizations by an increasing level of production. Even though they have a common aim which is to increase production levels and to have efficient organizations, these theories are subdivided into three as follows: scientific management, administrative principles, and bureaucratic organizations (Daft 1998; Kocel 2005; Mucuk 2013). Scientific management was developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856–1915). Labor productivity was the core problem of that era. In order to enhance labor productivity, management should be improved by using scientific methods. Scientific methods should be implemented into management according to Taylor. Standard methods and procedures which would enable high levels of labor productivity should be determined. Then, the workers should be trained in accordance with these standards and procedures. Taylor also believed that wage incentives would be a great help in order to improve labor productivity. Even though the theory

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was successful in increasing the productivity and efficiency of the organizations, it was criticized since it has underestimated the well-being of the workers by not considering their social needs (Daft 1998). Administrative principle theory which was developed by Henri Fayol (1841–1925) considered the organization as a whole and aimed to improve the organization and management of the organization. Management was considered as a science involving six essential activities that can be listed as managerial, technical, commercial, financial, accounting, and security. He mostly focused on managerial activities which are known as the functions of management today: planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling. He developed the principles of management consisting of 14 principles. Principles of management are division of labor, authority, discipline, unity of command, unity of direction, subordination of personal interest, remuneration, centralization, hierarchy, order, equity, stability of staff, initiative, and esprit de corps. Fayol believed that the efficiency of the organization could be enhanced by implementing these principles (Daft 1998; Kocel 2005; Mucuk 2013). The last classical management theory is bureaucracy. Max Weber (1864–1920) introduced bureaucratic organization as a concept. Until that time, the management of the organizations was dependent on workers’ loyalty to an individual rather than the organization itself. According to Weber, this was not healthy to have an effective and efficient organization. Within this system, individual goals and aims were prioritized rather than organizational goals. In addition, the usage of resources was determined in accordance with the individual needs. Weber thought that the organizations should have formal structure. The management should depend on rational basis and authority. In addition to that, hierarchy was crucial. Hierarchy of authority should be the primary concern of the organization. By adopting bureaucracy theory, Weber believed that the organizations would be more effective and efficient (Daft 1998; Kocel 2005; Mucuk 2013). All of the classical management theories, which are mentioned above, are criticized because they only focused on increasing productivity and enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the organizations. They all lacked the well-being of employees and workplace. They did not consider the social context and needs of the workers, which is also crucial for effective, efficient, and sustainable organizations (Daft 1998; Kocel 2005; Mucuk 2013). Behavioral approach or neoclassical management theory is the first theory that considered the social context, psychology, and social needs of the employees. Its origin is based on Hawthorne studies that had been performed by Elton Mayo and his colleagues in 1927. Mayo and his colleagues believed that as long as the physical condition in a workplace is improved, productivity and efficiency of the organization would be enhanced. They have performed various experiments which affects the physical conditions of the workplace such as Relay Assembly Test Room and the Typewriting Group. One of the experiments that they had conducted was the illumination experiment. They amend the level of light in the workplace. They expected that by increasing the level of light, the productivity of the workers would also increase. The results of the experiments were different from what they

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expected. The experiments indicated that the team work, the group formation, and the relationships between employees are more effective than the physical conditions in improving labor productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency of the organization. Behavioral approach was the first approach which has taken social needs and well-being of workers and workplace into consideration (Daft 1998; Kocel 2005; Mucuk 2013). Following behavioral approach, there are modern theories, which have considered the environment of the organization and the effect of the situations that are also part of workplace well-being. Systems approach and contingency approach are approaches which give importance to workplace well-being as well. It will be appropriate to give a brief summary about systems approach and contingency approach to mention workplace well-being. According to systems approach, organizations are considered as a system which consists of subsystems functioning together. An organization is considered as a system which consists of subsystems that are functioning together. These subsystems are interrelated with each other. Actually, functions of business can be considered as the subsystems of the organization. They are interdependent and should function properly in accordance with each other for the organization to be sustainable. As a system, the organization converts inputs into outputs through transformation process. Inputs are considered as the factors of production and raw materials, whereas outputs are considered as the products, services, productivity, profitability, and obtaining organizational goals. When the system or organization is in transformation process, the organization should also take the environment into account. If it does not take the environment into account, it would be impossible for the organization to survive. If the organization interacts with the environment, it is called open system; if it does not interact with the environment, it is considered as a closed system. In order for the organization to be sustainable and enable workplace wellbeing, it should be an open system which would also result in worker well-being (Robbins and Coulter 2009). The second contemporary approach is contingency theory. It is also called situational theory. This theory is developed against classical management theories. Classical management theories assume that if the principles of those theories are applied in any kind of organization, that organization would be effective and efficient. However, every organization is different, and there are many situations which the organization faces. Organization should adapt its management style in accordance with the situation. It would be impossible for organizations to have applicable management rules that would work in all situations (Robbins and Coulter 2009). Postmodern theories involve new styles of management application such as benchmarking, learning organizations, outsourcing which would enhance effectiveness and efficiency of the organization, and workplace well-being (Kocel 2005). It is crucial to understand management theories and their evolution in order to find out the importance of workplace and worker well-being in terms of organization’s effectiveness and efficiency.

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Workplace Well-Being Worker and workplace well-being is considered first in neoclassical management era. Hawthorne experiments which are performed by Elton Mayo and his colleagues are the first studies which take worker and workplace well-being into consideration. Actually, the major aim of the experiments is to indicate the effect of physical conditions on the level of productivity and performance of the workers. Physical conditions should be considered as part of the workplace well-being. However, the results of the experiments determined that the social aspect of workers plays a vital role in the productivity and performance of the workers. The experiments concluded that the employee is a social animal, which have social needs, and demands and their psychological state have a great effect on their productivity and performance. Worker and workplace well-being has gained more importance after the neoclassical management theory. In addition to that, modern and postmodern management theories have more focused on the worker and workplace well-being following neoclassical approach (Daft 1998; Robbins and Coulter 2009; Kocel 2005; Mucuk 2013). Well-being of the workplace consists of all dimensions of work. Physical conditions in the workplace, attitudes, and feelings of the employees toward their job, working environment, and climate of the organization are dimensions, which have an impact on workplace well-being. Workplace well-being aims to ensure employees’ safety, satisfaction, and engagement. Both well-being of workers and well-being of workplace are essential elements for the organization’s effectiveness and efficiency. As long as the organization ensures the well-being of workers and workplace, the organization would have a higher level of productivity; therefore it would be profitable and sustainable by reaching its organizational goals. Labor as a part of human resource management is the most crucial factor of production for the organization. Thus, the organization should take the need of their workers into consideration in order to get the most benefit from its workers. If the organization is not capable of sustaining the well-being of the worker, workplace well-being will not be provided as well. If the organization manages to provide well-being in the workplace, productivity and motivation would increase and decrease work-related stress and provide unity and harmony in the teams (www.ilo.org). If the employees have control over the design of the work environment and workplace, their level of satisfaction and productivity increases. Employees give importance to the design of the workplace which is related to their well-being. Work environment is one of the major issues that can cause negative effect on worker well-being besides inappropriate employment policies and training or insensitive management. Factors which can affect workplace well-being could be listed as follows: health, activity and rest, personal resources, work-life balance, work environment, interactions, external events, technology, sense of control, and social value (Jeffrey et al. 2014). There are many definitions of well-being throughout the literature. One of its definitions would be as “the equilibrium between a person’s own psychological, physical and social resources and external circumstances and challenges” (Dodge et al. 2012).

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As long as the workplace well-being is maintained in the organization, it is expected not to encounter with workplace deviance or counterproductive behaviors at work. Workplace deviance can be explained as “voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms and in so doing threatens the well-being of an organization, its members or both” (Robinson and Bennett 1995, p. 556). Deviant behavior has negative outcomes; it has a negative impact on the job performance (Rotundo and Sackett 2002). If the employees have negative perception regarding their situation at work, it is more likely for them to perform deviant behavior especially if their personality is convergent to such behavior. Poor working conditions, unfair treatment, and social pressures can lead employees to perform deviant behavior (Robinson and Bennett 1997). If the employees are having favorable treatment, then they are more likely to perform positive behavior in the workplace (Gouldner 1960). Thus, their motivation and performance would be expected to be higher (Spector 1997). It can be stated that efficient and effective diversity management results in fair treatment and favorable work environment which would prevent deviant or counterproductive behaviors in the workplace. If deviant behavior is prevented, motivation and performance of employees would be higher, and it would be more likely for the organizations to achieve their goals since they enabled worker and workplace well-being. It is stated by the empirical studies that diversity management can have a positive spillover impact in the workplace (Gilbert et al. 1999). If workplace well-being is provided in an organization, it can be stated that worker well-being is also acquired. By worker well-being, many aspects such as high-level job satisfaction, organizational commitment, productivity, performance, and low level of absenteeism and turnover are considered.

Diversity Management The world has become a single market place since the borders between countries have disappeared due to an increase in globalization, technological advances, and usage of the Internet. Anyone can buy or sell a product through the Internet. Businessmen can easily enter into international or global markets by different methods such as export, import, franchising, licensing, or joint ventures. Within the increase in globalization and methods in entering into global markets have come up with topic of diversity management. Diversity has increased among the workforce which creates a challenge to managers. Diversity should not be limited to solely national differences. Diversity as a concept roots from team composition. If a team is composed of different members in terms of any attribute, it can be considered as diverse team. Diversity can be based on sex, nationalities, races, ethnicity, or race. Throughout the literature, there are two kinds of diversity levels. These are surface-level diversity and deep-level diversity. Surface-level diversity considers observable attributes such as race, ethnicity, sex, and age, whereas deep-level diversity refers to attributes that cannot be observed. These attributes can be considered as the differences

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in attitudes, values, and personality. Surface-level diversity can have a negative impact on workers or teams since it could lead to stereotypes based on surface differences (Colquitt et al. 2011; Ivancevich and Gilbert 2000; Robbins and Judge 2013). Throughout the literature, diversity has been defined in various ways. Some scholars consider it as a “social trap” (Barry and Bateman 1996), whereas some define it as one of the many spheres of activity to be managed (Cox and Blake 1991). There are other groups of scholars who believe that diversity is pioneer to improve organizational performance (Cox and Smolinski 1994). Diversity management can be considered as a complete organizational change process to get use of demographic, ethnic, and individual differences (Gilbert et al. 1999). It is also defined as a strategic approach to human resource management. It aims to hire individuals with potential and train them in order to increase profits of the firm and enable individual development of the employee (Kelly and Dobbin 1998; Thomas and Ely 1996). Most scholars emphasize the demographic part of the diversity management which is part of surface-level diversity management. They solely focus on gender and race issues. It is defined as the narrow perspective of diversity management. The narrow perspective of diversity management is described as the devotion of the organizations to recruit, reward, and promote minority and female employees (Ivancevich and Gilbert 2000). Some scholars criticized the narrow view of gender and race diversity management in managing the organization (Thomas 1991). A broad definition of diversity management can be as follows: Diversity management in a broad sense is defined as the commitment on the part of organizations to recruit, retain, reward, and promote a heterogeneous mix of productive, motivated, and committed workers including people of color, whites, females, and the physically challenged. (Ivancevich and Gilbert 2000, p. 77)

Diversity resembles the differences or similarities between people. Especially, in an organization, any characteristic which amends in terms of gender, age, race, ethnicity, nationality, tenure, education, religion, physical abilities, sexual orientation, or background. These characteristics can have an impact on the organizational behavior. It can either have a positive or negative effect on the organization regarding organizational behavior. Demographic diversity is mostly focused on headings of gender, race, age, religion, and employees with disabilities and sexual orientation diversity. Diversity can be categorized under five subtitles: gender diversity, race diversity, age diversity, religious diversity, and employees with disabilities and sexual orientation diversity (Colquitt et al. 2011; Robbins and Judge 2013). When gender diversity is considered, the scholars mostly underline the discrimination implied to women. Unfortunately, women and men are treated differently at work. The problems, which women face as a part of gender discrimination, are glass ceiling and earning gap. Mostly, employers prefer men when they need to fulfill a position or hire someone. Discrimination starts at the hiring stage in the first place. Since women are considered as potential mothers or mothers who have to take care of children and would probably take time off, they are not preferred by the employers

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(Colquitt et al. 2011; Robbins and Judge 2013). Studies show that women and men prioritize job attributes differently. For women, flexible hours and interpersonal relationships are crucial, whereas men value leadership, power, and promotion opportunities (Konrad et al. 2000). The differences in job attributes also create the earning gap (Babcock and Laschever 2003). The studies indicate that men earn more than women, even their starting salaries are different by being men’s starting salaries higher than women’s (Gerhart 1990). Glass ceiling is the other issue regarding gender-based discrimination. Women are less likely to take place in higher management positions such as an executive officer of companies. Men are more likely to be employed at the highest levels of organizations (Umphress et al. 2008). Men are being favored in managerial position since they are considered as more self-confident than women as a result of gender-based stereotypes (Duehr and Bono 2006). Many global firms try to foster and promote diversity management. Xerox and IBM are a few companies that support diversity management. They try to enhance productivity, creativity, and satisfaction by efficient diversity management (Ivancevich and Gilbert 2000). Even though there are some organizations that are encouraging women to enhance their presence in the workplace (Thomas 2004), there is still gender-based discrimination in the workplace. Race is a demographic feature. Even though there are acts and laws which aim to prevent race discrimination and protect minorities, race discrimination still exists in most organization worldwide (Allers 2005; Mehta et al. 2000). Most of the ethnic minorities experience challenges of diversity resulting in earning gaps and glass ceiling. Researches among ethnic minorities indicate that their work environment is not satisfying due to the race discrimination against them (Avery et al. 2007a). It also creates work alienation toward minorities. In order to prevent race discrimination and enhance the well-being of the employee and the workplace, there should be a fair work environment and diversity should be well managed (Colquitt et al. 2011; Robbins and Judge 2013). Besides race, age is another problem related with diversity. Employees get older and thus the workforce is aging. Studies indicate that age is correlated with positive workplace behaviors and high level of organizational citizenship behavior (Ng and Feldman 2008). In addition to that even though older people are dissatisfied at work, they are less likely to quit. They are more committed to their jobs (Hellman 1997). They may experience age-related stereotypes at work. According to young employees, younger employees are seen as more qualified, whereas older employees are rated in a negative way. Some studies show that older employees are viewed as having a low level of performance and are not able to manage stress (Posthuma and Campion 2009). These stereotypes can result in barriers for older people to be preferred for employment. Also they would be more likely to quit their jobs as a result of age discrimination among older employees. A manager who is dealing with age diversity is coping with stereotype management at the same time. If it is managed correctly and efficiently, age diversity can provide many benefits to the organization. It can create new ideas and different possibilities and lead to high performance and productivity in the organization. Age diversity can also enable creativity and innovation. Different age groups have different views and perception regarding many issues causing challenging management. This can

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actually also be explained by generation (Colquitt et al. 2011; Robbins and Judge 2013). Different age groups belong to various generations. Workforce consists of various generations based on their ages. Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y all have different backgrounds and childhood stories related to the era they are born in (Simons 2010). Thus, nowadays, while organizations are trying to assimilate the different generations in their workforce, they are also being challenged to manage effectively in order to prevent conflict regarding the various needs of different generations (Hansen and Leuty 2012). Throughout the literature, many researches and studies classify generations differently (Chowdhury and Coulter 2006; Lescohier 2006; Durkin 2008; Reed 2007). The most popular classification of these three generations according to the year of birth is as follows: Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), Generation X (born between 1965 and 1979), and Generation Y (born between 1980 and 1995) (Marston 2007; 1995). Their perceptions among the basic work characteristics such as work values, work attitudes, and work expectations are different and change in accordance with generations (Stauffer 1997; Loomis 2000; Raths 1999; Keaveney 1997; Yu and Miller 2005). Actually, features of generations vary according to nationalities since every nation is experiencing a different historical event in that era, but they still have similarities in their working styles. Baby Boomers (people who were born between 1946 and 1964) are determined as competitive and individualistic, whereas Generation Y employees (people who were born between 1979 and 1994) were more team oriented. Their learning styles are even different; younger generations prefer more interactive learning and are more likely to use technology, while older generations are less likely to use technology (White 2008). If the managers can enable effective management of various age groups, the organization will be more effective and efficient. Religious preferences of the employees are part of the religious diversity in the workplace. Discrimination in terms of religion can occur due to the need of modifications that take place in the employee’s schedule. Since religious holidays change according to religions, these can even create problems in the schedule. In addition to that, religious services vary in accordance with the religion. Each religion performs ritual services differently (Colquitt et al. 2011; Robbins and Judge 2013). Workforce should consist of some employees with physical or mental disabilities. As an example, a hearing-impaired candidate can apply for a job that includes responsibility as talking over the phone. An organization does not necessarily prefer a hearing-impaired candidate for a job that includes talking over the phone responsibility, but the organization can hire a hearing-impaired employee by providing a phone device which would enable the hearing-impaired employee to perform the necessary tasks. Illnesses such as cancer, depression, diabetes, hearing impairment, manic-depressive disorder, and orthopedic impairments could be listed as part of the discrimination. People suffering from these kinds of illnesses are stereotypes and most likely to be employed in positions requiring lower skills (Beatty and Joffe 2006). In order to support employees with disabilities, the organization should provide some amendments in working hours and workplace. For employees with disabilities to be productive, the organization should make it easier by implementing

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flexible work hours. Relationship with other coworkers and managers is also crucial. They should also support these employees by being gentle and sensible (Colquitt et al. 2011; Robbins and Judge 2013). Most of the employees are afraid of disclosing their sexual orientation in the workplace especially if they have a different orientation. They are afraid of their managers’ or peers’ negative reactions when they disclose their orientation. Some think that they can be fired. This leads to low levels of organizational commitment and job satisfaction. In order to have well-being of workplace, the organization should treat all employees same regardless of their sexual identity (Ragins et al. 2007). All of the diversities that are mentioned above are the demographic diversities. Besides demographic diversities, cultural differences among employees should also be considered in order to have an effective and efficient diversity management in an organization.

Cultural Diversity The society’s values, beliefs, and attitudes resemble its culture. Due to globalization, workforce is becoming more diverse. Especially, as global and multinational companies emerge, the workforce is becoming multicultural. Many companies enter global or international markets by different methods such as joint ventures or direct investments, which creates a necessity for the organization to take multicultural aspects into account. The impact of national culture on organizational behavior is crucial because if the organization is able to manage multicultural workforce, it may create competitive advantage for the organization (Colquitt et al. 2011; Robbins and Judge 2013). Mostly, Hofstede’s dimension of national culture is used in order to understand cultural differences among nations. Throughout the literature, many studies indicate that his dimensions affect well-being and many aspects of organizational behavior such as motivation, attitudes, and leadership (Hofstede 1980; Tsui et al. 2007). The dimensions of Hofstede that should be considered when managing multicultural workforce are individualism and collectivism, masculinity and femininity, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and long-term and short-term orientation. Individualist cultures are composed of individuals who give importance to individual goals rather than group goals, and these individuals feel separate from their groups. They are independent from their group and their priority is their autonomy. On the contrary, collectivist cultures are composed of individuals who prioritize ingroup goals and relationship with the group of people. They have stronger bonds with the group and group members. They are attached to their groups and conform to their groups (Hofstede 1980). However, since Hofstede’s dimension reflects cultural characteristics at the national level, the manager should not forget that the individuals could have different orientations at the individual level. For instance, a manager can assume that a person from Sweden would be an individualist because Swedish people are considered as individualists according to Hofstede’s categorization.

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At the individual level, this person could hold different tendencies or orientations. She/he could be a collectivist even though Swedish people are considered as individuals based on their national evaluations. Triandis and his colleagues developed a different study that focuses on individuals’ cultural orientations at the individual level through four dimensions as horizontal individualist, horizontal collectivist, vertical individualist, and vertical collectivist by relating individualism and collectivism with power distance dimensions (Singelis et al. 1995; Triandis 1995; Triandis et al. 1998; Triandis and Gelfand 1998). Horizontal and vertical levels resemble equality and hierarchy. The horizontal level focuses on equality and the vertical level indicates hierarchy. Horizontal individualist people are more likely to be autonomous and self-confident, but they do not want to obtain high status. At the same time, they feel separate from their groups. On the contrary, for vertical individualist people, obtaining high status is crucial. Also, they like to be discrete (Triandis 1995, 1998, 1999). Power distance resembles the degree which the society accepts unequal distribution of power. Cultures differ from each other: some value power and some value equality. There are cultures that are more egalitarian than others are. If a culture employs low power distance, it can be stated that equality and egalitarianism are crucial in that culture, whereas in high power distance culture, for instance, managers are considered as more powerful; therefore they deserve a higher level of respect. Conformity to managers is high. Hierarchy is important in these cultures, and it can lead to more authoritarian style of management in the organization (Pornpitakpan 2000; Kirkman et al. 2001). Uncertainty avoidance resembles the degree which people can tolerate ambiguity or risky situations. If a culture is high in uncertainty avoidance, that culture prefers structured and predictable situations and cannot tolerate ambiguity. Instructions should be settled, and people should be able to predict the results of their actions (Ryan et al. 1999). On the contrary, cultures which are low in uncertainty avoidance are less rule oriented. They can easily tolerate uncertainty and ambiguity. Cultures can be divided as masculine and feminine cultures according to Hofstede’s dimensions. Masculine cultures give importance to competition and achievement and obtaining material objects. This categorization is based on gender roles where men are assumed as more ambitious and competitive compared to women. In contrast, feminine cultures give importance to creating good relationship (Hofstede 1980; Tosi and Greckhamer 2004). The last dimension of Hofstede’s national culture typology is long-term and short-term orientation. This dimension is added lately. It indicates a society’s commitment to traditional values. In cultures with long-term orientation, individuals look to the future and give importance to persistence and tradition, whereas in shortterm oriented cultures, individuals give priority to the present rather than the future and are more open to changes (Hofstede 1980; Robbins and Judge 2013). 7As mentioned before, even though Hofstede’s typology explains cultures within its dimensions in details, it is important not to forget that individuals can resemble different characteristics at the individual level regardless of their national cultures.

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Advantages and Benefits of Diversity Diverse workforce results in higher-quality decision and better problem-solving. It brings various perspectives and alternatives. Critical analysis is implemented by diversity management. It also enables creativity and innovation in the workplace. When an organization is composed of diverse work teams or departments, people in these teams have various ideas and perspectives. People come up with new ideas, alternatives, and solutions (Cox and Blake 1991; McLeod et al. 1996; Hennessey and Amabile 1998; Latimer 1998; Gilbert et al. 1999). The studies (Tsui and Porter 1993) which focus on the impact of diversity management initiatives indicated that diversity management provided higher creativity and better understanding of diverse customers (Ivancevich and Gilbert 2000). This creativity which is enhanced by diverse workforce also leads to production of new and appealing products or services. Diversity enables employees to understand better the needs and demands of the customers. Marketing strategy of the company amends in accordance with the customers’ needs and demands. Marketing effort also includes cultural sensitivity through diversity management. This increases the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization (Cox and Blake 1991; Colquitt et al. 2011; Ivancevich and Gilbert 2000). Fair treatment of the employees provides more satisfied workers and higher commitment to the organization. If the employees feel that there is discrimination among them, they are less satisfied and less attached to the organization (Sanchez and Brock 1996). Since the employees feel more satisfied and attached to the organization, absenteeism would be low and turnover would be reduced in the organization. When absenteeism and turnover are low in an organization, costs would be also low (Cox and Blake 1991). Additionally, diversity management provides flexibility. The organization can easily adopt to amendments taking place in their environment. Their reaction to environmental amendments will be faster (Cox and Blake 1991). In addition to these, since diverse workforce enhances the productivity and performance of the organization (Cox and Smolinski 1994), this results in higher stock prices due to organization’s effectiveness and efficiency provided by the successful management (Colquitt et al. 2011; Ivancevich and Gilbert 2000). In addition to this, satisfied workforce and higher productivity and performance due to effective and efficient diversity management would increase stock prices as well. The company would have a competitive advantage toward its competitors (Cox and Smolinski 1994; Wright et al. 1995). Also, effective diversity management in the organization saves the company from litigation expenses (Colquitt et al. 2011). It is stated by the empirical studies on diversity management that diversity management can have a positive spillover impact in the workplace (Gilbert et al. 1999).

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Disadvantages and Challenges of Diversity Efficient diversity management comes up with a lot of advantages such as the high level of creativity and innovation, organizational commitment, more satisfied workforce, and increased performance which result in high profits (Cox and Blake 1991; Cox and Smolinski 1994; Iles and Hayers 1997; Richard and Shelor 2002). Nevertheless, despite all these benefits, diverse workforce can create some challenges and disadvantages for the organization (Colquitt et al. 2011). First of all, it could reduce cohesiveness and harmony in the organization. It could reduce communication and creates in-groups and out-groups. Since organization consists of teams or departments, diverse workforce in these teams or departments can experience conflicts due to differences among the workforce (Knight et al. 1999; O’Reilly et al. 1989; Williams and O’Reilly 1998). It would be another challenge for the management to handle these conflicts. As long as the organization has systems, which would work for diverse workforce, the organization could prevent these conflicts (Ely and Thomas 2001; Ibaarra 1993; Kanter 1977; Tajfel 1982; Bassett-Jones 2005). Following that affirmative action or, in other words, positive discrimination can be another problem. Since the organization feels that it should hire employees from minority groups, they can miss high-qualified employees, or employees with high qualities could feel discriminated. For instance, there can be two candidates applying for the same job. One of them is a man and the other one is a woman. In order not to create gender-based discrimination, the employer thinks that she/he should hire the female candidate even though the other candidate has better qualifications and characteristics. The man would feel that he is being discriminated because he was more suitable for the job with higher qualifications. These would also result in lower levels of productivity and performance since the organization hired a less-qualified employee due to affirmative action or positive discrimination (Heilman et al. 1987, 1991, 1993, Gilbert et al. 1999; Kravitz 2008). It may cause lower hiring and performance standards for minorities (Wynter 1994). Another challenge of diversity management is that it could create stereotypes about particular groups which can lead to lower productivity and performance and unfair decision-making. Stereotypes regarding diverse work groups can also be a problem in diversity management. Stereotypes about minorities or particular groups can reduce cohesiveness and creativity in the group. Also, it could end up with unfair and inadequate decision-making. Stereotype can be defined as the generalizations about a specific group. When stereotypes are created for a specific group of people, then people start to get use of these stereotypes while making a decision. Unfortunately, that decision can be poor or unfair depending on the stereotype about that group of people. When someone describes women as more emotional and men as more ambitious, that person is using stereotypes about women and men. During

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decision-making process, people are most likely to use stereotypes, but unfortunately this can lead to unfair and inappropriate decision-making. A manager who is holding a stereotype about a minority group would make a decision regarding to that stereotype which would be an inadequate decision especially if the stereotype is a negative one (Colquitt et al. 2011). As mentioned above, gender-based diversity can result in two issues which are earning gap and glass ceiling. These are the challenges of diversity management in terms of gender. In addition, fault line is a disadvantage of diversity management. Fault line can be described as a characteristic resembling a group that is fragmented into subgroups. For instance, in a group that is composed of the same number of females and males, gender will be the fault line since men can feel separate from women members. If some of the female members are below 20 years old and male members are over 40, then both gender and age would act as a fault line. In this case, members of the different subgroup may refuse to communicate with each other which would destroy cohesiveness and harmony of the group. This would also reduce communication and creativity among the group (Pearsall et al. 2008; Sawyer et al. 2006). Similarity-attraction issue is another challenge of diversity management. Humans mostly prefer to communicate with people who are similar to them (Riordan and Shore 1997; Chatman et al. 1998). It is more likely for individuals to have conflict with people differing in terms of gender, age, and race (Jehn et al. 1999; Pelled et al. 1999). Similarity-attraction issue can cause unfair treatment in the workplace. Especially, it can be an obstacle for qualified minorities, women, or people with disabilities to be hired (Dreher and Cox 1996). According to Moore (1999), stereotypes regarding diversity management can be categorized under four headings, which are as follows: the diversity hostile, the diversity blind, the diversity naïve, and the diversity integrationist. The first three stereotypes which lack of recognizing various management skills and management skills are necessary to respond to different diversity challenges. The fourth one is proactive in its perspective. Diversities in terms of their characteristics require different managerial skills which organization should adopt (Bassett-Jones 2005).

Ethical Considerations for Diversity and Diversity Management In order for the organization to have efficient diversity management, there are some ethical considerations which should be taken into account. The Golden Rule is one of the ethical principles. If someone expects to be treated fairly, that person should also treat others fairly (Carroll 1990). For efficient and effective diversity management, all the employees in an organization should be treated fairly (Gilbert et al. 1999). The Disclosure Rule is another one to consider while implementing diversity management. Openness should be provided in diversity management in order to ensure success (Carroll 1990; Gilbert et al. 1999). The Rights Approach is the last one which assumes that people have a moral right to be respected while making their decision and choices and that they should be able to choose freely what they will do

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(Valasquez 1996). Diversity management should let people make career decisions based on their abilities and interests (Gilbert et al. 1999). For diversity management to be effective and efficient, these ethical principles which are mentioned above should be implemented. Management should also be aware of these ethical principles and perform them in order for the diversity management to be successful (Gilbert et al. 1999).

The Impact of Efficient and Effective Diversity Management on Worker and Workplace Well-Being Workplace well-being is crucial for the organization in order for the organization to have a high level of productivity and performance, which would enable the organization to achieve its organizational goals. Every organization produces products or renders services, which the customers are in need of or demanding. Organizations try to meet the society’s needs and demands. While they are doing this, they are trying to realize some organizational goals whether they are nonprofit or for-profit organizations. As mentioned before, every for-profit organization aims high profitability and maintains its sustainability. Since labor is a means in obtaining its goals as being one of the factors of production, for the company to be effective and efficient, it should focus on its labor or workforce. Within the increase in globalization and the usage of the Internet and technology, today, there is a more diverse workforce in terms of demographic and cultural features. This diversity is a challenge for the management, but if it is handled effectively and efficiently, it could create a competitive advantage for the organization. It is determined that if there is effective and efficient diversity management in an organization, creativity and innovation increase in the organization. There can be a more fruitful decision-making process in the organization depending on various views and perspectives given by different groups of people. Also, the organization would be able to meet its customers’ needs and demands better since it can understand the minorities’ demands because they have employees working from minorities. There would be better understanding of customers in terms of their demands and needs related with the efficient and effective diversity management. In addition to this, since employees feel that they are being equally treated, their job satisfaction increases, and consecutively their performance and productivity and commitment to the organization would increase as well. There would be more harmony in the workplace, and workers would feel more satisfied which would result in higher productivity and performance. Therefore, worker and workplace well-being would be provided in the organization. Even though there are many benefits and advantages of diversity management in terms of worker and workplace well-being, there can be disadvantages of diversity management if it is not managed effectively and efficiently. If challenges of diversity management should be foreseen before and necessary precautions related with the challenges should be provided by the management, then the organization would be able to implement effective and efficient diversity management.

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Occasionally every organization encounters with the problem of managing diverse workforce and feel obliged to implement diversity management. Diversity management is inevitable for organizations. Since workforce is composed of various groups of people, the management should know how to manage these different groups effectively and efficiently in order to provide worker and workplace wellbeing which would result in company well-being. In the simplest term, every organization should know how to manage different generations and age groups at least. Every day younger people are getting into workforce, and it is not easy for the organization to adopt these people into workplace and other older employees. If it is a global organization, then it should consider cultural differences in addition to demographic diversity while implementing its management style. Therefore, diversity management is inevitable for any kind of organization. Organizations should be trained in diversity management. There should be training programs on diversity management in order to enhance effective and efficient diversity management. Training programs on diversity management should take place in any kind of organizations’ schedule. Their human resource specialists can give these trainings if they are well educated on this issue, or they may prefer to take support from experts or academicians for training. It would be more beneficial if universities emphasize more on diversity management in their curriculums and programs. Especially in MBA programs where managers are being raised, diversity management should be given as a separate course. As long as the organization maintains effective and efficient diversity management, the organization would enable worker and workplace well-being by indicators such as a high level of productivity, performance, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and profitability. Thus, both businessmen and scholars should give more importance to diversity management. This chapter would shed light to both businessmen and scholars to understand the importance of efficient diversity management.

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How Chinese Conceptualize Employee Well-Being Li Liu

Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Literature Review and Proposition Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hedonia and Eudaimonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Social Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Negative Affect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Disambiguation and Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Participants and Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Questionnaire Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Qualitative Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Quantitative Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Theoretical Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Practical Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

This chapter aims to substantiate a theory-driven and context-specific conceptualization of employee well-being for Chinese employees. Drawing on three primary defining characteristics of well-being in psychology, i.e., the distinction between hedonia and eudaimonia, the imperative consideration of social dimension, and the indispensable attention to negative affect, this chapter conceptualizes Chinese employee well-being as a multidimensional concept consists of L. Liu (*) Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_6

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positive affect, individual well-being, social well-being, and negative affect. The qualitative and quantitative data from 544 Chinese employees support the proposition of multidimensionality but cannot distinguish individual well-being from social well-being. Aligning with this context-specific profile of employee wellbeing, future research would better clarify employee well-being-related concepts and select appropriate measures to address specific research gaps. The results also generate context-specific recommendations for management practitioners to improve employee well-being in China. Keywords

Employee well-being · Conceptualization · Measure · Chinese

Introduction Employee well-being is an important topic because it implicates humanitarian and economic connotations. People who experience high levels of well-being tend to have higher income, more stable marriages, longer lives, and more creativity (Diener 2000; Fredrickson and Branigan 2005). A meta-analysis shows that employee wellbeing, measured as employee engagement, is positively associated with customer satisfaction, productivity, and profit (Harter et al. 2003). On the other hand, workrelated dysfunctional well-being implicates depression, loss of self-esteem, and in sequence decreased productivity and increased health cost, which undermines organizational profit and performance in the long run (e.g., Wright and Huang 2012). Unfortunately, a Gallup survey revealed that 68% of employees are disengaged, and 26% actively disengaged in the Chinese workplaces (Yu and Srinivasan 2013). The evidence urge researchers and practitioners to uncover what leads to this dismal scene thus propound corresponding countermeasures. Nevertheless, well-being is a subjective concept, which can mean different things to different people across cultures. Thereby, one cannot help questioning whether the Western definitions and measures have genuinely captured what Chinese mean by employee well-being. However, trying to find the answers in the research base is disheartening. The literature remains divided regarding the conceptualization and operationalization of employee well-being. Specifically, researchers operationalized the same term heterogeneously or conversely labeled the term differently for otherwise similar conceptualizations. For example, idiosyncratically labeled constructs such as subjective employee health and well-being (Danna and Griffin 1999), happiness, health, and relationship of employee well-being (Grant et al. 2007), subjective well-being in the workplace (Bryson et al. 2014), and happiness at work (Warr 2007) are addressing the multidimensional nature of employee well-being, whereas constructs termed as “employee well-being” are operationalized

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as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational fairness (Kooij et al. 2013), positive affect and negative affect (Wright and Staw 1999), employee engagement (Harter et al. 2003), emotional exhaustion (Taris and Schreurs 2009), thriving at work (Porath et al. 2012), etc. The idiosyncratic labeling, conceptualization, and operationalization of employee well-being frustrates laypersons as well as researchers to gain a holistic understanding of this topic. The purpose of this chapter is to integrate the diverse approaches and substantiate a comprehensive profile of employee well-being for research on Chinese employee well-being. It is hoped such an endeavor could bring different approaches into dialogues and provide some food for thoughts for the readers. This chapter is organized as follows. First, it proposes a conceptual framework of employee well-being by integrating extant psychological and managerial theories on well-being. Then, it substantiates the conceptual framework as well as the elements based on a survey of 544 Chinese employees. Finally, it discusses some theoretical and practical implications.

Literature Review and Proposition Development Arguably in the HRM field, the most classical definition of employee well-being is “the quality of an employee’s overall experience and functioning at work” by Warr (1987), and the most popular proxy measure of employee well-being is job satisfaction. Empirically, job satisfaction can be strongly correlated with employee well-being, but conceptually they are distinct concepts. As the literature advances, researchers generally agree employee well-being is a multidimensional construct. Nevertheless, what dimensions and elements constitute the construct remains controversial again (e.g., Grant et al. 2007; Van De Voorde et al. 2012; Warr 2011; Fisher 2014). Table 1 illustrates the idiocrasy in operationalizing employee well-being in HRM literature. By contrast, the field of psychology has accumulated relatively more established conceptualizations and measure models. Given that people’s mental processes are similar across different settings (Warr 2007), referencing to conceptions of general well-being in psychology would offer us extra insight on the conceptualization of this domain-specific construct. Irrespective of the idiosyncrasy on conceptualizing and operationalizing well-being, three primary defining characteristics stand out among the mainstream well-being definitions and measurement models: the distinction between hedonia and eudaimonia; an essential social dimension; and an indispensable negative focus (Deci and Ryan 2008; Diener et al. 2009, 2010; Fisher 2014; Huppert et al. 2009; Gallagher et al. 2009; Keyes 2007, 2009; Ryff and Keyes 1995; Seligman 2012; Warr 2011). Given the limited space, this chapter does not elaborate on the theorists’ rationales in text. Instead, this chapter classifies their conceptualization into a comprehensive taxonomy table (Table 2), which helps us identify the common threads running through various definitions and operationalizations.

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Table 1 Employee well-being measures Author Bryson et al. (2014) Boxall and Macky (2014)

Construct Employee well-being

Chuang and Liao (2010) DeJoy et al. (2010)

Concern for employees

Harter et al. (2003) Jackson et al. (2014)

Well-being in the workplace Psychological wellbeing

Kooij et al. (2013)

Employee well-being

Porath et al. (2012) Taris and Schreurs (2009) Wright and Staw (1999)

Employee well-being

Employee health and well-being

Measure/variable a. Job satisfaction b. Job related-affect Global job satisfaction Fatigue Job-induced stress Work-life balance Unit’s climate of concern for employees a. Perceived overall health b. Perceived safety at work c. Alcohol use d. Engagement in health risk behaviors e. Participation in preventive health behaviors. Engagement

Reliability a. 0.90a b. 0.93 N/A N/A 0.72 0.90 0.89 a–c (N/A); d. 0.71 e. 0.95

N/A

Thriving at workb

Affective commitment, job satisfaction, work engagement, job stress, strain, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion Psychological well-being a. Commitment b. Job satisfaction Social well-being c. Organizational fairness Thriving

0.92

Subjective job-specific well-being

Job satisfaction Emotional exhaustion

a. 0.78 b. 0.85

Happy-productive Positive affect

Affective state a. Positive affect b. Negative affect Affective disposition c. Psychological well-being a. Psychological well-being b. General satisfaction c. Emotional exhaustion a. Life well-being b. Work well-being c. Psychological well-being Job satisfaction Stress

a. 0.89c b. 0.92 c. 0.74

Vanhala and Tuomi (2006) Zheng et al. (2015)

Employee well-being

Yan and Gray (1994)

Employee well-being

Employee well-being

a. 0.88 b. 0.86 c. 0.67

a. 0.85d b. 0.87 c. 0.88 a. 0.93 b. 0.92 c. 0.88

(continued)

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Table 1 (continued) Author

Construct

Measure/variable

Reliability 0.86 0.82 for Chinese

Note: The table is for illustration purposes. It is not meant to capture all the idiosyncratic conceptualization and operationalization of employee well-being exhaustively a In the cross-sectional study b It is specified as jointed experience of vitality and learning c As data for each measure is collected at least 2 time points, so the reliability of each measure is the average of reliability reported at each wave. For example, there are two reliability indicators available, T1 and T2 for positive mood, 0.91 and 0.86. By average, the final reliability for this measure is 0.89. This criterion applies to other studies listed in the table d Data were collected at two times

Hedonia and Eudaimonia The distinction of well-being as hedonia and eudemonia derives from the ancient Greek Philosophy. Hedonia and eudaimonia are arguably the most accepted distinction in well-being conceptualization. Specifically, hedonia refers to pleasure-seeking and pain avoiding, whereas eudaimonia concerns sense-making and meaning. The former emphasizes feelings mostly as transient states, whereby the latter refers to functioning as sustainable processes (Aristotle and Reeve 2014). Hedonia is operationalized as positive affect or emotion-related items in the literature. Diener et al. (1999) defined subjective well-being as a general research interest instead of a construct, which includes pleasant affect, unpleasant affect, life satisfaction, and domain satisfaction. Warr (1990) conceptualized affective wellbeing based on two dimensions in a circumplex, pleasure, and arousal. For example, arousal distinguishes “contented” from “enthusiastic” such that the former is a tranquil state, whereas the latter describes an energetic state, though both belong to positive emotions. Similarly, Daniels (2000) empirically validated affective wellbeing in the workplace as five dimensions: anxiety–comfort, depression–pleasure, bored–enthusiastic, tiredness–vigor, and angry–placid. Putting aside the sub-distinctions of positive and negative, as well as the subtle distinction regarding arousal, this chapter considers this stream of inquiry as a hedonic approach. Human beings experience positive emotions irrespective of cultures. Therefore, this chapter proposes the following. Proposition 1 Positive affect is an independent component of employee well-being as conceived by Chinese employees.

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Table 2 Integrative taxonomy of employee well-being dimensions Dimension Theorist Diener et al. (2010)

Fisher (2010)

Gallagher et al. (2009)

Individual/ personal hedonia/ affect Positive experience (positive; contented; pleasant; happy; joyful; good) Positive affect Job satisfaction and similar attitudes Positive affect (interested; excited; strong; enthusiastic; proud; inspired; active; determined; attentive) Life satisfaction

Individual eudaimonia Optimism Purpose and meaning Engagement Competence Self-acceptance Eudaimonic well-being

Interpersonal/ social well-being Social support Contribution Respect

Social wellbeing

Negative affect

Autonomy Environmental mastery Personal growth Purpose in life Self-acceptance

Social acceptance Social actualization Social coherence Social integration Social contribution Positive relations with others Belonging Social support Social recognition Societal progress Social engagement Caring Altruism Social acceptance Social actualization Social contribution Social coherence Social integration Positive relations with others Relatedness

Negative affect (irritable; distressed; upset; guilty; scared; hostile; alert; ashamed; nervous; jittery; afraid)

Huppert et al. (2009)

Satisfaction Positive affect (calm, joyful, happy) Resilience

Optimism Self-esteem Autonomy Competence Interest in learning Goal orientation Sense of purpose

Keyes (2007)

Emotional wellbeing (satisfied, happy, interested)

Self-acceptance Personal growth Purpose in life Environmental mastery Autonomy

Ryan and Deci (2000)

N/A

Autonomy competence

Negative affect Negative experience (negative; bad; unpleasant; sad; afraid; angry)

Negative affect (depressed, effortful, restless, lonely, sad, lethargic, anxious)

N/A

N/A

(continued)

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Table 2 (continued) Dimension Theorist Ryff and Keyes (1995)

Seligman (2012) Kern et al. (2015) Warr (2011)

Individual/ personal hedonia/ affect N/A

Positive emotion (not specified)

Pleasure-related affect (comfort, pleasure, and enthusiasm)

Individual eudaimonia Self-acceptance Personal growth Purpose in life Environmental mastery Autonomy Engagement Meaning Accomplishment

Interpersonal/ social well-being Positive relations with others

Negative affect N/A

Positive relationship Meaning

N/A Depression Anxiety

Fitness and appropriateness with individualistic aim and value, e.g., selfconcordance

Fitness and appropriateness with communityoriented standard, e.g., social acceptance

Displeasurerelated affect (depression, sadness, and anxiety)

Note: This chapter formulates this integrative taxonomy to reflect three contrasting aspects of wellbeing, i.e., hedonic and eudaimonic, individual and social, and positive and negative. However, the three distinctions are not symmetrically distributed in the conceptualization, i.e., each dimension reflects one or two attributes instead of all the three proportionally. For example, the eudaimonia, both individual and social aspect, encompasses some hedonic/feeling elements. The hedonia and eudaimonia in this study are more distinguished by affective and cognitive evaluation

On the other side, some theorists focus their conceptualization and operationalization of well-being on the eudaimonic elements. For example, building on positive functioning literature, Ryff (1989) formulated a conceptual framework for psychological well-being by integrating theories of self-actualization (Maslow 1968), fully functioning person (Rogers 1963), individuation (Jung 1923), and maturity (Allport 1961). This conceptualization consists of six aspects: self-acceptance, positive relationship with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, and purpose in life. Drawing on self-determination theory, Ryan and Deci (2000) defined well-being as the fulfillment of three fundamental psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Putting the idiosyncratic labeling aside, the conceptualizations that include meaning; engagement, along with an emphasis on process; and functioning fall into the eudaimonic approach. Noticeably, as the inquiry on well-being evolves, researchers have gradually realized the complementary attributes of hedonia and eudaimonia. Keyes and Waterman (2003) proposed that happiness consists of two related but distinguishable components: hedonic enjoyment (hedonia) and personal expressiveness (eudaimonia). Diener et al.

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(2010) supplemented their earlier subjective well-being measure by a flourishing scale to capture the psychological and social aspects. The flourishing scale consists of eight items capturing essential aspects of human functioning, ranging from positive relationships competence to meaning and purpose in life. Incorporating Aristotelian and Buddhist views, Warr (2011) introduced self-validation as a second form of happiness to complement his previous theory on affective well-being. This notion captures the appropriateness, rightness, fitting, and meaning, i.e., eudaimonic elements of wellbeing. Conversely, Keyes (2007, 2009) who inherited the psychological well-being model of Ryff (1989), and originally only focused on social eudaimonia, added positive emotion as a dimension of mental health. The illustrations above reinforce the view that hedonia and eudaimonia are indispensable components of well-being conceptualization. Proposition 2 Eudaimonia is an independent component of employee well-being as conceived by Chinese employees.

Social Well-Being Social well-being refers to the appraisal of one’s circumstances and functioning in society. Building on the social life’s benefits theory, Keyes (1998) substantiated social well-being as a five-factor model: social actualization, social acceptance, social integration, and social contribution. His social well-being construct has evoked considerable attention, and subsequent researchers concur with the inclusion of social characteristics in the conceptualizations of well-being. For example, positive relation is one of the essential five pillars in Seligman’s (2012) PERMA (positive emotions, engagement, relationship, meaning, and accomplishment) model of well-being although the social element was absent in his earlier definition of authentic happiness (Seligman 2004). Gallagher et al. (2009) validated social well-being as a unique dimension in a hierarchical model of well-being. In the European Social Survey, Huppert et al. (2009) incorporated social/interpersonal elements drawn from social capital theory. Finally, the leading researcher of subjective well-being, incorporated respect, trust, and contribution in their latest flourishing scale to capture the social dimension of well-being (Diener et al. 2010). Proposition 3a Social well-being is an independent component of employee wellbeing conceived by Chinese employees. The social dimension is particularly relevant to Chinese’ conceptualization of employee well-being. Hofstede’s (2016) culture model shows that China is a highly collectivistic country. The collectivism can be dated back to more than 2000 years ago. The ancient Chinese philosophy, Confucianism, holds that individuals have their full realization and development (well-being) only in human relationships (Feng 1983). That is to say, the self in Confucian thought is essentially relational, and one cannot be happy if one is detached from relations. These are well manifested

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in some of the central principles of the Confucianism, ren (benevolence) and yi (righteousness). Due to its far-reaching impact of Confucianism, Chinese people believe that one who behaves in accordance with these principles is a man of virtue and thus achieves authentic well-being. Empirically, Lu and Gilmour (2006) demonstrated that Chinese endorsed more socially oriented well-being than individually oriented well-being compared with Americans. Proposition 3b Social dimension will dominate the conceptualization of employee well-being by Chinese employees.

Negative Affect The negative component of well-being deserves our attention for two reasons. First, it is an established view in the literature that although positive affect and negative affect are correlated, they have independent causes and consequences (e.g., Bradburn 1969; Watson et al. 1988). Moreover, psychologists substantiate negative affective as complementary parts in their well-being conceptualization (e.g., Fisher 2010; Gallagher et al. 2009; Huppert et al. 2009). Noticeably, Diener and his colleagues (1984, 1999) consistently used the “low level or relative absence of negative affect” in their definition of subjective well-being instead of absolute absence of negative affect. Warr (2007) argued that happiness and unhappiness are interdependent in many settings, emphasizing that overall happiness does not exclude the potential presence of negative experience. Eudaimonia, another term for well-being, conceives well-being as a process (Aristotle and Reeve 2014; Huppert et al. 2009). It suggests that happy individuals do not necessarily feel good at all times, and it is normal to experience negative emotions. Following this line of reasoning, the author argues that one achieves eudaimonia by being able to keep the negative under control and maintain the emotional equilibrium. Second, too much positivity is perilous. Drawing on findings of affective phenomena research, Fredrickson (2013) illustrated that the relationship between positive emotion and health is nonlinear. Gruber et al. (2011) demonstrated that a moderate level of happiness is beneficial but a high level would lead to maladaptive consequences. They suggested that individuals experiencing high levels of happiness exhibit more rigid behavioral repertoires, engage in risky behavior, and tend to neglect important threats. This line of scientific evidence is consistent with both philosophy and common sense. The origin of Chinese philosophy, The Book of Changes (Wilhelm and Baynes 1951), elucidated that things will develop into the opposite direction when they become extreme. This echoes the English sayings that “too much of a good thing is not a good thing.” By contrast, appropriate levels of negativity, e.g., driven by challenging stressors, are conducive to performance (LePine et al. 2005). Taken together, it is theoretically and empirically sound to incorporate negative affect in conceptualizing employee well-being, so it mirrors the proposition that affective equilibrium would lead to a high level of well-being.

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Proposition 4 Negative affect is an independent component of employee wellbeing as conceptualized by Chinese employees.

Disambiguation and Summary Well-being is an intractable concept with numerous diffuse, fuzzy, and vague conceptions. The labeling variation is quite common in the literature. To minimize confusion and misunderstanding, it is necessary to disambiguate the labels cited in this chapter. For example, subjective well-being, which originally refers to hedonic well-being, has been added a eudaimonic well-being connotation in recent works (OECD 2013; Diener et al. 2010). Warr (2007) insists that happiness is a better terminology of well-being conception proposed by this article. For him, affective well-being is one form of happiness; the other is self-validation. However, in the happy-productive hypothesis, happiness is measured as psychological well-being and subjective well-being (e.g., Wright and Cropanzano 2004). In this chapter, psychological well-being is measured by a scale developed by Berkman (1971) in which items are primarily capturing positive and negative feelings, i.e., hedonic components. It is understandable that happiness and positive emotions are frequently used as a synonym or conceived as equivalent to well-being due to its philosophical and popular roots. In most cases for most people, especially laymen, happiness is immediately associated with pleasure, positive emotion which is obviously not a precise/complete interpretation of the “happiness” that we are discussing in this article. Particularly in this article, the author treats well-being as a scientific term of happiness. Last, though there is relatively less confusion about the eudaimonic nature of psychological wellbeing (Ryff 1989) and social well-being (Keyes 1998) in psychology studies, Thomas A Wright et al. (2007) describe that psychological well-being is primarily a long-lasting affective or emotional experience in their study under the happy-productive thesis. A brief look at the literature (Table 1) shows that the same word means different things to different researchers, and they label the concepts variously though they are discussing the same thing. To date, there is no congruent terminology and conceptualization on well-being. Accordingly, it is important for researchers to bear in mind that, and the measures might be inconsistent with our presumption based on the label. To conclude, well-being is a construct of multiple dimensions. It is a collection of an individual’s experience and functioning. Thereby, a comprehensive well-being conceptualization should not be limited to one approach. Hedonia, eudaimonia, social dimension, and negative dimensions are summarized as essential elements of various definitions and conceptual frameworks in Psychology literature. These characteristics will serve as the contour to the reconceptualization of employee wellbeing in the following part. To recapitulate, this chapter substantiates employee well-being as a multidimensional model that captures the overall quality of an employee’s feeling and

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functioning in the workplace. This integrative conceptualization mirrors the classic taxonomy of well-being as both hedonic and eudaimonic, distinguishes the individual and social level, and encompasses both positive and negative perspective. Table 1 illustrates how these dimensions are conceptually linked with the existing theoretical frameworks and measurement models in the psychology literature.

Method Participants and Procedures To validate our theoretical conceptualization, we conducted online survey to collect data on how Chinese employees conceptualize employee well-being. What makes our study distinctive is that instead of asking respondents to rate how they feel regarding each element, we ask them to indicate the extent to which they think these elements are consistent with their own definition of employee well-being. As it is intent to be conceptualization endorsement, we think any adults who have no less than 6 months of work experience is eligible to participate. We first contact respondents though alumni of MBA program. This is a common data collection strategy found in China-based management studies. Besides, the majority of MBA students or graduates hold high/middle level management positions, which means that they have strong as well as broad interpersonal networks. Therefore, we ask them to disseminate the questionnaires among their business partners, friends, and subordinates via social media accounts, email, and telephone. To reduce sample bias, the first author selectively asked managers from different areas and industries to spread the questionnaires. Then, respondents access the questionnaire via a webpage link. Every respondent is guaranteed with privacy confidentiality upon participation. In addition, to solicit more respondents and more genuine answers, we design a lottery for participants who successfully submitted the questionnaire. To avoid repeated participation, multiple accesses from one IP address are restrained. The questionnaire was released in February 2016 and closed at the beginning of May 2016. We sent reminders for respondents three times by every 2 weeks. The online survey system indicates that the response rate is 28%. We design a sifting question to exclude people who have less than 6 months of work experience.) For the first open-ended question, only one respondent does not give any description on employee well-being; thus we obtain 544 definitions for qualitative analysis. For quantitative analysis, we obtain a final sample of 531 respondents after data screening. (We first delete cases which have missing data for more than 5 variables. Then, we compute the standard deviation of Likert questions for each respondent. If the standard deviation equals 0, we consider it as unengaged response and thereby delete such cases. 33 cases of the 531 dataset have missing values; thus we only use it for descriptive statistics. For factor analysis, we exclude cases list wise; thus the sample size for following analysis is 498.)

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Questionnaire Design The author pooled the items referring to established well-being measure models illustrated in Table 1. Elements were included if high consensus was reached by the theorists. Before formal questionnaire distribution, the researcher conducted a pilot study (the report is available upon request) to further refine the item pool (procedures and results are available upon request to the author). The final questionnaire consists of one open-ended question, one Cantril ladder question, 31 seven-point scaled Likert questions, and seven demographic questions (Table 3). The survey lasted from January 2016 to May 2016. The response rate is 28%, which exceeds the cutoff value for online survey designs (Nulty 2008). For the first open question, only one respondent did not give any description of employee wellbeing, i.e., the researcher obtained 544 definitions for the qualitative analysis. For the quantitative analysis, the author deleted cases that had missing data for more than five variables and unengaged responses of which the standard deviation was zero. After data screening, the final sample consists of 531 valid responses (Table 4).

Table 3 Overview of the survey design Target population Survey type Questionnaire design Dissemination Quality control Questions

a

Participants and procedures Chinese adults with work experience no less than 6 months Online Item pool generation; question formulation; translation and back translation Networks of managers in MBA programs Selective sampling, reminder, lottery, unique IP access, data screening 1 open question “Please define employee well-being freely.” 1 Cantril ladder question “Imagine employee well-being as a ladder with steps numbered from zero at the bottom to ten at the top, which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?” 31 seven-point scaled Likert questions For example, “the extent to which the specific well-being element drawn from the theoretical model is consistent with your understanding or definition of employee well-being.”a strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7) 8 demographic questions Gender, age, education, occupation, position, work experience, industry, and location

To eliminate possible ambiguity and misunderstanding, the survey incorporated a paraphrased version for respondents’ reference: “the extent to which you would use this element to describe employee well-being.” Negative affect items were worded in a similar pattern except for the concept that is replaced by “ill-being”

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Table 4 Demographics Demographic Age Work experience Gender Education

Job level

Industry

Mean/category 31.58 years 8.62 years Female Male High school (vocation training school) Junior college Bachelor program Master program Doctor program Frontline employee Frontline manager Middle manager Top manager Agriculture Manufacturing and construction Service

SD/percent 6.33 6.86 44.6% 55.4% 4.70% 13.7% 45.2% 34.1% 2.3% 40.1% 32.4% 20.9% 6.6% 6.8% 24.9% 68.3%

Note: N ¼ 531

Analysis First, the author translated the definition into English and asked a professional interpreter to translate it back into Chinese to check the consistency. The inconsistent items are settled by discussion. The author conducted a frequency count of the English transcript in NVivo 10. Then, the author categorized high-frequency words based on the proposed multidimensional framework. For the quantitative analysis, the author conducted descriptive statistics analyses and confirmative factor analysis in SPSS 22.

Results Qualitative Results After excluding general adjectives such as “like,” “good,” and “happy,” the rank is self-explanatory (Table 5). First, “achievement” is the word of the highest frequency used in the definitions. Such result is consistent with the theory of the hierarchy of needs (Maslow 1943), self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan 2000), and PERMA model (Seligman 2012), which incorporated self-actualization, competence, and accomplishment in their theorization, respectively. Then, a richer picture

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Table 5 Frequency count of employee well-being definition Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Word Achievement Like Good Happy Recognized Colleagues Harmonious Income Rewardeda

Count 93 71 65 57 57 54 46 45 40

Weighted percentage (%) 2.57 1.96 1.80 1.58 1.58 1.49 1.27 1.24 1.11

10 11 12

Value Leaders Relationship

39 34 32

1.08 0.94 0.89

Similar words Achieve, achievement Like Good Happiness, happy Recognize, recognized Colleagues Harmonious, harmony Income Reward, rewarded, rewarding, rewards Value, valued, values Leader, leaders, leaders’ Relationship, relationships

Note: N ¼ 544. Stop words include “work,” “sense,” “feel,” “well,” “make,” “high,” “level” The meaning of reward can be related to the material (e.g., bonus and welfare) and can be associated with the psychological (e.g., training, promotion, and recognition)

a

emerges as the list goes down. “Recognized,” “colleagues,” “harmonious,” “leaders,” and “relationships” suggest that the social dimension dominates Chinese’ conceptualization of employee well-being. Last, high-ranking words “income” and “rewarded” suggest the importance Chinese employees attach to compensation. They frequently used “high” or “satisfactory” income in their conceptualization of employee well-being. However, scrutiny of the context reveals that perceived justice largely determines their satisfaction level. For instance, respondent No. 15 mentioned “have a relatively high income in our society,” No. 87 used “secured,” No. 116 used “acceptable,” No. 190 used “fair,” and No. 270 used “reasonable” to describe income. Thereby, how compensation and benefits practices are formulated, implemented, and perceived matters as much as the amount of pay (Table 6). After excluding some repetitive and irrelevant words, the author identified four broad categories. It lends explicit support to the four-dimension propositions in this chapter. Specifically, regarding positive affect, “happy” is a word of the highest frequency in layman’s definition of emotional well-being. Second, “achievement” dominates the eudaimonic component. However, “freedom” and other autonomy related concepts were marginally used by the respondents. This contrasts with the prevalence of autonomy in the Western conceptualization of employee well-being. The rest of the list (colleagues, leaders) suggests the importance of people in the workplace, and the context of these words reveals that achievement for Chinese employees is embedded in social connections. Third, as expected, more words of high frequency fall into the social category than the other three categories. “Recognition” dominates Chinese respondents’ description of well-being. Interestingly, “leaders” are frequently used instead of

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Table 6 Categorization of top 100 frequent words Employee well-being component Positive affect Individual eudaimonia

Social well-being

Negative affect

Words (frequency) Happy (57), happily (23), interest (23), pleasant (19), satisfying (18)a, relaxing (12), contented (11), enthusiastic (10), pleasure (10) Achievement (193), value (39), fulfilling(16), capable (15), development (15), progress (13), learn (12), enjoy(11), talent (11), freedom (9)b, actualization (8), competence (8), valuable (8) Recognized (57), colleagues (54), harmonious (46), leaders (34), relationship (32), team (21), care (11), fair (11), respected (11), accepted (10), belonging (10), opportunity (10), appreciated (9), friends (8), identification (8), society (8), support (8) Pressure (23), challenging (16)

Note: N ¼ 544 a The literature is unsettled about the attribute of satisfaction, i.e., whether it is affective or cognitive. This survey considers it as affective, i.e., hedonic well-being b It can be found in phrases like “freedom in terms of time and space,” “guarantee freedom,” etc., which can be associated with autonomy at work

supervisors and managers. Such wording subtlety in a way reflects the high power distance culture in the Chinese workplace. Fourth, the high-ranking list only captures two words related to negativity: pressure and challenges. These respondents describe employee well-being with “low/certain/appropriate/moderate level of pressure,” which is consistent with our rationale on the inclusion of negative affect. Employees need to experience some negative emotions such as stress to achieve eudaimonia (Fig. 1).

Quantitative Results Descriptive Statistics The rank of the mean of item endorsement in the quantitative analysis is consistent with the frequency count in the qualitative analysis. Eudaimonia items are prominently favored; particularly those have a social connotation, such as recognition, respect, and belonging. Negative items are least endorsed, which presumably suggests that Chinese employees are less willing to express negativity (Table 7). The main purpose of the quantitative study is to identify the essential elements and structure of the employee well-being conceptualization as held by Chinese employees. Thus, 12 candidate items were removed due to theoretical and/or empirical considerations (Table 8). The correlation table (Table 9) indicates that all the selected items are significantly correlated. Confirmatory Factor Analysis A four-factor CFA (confirmatory factor analysis) was conducted to verify the propositions on the four independent dimensions of employee well-being (Table 10).

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Fig. 1 Word cloud of employee well-being definitions by Chinese. Note. N ¼ 544. Stop words include “work,” “sense,” “feel,” “well,” “make,” “high,” “level”

First, factor consisting of social items, i.e., recognition, belonging, respect, fairness, support, and trust, accounts for 43.08% of the variance, suggesting that social wellbeing is a distinguishable and dominating component of employee well-being. Second, the items identified in the other three factors are consistent with negative affect, positive affect, and individual eudaimonia. The AVE (average variance extracted) of each component is greater than 0.50, suggesting good convergent validity. However, individual well-being items only explain 2.50% of the total variance, and they are cross-loading on social well-being factor. Additionally, the AVEs for social well-being and individual well-being are less than their MSV (maximum shared variance), which suggests discriminant validity concerns. Then, the author conducted the explorative factor analysis by the rule of thumb (eigenvalue > 1). Only three factors were identified. As expected, individual wellbeing and social well-being are not distinguished. In addition, the three-factor model does not have any convergent validity nor discriminant validity issues (Table 11). To conclude, the loading pattern largely supports our theoretical propositions (Proposition 1, Proposition 2, and Proposition 4) except for the distinction between social well-being and individual well-being (Proposition 3a). Nevertheless, in another sense, it lends considerable support to Proposition 3b that social connotation will dominate Chinese employees’ conceptualization of employee well-being.

Additional Statistics I conducted ANOVA to investigate whether the conceptualization is divided by demographic factors. The results demonstrate that education in terms of degree category significantly differentiates respondents’ endorsement regarding negative affect in

Reg 5.77 1.24 Cpt 5.41 1.20 Anx 4.91 1.54

Rspt 5.72 1.22 Sat 5.39 1.26 Bad 4.81 1.69

Grow 5.70 1.20 Supt 5.38 1.25 Sad 4.74 1.52

Blg 5.68 1.28 Cntd 5.35 1.19 Ang 4.70 1.70

Acc 5.68 1.19 Ener 5.34 1.29 Calm 4.54 1.33

Pps 5.61 1.19 Auto 5.33 1.27 Wrd 4.51 1.45

Trst 5.58 1.11 Fair 5.32 1.36 Tse 4.41 1.49

Joy 5.57 1.33 Opt 5.23 1.22

Enga 5.54 1.15 Pstv 5.18 1.20

Plst 5.54 1.29 Dprs 5.17 1.58

Enth 5.49 1.22 Intr 5.13 1.43

Ctrb 5.46 1.23 Neg 4.91 1.47

a

Note: N ¼ 531. The abbreviations, ordered by descending mean, represent recognition, respect, grow, belonging, self-acceptance, purpose, trust, joy, engagement, pleasant, enthusiasm, contribution, competent, satisfaction, support, contented, energetic, autonomy, fairness, optimism, positive, depression, interesting, negative, anxiety, bad, sad, angry, calm, worried, and tense

Item Mean SD Item Mean SD Item Mean SD

Table 7 Sample size, mean, and standard deviation of employee well-being item endorsementa

4 How Chinese Conceptualize Employee Well-Being 103

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Table 8 Deleted items and justification Items Satisfaction, optimism

Recognition

Calm Interest and positive Enthusiastic Contribution, competence, and autonomy

Tense and worried

Justifications There is controversy in the literature regarding these exact attributes. In addition, the conceptualization is rather broad compared with other elements. We included them for comparative reasons. However, they disrupted the underlying pattern of employee well-being when included in factor analysis Based on the qualitative analysis, Chinese employees nearly equate recognition with well-being at work. In quantitative analysis, it ranks first in the endorsement table. Thereby, it is assumed the high endorsement of this item would disrupt the pattern with others. As expected, this item is extraordinarily leftskewed (skewness ¼ 1.59; kurtosis ¼ 3.32) Low endorsement in the mean rank Low endorsement in the mean rank; community extraction is below 0.30 Cross-loading Community extraction of all the three items is small; theoretically, they are more like the antecedents of well-being instead of wellbeing elements per se; competence is similar to growth, which refers to learning new things and making progress They receive a low endorsement in the mean rank; though they neatly loaded on the factor with other negative affect items, we eliminated them also for the reason of parsimony and balance as there were too many items for the negative affect factor

such a way that the higher degree they obtain, the more agreement they would indicate (“angry,” F ¼ 2.42, p < 0.05; “anxious,” F ¼3.94, p < 0.00; “bad,” F ¼ 3.45, p < 0.01; “depressed,” F ¼ 5.08, p < 0.00). Conceptualization concerning “anxious” (F ¼ 7.01, p < 0.01), “belonging” (F ¼ 5.07, p < 0.05), “depression” (F ¼ 6.60, p < 0.01), “fairness” (F ¼ 4.41, p < 0.05), and “recognition” (F ¼ 6.29, p < 0.01) is significantly diffrenct by gender, with female giving higher endorsement, which suggests that women are more sensitive to negative emotions. As for positions, only “self-acceptance” is perceived significantly different (F ¼ 3.38, p ¼ 0.05), with frontline managers showing the highest agreement, and then respondents’ agreement decreases as they climb over the career ladder. Taken together, the results suggest that well-educated and female respondents are more sensitive to negative affect elements. Women value social items such as “belonging,” “fairness,” and “recognition” more than men, which might be indicative of some gender issue in the workplace. The mean of general employee well-being in this sample is 5.98. If we equate job satisfaction with employee well-being, we will find Chinese experience significant lower level of well-being compared with Europeans who have an average of 7.43 (t ¼ 16.20, p < 0.00). Thereby, it can in a sense eliminate our speculation that the low level of employee engagement in Gallup survey is caused by misinterpretation of employee well-being. Confronted with sobering low figures reported by various reports, it is time to take action, as well-being is one of the important goals of human being, if not the only ultimate goal. Going to demographics, we find employee

0.81

0.26

0.21

0.66

0.17

0.33

0.27

0.25



0.27

0.48

0.39

0.26

0.58

0.43

0.64

0.45



Bad

Blg

Cntd

Dprs

Enga

Fair

Grow

Joy

0.03

0.05

5.68

1.19

Age

Mean

SD

0.25

1.54

4.91

0.05

0.12

0.07

0.20

0.20

0.67



0.19

0.23



0.21

0.25

0.26

0.18

0.76

0.19

0.25

0.73

Anx

0.26

1.70

4.81

0.07

0.08

0.07

0.25

0.21

0.75



0.20

0.28



0.27

0.27

0.30

0.21

0.73

0.21

0.29

Bad

0.63

0.39



0.33

0.60



0.58

0.35

0.28

0.34

0.21

Cntd

1.28

5.68

1.19

5.35

0.15 0.03

0.11 0.04

0.14 0.04

0.57 0.27

0.54 0.36

0.30 0.25



0.51

0.50



0.48

0.57

0.56

0.49

0.28

0.35

Blg

0.31

1.58

5.17

0.11

0.11

0.11

0.24

0.19

0.71



0.26

0.27



0.24

0.30

0.27

0.19

Dprs

0.52

1.29

5.33

0.06

0.06

0.05

0.49

0.59

0.21



0.51

0.40



0.39

0.55

0.43

Enga

Note: N ¼ 531. Spearman correlation. p < 0.01, two tailed. p < 0.05, two tailed a “male” ¼ 0, “female”¼ 1

1.70

4.70

0.04

0.02

0.28

0.21

0.00

0.44

Trst

Gdr

0.47

Supt

0.28

0.70

0.05

0.24

Exp

0.59

Sad





Pps

Rspt

0.19

0.51

0.59

Plst

0.28

0.67

0.21

Anx

Ang

0.27

Ang

Items Acc

Table 9 Mean, standard deviation, and correlation

0.58

1.15

5.54

0.11

0.10

0.10

0.54

0.52

0.28



0.37

0.41



0.44

0.49

Fair

0.61

0.47



0.43

0.79

Joy

0.51

0.48

Plst

1.36

5.31

0.14

0.01

0.13

1.21

5.70

0.00

0.03

0.02

1.33

5.57

Rspt

Sad

Supt

0.05

0.09

1.30

5.54

1.24

5.77

0.07

0.08

0.08

1.53

4.73

0.05

0.05

0.05

1.25

5.37

Exp

1.11

5.57

Gdra

6.86

8.62

0.89 0.22

0.02 0.20

0.10

Trst

0.07 0.12

0.08

0.05

0.51 0.59 0.30 0.57

0.46 0.67 0.26

0.20 0.31

0.53

Pps

0.00 0.13

0.01

0.00

0.54 0.42 0.42

0.54 0.41 0.42

0.26 0.31 0.30



0.65

0.45

0.42

Grow

6.33

31.58

Age

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Table 10 Confirmatory factor analysis as four factors Items Respect Support Fairness Belonging Trust Bad Angry Depressed Anxious Pleasant Joyful Contented Energetic Purpose Growth Self-acceptance Engagement CR Eigenvalue Variance explained AVE MSV

Factors Social WB 0.85 0.82 0.78 0.78 0.73

Negative affect

Positive affect

Individual WB

0.92 0.87 0.85 0.82 0.93 0.87 0.70 0.69

0.89 7.78 43.08% 0.63 0.75

0.91 2.90 15.82% 0.73 0.08

0.88 1.19 5.54% 0.65 0.52

0.82 0.80 0.78 0.69 0.87 0.77 2.44% 0.63 0.75

Note: N ¼ 531. WB ¼ well-being KMO ¼ 0.92; Bartlett’s test of sphericity, χ2 ¼ 6359.71, df ¼ 136, p < 0.001

well-being is positively related with work experience (r ¼ 0.21, p < 0.00) and age (r ¼ 0.21, p < 0.00). Employees with higher positions enjoy significantly higher well-being (F ¼ 21.28, p < 0.00). Other demographic factors such as gender (F ¼ 0.58, p ¼ 0.46) and education (F ¼ 1.66, p ¼ 0.16) do not distinguish the level of employee well-being, which are inconsistent with the review of Diener et al. (2009). It might be caused by sample bias (employees) or culture value (Chinese) as these authors suggest. Interestingly, we find degree of agreement to positive items, including both hedonia and eudaimonia in well-being conceptualization, positively related to general well-being level. Conversely, people who rate high regarding agreement of negative well-being items have significantly lower level of well-being.

Discussion Drawing on a set of theories on well-being in psychology and management studies, this chapter proposes that positive affect, individual well-being, social well-being, and negative affect are four interdependent but discriminable components of

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Table 11 Confirmatory factor analysis as three factors Items Respect Support Growth Belonging Self-acceptance Fairness Purpose Engagement Trust Bad Angry Depressed Anxious Pleasant Joyful Contented Energetic CR Eigen value Variance explained AVE MSV

Factors Eudaimonia 0.84 0.79 0.78 0.77 0.75 0.74 0.73 0.73 0.72

Negative affect

Positive affect

0.93 0.87 0.85 0.81

0.93 7.23 42.46% 0.58 0.96

0.92 2.70 15.87% 0.75 0.93

0.94 0.86 0.70 0.69 0.88 0.98 5.77% 0.65 0.55

Note: N ¼ 531 KMO ¼ 0.92. Bartlett’s test of sphericity, χ 2 ¼ 7246.59, df ¼ 136, p < 0.001

employee well-being conceived by Chinese employees. The empirical findings largely support the theoretical propositions. However, the social dimension cannot be distinguished as an independent component in the current dataset. On the contrary, the factor analysis shows the social dimension dominates the conceptualization of employee well-being.

Theoretical Implications First, our literature review together with the empirical studies substantiates employee well-being as a multidimensional construct. Aligning with this theoretical profile, future research can better clarify and position employee well-being-related constructs (as seen in Table 1) and select meaningful measures to address research gaps. For example, hedonia (positive affect) and eudaimonia (individual well-being and social well-being) are highly correlated, but they are identified as different dimensions in factor analysis. Thereby, these two sub-dimensions of employee well-being can have different antecedents and outcomes. In the workplace, training

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on emotion management and comfortable work settings might preclude negative affect and boost positive affect, but they probably are not sufficient to promote eudaimonia. Thus, a mere focus on hedonic well-being enhancing can fail to enhance the overall employee well-being in a sustainable way. Second, the qualitative and quantitative studies suggest employees preeminently equate individual well-being with social well-being in the Chinese workplace. Although relationship-related constructs such as guanxi HRM (e.g., Chen et al. 2004) and harmony (e.g., Leung et al. 2002) have been extensively investigated in China-based management and organization studies, few have attempted to link them to employee well-being. Meanwhile, it would be intriguing to investigate whether the failure to distinguish individual and social well-being is exclusive to this particular dataset/Chinese or it is generalizable to other cultures. Thereby, it is recommended to conduct country comparative studies to further identify the relationship pattern between the dimensions in employee well-being. Third, the literature review and analysis underlie the importance of construct clarity in terms of conceptualizing and operationalizing employee well-being. The literature review shows the idiocrasy makes it challenging to synthesize the empirical findings, whereas the results suggest some measures question whether frequently found in the literature such as job satisfaction, engagement, the presence of positive affect, the absence of negative affect, burnout, etc. adequately and genuinely capture what employee conceives as employee well-being. These measures can be highly correlated with each other and overall well-being, but they are only proxy indicators. Applying the proposed framework, some measures might be deficient, whereby others might be “excess” in terms of construct validity for employee well-being. We need to investigate to clarify the labeling and acknowledge the multidimensionality of employee well-being.

Practical Implications The sobering low level of employee well-being from the survey deserves our attention. Employee well-being is precious but not prohibitively expensive for employers. Apart from a reasonable amount of pay, the survey indicates that Chinese employees aspire for achievement and recognition in the workplace. What also dominate their wishlist are harmonious relationships with colleagues and leaders. Theories and empirical evidence suggest that some work practices can contribute to the experience of these feelings. According to self-determination theory, practices that satisfy employees’ needs will lead to high levels of autonomous motivation, well-being, and performance (Deci and Ryan 2000; Manganelli et al. 2018). For example, acknowledging employees’ contribution and negative feelings and involving employees in making decisions related to their work and welfare can facilitate the satisfaction of need for autonomy; sophisticated compensation and benefits policy and giving positive feedback frequently can improve the feeling of competence; and organizing social events and encouraging teamwork would contribute to the feeling of relatedness (Gagné and Deci 2005).

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Second, employers can improve or maintain employee well-being by providing employees with scientific evidence-based advice on well-being. A common thread running through the conceptualization of employee well-being in this chapter is balance and moderation, which is not a mathematical mean but a dynamic point that prevents excess or deficiency in each aspect (Aristotle and Reeve 2014). Authentic well-being is a balance between hedonia and eudaimonia, individual well-being and social well-being, and positive affect and negative affect. By this line of reasoning, the dominance of social dimension in factor analysis suggests that Chinese employees assign an overwhelmingly large weight to social aspect in their conceptions of well-being. It can be precarious if an individual’s well-being is determined by social acceptance and recognition. On the organizational side, it is advisable to motivate people by relatedness-driven practices, such as socializing and networking. However, the present research cautions against the abuse of relationship. Particularly, the notion of Guanxi (Chen et al. 2013) is evolving into a distorted version of social network (Chen et al. 2004). Last, it can be costly to promote hard-working value excessively, particularly the culture of working long hours and constraining employees’ voice or expressing negative emotions. It would make employees susceptible to chronic negative experiences which would lead to burnout and other psychological disorders. Studies have shown a low level of negative affect frequency or intensity such as stress, anxious is beneficial, and its extreme will undermine health as well as productivity in the long run (Wright et al. 2009; Wright and Staw 1999). The equilibrium rationale underlying the conceptualization and empirical evidence suggests it would be more advisable to promote working smarter instead of working harder in the workplace.

Limitations We acknowledge the following limitations. First, we only managed to validate a conceptual framework instead of developing a measure model. However, this study lays foundation for scale development. This comprehensive and contingent framework would bring researchers of different perspectives into dialogues. Second, activation and pleasure dimension in the affect measure model are not distinguished. This paper acknowledges the nuanced and important difference of these two dimensions. However, such a subtle distinction is beyond the focus of current conceptualization. Third, the sample size is small compared with the large Chinese population (796,900,000 employees according Chinese statistics Yearbook 2015). Also, the data was collected via convenient sampling method, which can implicate demographic bias. The average education is 9.28 years according to China Labour Dynamic Survey while that of our sample is 16.93. (We transform the education experience into years according to Chinese official education system: high school or higher vocation training school ¼ 12, junior college ¼ 15, bachelor’s degree ¼ 16, master program ¼ 19, doctor program ¼ 22.5.) Large-scale survey with rigorous sampling method needs to be conducted. However, we argue that people with higher

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education would shape the work value and norm. They are also more capable of describing abstract concepts such as employee well-being. (According to China Labour Dynamic Survey, Chinese employees rank work value as survival, socialization, and self-actualization in a descending order. Assuming work value decides well-being conceptualization, this result is largely consistent with our findings.)

Conclusion Well-being is an important goal of every human being, if not the ultimate. This concept can mean different things for different people from different cultures. And the literature is characterized by idiocratic conceptualization which would constrain collaborative and accumulative scientific inquiry. By integrating theorization in the psychology and management domains, this chapter delineates a theoretical portrait of employee well-being for Chinese employees. It is a multidimensional construct consists of individual well-being, social well-being, positive affect, and negative affect. The results reveal that the individual and social dimensions cannot be distinguished in the present Chinese sample. The initiative to conceptualize employee well-being through a comprehensive and contingent perspective has important implications for both researchers and practitioners. Given the sobering low level of employee well-being in China, it is hoped this comprehensive and context-specific portrait on “what employee well-being is” will dispel some misconceptions and spur more concerted inquiry on the “why” and “how” of it.

Cross-References ▶ Employee Engagement: Keys to Organizational Success ▶ Improving Engagement During Times of Change ▶ Improving the Quality of Work Life: An Interdisciplinary Lens into the Worker Experience ▶ What Are the Key Components of Workplace Well-Being?: Examining Real-Life Experiences in Different Work Contexts

References Allport GW (1961) Pattern and growth in personality. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Aristotle, Reeve CDC (2014) Nicomachean ethics/Aristotle; translated with introduction and notes by C.D.C. Reeve. Hackett Publishing Company, Indianapolis Berkman PL (1971) Life stress and psychological well-being: a replication of Langner’s analysis in the midtown Manhattan study. J Health Soc Behav 12(1):35–45. https://doi.org/10.2307/2948452 Boxall P, Macky K (2014) High involvement work processes, work intensification and employee well-being. Work Employ Soc 28(6):963–984 Bradburn NM (1969) The Structure of Psychological Well-being. Chicago: Aldine

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What Are the Key Components of Workplace Well-Being?: Examining Real-Life Experiences in Different Work Contexts Caroline Rook, Anne O’Brien, and Inmaculada Adarves-Yorno

Contents Components of Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Definitions of Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Lay Descriptions of Well-Being to Describe Relevant Components of the Well-Being Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Study 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Study 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lay Descriptions of Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Components of Lay Definitions of Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Context Dependency of Lay Definitions of Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Multifacetedness of the Workplace Well-Being Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Context Embeddedness of the Well-Being Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Limitations of Current Research and Future Directions for Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Practical Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix 1 Second-Level Coding Results for Descriptions of High Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix 2 Domains Referred to by Participants when Describing High Well-Beinga . . . . . . . Appendix 3 Number of Domains Mentioned Together in Descriptions of Own Well-Being . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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C. Rook (*) Henley Business School, Henley-on-Thames, UK e-mail: [email protected] A. O’Brien University of Exeter, Exeter, UK I. Adarves-Yorno University of Exeter Business School, Exeter, UK © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_68

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Abstract

Debate among researchers and practitioners persists as to how to define a workplace well-being construct that measures people’s experienced well-being. Existing definitions often have a differing narrow focus on eudaimonic or hedonic aspects of well-being. An inductive approach to determining key features of workplace well-being through exploring real-life work experience might alleviate this issue as checking the meanings people assign to well-being would create further insight into key aspects of the workplace well-being concept. Further, the endeavor to understand how different people at work experience well-being is important as their understanding is likely to impact on how they maintain and enhance well-being, how they rate their well-being in occupational surveys, how they respond to interventions, and how they manage their own well-being. Therefore, this research explores through two studies of lay descriptions of workplace well-being and extends previous research by using an inductive framework of an occupationally heterogeneous sample. Different groups of employees in different work settings were given qualitative surveys and took part in interviews and focus groups in order to establish components of workplace well-being. Dominant components were established through thematic content analysis. Similarities and differences were found between lay and theoretical conceptualizations of well-being. Results indicate that a multicomponent measure of workplace well-being should go beyond hedonic and eudaimonic aspects by including an energy component and social and physical aspects of well-being at work. Further, the use of a context-specific definitions and resulting implications for designing workplace well-being interventions is also discussed. Keywords

Well-being · Lay perspectives · Work context · Thematic content analysis

Debate among researchers and practitioners persists as to which components are central to the well-being concept (see Dodge et al. 2012) and what necessary features distinguish well-being from other types of workplace experiences, such as stress, which have been thought to be connected to the well-being construct (Fisher 2010). Diener (1994) gives a reason for the continuing debate about what well-being comprises. Several phenomena are involved when defining workplace well-being, as individuals assess different aspects when assessing their well-being, such as job satisfaction, self-development, and experiencing joyful moments. Furthermore, different theoretical approaches (e.g., hedonic and eudaimonic understanding; Ryan and Deci 2001) to the concept of well-being have led to an abundance of definitions of workplace well-being. In addition, many researchers study well-being as a context-free concept (Dagenais-Desmarais and Savoie 2011). Indeed, in organizational psychology, some researchers argue that workplace well-being measures should be broad enough

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to assess fully an individual’s experience of well-being (Fisher 2010; Vella-Brodrick et al. 2009) and concise enough to have predictive utility for outcomes such as work performance (Daniels and Harris 2000). In fact, current literature also highlights the importance of context in how an organizational phenomenon is understood by people who engage with it (e.g., Johns 2006). Certain individual characteristics (job role or identity), direct work environment (features of the job, characteristics of organization one works for), and wider environment (occupation, economic climate) can have an influence on how well-being is understood. Considering context makes it possible to create understanding and theory that might be more applicable in the workplace, as they recognize aspects unique to a workplace setting that influence organizational behavior (Rousseau and Fried 2001). Context issues have been explored in well-being research, particularly in relation to designing successful well-being interventions. Context and process issues are increasingly highlighted as key to designing interventions that “fit” (Karanika-Murray et al. 2012). Johns (2006) defines context as “situational opportunities and constraints that affect the occurrence and meaning of organisational behaviour. . .” (p. 386). Rousseau and Fried (2001) state that through contextualization, observations, in this case the well-being of employees in a specific organizational or job context, can be linked to relevant aspects that influence the phenomenon that is being studied. So, how do people understand their own well-being at work? To what extent do lay representations of the concept overlap with dominant theoretical concepts and organizational understanding? Do these understandings differ depending on their work or organizational context? Knowledge of this would shed light on how people make sense of their well-being in the workplace and would inform organizational attempts to create a healthy workplace. To explore the relevant components of workplace well-being, this chapter examines lay descriptions of well-being experienced by people in different work contexts. It adds to the current debate about well-being in the literature generally (e.g., Dodge et al. 2012) and about workplace well-being specifically (Dagenais-Desmarais and Savoie 2011; McMahan and Estes 2011) by investigating descriptions of experiences of well-being by managers, consultants, and staff to see what they identify as the relevant components of their individual workplace well-being. This approach has specific advantages as lay descriptions of well-being, which are not cued for a particular understanding of the concept, can provide insight into relevant components of well-being. (Lay people are all those who are not well-being scholars.) One of the aims of well-being research is to improve individuals’ work experience (Dewe and Cooper 2012). It would therefore be consistent with this aim to explore what individuals experience as important in terms of their well-being. Furthermore, the study of lay people’s perceptions of well-being has implications for how individuals judge their own well-being as well as others’ and what attempts they make to achieve well-being (McMahan and Estes 2011). Employees are likely to draw their understanding of well-being from a number of sources, such as organizational policies and interventions, the media, and personal beliefs. How people try to achieve well-being has been found to have an effect on their life satisfaction (see Vella-Brodrick et al. 2009).

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Several studies explore lay descriptions of well-being (Munoz Sastre 1999; Dagenais-Desmarais and Savoie 2011; McMahan and Estes 2011; Delle Fave et al. 2011). However, there has been no inductive approach to exploring workplace wellbeing with men and women working in different sectors, organizations, and indeed work roles. In the following sections, this chapter reviews current academic knowledge on components of workplace well-being before describing the studies on which this research is based. Following analysis of the study findings, recommendations for future research and practice on maintaining workplace well-being are discussed.

Components of Workplace Well-Being Definitions of Workplace Well-Being There is ongoing research into what components of workplace well-being can (Fisher 2010) and should (Page and Vella-Brodrick 2009) encompass. In a keyword search in Web of Science, (Search conducted on 16 February 2018) well-being and work and measures (specification of publication dates between 1970 and 2018 in peer-reviewed journals; well-being in the major heading of the paper) yielded 751 studies investigating well-being in work contexts. Most key categories of the literature related to personnel attitudes and job satisfaction; personality traits and measurements of well-being; links between perceived well-being and characteristics of people who work; descriptions and reviews of well-being models and measurements in the workplace; and approaches to promotion and maintenance of health and well-being. The well-being measures used in these studies differ according to (1) positive or negative conceptualizations (e.g., absence of stress or existence of job satisfaction); (2) hedonic or eudaimonic conceptualizations (e.g., pleasure resulting from one’s experiences at work, evaluation of work, or personal growth at work); (3) the breadth of conceptualizations (ranging from one dimension of the well-being experience, such as positive affect, to several dimensions, such as psychological and affective well-being); (4) the degree of context specificity (context-free, such as life satisfaction, context-specific, such as work satisfaction, or facet-specific, such as satisfaction with pay); and (5) degree of specificity in terms of overlap in antecedents and components included in the measure. (For example, the Ryff scales of psychological well-being (Ryff 1995; Seifert 2005) measure autonomy, which is an antecedent, and personal growth, which is a component.) Contemporary well-being research is divided into different schools of thought based on the perceived meaning of well-being. While scholars in the hedonic well-being tradition understand it as an experience of happiness, satisfaction, and avoidance of pain, the “eudaimonic approach [to well-being] focuses on meaning and self-realization, and defines well-being in terms of the degree to which a person is fully functioning” (Ryan and Deci 2001; p. 141). The core components of eudaimonic and hedonic well-being have been instrumental in the formulation of the definitions of workplace well-being currently in use and in guiding current

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research (Ryan and Deci 2001). Definitions used by researchers either focus on individual components or consist of a mixture of components. Most definitions of (workplace) well-being refer to hedonic well-being (Fisher 2010). However, many measures of individual workplace well-being focus on single aspects of the construct and are typically based on the hedonic notion of well-being (Fisher 2010; Page and Vella-Brodrick 2009). These are, for example, job satisfaction (Spector 1997), affective workplace well-being (Warr 2003), and vigor at work (Shirom 2011). Some definitions also use a mixture of domains. Danna and Griffin (1999), for example, use a mixture of domains and components for their definition of workplace well-being and state that the construct consists of life/nonwork satisfaction, work-/job-related satisfaction, and mental and physical health in the workplace. The domains they refer to are work life and nonwork life. The components they use are hedonic well-being (satisfaction) and health. Further examples are shown in Table 1. The field can be described as diverse but not unified, as different aspects of the concept are emphasized in the definitions. This heterogeneity is illustrated in Table 1, which displays individual definitions of workplace well-being that are commonly cited in research. Most measures focus on hedonic aspects; two out of the six measures include a eudaimonic aspect. The most common dimensions Table 1 Selection of definitions of workplace well-being

Author Wright and Cropanzano 2000 Page and VellaBrodrick 2009 Sirgy 2006 Danna and Griffin 1999

Term Psychological well-being

Definitional elements relate to the following well-being concepts Hedonic Eudaimonic Positive affect, negative affect, global evaluation

Employee health

Life satisfaction, dispositional affect, job satisfaction, work-related affect

Employee well-being Well-being in the workplace

Life satisfaction, job satisfaction, happiness

Warr 2003

Workplace well-being

Daniels 2000

Affective well-being at work

Cartwright and Cooper 2008

Psychological well-being

Life/nonwork satisfaction, work-/jobrelated satisfaction, [health in the workplace (mental and physical)] Three key indicators of affect: displeasure– pleasure, nxiety–comfort, depression– enthusiasm Five key indicators of affect: (1) depression–pleasure, (2) anxiety–comfort, (3) boredom–enthusiasm, (4) tiredness–vigor; (5) anger–being placid Affect

Psychological well-being

Purpose

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assessed are affect and satisfaction, with some measures assessing both and others assessing either one or the other. With the growing interest in eudaimonic aspects of workplace well-being, more research is being conducted on concepts like the meaning of work, thriving, and flourishing (e.g., Kopperud and Vitterso 2008; Ménard and Brunet 2012; Rosso et al. 2010; Seligman 2012). Concepts of workplace well-being that refer to aspects of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, such as flow (Csíkszentmihályi 1992) and work engagement (Schaufeli et al. 2002; Bakker et al. 2006), also receive widespread attention. Flow is a concept that could relate to both research traditions as it is characterized by high positive affect and the acquisition of learning, self-development, and mastery through immersion in a task that matches an individual’s skills (Csíkszentmihályi 1992). Work engagement could also relate to both traditions as it is characterized by affective and cognitive states at work and enjoyment of work tasks (Schaufeli et al. 2002). It encompasses three dimensions: (1) vigor, i.e., high levels of energy while working; (2) dedication, i.e., being strongly involved in one’s work and experiencing significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride, and challenge; and (3) absorption, i.e., being fully concentrated and engrossed so that time seems to pass quickly. In short, there is diversity and a lack of unity about the conceptualization of well-being as outlined in Table 1 due to the focus on negative or positive aspects of work experience (negative versus positive affect in Warr’s (2003) definition); the inclusion of only one or both aspects of hedonia and eudaimonia (e.g., Page and Vella-Brodrick 2009; Cartwright and Cooper 2008); and the inclusion of concepts related to well-being (mental health and physical health in Danna and Griffin 1999; Page and Vella-Brodrick 2009). However distinct or broad these definitions, all term their concepts “well-being.” A broad conceptualization highlights the complexity of well-being. One approach to capture what components are involved in workplace well-being is to ask people what they perceive constitutes their experience of well-being. To do so with people from different work contexts (i.e., sectors, organizations, or job roles) would also shed light on if there are differences in experiences and perceptions of well-being. The existing research in these approaches is outlined in the next section.

Using Lay Descriptions of Well-Being to Describe Relevant Components of the Well-Being Experience Some studies have explored lay descriptions of well-being to identify what components of the concept people consider important for their experience of well-being. Determining key features of the well-being experience through exploring real-life work experience might alleviate this issue as checking the meanings people assign to well-being would create further insight into key aspects of the workplace well-being concept. Further, the endeavor to understand how different people at work experience well-being is important as their understanding is likely to impact on how they maintain and enhance well-being, how they rate their well-being in surveys, how

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they respond to interventions, and how they manage their own well-being. The majority focuses on general rather than workplace well-being (Munoz Sastre 1999; McMahan and Estes 2011; Delle Fave et al. 2011); the exception is DagenaisDesmarais and Savoie (2011) who focused specifically on workplace well-being. Their study looked at whether a definition derived from their inductive research had similarities with existing (theoretical) definitions of well-being. However, the contexts from which the inductive components were retrieved were unspecified by the authors; furthermore, respondents were mainly female Caucasian Canadians. The generalizability of the study is therefore limited. Several aspects for researching lay descriptions of well-being could be explored further. First, a truly inductive approach might allow components to emerge from lay descriptions of well-being experiences rather than using measurement or coding schemes based on theoretical definitions. The categories and components should emerge from the data. Asking people to describe indicators of their well-being experience with open questions (i.e., no cues for particular components or definitions of well-being) would reveal prevalent components of workplace well-being. Second, a sample of male and female workers from a variety of backgrounds could be used in the research to tap into the workplace well-being experiences of a wider range of the working population. This would allow for the generalization of findings. The aim of this research is to develop current understanding of what constitutes workplace well-being and implications for how to enhance it. To do so, the relevant components of individual workplace well-being were explored by asking heterogeneous samples of working people – managers and consultants from different organizations and managers and staff from the same organization – for indicators of their well-being. The next section describes the methodology of the present research.

Methodology Two studies were conducted. The first study explores the components of workplace well-being through qualitative survey data. We analyzed responses from 44 managers and consultants to a questionnaire consisting of open-ended and closed questions about their experience of workplace well-being. The second study examined further through interviews with 3 managers from a specific department and 23 call center workers of an emergency services organizations if understandings of well-being were similar of people working in the same organization but with different job roles (in contrast to Study 1 where participants came from different organizations and sectors). We chose an inductive qualitative approach in both studies because it recognizes the multiple perspectives of what different people perceive to be important or integral to their work role, based on personal experience (Silvester 2008). Because qualitative methods give respondents the freedom to report on their experiences, they allow researchers to overcome preconceived ideas about how stress or well-being is experienced at work (Mazzola Schonfeld and Spector 2011; Schonfeld and Farrell 2010). Consequently, the data in both studies was analyzed using

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inductive thematic qualitative content analysis (Mayring 2000, 2010). The methodology for both studies is explained in detail in the following sections.

Study 1 Sample. Of the 44 study participants, 54.54% worked in the private sector, 31.82% in the public sector, 2.27% (one person) for a nongovernmental organization (NGO), and 11.36% (five people) in other sectors (e.g., LLP partnership, armed forces). The types of positions occupied by the participants included managing director (15.91%), senior manager (20.45%), middle manager (15.91%), consultant (20.45%), self-employed (18.19%), and others (9.09%, LLP partnership, armed forces). The sample can be described as having often experienced well-being at work (M ¼ 4.81, SD ¼ 1.26, range ¼ 2–7). Most participants had seldom experienced low well-being (M ¼ 2.79, SD ¼ 1.09, range ¼ 1–5). All participants were interested in leadership and personal development (characteristics of professional networks). Their backgrounds were likely to influence their knowledge and understanding of well-being and by extension their responses. Procedure and Material. The hard-copy questionnaire was handed to 44 participants of a professional affiliate network conference at a UK business school. The questionnaire consisted of open-ended and closed questions on well-being. The following questions were used for the present analysis: the relative level of wellbeing at work (frequency of experience of high and low well-being on a 7-point Likert scale, with 1 being not at all and 7 being all the time) and an open question on indicators’ own high well-being (“Imagine you are at work and you have high wellbeing. How do you know you are in a period of high well-being?”). Space was provided for participants to note their answers, and we used these data for the study. After the written responses were transcribed, the quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed separately. Descriptive statistical analyses were done with the quantitative data obtained from the closed questions on the frequency of the experience of well-being and demographic data. These sought to determine whether the sample was experientially biased (e.g., experienced only high or only low well-being). Inductive thematic qualitative content analyses (Mayring 2000, 2010) were carried out with the data obtained from the open-ended question to obtain components of workplace well-being. These were then mapped onto existing theoretical concepts of well-being in order to establish key components of workplace well-being. Data Analysis. An inductive approach was useful for this study as our aim was to establish workplace well-being components from the participants’ descriptions. In particular, an inductive thematic qualitative content analysis approach (Mayring 2000, 2010) was chosen in order to group the reported experiences of well-being into categories. This approach includes a step-by-step formulation of inductive categories out of the material (regarding category definition and levels of abstraction). To start the coding process, we began by coding words, word groups, and sentences that contained enough information (Mayring 2010) to retrieve inductive categories for components of well-being. Initial coding was primarily

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descriptive and aimed to summarize the data according to the key themes. This involved a thorough reading of the transcripts of each of the answers to obtain a general sense of their content. This was followed by focused coding in NVivo (QSR 2012). Here, the responses were put into the coding scheme based on the initial coding. At the first level of coding, coding categories were formed for experiential domains to establish themes that would allow us to capture the full breadth of experiences. These domains were determined by indicators contained in participants’ descriptions: mind and body (processes that include mental and physical aspects such as being energized, centered, feeling well, or vitality), emotional (states that include feelings, mood, temperament, etc. such as being present, excited, confident, or balanced), cognitive (mental processes that include attention, memory, solving problems, making decisions, etc. such as creativity, flow, motivation, or being stimulated), social (processes that include others such as interaction, communication, or relatedness), task-related (processes, feelings, etc. that relate directly to work tasks such as work is enjoyable or everything is possible), and physical (physical symptoms such as being not tired, being fit, or healthy). As some indicators did not refer to a specific experiential domain, a domain called “other” (any processes which cannot be aligned to other categories such as achievement/success, in control, or taking risks) was formed. This initial inductive coding was conducted to minimize the influence on the findings of our knowledge of existing theoretical dimensions of well-being. A second-level coding was then conducted to determine key indicators for each experiential domain. We noted the frequency with which indicators within the experiential domains were mentioned to determine common aspects among participants’ descriptions (see Appendix 1). Indicators that were mentioned by more than two people were noted for each experiential domain. We also noted how many people from the sample referred to an experiential domain in their descriptions (see Appendix 2). In allocating the indicators of the different domains, it became apparent that they could sometimes fit several of them. For example, “enthusiastic response to challenges” (Participant 4, consultant) could fit into emotional domain due to the feeling of enthusiasm/excitement but also cognitive domain as a motivation and stimulation to solve a challenge are addressed. In this case, it was decided to allocate the response to the cognitive domain. To facilitate analysis between domains, we decided to allocate an indicator to a single domain. In the second coding stage, the indicators used most often (i.e., indicators that were mentioned by at least three participants; see Appendix 1) were mapped onto existing theoretical categories of well-being whose components were outlined in a prepared coding scheme. Our aim here was to identify whether the inductively established themes and indicators would map onto theoretical well-being categories in order to determine a common language for key components of workplace well-being. Here, indicators mentioned by participants were mapped onto the components of the subdimensions of the concepts: hedonic well-being (Diener 1984; Warr 2003; positive affect, negative affect, (life) satisfaction), eudaimonic wellbeing (Ryff 1989; Diener 2009; positive and rewarding relationships, functioning

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in one’s environment, attitude toward oneself, self-development), work engagement (Schaufeli and Bakker 2010; vigor, dedication, absorption), flow (Csíkszentmihályi 1992; focus, immersion, experiencing success during activity), and vigor (Shirom 2011; physical vitality, cognitive liveliness, emotional energy).

Study 2 Sample. The participants of Study 2 were managers and call center staff of an emergency services organization in the UK. The call center staff took part in focus groups, and the managers were interviewed individually. The call handlers take emergency calls. In contrast to the well-being team, their work is characterized by relatively low autonomy and task variety, a large workload, and possible job loss. A convenience sampling approach was taken as call center employees have a high workload. We were able to hold five focus groups with differing subsamples (n ¼ 4–6) and to gain a total sample size of N ¼ 23. Call center employees were asked to take part in this study by a senior line manager on the basis that they either had a break between shifts or were attending a training day and had time before the start of the session. The call center workforce is divided into 42.05% men and 57.95% women (this includes supervisors). Our sample has a similar distribution and consists of 43.48% (n ¼ 10) men and 56.52% (n ¼ 13) women. Their tenure ranged from 2 to 34 years. The well-being managers work together in a team of three that oversees the well-being intervention and liaises with senior management and line managers to promote well-being in the organization. Their work is characterized by relatively high autonomy and task variety; and they are not facing job losses. Their role in the organization is to provide a proactive approach to employee welfare as well as a reactive approach to occupational health. Procedure and Material. The focus group discussions and interviews were audiotaped with the permission of the participants. Each interview and focus group lasted 1 h. At the beginning of the focus groups, participants were asked to describe their role in their team and how long they had been working for the organization. In the interview, participants were asked to describe their role and tenure. Several questions about workplace well-being were asked as part of a larger study. For the current study, we asked for employees’ accounts of their experience with the well-being intervention in their organization and what they understood by the term “well-being.” The well-being team was asked what the term “well-being” means to them. Data Analysis Procedure. Audiotapes were transcribed by an external transcription service using the intelligent verbatim method. The first author then read each transcript several times while listening to the recordings. Deductive thematic qualitative content analysis (Mayring 2010) was then carried out to allocate the themes to the established well-being components from Study 1. Significant words and phrases were allocated a code based on the developed coding scheme.

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In the analysis and interpretation process, matrices were used to display withincase comparisons between focus groups and interviews (Miles and Huberman 1994). The matrix showed which codes had been mentioned in each focus group and in each interview. This gave an overview of the themes mentioned or seen as important by call center employees and well-being managers and enabled us to check whether both groups talked about similar issues. This process did not allow us to see how often each code was referred to. However, a frequency analysis would have shown a skewed picture, particularly in the focus groups, as it is in the nature of focus groups for participants to repeat what has been said while agreeing or discussing the issue mentioned in more detail (Krueger 1994).

Findings First, the inductively obtained components for the experiences of well-being described by participants in Study 1 are presented, based on experiential domains. It is then suggested how these components can be aligned with components of theoretical concepts of well-being. Finally, based on the findings in Study 2, we then outline how well-being descriptions might differ across different contexts.

Lay Descriptions of Workplace Well-Being To the question of how someone recognizes that they are in a state of high wellbeing, participants gave responses such as “I feel fit, healthy, not tired, energetic. I feel more creative and motivated. In some ways feeling more extraverted (being a natural introvert).” (Participant 2, managing director); “Feeling engaged. That what I am doing matters to others.” (Participant 10, middle manager in public sector); and “A warm emotional feeling.” (Participant 13, consultant). The analysis indicated that participants described high well-being along seven experiential domains. Most responses refer to the mind and body, cognitive, and emotional domains of the experience. Table 2 summarizes participants’ descriptions of the experiential domains, including the rank and percentage relating to how often each domain was mentioned by participants as an indicator of high well-being experiences. The rank and percentage were included to examine the centrality of each dimension to the concept of workplace well-being. Just like theoretical concepts such as eudaimonic well-being (Seifert 2005), participants’ descriptions of the well-being experience show a degree of overlap in antecedents and components. For example, work–life balance which can be seen as an antecedent of well-being or productivity which can be seen as an outcome of well-being was mentioned by participants when describing indicators of their well-being experience. Also, 70.46% of people referred to two or more domains (see Appendix 3) when describing indicators of their own well-being which suggests that well-being is a multifaceted phenomenon. Furthermore, different people used different domains to describe well-being. For example, the verbatim of Participant 2

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Table 2 Ranking according to frequency of experiential domains mentioned by participants when describing how they experience high workplace well-being and mapping of components onto existing theoretical well-being concepts Domain Mind and body Cognitive

Ranka 1 47.73% 2 43.18%

Emotional

3 40.91% 4 27.28%

Taskrelated Social

5 25.00%

Others

5 25.00% 6 13.64%

Physical

Components Energy, flow

Relation to existing concepts Vigor (physical energy), flow

Motivation, creativity, stimulation, optimism Contentment, confidence Engagement, productivity, contribution Interaction, communication, exchange

Engagement (dedication), vigor (cognitive liveliness), engagement (dedication), eudaimonic (optimism)

Work–life balance Feeling fit and healthy

Hedonic well-being (positive affect, satisfaction), eudaimonic well-being (mastery) Engagement, outcome, eudaimonic (contribution) Eudaimonic (positive relations with others), eudaimonic (positive relations with others), vigor (emotional energy), or eudaimonic (positive relations with others) Antecedent Physical health

a

1 means most components mentioned referred to this domain. Out of seven domains, the mind and body domain was used by 21 people of the sample of 44 (see Appendix 2). Therefore 47.73% of people referred to the mind and body domain in their description of high well-being. If one person is related to several components of one domain, the domain was counted only once.

outlined above refers to the physical domain (feeling fit, healthy), vigor (not tired, energetic), cognitive (creative and motivated), and social (extraversion); Participant 10 refers to task-related domain (engaged) and social domain (“what I am doing matters to others”); and Participant 13 refers to emotional domain (warm emotional feeling). We could therefore argue that the experience and understanding of wellbeing are subjective (see Diener 2009). Referring to different domains could stem from the fact that the participants had different kinds of jobs, work experiences, and knowledge of the topic and therefore highlighted different aspects of the experience, based on the work they carry out. For example, someone who works in isolation might not focus on the social domain of well-being as much as someone whose work requires constant interaction with others. This possible context dependency of well-being is further examined when outlining the findings of Study 2.

The Components of Lay Definitions of Workplace Well-Being Comparing the indicators with theoretical concepts, most of the components refer to aspects of eudaimonic well-being, vigor, and work engagement (see Table 2). Eudaimonic well-being was referred to by five indicators of well-being and referred

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to in total by 18 people in their descriptions of well-being. Vigor was referred to by 3 indicators and mentioned in total by 23 people, work engagement was followed by 3 indicators and was mentioned by 15 people, hedonic well-being was referred to by 1 indicator and was mentioned by 14 people, and flow was referred to by 1 indicator and was mentioned by 5 people (see also Table 2 and Appendix 1). The results of this study complement existing studies of lay descriptions of well-being, in the sense that eudaimonic well-being plays an important part in workplace well-being (see Dagenais-Desmarais and Savoie 2011) and that several components of different theoretical concepts of well-being are part of the well-being experience (see McMahan and Estes 2011). However, the present study extends previous studies by focusing on uncued descriptions of the experience of workplace well-being. It also uses a wider array of theoretical concepts to compare the lay components. Previous studies (e.g., Dagenais-Desmarais and Savoie 2011) used only hedonic and eudaimonic conceptualizations and did not include an activated state of well-being, which is covered by the concepts of vigor, work engagement, and flow and to which components of lay descriptions in the present study refer to a great extent. The social dimension of well-being was mentioned by several participants with a range of indicators. This indicates that a definition of well-being that highlights social aspects such as a feeling of belonging and contributing to one’s environment (e.g., Keyes 1998) would be useful in integrating existing conceptualizations of workplace well-being. Eudaimonic well-being relates to the social aspects of wellbeing in terms of warm, satisfying, trusting relationships with others (Ryff and Keyes 1995), concern for others’ well-being, and contribution to it (Diener and Biswas-Diener 2009 cited in Diener et al. 2009; p. 263). Vigor relates to the social aspect of well-being in terms of emotional energy, which encompasses the ability to show warmth to others, sensitivity to others’ needs, and emotional investment in others (Shirom 2003). However, the components of the lay descriptions go beyond the aspects covered by eudaimonic well-being and vigor. Daniels (2000) attempts to integrate several concepts of well-being and the social domain by conceptualizing individual (workplace) well-being as hedonic (affect and satisfaction) and consisting of competence (environmental mastery, fulfillment of potential), aspiration (having goals and motivation), autonomy, and integrative functioning. Integrative functioning relates to the social domain in terms of social integration, coherence, acceptance, and contribution (Daniels 2000). The social aspect of the well-being experience is commonly acknowledged in the literature, mainly in terms of the appraisal of stressors or facilitating coping. However, the results of this study highlight the social aspect of the well-being experience itself, mirrored in descriptions of the need for connection (see Cacioppo and Patrick 2008; Cacioppo et al. 2006) that is satisfied through interactions and feelings of belonging. The social aspect of the well-being experience can in fact impact upon the appraisal of the appraisal of a stressor and social support behavior. It is interesting that physical aspects of well-being were mentioned by the participants in Study 1, as most concepts of workplace well-being are psychological and focus on emotional and cognitive aspects. This was also referred to by participants of Study 2, which is further explored in the next section. The concept of vigor,

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however, acknowledges the physical aspect of well-being as it includes the dimension of physical strength in addition to cognitive and emotional energy (Shirom 2011). However, as Danna and Griffin (1999) state, there has been a vast amount of research on issues of health and well-being in the workplace that emphasizes either physical, emotional, psychological, or mental perspectives, depending on the discipline in which well-being or health is studied. The results suggest that it might be worthwhile to consider research from all these multiple perspectives to gain a good understanding of what constitutes the experience of well-being at work.

The Context Dependency of Lay Definitions of Workplace Well-Being In Study 2, when asked what workplace well-being means to them, all center employees referred mostly to hedonic well-being and vigor (see Table 3). The latter was referenced as not being tired, not exhausted, and having physical vitality. These descriptions could also be allocated to physical health indicators. In comparison to the call center employees, the well-being team referred to more aspects of eudaimonic than hedonic well-being. In addition to common psychological wellbeing components, health seemed to be an important component for the participants. The well-being team referred mainly to physical health, while the call center employees referred mainly to mental health. A relation to other well-being concepts, such as quality of life and stress, was also drawn. Furthermore, as also found in Study 1, antecedents rather than components were mentioned by several participants (see Table 3). A wide range of well-being aspects and related concepts was mentioned, while call center employees and the well-being team talked about different aspects of workplace well-being. This might be explained by the different job context of each group. The call center employees have a large workload and face changes in the tasks they have to fulfill and possible job loss. They use terms such as not being stressed, not feeling drained, being confident, having a sense of calm, and feeling positive to describe well-being. They also seem to equate low well-being with stress. Even when participants were directly asked what well-being is, they made a link with stress. The well-being team mentioned coping but did not mention stress once when asked to describe components of well-being. The call center employees might perceive well-being as the opposite of stress because current conditions do not provide the opportunity to experience well-being in the sense of positive affect and thriving. They experience their work in terms of stress and coping with stress; they think about minimizing bad feelings and stress and about coping in a harmful environment. As for the well-being team, they may simply not perceive well-being in this way because of their professional background. They do not work in the same environment; think about well-being, learning, and development as part of their job description; and describe well-being in eudaimonic terms of thriving and selfdevelopment (All well-being team members were working in learning and development at the time the study was conducted or had held a past job that involved elements of learning and development.). Their current working conditions provide

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Table 3 Indicators of individual workplace well-being identified by call center employees and well-being team Well-being concept Hedonic wellbeing (Diener 1984; Diener 2009) Eudaimonic wellbeing (Ryff 1989; Diener 2009)

Vigor (Shirom 2011)

Engagement (Schaufeli and Bakker 2001) Flow (Csikszentmihalyi 1992) Physical wellbeing Other concepts related to wellbeing

Antecedents of well-being

Concept dimensions Affect Satisfaction

Relationships Functioning in one’s environment Attitude toward oneself Selfdevelopment Physical vitality Cognitive liveliness Emotional energy Dedication Absorption Vigor

Call center staff Enjoyment, happiness, pleasure, sense of calm, contentment, satisfaction, feeling positive Feeling valued, being confident

Well-being team Happiness, feeling grounded, contentment

Not tired, not feeling drained, energy, vitality

Energy

“Don’t mind going to work.”

“Engagement is closely aligned with well-being.”

“Work is easier.”

None

Being healthy, physical health, being fit Not stressed, low stress, mental health

Physical health, health

Time affluence, time for oneself, know what one is doing, know what will happen in the next year, support from others when ill, going to work when one feels 100%, happy when right staffing levels are present, easier to manage work when staffing levels are right (i.e., control, support, workload), work-life balance

Feeling valued, feeling in control (i.e., environmental mastery), confidence, empowerment, sense of purpose and achievement

Mental health, quality of life, “Workplace wellbeing is a contradiction; work and life cannot be separated.” Work–life balance; balance between work, rest and, play; recognize when one needs to rest (i.e., sustainable behavior, pacing oneself); know the environment one works best in, time management, coping

(continued)

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Table 3 (continued) Well-being concept Outcomes of wellbeing

Concept dimensions

Call center staff Work is more tolerable in a difficult job, do better job (i.e., good work performance), customers are served more quickly

Well-being team Productive at work

the opportunity to experience a high level of well-being. They are not facing job losses. Even though their workload is heavy, they have autonomy over their work tasks. Thus well-being is understood differently by both organizational groups because of the different environments in which they work. Physical components of well-being (e.g., feeling fit) were mentioned by both groups. In the emergency service, to which the participants belong, physical fitness is required for most employees to be able to perform their job effectively. So the organizational context can also influence what aspects of well-being are emphasized in descriptions of the experience.

Discussion A diverse and rich template was needed to code participants’ data adequately. This suggests that the experience of workplace well-being is multifaceted and that there is potential heterogeneity in participants’ experiences that is determined by context.

The Multifacetedness of the Workplace Well-Being Concept Participants named an array of components relating to multiple well-being concepts. Indeed, participants described well-being along seven experiential domains. Individuals would usually refer to multiple components when describing their experience of well-being and different people mentioned different components. This has already been recognized and mirrored in some definitions of workplace well-being that adhere to Page and Vella-Brodrick’s (2009), Ryan and Deci’s (2001), and Huppert’s (2009) argument that hedonic and eudaimonic well-being should be combined to capture the complete experience of well-being. Some scholars argue that it might be more useful to see well-being as an umbrella term (Xanthopoulou et al. 2012) or as an area of study (Daniels 2011) rather than a distinct concept. We argue that it is useful to conceptualize the experience of well-being at work as a multifaceted phenomenon where aspects of eudaimonic well-being, vigor, and work engagement play a central role. The wide variety of interpretations and tensions show that it might be fitting to treat well-being as an umbrella term. A multicomponent measure of well-being should go beyond

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hedonic and eudaimonic aspects by including an energy component, related to work engagement, vigor, and flow, and social and physical aspects of well-being at work. Fisher (2010) states that the concepts of work engagement, vigor and flow are part of the well-being “family.” One could argue that the constructs described capture different aspects of the well-being experience as they focus on either cognition or affect and have a broad or distinct target, such as work in general or a particular work event. The multifaceted nature of the well-being construct and the heterogeneity of understanding and assessments of well-being have a number of important implications for researchers. First, to interpret empirical findings accurately, researchers need to draw attention to what aspects of well-being are assessed in studies. This should make it easier to create a synthesis of the literature and conduct metaanalyses. A multicomponent approach to the measurement of well-being should be taken into account to capture the complete experience of workplace well-being (see also Ryan and Deci 2001). Moreover, using several distinct components to assess well-being, compared to using a broad scale, would provide more clarity in linking well-being with outcomes like work performance (see also Daniels and Harris 2000). But even more importantly, well-being should be viewed as an experience that is understood and conceptualized differently depending on the context in which it is experienced and described. We discuss this key finding in more detail in the next section.

The Context Embeddedness of the Well-Being Concept As different participants described different aspects of the components of workplace well-being, these results call for recognition of individual subjectivity. The role of subjectivity in understanding well-being has been recognized in recent research on stress and well-being interventions (see Karanika-Murray et al. 2012), which emphasizes the role of context. The characteristics of people, work, and organizational boundaries within which stress and well-being interventions take place are context factors that influence whether an intervention is successful. Karanika-Murray et al. (2012) outline that research should not solely focus on “what” works but why and under what circumstances it does so. Job role and job characteristics might play a part in determining how well-being is understood and how people react to certain well-being interventions. Different employee groups might have different understandings of well-being as they use work for identity formation in a different way. White-collar workers, for example, knowledge workers, tend to identify themselves through their work (live to work, work centrality, e.g., Mannheim et al. 1997; Doherty 2009) and might see workplace well-being more in terms of eudaimonic well-being, that is, how much they experience meaning and purpose at work. Blue-collar workers might see work mainly in terms of earning a living (work to live) and derive meaning and purpose outside the workplace. Their definition of well-being might relate more to the hedonic conceptualization of well-being.

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The embeddedness of well-being in the occupational context has been addressed in the well-being literature in terms of antecedents of well-being but not in terms of its components. It is recognized that certain occupations have specific stressors (see Langan-Fox and Cooper 2011). Juniper et al. (2011) surveyed several public service sector organizations on what are perceived as central aspects of their workplace well-being. Each organization (library, hospital, and police service) highlighted different work characteristics. Different job roles are accompanied by different work characteristics. Managers usually have more autonomy than staff, and this might be reflected in their understanding of well-being. Indeed in Study 2, the call center staff described their workplace well-being in mainly hedonic terms, linking low well-being with stress. The wellness managers referred to aspects of both hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. So work context, in terms of work characteristics, can have an influence on the way in which well-being is experienced and understood. If people have to cope with stressors such as work overload but cannot draw on resources such as autonomy (e.g., Karasek 1979) or personal resources such as self-efficacy (e.g., Bakker and Demerouti 2007), they are likely to experience negative affect, anxiety, exhaustion, etc. Their efforts to maintain well-being probably revolve around restoring levels of positive affect and relieving exhaustion. Issues like self-development are unlikely to be salient for them. This has implications for the success of well-being interventions or individual and management efforts to increase well-being. These findings suggest that the context embeddedness of the understanding of well-being is anchored in several aspects. First, the occupation (e.g., emergency services might emphasize the physical aspects of well-being); second, the particular job or work context (department with high stress versus low stress); and third, the job role in terms of status (blue- versus white-collar workers), resources, and demands made (managers and employees usually have different degrees of autonomy). As the results suggest that the understanding of well-being is likely to be influenced by the work context, a general conceptualization of well-being is not useful due to its contextual dependency.

Limitations of Current Research and Future Directions for Research By engaging with lay descriptions of well-being, an explorative approach allowed for greater appreciation of the complexity of the well-being construct and of the dependency of well-being and its antecedents on the context in which they are experienced. However, this approach also means that the statements made in this paper are reflections based on explorative rather than inferential research. Furthermore, the sample size of the study is relatively small and limited to specific work settings. Empirical investigations with structural equation models, for example, could determine how much the postulated components contribute to the experience of workplace well-being. For future research, definitions of well-being could be explored in different specific occupations and job roles. In our research, we suggested that several aspects

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of the work environment might influence the understanding of well-being: the job, its work context, its role in its sector or profession, resources, and demands. Considering these aspects in future research on concepts and functional relationships would make it possible to create understanding and theory that might be more applicable to workplace well-being (see Rousseau and Fried 2001). It might also be worthwhile to investigate differences in perceptions according to hierarchy, as managers’ beliefs will inform policies and practices, whereas employees’ beliefs will determine which policies and practices are likely to be resisted. Complexities of the workplace could be recognized by amending general theory for particular work environments. Furthermore, exploring these contextual aspects would also enable future theory building, as new relevant factors would be assessed (Johns 2006). More importantly, well-being seems to be a flexible concept with an ideological component that can be used to support whatever position the organization would like to adopt. For example, if the organization sees physical health as important and easy to support, policies and practices will focus on definitions of workplace well-being that highlight physical health. Lay representations can therefore also give insight into the well-being culture of an organization.

Practical Implications The findings highlight that different results about relevant well-being components are obtained, depending on whose well-being is explored. If an organization aims to implement an intervention to address a certain group’s well-being, that intervention needs to fit the target population (Randall and Nielsen 2012) – that is, what the group perceives as relevant for their well-being. Interventions might fail if they do not take into account contextual factors like the characteristics of the people involved and the boundaries of their work (Karanika-Murray et al. 2012) that influence their understanding of workplace well-being. The characteristics of people in their job role, their work environment, norms, and expectations influence the understanding of well-being and what resources need to be invested in to improve it. A general wellbeing intervention that does not take individual job roles and work characteristics into account is unlikely to capture and address the well-being experience fully. This research highlights that the understanding of well-being is crucial to creating acceptance of well-being interventions. Using interventions that tackle aspects of well-being that employees do not see as part of their workplace well-being experience will be unsuccessful. Juniper et al. (2011) argue that, in terms of the antecedents of well-being, generic scales are not sufficiently sensitive to well-being issues that are important to people in a specific occupational sector. Therefore, it might be advantageous to include individual employees in the design of interventions to take advantage of both their “content” (Randall and Nielsen 2012) and “context” expertise (LaMontagne et al. 2007) and to ensure an intervention-person-fit. The social aspect of well-being highlighted by our findings suggests that well-being is not just important in itself but is also important for successful coworking. Investing in employees’ well-being meets an organization’s duty of care

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and the business incentive of increasing individual performance; but it is also important to facilitate the capacity for teamwork through the well-being of team members. The connection between the social component of well-being and job performance, particularly in team settings, should be explored further. Well-being action needs to be supported by a genuine interest in employees’ well-being; this implies recognition of job/occupational/role-specific understanding and needs. The term well-being is frequently used in organizations and among well-being professionals without regard to its various connotations for individuals, i.e., what meaning people assign to the term. “Off-the-shelf” interventions will not work and will not demonstrate a genuine interest or duty of care to employees, as no real understanding of the employees is demonstrated. Wellbeing interventions based on healthy eating or fitness classes will be met with cynicism by employees, whose engagement levels and sense of fulfillment are likely to languish swiftly.

Conclusion This research intended to shed light on key components of the workplace well-being concept as it is a vacuous term that is used extensively by organizations, consultancies, and policy makers. We argue that we need to bring existing well-being concepts together in order to capture the workplace well-being experience fully. Different interpretations of the concept (i.e., heterogeneity and context dependency of the concept) and the described tensions to categorize experience indicators (i.e., dimensions of different well-being concepts tend to overlap) show that it might be fitting to treat well-being as an umbrella term. A multicomponent measure of wellbeing should go beyond hedonic and eudaimonic aspects by including an energy component related to work engagement, vigor, and flow and social and physical aspects of well-being at work. Furthermore, if an organization aims to implement an intervention to address a certain group’s well-being, that intervention needs to fit the target population – that is, what the group perceives as relevant facets of their wellbeing.

Cross-References ▶ Employee Engagement: Keys to Organizational Success ▶ Hedonic Versus (True) Eudaimonic Well-Being in Organizations ▶ Improving Engagement During Times of Change ▶ Improving the Quality of Work Life: An Interdisciplinary Lens into the Worker Experience ▶ Positive Psychological Well-Being at Work: The Role of Eudaimonia ▶ Purpose, Meaning, and Well-Being at Work

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Appendix 1 Second-Level Coding Results for Descriptions of High Well-Being Category Cognitive

Mind/body

Emotional

Social

Body

Subcategory Concentration Motivation Stimulated, positively challenged Feel positive, optimistic Absorption Feeling of accomplishment Creativity Energy Centred Feel well Vitality Flow Connected Excited Content Enjoyment Confident Relaxed Valued Enthusiastic Satisfied Interaction Communication Exchange Relatedness Supportive towards others Respect from and influence over others People appear content Physical symptoms Not tired Fit, healthy

Example Focused Feel motivated Everything seems possible, positively stretched

Frequency 2 6 5

Same as subcategory description

3

Lost sense of time Same as subcategory description

1 2

Sense of creativity Feel energised Sense of being centred, still centre Same as subcategory description Vitality, feel alive Feeling of flow, feeling in the zone, being in the groove Feel connected with the world Same as subcategory description Happy, warm emotional feeling, content Enjoyment & fun Same as subcategory description Same as subcategory description Feel valued and useful Feel elevated Same as subcategory description Interact with colleagues, extraversion Communication and chatty Responsive to others, interaction and reaction Relatedness, compassion Support others, contribute to others success

5 15 2 2 2 5

Will be listened to attentively and with respect; will have the opportunity to influence Fewer complaint, fewer nastiness

1

Absence of negative physical symptoms Same as subcategory description Feeling good with own body, feeling fit, feeling healthy

1 1 3

2 2 14 1 4 1 1 1 2 4 3 3 2 2

2

(continued)

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Category Task related

Subcategory Enjoyable

Example High level of job satisfaction, work is enjoyable Work is rich Fully engaged with work, feeling engaged Things get done easily, capacity to deliver more, growth Contribution to work, others success Solution found easily, work gets done easily Same as subcategory description Same as subcategory description Same as subcategory description Same as subcategory description Same as subcategory description Same as subcategory description Clear purpose, sense of purpose Work and life fit together, able to make decisions about balance Same as subcategory description Same as subcategory description

Rich Engaged Productive Contribution Gets done easily Others

Success In control Not stressed Low absenteeism Want to be at work Purpose Work-life balance Open Things go well

Frequency 2 1 3 3 4 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 4 1 1

Appendix 2 Domains Referred to by Participants when Describing High Well-Beinga Participant 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

Cognitive Emotional Mind/body Physical Social x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

x

x

x

x

x

x x

No. of Task-related Others domains 1 4 x 4 x x 4 3 2 3 1 x 4 x 1 2 x 1 1 3 x 3 x 3 (continued)

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Participant 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. Frequency of domain

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No. of Task-related Others domains 2 2 1 2 2 x 4 1 1 x 2 x 1 2 2 1 1 x x 3 x 2 x x 4 2 x x 3 x x 3 2 1 x x x 3 x 1 x 3 x x 3 x 3 x 2 6/44 11/44 12/44 11/44 13.64% 25.00% 27.28% 25.00%

Cognitive Emotional Mind/body Physical Social x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

x

x x

x x x x

x x

x x x x

x

x x

x

x x

x 19/44 43.18%

x x 18/44 40.91%

21/44 47.73%

a

If an individual used several indicators of the same domain to describe well-being, the domain was counted only once

Appendix 3 Number of Domains Mentioned Together in Descriptions of Own Well-Being Number of domains 1 (mentioned by itself) 2 3 4

Frequency 13/44 13/44 12/44 6/44

Percentage (%) 29.54 29.54 27.28 13.64

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Positive Psychological Well-Being at Work: The Role of Eudaimonia Susan der Kinderen and Svetlana N. Khapova

Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How Is Eudaimonic Well-Being Defined and Measured in Management Studies? . . . . . . . . . . . Eudaimonia as Functioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eudaimonia as Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eudaimonia as an Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eudaimonia as Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Antecedents and Outcomes of Eudaimonic Well-Being at Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Antecedents of Eudaimonic Well-Being at Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Outcomes of Eudaimonic Well-Being at Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discussion and Suggestions for Future Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

Eudaimonic well-being, as an element of positive psychological well-being, has received increasing attention as scholars have begun to recognize the need to expand our definition of well-being beyond feeling good to include functioning well. Capturing agentic and spiritual elements of well-being such as personal growth, positive relationships, autonomy, and meaning, eudaimonic well-being offers additional pathways through which work can contribute to our functioning by using strengths and providing meaningful work as well as opportunities for developing competence and building positive relationships. There is evidence that eudaimonic pursuits contribute toward long-term well-being, through behaviors and cognitions that are within our control and influence and that inspire striving and goal attainment. S. der Kinderen (*) · S. N. Khapova School of Business and Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_79

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Particularly in the workplace, there is increasing interest in what eudaimonic well-being can add to a context that is confronted with ongoing technological advances and societal shifts impacting how we work. However, there are a number of challenges regarding the conceptualization and operationalization of eudaimonic well-being, which, as the field matures, need to be addressed in order to consolidate what we know and to advance future studies. This chapter provides an integrative synthesis of what we know about eudaimonic well-being in an organizational context. Keywords

Eudaimonia · Eudaimonic well-being · Hedonic well-being · Measurement · Well-being at work · Positive psychology · Meaning · Flourishing

Introduction Positive psychological well-being at work matters. It matters to individuals, as they seek to experience quality of life in the face of societal advancements in longevity, technology, and prosperity (Jeffrey et al. 2006). It also matters to organizations, as they strive to attract and retain talented, innovative, wellperforming employees to meet market demands and continued growth aspirations (Giorgi et al. 2017). However, while the societal mental health burden incurred by working individuals continues to rise (OECD 2016), and almost a quarter of the global workforce is “acting out their unhappiness” at work (Gallup 2017, p. 23), positive psychological well-being remains a peripheral research area in management studies (Guest 2017). Positive psychological well-being is recognized as a complex, multidimensional construct which concerns both the affective and cognitive experiences of well-being as well as optimal functioning (Ryan and Deci 2001). This distinction, between feeling good and functioning well, is captured by the hedonic and eudaimonic traditions emerging from the fields of philosophy and psychology (Ryan and Deci 2001; Waterman 1993). Hedonic well-being, usually conceptualized as subjective well-being, includes an emotional dimension of high levels of positive affect and low levels of negative affect, as well as a cognitive dimension captured by perceived life satisfaction (Diener et al. 2017). Drawing on the writings of Aristotle, happiness as eudaimonia is akin to the process of living virtuously - acting in line with virtues such as wisdom, courage, love and temperance (Seligman 2002). As such, a happy life draws on reason to find balance, form character and to make choices to do the right thing within the context in which we live (Franklin 2009). The eudaimonic tradition in psychology aims to describe a set of experiences, motives, and functioning, beyond positive affect and satisfaction, that are reflective of the processes involved in a life well lived (Ryan et al. 2008). Facets of eudaimonic well-being include having meaning in life, personal growth, acting in line with deeply held values, and having enough of a sense of self to realize one’s full potential (Ryff 1989;

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Waterman 1993). While much is known about the hedonic components of well-being at work, particularly in the form of happiness, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and work engagement, less is known about eudaimonic well-being or how it is shaped and influenced through work (Fisher 2010). In response to the call for a broader definition of well-being, and in light of evidence that eudaimonic and hedonic well-being are distinct but related constructs (Keyes et al. 2002; Deci and Ryan 2008; Schotanus-Dijkstra et al. 2016), there is an increasing interest in what this eudaimonic component can add to a context in which an aging workforce aims to remain vital, engaged, and employable, and millennials seek to align with employers who will support them in living more purposeful, balanced, and meaningful lives (Abdallah and Shah 2012; Ng et al. 2010). This broader conceptualization of positive psychological well-being, including eudaimonic components, faces a number of challenges. First, our understanding of eudaimonic well-being is plagued by incongruent philosophical and scholarly stances (Vittersø 2016). This has resulted in a lack of agreement on definition as well as a broad array of operationalizations which, although some argue are fitting for a relatively emerging field of well-being studies (Huta and Waterman 2014; Kashdan et al. 2008), hinder advancement in describing strategies for this process of self-actualization and the promotion of the good life. Huta and Waterman (2014) emphasize that the use of multiple, loosely defined concepts and incongruent categories of analysis, comparing hedonic affective experiences with eudaimonic indices of functioning or motives, makes it difficult to elicit the contribution made by each or to accurately study their interrelationships. It is also likely that this lack of agreement has limited our ability to draw conclusions regarding antecedents, process mechanisms, and outcomes related to eudaimonic well-being at work, thereby implying missed opportunities to understand pathways that shape our full functioning and long-term well-being. Second, studies on positive psychological well-being have been dominated by a hedonic conceptualization of well-being (Ryan and Deci 2001; Warr 1999). Similar to the measure of blood pressure being a reliable indicator of physical health, so hedonic well-being has been seen as a reliable indicator of our general happiness and satisfaction at work and has been linked to outcomes such as individual and organizational performance and retention (Wright and Huang 2012). However, just as blood pressure does not indicate whether someone is able to walk down stairs or care for a child, hedonic well-being neither explains nor describes the behaviors, cognitions, motivations, or functioning involved in our efforts to achieve well-being at work. As such, although proxy measures of well-being such as job satisfaction and work engagement receive relatively high scores from employees (Mäkikangas et al. 2016), there is evidence that individuals may be working under risky conditions, possibly even while ill, thereby resulting in presenteeism and in behaviors that are not in line with promoting sustainable employee well-being (Guest 2017; Miraglia and Johns 2016). Furthermore, the literature suggests that a focus on hedonic outcomes to avoid pain and maximize pleasure is likely to lead to lives of short-term goals, potentially at the cost of others, and lives devoid of meaning and growth (Ryan et al. 2008).

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Donaldson and Walsh (2015) maintain that the purpose of business is to optimize the collective value – balancing the interests of all stakeholders, including those of the employee. It therefore follows that workplaces that wish to actively promote stable, durable well-being would best do so through eudaimonic pursuits such as positive relationships, challenge, striving, and growth, which may not always satisfy short-term goal achievement. Not only do eudaimonic pursuits contribute toward long-term well-being, but they also largely entail behaviors, cognitions, and motives that are within our control and influence (McMahan and Renken 2011; Schotanus-Dijkstra et al. 2016). As a result, the eudaimonic component of wellbeing remains an essential and accessible element on the pathway to complete well-being. While the number of studies addressing positive psychological well-being are growing, thus far no effort has been made to systematically map out what we know about the antecedents, processes, and outcomes of eudaimonic wellbeing’s role in positive psychological well-being in the organizational context. Due to the nascent nature of this eudaimonic aspect of well-being (Waterman 2008), it seems timely to assimilate what we know about eudaimonic well-being in management and organizational studies and to provide further guidance for future research. This chapter aims to contribute to filling this gap. It presents a systematic literature review guided by two questions: How is eudaimonic well-being defined and measured in empirical organizational research? And, what is known about the antecedents and outcomes of eudaimonic well-being at work? For the purpose of this review, we relied on a broad definition of eudaimonic wellbeing guided by Ryff (1989) with particular emphasis on positive relationships, personal growth, and purpose in life. Studies that theoretically build from a eudaimonic foundation, including flourishing, which combines eudaimonic and hedonic well-being, were included. In turn, those studies concerned with work engagement, conceptualized or utilized with the Utrecht work engagement scale (UWES) (Schaufeli et al. 2006), were excluded, as UWES primarily focuses on affective, work-related attitudes and behaviors to achieve work goals (Mäkikangas et al. 2016), which is less relevant for the study of the broader functioning or the process of living well as assumed by eudaimonic well-being. A systematic review methodology described by Tranfield et al. (2003) was used. The initial search was conducted among top peer-reviewed journals in the fields of organization, management, and applied psychology, on studies which were published between 1989 and 2018. The starting date of 1989 was selected to capture the year in which Carol Ryff first published her article on psychological well-being. This initial search was further broadened to include peer-reviewed, quantitative studies, with a working population, that used a positive psychological well-being measure conceptualized as a measure of eudaimonic well-being, including flourishing, psychological well-being, or proxy terms such as self-realization or meaning. The final selection resulted in 69 studies which were further analyzed and reviewed. Below we offer an overview of the findings in relation to the guiding research questions.

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How Is Eudaimonic Well-Being Defined and Measured in Management Studies? The concept of eudaimonic well-being, with its roots in philosophical and general psychology, has made but a few forays into high-quality management and organizational literature. Moreover, 72% of the included studies were published in the last 5 years. This trend aligns with others’ observations (Huta and Waterman 2014) and the projection of Macik-Frey et al. (2007), who stated that “much less of health will involve overcoming deficiencies and illness, and much more will be learning the secrets of the self-actualized person” (p. 832). One of the challenges in analyzing the literature was the lack of clear conceptual definitions or positioning of eudaimonic or psychological well-being, as well as the broad array of operationalizations ranging from self-realization and inspiration to meaning, personal growth, full functioning, and flourishing. To facilitate this process, suggestions from Huta and Waterman (2014), who introduced a classification to help address the challenge of comparing hedonic (largely feelings with a cognitive component) to eudaimonic (feelings, cognitions, and behaviors) well-being and to create a more sophisticated platform for research on eudaimonia, were followed. They proposed that eudaimonia can be conceptualized and measured as (a) functioning (general psychological functioning over time), (b) experience (subjective emotions or cognitive appraisals), (c) orientation (what we seek or aspire towards), and (d) behavior (objective behaviors to achieve well-being). Table 1 captures our distribution of the reviewed articles across the four definitional categories of eudaimonic well-being. Below, we offer a synthesis per category.

Eudaimonia as Functioning Eudaimonia as functioning refers to an evaluation, over time, of how well one generally functions (Huta and Waterman 2014). By far the majority of studies in our sample positioned eudaimonic well-being at work as an outcome variable, primarily measuring eudaimonia as eudaimonic well-being, psychological wellbeing, and/or flourishing. Eudaimonic well-being was largely defined as contextfree, optimal functioning captured by Carol Ryff’s (1989) psychological well-being dimensions, which focus primarily on personal growth, self-realization, purpose or meaning, autonomy, use of strengths, and positive relationships. Those studies that used flourishing, defined eudaimonia as a combination of feeling good (emotional well-being) and functioning well (psychological and social well-being). The majority of studies in the category of functioning used a global score as a domain-free indicator of psychological well-being, with a few exceptions that used particular dimensions or adapted items for the work setting. The most widely used measurement of eudaimonia in the category of functioning was Ryff’s (1989) scale for psychological well-being which measures trait-level psychological functioning with the following six dimensions: autonomy,

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Table 1 Distribution of the reviewed articles across four definitional categories Eudaimonia measured Key concept with Authors Eudaimonia conceptualized as functioning: ways of thinking, behaving, and functioning (objective and subjective) that are generally accepted as effective over time Psychological Scales of Psychological (Aiello and Tesi 2017; Albuquerque et al. well-being/ Well-Being (Ryff 1989) 2014; Bassi et al. 2013; Burns and eudaimonic wellMachin 2012; Chen et al. 2013; being Culbertson et al. 2010; Erkutlu and Chafra 2016; Farrington 2017; Fredrickson et al. 2008; Gondlekar and Kamat 2016; Gyu Park et al. 2017; Imamoğlu and Beydoğan 2011; Jones et al. 2015; Joo et al. 2016; Joo et al. 2017; Lindfors et al. 2006; Millear et al. 2008; Mills et al. 2016; Moen et al. 2013; Moradi et al. 2014; Nurmi et al. 2008; Page and Vella-Brodrick 2013; Pierce et al. 2016) Flourishing Pemberton Happiness (Bakker and Sanz-Vergel 2013; Demerouti et al. 2015; Di Fabio et al. (combinations of Index (Hervás and 2017; Diedericks and Rothmann 2014; hedonic, Vázquez 2013); eudaimonic, and Flourishing Scale (Diener Du et al. 2018; Feicht et al. 2013; Hone et al. 2015; Janse van Rensburg et al. social well-being) et al. 2010); Flourishing 2017a, b; Kahn 1990; Keeman et al. at Work Scale 2017; Kitayama et al. 2016; Page et al. (Rautenbach and 2014; Pawar 2016; Rautenbach and Rothmann 2017); Mental Rothmann 2017; Rensburg et al. Health Continuum – 2017a, b; Slemp and Vella-Brodrick Short Form (Keyes et al. 2013; Wang et al. 2017) 2008) Other Other (Vahle-Hinz 2016; Wang et al. 2017; Zheng et al. 2015) Eudaimonia conceptualized as experience: subjective experiences including affect and cognitive-affective appraisals Meaningful work Meaningfulness of Work (Colbert et al. 2016; Di Fabio et al. 2016; or life Scale (Spreitzer et al. Lam et al. 2016; Monnot and Beehr 2005); Meaningful Life 2014; Tov and Lee 2016) Measure (Morgan and Farsides 2009); Other: Meaningfulness Adjective Scales; Statements of Meaning Eudaimonic Vigor (Ryan and (Hahn et al. 2012; Kopperud and Vittersø feelings Frederick 1997); Other: 2008; Straume and Vittersø 2012) Engagement and Inspiration Adjective Scales (Dagenais-Desmarais et al. 2018; Experience of Index of Psychological Dagenais-Desmarais and Savoie 2012; eudaimonic wellWell-Being at Work (Dagenais-Desmarais and Gilbert et al. 2017; McInerney et al. being Savoie 2012); Other 2014; Turban and Yan 2016) (continued)

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Table 1 (continued) Eudaimonia measured Key concept with Authors Eudaimonia conceptualized as orientation: Values, motives, and goals that organize the direction of behavior; usually subjective although the habitual pursuit thereof can be objectively observed Orientation to Orientations to Happiness (Bassi et al. 2013; Chan 2009; Johnston meaning/ Scale (Peterson et al. et al. 2013; Kitayama et al. 2016; meaningfulness of 2005); Eudaimonic and Martínez-Martí and Ruch 2017; Proyer work Hedonic Happiness et al. 2012; Sattar et al. 2017; Suzuki Investigation (Delle Fave et al. 2015; Swart and Rothmann 2012) et al. 2011) Beliefs about wellBeliefs About Well-Being (Pătraş et al. 2017) being Scale (McMahan and Estes 2011) Motivational Motivational orientation (Gillet et al. 2012; Merrick et al. 2017; orientations/selfand self-realization Patel and Thatcher 2014) realization subscales of Scales of Psychological WellBeing (Ryff 1989); Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives for Activities (Huta and Ryan 2010); (Miquelon and Vallerand 2006) Personal growth Other (Straume and Vittersø 2012, 2015) Eudaimonia conceptualized as behavior: content of behavior or characteristic of an activity (objective or subjectively reported) – – – Notes: Conceptual categories of analysis from Huta and Waterman (2014) More than one category of analysis in the study

personal growth, self-acceptance, life purpose, environmental mastery, and positive relations. The scale is the result of extensive theorization and research and is the most widely used measure of eudaimonic well-being evidenced in numerous published studies over the past 20 years (Ryff 2013). Many studies in this sample used a shortened version of the scale, some of which were adapted to the work context (e.g., Bassi et al. 2013). A second frequently used measurement in the category of functioning was the short version of the mental health continuum scale of Keyes et al. (2008). This scale captures flourishing, where flourishing is conceptualized as (a) high level of emotional or hedonic well-being (positive affect and satisfaction), (b) eudaimonia (reflected by Ryff’s six components), and (c) social well-being (Keyes et al. 2008). Similarly, Diener et al. (2010) developed a brief eight-item flourishing scale to measure social-psychological functioning, with items concerned with positive relations, competence, meaning, and purpose in life, which was used in six studies in this sample (e.g., Demerouti et al. 2015). A single study in this sample used a set of flourishing indicators, such as emotional stability, meaning, optimism, vitality,

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and self-esteem, based on Huppert and So’s conceptualization (Hone et al. 2015; Huppert and So 2013). Another single study validated an instrument for employee well-being in the workplace context (Zheng et al. 2015) that aims to measure life well-being (affect and life satisfaction), workplace well-being (work satisfaction and work-related positive and negative affect), and a eudaimonic, psychological well-being. Additionally, one study used the eudaimonic well-being sub-scale of the Pemberton Happiness Index (Vahle-Hinz 2016). Finally, a small number of studies used a newly validated measure of flourishing in the work domain, i.e., the flourishing at work scale, based on Keyes’s theoretical model of well-being, which measures emotional, psychological, and social well-being as part of workplace well-being (Rautenbach and Rothmann 2017).

Eudaimonia as Experience Eudaimonia as experience captures the subjective experience of affect and cognitiveaffective evaluations, including feelings or emotions. This leans on the conceptualization of Waterman (1993) who introduced the concept of eudaimonia into psychology as the experience of expressing our true self when our behaviors are congruent with our most deeply held values. This personal expressiveness can be experienced as flow, engagement, or accomplishment and leads to self-realization and personal growth (Vittersø 2016). Studies defining eudaimonia as feelings and experiences focused on the investigation of vigor, interest, challenge, striving, and inspiration (Hahn et al. 2012; Kopperud and Vittersø 2008; Lam et al. 2016; Straume and Vittersø 2012; Turban and Yan 2016). They also focused on engagement, as the experience of intense interesting and challenge (Kopperud and Vittersø 2008), and the subjective, affective, and cognitive experience of work as being meaningful (Colbert et al. 2016; Lam et al. 2016; Monnot and Beehr 2014). Several scales have been used to study eudaimonia as experience. One is Spreitzer et al.’s (2005) work meaningfulness scale. Another consists of the adjectives listed as the nonhedonic equivalent to Warr’s work-related subjective wellbeing (Monnot and Beehr 2014). Defining psychological well-being at work as an individual’s subjective, positive experience at work expressed primarily through eudaimonic dimensions, Dagenais-Desmerais and Savoie (2012) designed and validated a measure with the following five dimensions: interpersonal fit at work, thriving at work, feeling of competency at work, perceived recognition at work, and desire for involvement at work. This instrument was used in three other studies (Dagenais-Desmarais et al. 2018; Gilbert et al. 2017; McInerney et al. 2014) and is one of the few instruments developed specifically for use in a work context.

Eudaimonia as an Orientation Eudaimonia as an orientation refers to what we seek or aspire toward, expressed as values or a sense of belonging to something beyond the self, thereby providing

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direction to our behaviors through motivational orientations such as meaning, striving, personal growth, or goal orientation (Huta and Ryan 2010; Huta and Waterman 2014). Peterson et al. (2005) developed a comprehensive framework of well-being placing an emphasis on identifying and developing one’s unique strengths and virtues and using them in the service of the greater good. Their instrument, the Orientations to Happiness Scale (Peterson et al. 2005), aims to measure the full life, with higher scores ascribed to the pleasant life (hedonic dimension), the meaningful life (eudaimonic dimension), and the engaged life (flow and being engrossed in activities). This framework has been empirically supported by a number of studies where meaning and engagement explain more variance in the overall well-being than the pleasure dimension (Vella-Brodrick et al. 2009), as well as relating uniquely to workplace outcomes (e.g., Chan 2009; Swart and Rothmann 2012). An emphasis on the dispositional and cognitive elements driving personal growth, self-actualization, and meaning is also key in this definitional category. First, personal growth as an orientation to realize one’s potential and be open to experience and self-development, has been measured within the work context as contributing toward eudaimonic feelings, such as interest and happiness (Straume and Vittersø 2012, 2015). Similarly, the conceptualization of eudaimonic well-being as self-realization (Gillet et al. 2012) has relied on the self-acceptance, purpose in life, and personal growth dimensions of the scale of psychological well-being. Both Kitayama et al. (2016) and Bassi et al. (2013) examined the contextualized experience of meaning, through personal engagement with work efforts, leading to general well-being. To capture the motivational orientation of being able to cope and adapt to life’s challenges, Patel and Thatcher (2014) used the autonomy, environmental mastery, and personal growth dimensions of the Ryff’s (1989) psychological wellbeing scale. Another measurement capturing beliefs about well-being was the beliefs about well-being scale, which conceptualizes eudaimonic beliefs as those concerned with contributions to others and self-development (Pătraş et al. 2017).

Eudaimonia as Behavior Moving into a more objective arena, eudaimonia as behavior refers to what we do to achieve well-being. These behaviors are described either in terms of what we actually do, that is the content of activities, or else as characteristics defining these activities such as the degree of skill or challenge involved (Huta and Waterman 2014). In the reviewed sample of papers, only the study of Straume and Vittersø (2012) made any reference to behaviors and eudaimonic well-being. The authors showed that certain characteristics of complex situations at work can increase the eudaimonic feeling of inspiration, but not happiness, and therefore motivate behaviors stimulating change and growth. However, we can learn about eudaimonia as behavior from the general positive psychology literature. Studies have shown that eudaimonic behaviors are more likely than hedonic behaviors to elevate life satisfaction and positive affect (Steger

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et al. 2008). To be considered eudaimonic, the behaviors need to be aligned with ones’ values, purpose, goals, and social connections (Steger et al. 2008). Specifically, a diary study by Henderson, Knight and Richardson (2013) showed that while the participants spent more time engaging in hedonic activities, their effects had shorter-term effects of reducing negative affect, depression, and stress. In turn, eudaimonic behaviors predicted meaning in life and elevating experiences. Similarly, Huta and Ryan (2010) found that eudaimonic pursuits related more to meaning, elevating experiences (awe, inspiration, and sense of connection with a greater whole), vitality, and life satisfaction.

Antecedents and Outcomes of Eudaimonic Well-Being at Work Despite our expectations that eudaimonic well-being is mainly an outcome of individual functioning in the work context, our review revealed that eudaimonic well-being can be an antecedent, a process, and/or an outcome. To map out the extant research findings, we developed a model (Fig. 1) to show how the current state of research on the topic has addressed and examined the concept of eudaimonia in the work context.

Antecedents of Eudaimonic Well-Being at Work Studies on eudaimonic well-being have addressed a diversity of antecedents. To make better sense of the findings, we grouped all antecedents into the following four groups: personality and individual psychological states, job design and related factors, perceived leadership and management, and organizational culture and contextual factors. Below, we present findings pertaining to each of the groups of antecedents.

Personality and Individual Psychological States In line with general findings on psychological well-being, high extraversion and low neuroticism are generally predictive of eudaimonic well-being at work (Robertson and Cooper 2011), with the addition of conscientiousness (competence, deliberation, and achievement) being positively related to eudaimonic well-being (Albuquerque et al. 2014; Jones et al. 2015). Particularly, facets of conscientiousness that require competence, order, and self-discipline align with the long-term, purposeful, goal-pursuit elements of eudaimonia. In a study by Albuquerque et al. (2014), the relationship between conscientiousness and eudaimonic well-being, but not subjective well-being, was found to be moderated by the presence of personal work projects, suggesting that this relationship is particularly permeable to the effect of work agency. Similarly, self-orientations (determined by early socialization experiences) interact with the work environment to impact well-being. Employees high in both relatedness and individuational self-orientations had the strongest relationship

Content of communication Challenge demands 1 Psychological safety Role ambiguity Previous day family hassles 1

Psychological capital 1 Self-esteem 1 Motivation Daily rumination 1 Cognitive engagement Need satisfaction/Thwarting (-) Autonomy support behaviours 1 Organizational support Psychological empowerment

Hedonia at work

MODERATORS

Job resources Psychological capital Job Satisfaction 1 Organizational commitment 1 Career adapt-abilities Subjective well-being 1

MEDIATORS

EUDAIMONIC WELL-BEING

MEDIATORS

Personal projects Job meaning Daily in-role performance Perceived contract breach Source of social support

MODERATORS

Entry and persistence in self-employment Perceived Financial performance

Performance and behavioral outcomes

Job and career-related outcomes Job satisfaction Engagement Organizational commitment behaviors Creativity 1 Performance 1 Subjective career success Inspiration Autonomy Personal initiative Organizational commitment Turnover intention (-) Work stress (-) Sick leave Reduced anxiety caseness

Individual emotional & general well-being Life Satisfaction Affect Grit Vigor Motivation 1

OUTCOMES

Positive Psychological Well-Being at Work: The Role of Eudaimonia

Fig. 1 Antecedents, processes and outcomes of eudaimonic well-being at work. Notes: 1Measured as flourishing with no separation of eudaimonic component

Organizational culture and contextual factors Situational uncertainty Financial security 1 Perceived organizational support Workplace relational civility Organizational climate Workplace spirituality

Perceived leadership & management Leadership (Transformational*,1 ; Servant; Benevolent*; Empowering) Supervisor behaviours

Job design and related factors Person environment fit 1 Career adaptability 1 Job resources Core work activities Difficult work Job crafting Time Work role stress (-)/Job stress Paid/Unpaid work Workplace relationships

Personality traits & individual psychological states Conscientiousness; Extraversion; Neuroticism (-) Self-orientation Psychological capital Intrapreneurial self-capital 1 Organization based self-esteem Job happiness Motivation 1 Learning goal orientation Commitment(-) 1 Work cognition Depression 1

ANTECEDENTS

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with psychological well-being (Imamoğlu and Beydoğan 2011), while relatedness self-orientations, as the more affective-relational orientation, related only to life satisfaction. This study illustrates how an individual’s experience and exploration of their autonomous self, in a work context that offers opportunities to satisfy their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, contribute to their full psychological functioning. Moving beyond dispositional predictors, there are a number of personal resources, such as psychological capital, self-esteem, and job meaning, which evolve over time, are open to being shaped by the environment and have been shown to impact individual psychological well-being. The resource that received the most attention in the reviewed studies was psychological capital – a personal resource comprised of hope, self-efficacy, optimism, and resilience (Bakker and Sanz-Vergel 2013; Culbertson et al. 2010; Gyu Park et al. 2017). Bakker and Sanz-Vergel (2013) explored the relationship between the personal resources of self-efficacy and optimism on flourishing, across time, showing the moderating effect of work pressure. This outcome suggests that high work demands can stand in the way of experiencing motivation and growth and perhaps impede flourishing spilling over into other domains. Both psychological capital and self-esteem, as personal resources that contribute to good functioning, have been shown to mediate the negative effect of work stress on well-being (Wang et al. 2017). Two other agential personal attributes have been associated with flourishing and psychological well-being: first, intrapreneurial selfcapital which captures the ability of an individual to deal with change and create resources out of challenging situations through decisiveness, creative self-efficacy, and core self-evaluations and, second, learning goal orientation (Joo et al. 2016) as the motivation to increase competence and mastery for performance. Both of these can be considered resources which are formed through meaningful interaction with the environment in a way that encourages cognitive orientation and agential attitude toward a goal. In a longitudinal study of the relationship between motivation and psychological well-being at work, identified regulation (value-driven motivation) had a fully reciprocal relationship with psychological well-being at work suggesting that aligning employees’ jobs with their values and intrinsic pleasure at work, more than simply making the job more enjoyable, could impact long-term functioning (Dagenais-Desmarais et al. 2018). Finally, affective states were found to relate to eudaimonic well-being. Both affective commitment and normative commitment, capturing the loyalty and obligation toward an organization, related to psychological well-being (McInerney et al. 2014). Conversely, overcommitment was negatively related to psychological well-being, with this relationship being partially mediated by selfesteem (Wang et al. 2017). Additionally, job happiness and depression (negatively) related to eudaimonic well-being (Bassi et al. 2013; Hone et al. 2015).

Job Design and Related Factors Job and work contextual factors interact with personal factors to influence our wellbeing. A number of studies have examined the relationship between job resources,

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such as perceived control, autonomy and utilization of strengths and skills, and eudaimonic well-being (e.g., Du et al. 2018; Kopperud and Vittersø 2008). Particularly, engagement in core work activities that align with skills and education in a challenging and demanding way elicits eudaimonic feelings (Kopperud and Vittersø 2008; Straume and Vittersø 2012). Even when this experience was expressed in terms of complexity in employment or as career adaptability requiring skill enhancement, transition, or the learning of new things, there is a positive relationship to eudaimonic well-being (Sattar et al. 2017; Vahle-Hinz 2016). Additionally job crafting, particularly the relational crafting element of actively seeking support and feedback (Demerouti et al. 2015), is related to individual eudaimonic well-being (Demerouti et al. 2015; Slemp and Vella-Brodrick 2013). Similarly, in a study examining multidimensional person-environment fit, the fit between not only person-job in terms of skills but also person-group as well as person-organization interactions, in terms of alignment with goals and values of the organization, related to eudaimonic well-being (Janse van Rensburg et al. 2017b). Furthermore, emerging appraisals and evaluations of individual experiences of work being meaningful and valued and using our skills contribute to our good functioning. This meaningfulness is partly elicited through positive workplace relationships, in particular giving to others by means of opportunities to mentor, support, or care for a colleague (Colbert et al. 2016). One study examined workplace spirituality, which refers to both meaning and community experiences at work, which also related positively to psychological well-being, with the meaning in work element as the strongest predictor (Pawar 2016). Additionally, organizational citizenship behaviors are also related to experienced eudaimonia as it pertains to work meaningfulness, with this relationship being moderated by both in-role performance and role ambiguity, such that those who experience higher role ambiguity and higher performance also experience higher levels of work meaningfulness (Lam et al. 2016). Although ambiguity as a moderator strengthens the relationship to well-being, it has also been negatively related to meaningfulness of work, particularly when that ambiguity stems from the supervisor (Monnot and Beehr 2014). Other job demands also impact the experience of eudaimonic well-being at work. Work load, time strain, work hours, work role stress (both in terms of role ambiguity and role conflict), and occupational stress as an imbalance between effort and reward, as well as overcommitment to work, are related negatively to psychological well-being (e.g., Lindfors et al. 2006; Moen et al. 2013; Monnot and Beehr 2014).

Perceived Leadership and Management Many studies in our sample included an examination of leadership or supervisor behavior on well-being. This included servant leadership (Chen et al. 2013) and benevolent leadership (Erkutlu and Chafra 2016) where servant leadership was shown to predict subordinate motivational autonomy and eudaimonic well-being over and above transactional leadership. Also empowering leadership (Gyu Park et al. 2017; Joo et al. 2016) and transformational leadership (Gilbert et al. 2017) related indirectly to well-being but were, consecutively, fully mediated by autonomy support behaviors, psychological empowerment, and psychological capital,

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suggesting that these leadership styles work through another mechanism to impact psychological well-being. The leadership styles that are related to eudaimonic wellbeing are largely empathic, caring leadership styles that are motivational, interested in welfare, and promote advancement of learning and growth. Supervisor style and behaviors in terms of autonomy support, work and non-work communication, and role stress (negative) also impact the eudaimonic well-being of followers (Gillet et al. 2012; Janse van Rensburg et al. 2017a; Monnot and Beehr 2014).

Organizational Culture and Contextual Factors A number of contextual factors within the work culture and climate have been found to influence psychological well-being. Situational uncertainty, particularly that of non-regular employment is negatively, and financial security positively, related to eudaimonic well-being (Hone et al. 2015; Vahle-Hinz 2016). On the positive side, workplace relational civility (Di Fabio et al. 2016), perceived organizational support (Gillet et al. 2012), as well as positive organizational climate (Gondlekar and Kamat 2016) have been associated with eudaimonic well-being. Even when there is uncertainty within an organization, a positive relationship to the personal relationship dimension of psychological well-being has been found, suggesting that in periods of uncertainty this could form a basis of support (Bassi et al. 2013). A number of contextual factors also serve to constrain or elicit the impact of antecedents on workplace eudaimonic well-being. Work climate, in terms of the psychological safety to be able to be who you are, and perceived contract breach moderated the relationship between benevolent leadership and psychological well-being (Erkutlu and Chafra 2016). Conclusion: Antecedents From our analysis of the antecedents of eudaimonic well-being at work, we can draw a number of preliminary observations. First, as captured in Fig. 2, studies that examined antecedents of eudaimonic well-being, and therefore studied eudaimonic well-being as an outcome, primarily defined eudaimonia as functioning, with a significant portion using a composite score or measure of flourishing. Second, personal attributes and resources that are considered permeable to environmental influences are related to eudaimonic well-being. This positive relationship is often mediated by personal or job-related resources and is moderated by contextual factors often regarding as perceived (social) security and job-related demands. Supported by job demands-resources theory, as well as conservation of resources theory, evidence suggests that the shaping of eudaimonic well-being is particularly open to workplace contextual factors or interventions, thus creating opportunities, arising from work, through which it can be influenced (Bakker and Demerouti 2017; Hobfoll 2001). Third, job resources such as feedback, social support, task significance, and autonomy, are reflective of an agential, purposeful interaction between the individual and the work context that seem entwined with the following three core elements reflective of eudaimonic well-being: positive relationships, personal growth or realization of potential, and purposeful goal directedness. These social and taskrelated elements seem to be particularly supported by the cognitive component of

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0 Input Eudaimonia as Functioning

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Fig. 2 How eudaimonic well-being has been studied as an input, process, or outcome

attaching meaning and significance to what one does, why one does it, and who one does it with. It is furthermore noted that self-determination theory, as a key eudaimonic well-being theory utilized in many of the examined studies, captures this agential quality of emerging well-being where an organizational culture and atmosphere which supports autonomy and internalized motivation leads to positive outcomes. Finally, a number of studies also demonstrated the different responses to antecedents between eudaimonic well-being and other well-being measures, e.g., satisfaction with life and work engagement. Although largely based on cross-sectional studies, there is evidence for antecedents responding differently to eudaimonic than to hedonic well-being, for example, the role of more emotional work demands, supervisor communication, and role autonomy vary. Added to preliminary evidence from intervention studies, that showed an impact on eudaimonic well-being but not hedonic well-being at two-week follow-up (Mills et al. 2016), there is room to suggest a need for more extended research on antecedents that are uniquely related to eudaimonic well-being.

Outcomes of Eudaimonic Well-Being at Work In extrapolating the outcomes related to eudaimonic well-being, we begin with individual outcomes pertaining to personal, emotional, and general well-being, proceed to job- and career-related outcomes such as organizational citizenship behaviors, and conclude with performance-related behaviors that impact the organization. A short summation is given of the mediating and moderator variables that also impact outcomes as well as well as an overview of studies where eudaimonic well-being at work has itself been studied as a moderator.

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Emotional and General Well-Being There is extensive evidence for the role of eudaimonic well-being on the hedonic elements of life satisfaction, positive affect, and happiness (e.g., Culbertson et al. 2010; Pierce et al. 2016; Slemp and Vella-Brodrick 2013). Also, regarding eudaimonic well-being at work, using strengths and skills and attaching meaning to work spill over into positive mood and life satisfaction experienced in other life domains (Bassi et al. 2013). This effect holds true over time, with suggestions that eudaimonic well-being, in contrast to hedonic, emerges more slowly, as eudaimonic orientations and behaviors mold experience over time. In a longitudinal study by Burns and Machin (2012), the eudaimonic dimensions of environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life, and self-acceptance explained positive affect at follow-up 6 months later. Finally, those exhibiting daily eudaimonic wellbeing were more likely to experience positive affect not only at the betweenindividual level but also at the within-individual level (Culbertson et al. 2010). Eudaimonic well-being is also associated with health and the experience of vigor. CtrA gene expression, which has been linked to adverse health outcomes including inflammatory and antiviral responses (Ryff 2013), was inversely associated with domain-free eudaimonic well-being, but the contextualized sense of meaning (derived from the perceived significance of one’s work and interdependence with others in the workplace) also contributes significantly (Kitayama et al. 2016). Being oriented toward meaning, such as the eudaimonic element of orientations to happiness, was also associated with grittier working Japanese adults (Suzuki et al. 2015). It appears therefore that a combination of being engrossed in activities as well as pursuing activities that contribute to something beyond self in a meaningful way contributes to employees’ perseverance, interest, and effort in pursuit of longterm goals. Job- and Career-Related Outcomes Regarding experiences at work, there is extensive evidence of the relationship between eudaimonic well-being and job satisfaction (e.g., Jones et al. 2015; Proyer et al. 2012; Swart and Rothmann 2012). Eudaimonic well-being also relates negatively to work stress (Johnston et al. 2013) and positively to a reduction in work-related anxiety (Merrick et al. 2017), while conversely there is a positive relationship between the experience of eudaimonic personal growth initiative and sick leave (Straume and Vittersø 2015). Regarding more agential outcomes, both task- and relationship-oriented personal initiative (Hahn et al. 2012), as well as inspiration (Straume and Vittersø 2012) and work engagement (Aiello and Tesi 2017), can be ascribed to eudaimonic well-being. In a longitudinal study investigating the role of different forms of motivation and psychological well-being at work, Dagenais-Desmarais et al. (2018) established a positive relationship between psychological well-being at work and the level of the three most self- determined types of motivation 6 months later, suggesting that it is indeed psychological well-being which drives autonomous motivation. That identified regulation had a fully reciprocal relationship, as reported above, suggests

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that this alignment with goals and values may be instrumental in both eliciting wellbeing as being elicited by well-being. A number of studies explored multiple work-related outcomes, some of which highlighted a distinction between how hedonic and eudaimonic well-being related to these outcomes. In a study by Turban and Yan (2016), eudaimonia explained the unique variance for all six outcomes (job satisfaction, affective commitment, turnover intentions as well as three extra-role behaviors), whereas hedonia explained only four outcomes (job satisfaction, affective commitment, turnover intentions, and only one extra-role behavior). Turnover intention has a negative relationship to eudaimonic well-being, while organizational commitment has been positively related to eudaimonic well-being in numerous studies (e.g., Turban and Yan 2016; Zheng et al. 2015). Additionally, organizational citizenship behaviors are consistently an outcome of eudaimonic well-being, such that employees with higher levels of eudaimonic well-being experience loyalty, identify with the organization, and engage in more behaviors that go above and beyond the job itself – potentially contributing to organizational efficiency and performance (Diedericks and Rothmann 2014; Swart and Rothmann 2012; Turban and Yan 2016). Other extrarole behaviors related to eudaimonic well-being include creativity (Demerouti et al. 2015), interpersonal co-operation with colleagues, and willingness to invest time and energies above and beyond formal tasks (Sattar et al. 2017; Turban and Yan 2016).

Performance-Related Outcomes A small selection of cross-sectional studies linked flourishing to employee job performance (Kahn 1990; Zheng et al. 2015) as well as in-role and extra-role performance (Sattar et al. 2017). Only two studies considered more organizationlevel outcome measures, both using two or three dimensions of psychological wellbeing which related to entry into and persistence in self-employment (Patel and Thatcher 2014) as well as perceived financial performance (Farrington 2017). Considering that most of these studies were cross-sectional in nature, and used broader flourishing measures, and primarily self-rated performance measures, we can at best conclude that there is preliminary evidence of the relationship between psychological well-being and performance. Mediators and Moderators Between Eudaimonic Well-Being and Outcomes A number of personal and job-related resources, job satisfaction, psychological capital, subjective well-being, organizational commitment, and job resources, such as social support, mediated between full functioning as eudaimonic wellbeing and outcomes. Hedonia at work was studied as a moderator where the relationship of two dimensions of eudaimonic well-being, purpose in life, and personal growth was more positively related to a number of positive workplace outcomes under the condition of experienced hedonia at work (Turban and Yan 2016).

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Eudaimonic Well-Being as a Moderator We cannot conclude a review of what we know about eudaimonic well-being at work without noting that in a number of studies, eudaimonic well-being was examined as a moderator. For example, eudaimonic well-being moderated the relationship between employees’ exposure to negative work events and the resulting cases of anxiety, such that those with higher eudaimonic well-being reported less anxiety (Merrick et al. 2017). Similarly, eudaimonic well-being provided a conditional buffer in the relationship between surface acting and exhaustion (Pătraş et al. 2017) and between job stress and psychological distress (Page et al. 2014). Additionally, as it buffered against the negative effects of neuroticism on job satisfaction (Jones et al. 2015), it appears that eudaimonic well-being offers an avenue into buffering not only situational stress but also internal, dispositional angst, from impacting the positive effects and experiences of work. Conclusions: Outcomes It is evident that the examination of eudaimonic functioning, behaviors, orientations, or experiences as antecedents is still in the early stages. As captured in Fig. 2, the studies that examined outcomes of eudaimonic well-being, that is with eudaimonic well-being as an input variable, primarily defined eudaimonia as an orientation or experience, usually operationalized as meaning or personal growth, which seems to align with previous conclusions that while the pursuit of hedonia relates to positive affect and feelings of carefreeness, eudaimonia brings experiences of meaning, inspiration, and longer-term well-being (Chan 2009; Huta and Ryan 2010). We can conclude from this that, in line with self-determination theory, this positions eudaimonia as a motivational, agential process which largely influences outcomes through internal processes such intrinsic motivation, meaning, goal orientation, and agential emotional experiences. One of the key conclusions regarding outcomes is that eudaimonic well-being is consistently related to elements of hedonic well-being, such as positive affect and life or job satisfaction. This is significant within the context of work as by enhancing eudaimonia in the form of positive functioning at work, which can be influenced by contextual and situational factors, we can contribute toward positive emotional states, satisfaction, and other positive health outcomes. Subjective well-being, with more than 30 years of empirical evidence to its name, has been related to a number of positive work-related outcomes such as job performance, customer satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior, as well as less sickness-absence and withdrawal behaviors (Diener et al. 2017; Straume and Vittersø 2015; Wright and Huang 2012). As Robertson and Cooper (2011) posit, eudaimonic well-being could play a role in promoting the goaloriented, meaningful motivation needed to re-engage in flow experiences and learn new skills, which would again be associated with positive experiences or happiness.

Discussion and Suggestions for Future Research This chapter presents a review of the extant literature on how eudaimonic well-being in the work context has been defined and studied thus far, including its antecedents, processes, and outcomes. The synthesis of research on the topic is presented above.

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The purpose of this section is to discuss the five key conclusions of this systematic literature review effort. First, the review of the extant research on eudaimonic well-being in the work context revealed that the diversity in conceptualization and operationalization of eudaimonic well-being at work is at times more confusing than enlightening. Not only are terms such as psychological well-being, eudaimonic well-being, or flourishing used interchangeably, but many studies give little or no conceptual definition, and the theoretical underpinning and explicit argument for choice of instrument are lacking. This lack of explicit choice means that, for example, an emotive conceptualization of hedonic wellbeing as job happiness is compared to cognitive conceptualizations of eudaimonic wellbeing as job meaning, in their relationship to general well-being (Bassi et al. 2013). Not only does this cloud conclusions, it does not elucidate the potentially unique contribution made by each aspect of hedonic or eudaimonic well-being. Initial recommendations for future research would therefore echo those made by Huta and Waterman (2014) and corroborated by Warr (2013), i.e., as the field moves into a phase of maturity requiring more rigor, scholars should become more definitive in the conceptual definition and theoretical positions they take and purposefully align their operational measurements with the conceptual definition at the particular level of analysis within the life domain to which they intend to contribute. Second, the review revealed the increased use of positive well-being measures in organizational studies (Macik-Frey et al. 2007) and signaled a need to include a broader positive well-being conceptualization with an explicit eudaimonic component. In this respect, the exploration of eudaimonic well-being in the work domain has dominantly been studied as an outcome measure of functioning – usually captured with a composite score of a multidimensional measure, at trait level, in cross-sectional study designs. This is expedient as McMahan and Estes (2011) found that laypersons’ eudaimonic conceptualizations of well-being were more consistently associated with actual experienced well-being than with hedonic conceptions. This finding was endorsed in the workplace with Dagenais-Desmerais and Savoie (2012) demonstrating in their inductive approach that eudaimonic conceptualizations are largely used by employees to describe their psychological well-being. It is furthermore established, also outside of the work domain, that those who pursue both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being have higher degrees of general well-being and truly experience the “full life” (Huta and Ryan 2010; Keyes and Annas 2009; Peterson et al. 2005). We would therefore advocate for the inclusion of both hedonic and eudaimonic components at the outcome level (unless of course the focus is only on eudaimonic well-being). Particularly if there is a desire to distinguish between antecedents impacting hedonic or eudaimonic elements of wellbeing, there is an argument for the use of measures enabling distinction between the subdimensions. This would enable a more thorough exploration of workplace antecedents as they shape these different dimensions of well-being. Extending this line of argument, the third conclusion relates to the fact that although there is an increasing focus on eudaimonia as orientation and experience, particularly when positioned as an input or process variable contributing to workplace outcomes and general functioning, the conceptual definitions and the diverse range of measuring instruments are particularly fragmented. There is still a strong

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reliance on instruments in the functioning category that use broad indicators, with many reporting single, composite scores. Despite providing a mapped overview of which antecedents or outcomes relate to well-being, the studies miss the opportunity to describe or explain the actual territory to be crossed in the shaping thereof. In fact, some argue that perhaps hedonia and eudaimonia are best viewed as two pathways toward well-being versus being the ultimate outcome (Disabato et al. 2016; Huta 2015). For example, being motivated by hedonic motivations (to maximize pleasure) or eudaimonic motivations (to become the best possible self) is a pathway to well-being rather than well-being itself. It is primarily in this space of examining eudaimonia as an experience (emotions or cognitive appraisals), orientation (values, goals, and motives), or even more objectively as behaviors and activities that an opportunity for contribution lies. This means that those who align with Aristotle’s view of eudaimonia as a process of well-being could best rely on definitions along the lines of Waterman (1993), who focuses on the subjective, eudaimonic experience of becoming one’s true self, or Huta and Ryan (2010) who position eudaimonia as a motivational orientation. Self-determination theory (Rigby and Ryan 2018; Ryan et al. 2008) provides a strong basis for this perspective of eudaimonia as the process of living well – including motivation, goals, and behaviors – to satisfy the three basic needs of competence, relatedness, and autonomy. Next, the review signals that as the power in the workplace shifts from the level of the organization to that of the individual (Rigby and Ryan 2018), so organizations have less authority and influence on behaviors such as when we work, the quality of our work and private time or even the parameters of a freely determined work role and how it is fulfilled. Instead, more and more happens within the personal mental space of the individual worker, creating an urgency for enabling individual behaviors and attitudes to shape well-being in a sustainable, responsible way. As examined in this chapter, eudaimonia, as it captures the more cognitive and behavioral elements of functioning, illuminates possibilities for both individuals (in their goal striving and cognitive alignment with meaningful goals and strengths) and the organizational context (e.g., through leadership providing opportunities for growth and challenge or for meaningful pursuit of goals). The fourth conclusion therefore conveys that the eudaimonic approach probably leads to the exercising of more eudaimonic behaviors, which dynamically interact with experiences and orientations. Therefore, efforts to promote long-term well-being, through eudaimonic behaviors and orientations, would involve exploring antecedents or intervention studies at the level of intentional behaviors and meaning and would target, for example, job design, use of value-driven strengths, meaningful conversations, and social work relationships. This would necessitate a combination of more objective measures and observations. Finally, it appears that there are potentially a number of feedback loops between the experiences and orientations (e.g., motivation, positive affect) that feed back into eudaimonic behaviors and experiences such as personal growth and vigor (Dagenais-Desmarais et al. 2018). To advance in these areas, such as the dynamic interplay between eudaimonic and hedonic orientations and experiences as they shape behaviors, or spillover between different life domains, vigorous research methods would be required. More extensive exploration of this is to be gained

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elsewhere (Ilies et al. 2015; Sonnentag 2015); however longitudinal designs such as experience sampling or diary studies would provide insight into dynamic, intraindividual, state-like experiences and how they shape well-being. In conclusion it is worthwhile to highlight that at her best eudaimonia is a high-level construct which can be operationalized in a number of different ways. This in itself should not be a problem; however, in the words of Peter Warr, “scientific understanding is likely to increase more rapidly if investigators make sustained efforts to be clear about each variable’s conceptual definition and recognize the ways in which their operational measurements do and do not match that definition” (Warr 2013, p. 1). Treated with the proper rigor eudaimonia can make a valuable contribution to our understanding of wellbeing and good functioning within the context of work. There is an increasing urgency both for individuals and organizations to place workplace well-being in a more central position, thus promoting informed choices that drive our behaviors and sustainable good-functioning so that we are able to contribute to our economies, societies, and collective interests, as well as to our own happiness.

Summary This chapter offers a review on the role of eudaimonic well-being in workplace positive psychological well-being. It clarifies that eudaimonic well-being can be studied as functioning, experience, orientation, and behavior. In the workplace eudaimonic wellbeing has primarily been conceptualized and measured as functioning with some advances in its conceptualization and measurement as an orientation and experience. The chapter offers a model that captures all studies’ antecedents, processes, and outcomes of eudaimonic well-being in the work context and offers suggestions on future research avenues. These suggestions include (a) an increased rigor regarding the alignment of operational measurement with a clear conceptual definition in the intended life domain; (b) that using a conceptualization of flourishing at the outcome level, including both hedonic and eudaimonic components, could be more comprehensive; (c) that when exploring eudaimonia as a pathway to ultimate well-being, it can best be examined as an experience or orientation; (d) that eudaimonia as a behavior is largely unexplored and could contribute to the agential flourishing of individuals in organizations; and (e) that exploring the more dynamic process of how eudaimonic well-being unfolds over time, possibly across domains, would require longitudinal study designs such as experience sampling or diary studies, as well as the use of more objective measures.

Cross-References ▶ Hedonic Versus (True) Eudaimonic Well-Being in Organizations ▶ How Wakeful Leaders Create Flourishing Workplaces ▶ Meaningful Work and Human Flourishing: Communication Lessons from the Judeo-Christian Tradition ▶ Purpose, Meaning, Joy, and Fulfillment at Work

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Well-Being at Work: A Balanced Approach to Positive Organizational Studies Jamie A. Gruman and Ellen Choi

Contents Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Perspectives on Workplace Wellness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Defining and Measuring Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conceptualizing Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Balanced Approach to Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Positive Organizational Studies and Its Critics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Balance Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Balance as Tempered View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Balance as Mid-Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Balance as Complementarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Balance as Contextual Sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Balance Among Levels of Consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Balanced Approach to Theory and Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

The emphasis in the study of workplace well-being has changed from an early focus on preventing illness to a modern focus on promoting wellness. The contemporary study of workplace wellness is incorporated into the domain of positive organizational studies. The present chapter introduces The Movement Model of Workplace Well-Being which serves to integrate the sundry concepts J. A. Gruman (*) Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada e-mail: [email protected] E. Choi Ted Rogers School of Business, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_84

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that have been suggested as indicators of workplace well-being and presents The Balance Framework in an effort to help address some of the criticisms of positive organizational studies and offer a mental scaffolding for effectively understanding research and practice on workplace well-being.

Well-being at work has long interested organizational scholars and practitioners. Tracing the history of workplace well-being, Wright, Emich, and Klotz (2017) note that as far back as the start of the previous century, scholars interested in organizational phenomena, such as Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Hugo Munsterberg, and Rexford B. Hersey, were concerned with how employees’ feelings, such as contentment, affected and were affected by work. In more recent times, workplace well-being has been largely subsumed under the sub-discipline of positive organizational studies (Donaldson and Ko 2010), a broad field of investigation that includes a focus on building “especially positive outcomes, processes and attributes, of organizations and their members” (Cameron et al. 2003, p. 4). However, the field of positive organizational studies is not without its critics. This chapter presents a guiding framework called The Balance Framework that addresses the criticisms leveled against positive organizational studies and offers a more nuanced, robust way to conceptualize theory, research, and practice on workplace well-being. The chapter begins with a brief overview of workplace well-being and presents a new model for considering its various manifestations.

Workplace Well-Being Perspectives on Workplace Wellness Traditionally, workplace well-being focused mainly on wellness programs designed to prevent employee illness and the associated costs by inhibiting the onset and progression of disease (e.g., Goetzel et al. 2014). This perspective is still not uncommon. For example, Berry et al. (2010) define workplace wellness as “an organized employer-sponsored program that is designed to support employees (and, sometimes, their families) as they adopt and sustain behaviors that reduce health risks, improve quality of life, enhance personal effectiveness, and benefit the bottom line” (p. 4). Although wellness programs can generate cost savings and produce a substantial return on investment (Baicker et al. 2010; Goetzel et al. 2014), there are a number of limitations with this definition and approach. First, it restricts wellness initiatives to formal programs as opposed to more general workplace influences such as management practices. Second, it focuses on reducing health risks such as obesity and smoking (Baicker et al. 2010) instead of actively promoting well-being. Third, it concentrates narrowly on behavior and ignores other factors (e.g., social, psychological) that promote health and well-being. Fourth, it is decidedly utilitarian in that the ultimate goals involve performance outcomes as opposed to well-being itself.

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In contrast to these early program-based ideas about workplace wellness that focused on reducing illness, a defining feature of well-being in contemporary discussions is that well-being is not the mere absence of ill-being (Diener 1984; Keyes 2007). The absence of illness or ill-being brings one to a point of normality or average functioning which does not equate to the presence of health or well-being. Nor is well-being restricted to physical health. These points are reflected in the World Health Organization’s definition of health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (World Health Organization 2020). Grant et al. (2007) explain that in addition to the quality of functioning in the various areas, psychological well-being involves the nature of subjective experiences, physical well-being involves bodily health, and social well-being involves relational experiences. Thus, compared to earlier thinking, modern conceptualizations of well-being are more comprehensive and focus on the promotion of wellness itself as opposed to the mere alleviation or prevention of illness. They also involve more informal mechanisms.

Defining and Measuring Workplace Well-Being Well-being has proven difficult to define (Burke 2017; Wright et al. 2017). Notwithstanding the broad focus that includes social and physical health, the concept of wellbeing is often used as an academic umbrella term corresponding to the popular notion of happiness (Burke 2017). However, there exist contrasting views of happiness that date back thousands of years (for a historical account, see McMahon 2006). In the broadest sense, theory and research in this area concerns one of two types of well-being: subjective or eudaimonic. Diener et al. (1999) define subjective well-being (SWB) as “a broad category of phenomena that includes people’s emotional responses, domain satisfactions, and global judgments of life satisfaction” (p. 277). They also note that SWB represents an area of scientific investigation, not a particular construct. That said, SWB is most often measured using scales that assess satisfaction with life (Diener et al. 1985) and/ or positive and negative emotions (e.g., Watson et al. 1988), the latter specifically referring to the hedonic aspect of well-being. Indeed, contemporary perspectives of well-being often highlight positive psychological states (Burke 2017). Wright and Huang (2012) suggest that employee well-being has three defining characteristics: 1) it is phenomenological, involving subjective perceptions of wellness, 2) it involves the experience of predominantly positive emotions, and 3) it is best conceived as an aggregate, as opposed to narrow, assessment. Nonetheless, narrow aspects of wellbeing are often the focus of interest, as elaborated below. Eudaimonic well-being (EWB) involves the development and actualization of individual potential (Ryff and Singer 2008) and the exercise of virtue (Ryan and Deci 2001). Within the eudaimonic tradition, it is recognized that pleasant emotions that characterize subjective well-being may not produce positive outcomes and may not generate wellness (Ryan and Deci 2001). However, by acting in ways that realize one’s true self, or daimon, one enjoys an intense feeling of being alive, fulfilled, and

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authentic (Waterman 1993). EWB is most commonly conceived and assessed using six dimensions: self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth (Ryff and Keyes 1995). It is also sometimes measured by assessing the satisfaction of basic psychological needs that are considered necessary for growth (Ryan and Deci 2001). Ryan et al. (2013) suggest that satisfying the basic human needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence is related to fulfillment of human potential and essential to well-being. The exercise of virtue is thought to not only generate well-being but to constitute it. As Park and Peterson (2003) note, “well-being is not a consequence of virtuous action but rather an inherent aspect of such action” (p. 38). Academic work on virtues is dominated by the Values in Action project which enumerates 24 character strengths within six overarching virtues (Peterson and Seligman 2004): wisdom and knowledge, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence. This literature recommends that people cultivate their primary, or signature, strengths because those are most likely to generate the deepest emotional satisfaction and be especially fulfilling (Peterson and Park 2009; Seligman 2002). So, the exercise of virtue is not only constitutive of well-being but also associated with other forms of well-being. Indeed, the implementation of signature strengths has been shown to be positively associated with happiness, positive affect, life satisfaction, and flourishing and negatively associated with depression (Schutte and Malouff 2019). We note, however, that Littman-Ovadia et al. (2017) found that although signature strength use was associated with well-being outcomes such as meaningfulness, engagement, and job satisfaction, the magnitude of these associations was no greater than for those associated with the use of weak strengths. Further research in this area is needed. Although less prominent in the management and psychology literatures, wellbeing has also been conceptualized as including a spiritual component. For example, Ellision (1983) argues that producing well-being requires satisfying our need for transcendence which involves committing ourselves to purposes that involve the ultimate meaning of life. Tejeda (2015) showed that spiritual well-being predicts job satisfaction even under adverse work conditions. Numerous other variables have been considered as exemplars of workplace wellbeing such as hope, optimism, self-efficacy and resilience (individually and collectively as a higher-order construct called psychological capital; Luthans and Youssef-Morgan 2017), vigor, emotional stability, flow, support, self-worth, mattering, gratitude, meaning and purpose, self-esteem, empathy, community, and accomplishment (Marsh et al. 2020; Mills et al. 2013; Reece et al. 2020; Su et al. 2014). Adding to the complexity of understanding workplace well-being, sometimes these variables are considered as outcomes and sometimes as predictors. There also exist scales that are intended to specifically assess well-being at work. For example, Van Katwyk et al. (2000) developed the job-related affective wellbeing scale which assesses positive and negative job-related affect (see also Russell and Daniels 2018; Warr 1990). Zheng et al. (2015) developed an employee wellbeing scale that assesses life well-being, workplace well-being, and psychological well-being. And Parker and Hyett (2011) developed a workplace well-being scale

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comprised of four factors: work satisfaction, organizational respect for employee, employer care, and intrusion of work into private life. Given the plethora of variables considered to reflect well-being, there is little consistency in the way workplace well-being is measured. Sometimes it is assessed as a single unidimensional variable (e.g., Muhonen et al. 2013), sometimes as a collection of separate variables (e.g., Byrne et al. 2014), sometimes as a multifaceted variable with a few components such as those that characterize engagement (van Wingerden et al. 2017) and eudaimonic well-being (Oades and Dulagil 2016), and sometimes it is conceived and measured as a comprehensive construct including up to 18 subscales (Marsh et al. 2020; Su et al. 2014). Cooke et al. (2016) provide an overview of many self-report scales that measure well-being.

Conceptualizing Workplace Well-Being To bring some coherence to this smorgasbord, there have been a number of efforts to synthesize the various conceptualizations of well-being into a theoretical framework or typology. Wright (2014) categorizes well-being into broad concepts such as eudaimonia, subjective well-being, and flourishing and narrow concepts such as hope, job satisfaction, and positive affect. Warr (2007) makes a slightly more particularized distinction between more affectively focused and more cognitively focused forms of well-being at three levels of specificity – broad, moderate, and narrow. For example, global affect is a broad level, affective form of well-being, and satisfaction with pay is a narrow, facet-specific cognitive form. General job satisfaction and feelings about one’s job represent moderate level cognitive and affective forms, respectively. Wright (2014) further categorizes well-being into four “faces”: 1) objective life conditions, 2) eudaimonic well-being, 3) life satisfaction, and 4) emotion-based wellbeing. Keyes (2002) distinguishes among emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing, which together represent flourishing. Fisher (2010) divides happiness at work into three levels: transient (e.g., flow), person (e.g., dispositional affect), and unit (morale). Su et al. (2014) conceptualized well-being in terms of seven dimensions: 1) subjective well-being (life satisfaction and positive affect), 2) supportive relationships, 3) engagement, 4) meaning and purpose, 5) a sense of mastery, 6) feelings of control and autonomy, and 7) optimism. Seligman (2011), the originator of modern positive psychology, enumerated five categories of well-being in his PERMA model, which is an acronym for positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. Based on the idea that well-being represents the opposite end of the spectrum of psychological disorders, Huppert and So (2013) identified ten features of well-being: competence, emotional stability, engagement, meaning, optimism, positive emotion, positive relationships, resilience, self-esteem, and vitality. In the applied work domain, the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkley, has proposed the PERK model which suggests that happiness at work involves purpose, engagement, resilience, and kindness (Simon-Thomas 2018).

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Fig. 1 The movement model of workplace well-being

Each of the existing categorizations offers a valuable lens through which to consider well-being in general, or workplace well-being in particular. However, each lens highlights and downplays different features which have implications for both theory and practice. For example, the distinction that Wright (2014) draws between broad and narrow traits emphasizes differences that are obscured by the inclusive approach to well-being suggested by Huppert and So (2013). These diverse lenses will generate different theoretical developments, research questions, and practices aimed at the cultivation of well-being. In the interest of fostering further dialogue on the topic, Fig. 1 presents a new conceptualization, called The Movement Model of Workplace Well-Being (MMWWB), which offers a novel way to structure the elements of well-being. Note that the constructs listed in Fig. 1 are representative and not exhaustive. Moving Towards includes constructs that represent aspects of well-being that tend to foster or reflect active engagement with life. These constructs involve mastery motivation (Shiner et al. 2003), social connection, and/or vigorous participation. For example, optimism fosters confidence and approach-oriented behavior in the pursuit of valued goals in addition to persistence in the face of adversity (Carver et al. 2010). Such constructs are consistent with theories of growth such as the broaden-and-build theory, which states that discrete positive emotions broaden people’s thought-action repertoires and encourage the development of personal resources (Fredrickson 2001). Moving Against includes aspects of well-being that serve to distance oneself from the status quo, often, although not necessarily, in the service of social justice. This can involve behavioral distancing such as when one demonstrates the character strength of courage by bending a company rule in order to assist a distressed client (Badaracco 2002), or psychological distancing such as when one mentally disengages from work during leisure time (Sonnentag 2012). Moving Against will sometimes involve positive deviance, which concerns unconventional behavior that is discrepant from organizational expectations and thus goes against the status quo (Spreitzer and Sonenshein 2003). Integral to this element is that well-being involves not only social and psychological integration into a social or organizational structure but also separation in a manner similar to the way social identity involves assimilation and differentiation from others (Brewer 1991).

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Moving With involves constructs reflecting an immersive congruence with a situation or oneself. The difference between Moving With and Moving Towards involves the degree of perceived fluidity of the experience. In Moving Towards, one is drawn to a situation. In Moving With, one is engrossed in a situation in such a way that it is experienced as unusually natural and concordant with prevailing circumstances or the self. Waterman’s (1993) eudaimonic notion of personal expressiveness is a good example in which people feel that the activity they are engaged in provides “a special fit or meshing,” feelings of being “more complete or fulfilled” and that it is what they were “meant to do” (p. 682). Whereas Moving Towards constructs include approach-oriented emotions that encourage movement towards a destination, Moving With constructs foster feelings of having arrived. Not Moving involves constructs that reflect satiety and an absence of agitation. In terms of an emotional circumplex (see Wright 2014; Warr 2007), constructs in the Not Moving category are pleasurable emotions reflecting low arousal, such as equanimity or serenity. Except for the ubiquitous job satisfaction construct, variables that reflect Not Moving have been largely absent from Western conceptualizations of well-being. Some constructs must be omitted from Fig. 1 because their placement depends on specific definitions or context. For example, joy can be conceived of as an emotion that fosters goal progress and thus would represent Moving Towards, or more expansively as a feeling of blessedness that fits better within Moving With (Johnson 2020). With respect to context, the character strength of honesty can involve Moving Towards when it involves offering a compliment, Moving Against when it involves pointing out an injustice, and Moving With when it involves authentically supporting another’s views. Similarly, some facets of eudaimonic well-being such as selfacceptance involve Moving With, whereas environmental mastery involves Moving Towards. It is hoped that these categorizations and qualifications help to shed light on the multifaceted nature of well-being and the confusion in the literature and advance both research and practice on workplace well-being and positive organizational studies.

A Balanced Approach to Workplace Well-Being Positive Organizational Studies and Its Critics Research on workplace well-being has largely been subsumed within the subfield of positive organizational studies. Positive organizational studies include positive organizational behavior which focuses on positively oriented employee strengths and capacities (Luthans 2002); positive organizational scholarship which concentrates on “especially positive outcomes, processes, and attributes of organizations and their members” (Cameron et al. 2003, p. 4); and positive organizational psychology which emphasizes positive subjective experiences, traits, and institutions such as work organizations (Donaldson and Ko 2010). In general, positive organizational studies

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focus on phenomena that support thriving employees in flourishing organizations (Gruman and Saks 2019). Positive organizational studies build on the more general field of positive psychology (PP), the aim of which is to stimulate a shift in focus from ameliorating the negative in life to building the positive (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2000). In organizations, this perspective involves a shift in focus from problem solving (negative deviance) to abundance (positive deviance; e.g., Lavine and Cameron 2012). However, positive psychology has been criticized on a number of grounds. As noted by Gruman et al. (2018): The most prominent criticism leveled against [positive psychology] is that it focuses exclusively on positive qualities and abandons a focus on negative qualities (Fineman 2006; Held 2004; Lazarus 2003). Harvey and Pauwels (2003) argued that PP ignores the energy and productive outcomes that may come from loss and pain, and pays too little attention to death and trauma which are an integral part of life. An adequate understanding of the human condition requires accepting the negative (Pawelski 2016; Woolfolk 2002). Some suggest that negative thinking and feeling is not only useful but indispensable, and that we don’t give enough attention to acknowledging and even welcoming loss and suffering (Woolfolk 2002). Indeed, it may be during our most difficult times that the goods of life reveal themselves most clearly (King and Pennebaker 1998) (p. 54).

Other criticisms include those of Schwartz and Sharpe (2006) who have criticized research and practice on character strengths arguing that an excess of a single strength can produce character defects and that such strengths must be exercised in combination if they are to be valuable and effective. This criticism suggests that promoting well-being requires understanding how strengths, and other well-being constructs, operate synergistically. Lazarus (2003) suggests that PP doesn’t acknowledge the intricacies of emotional experience and that ostensibly positive emotions (love) can have negative qualities (the threat of loss). This criticism suggests that promoting well-being requires a more nuanced view of seemingly positive constructs. In a similar vein, McNulty and Fincham (2011) suggest that traits and processes cannot be considered as fundamentally positive or negative and that context must be taken into account in order to determine whether such characteristics will encourage or compromise well-being. This criticism suggests that promoting well-being requires a consideration of the situational context in which presumably positive constructs are manifested. Similar criticisms have been leveled against positive organizational studies in particular. In his treatise on the positive turn in organizations, Fineman (2006) contends that the predefined virtues and inherent drive for self-improvement embraced by positive psychology run counter to critical and postmodern perspectives that focus on the construction of social reality. He also questions the legitimacy of considering positive emotions apart from negative emotions suggesting they represent an essential dialectic and that conceptualizations of positivity are culturally biased towards Western notions of optimism, confidence, and expressiveness.

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Warren (2010) argues that applications of positive psychology in organizations limit the expression of emotions to those that are organizationally sanctioned, ties emotion management to the goal of self-actualization, and is thus an example of the appropriation of emotional experience. She similarly argues that the genuine expression of negative emotions is necessary for emotional health and that positivity itself is based on a deficit model because it involves the notion of striving for improvement. She also notes that organizations benefit from engaged, optimistic employees, but wonders about those employees who might benefit from less engagement or who choose to apply such qualities outside of the work context. Linley et al. (2011) present three critiques against positive psychology in organizational contexts: 1) organizations are environments in which the positivity endorsed by positive psychologists is untenable, 2) the separation of positive from negative is unjustified, and 3) the focus on strengths to the exclusion of weaknesses is similarly misguided. Together, these various criticisms suggest that important issues may be currently overlooked in scholars’ efforts to understand and promote well-being in organizations. Addressing and assimilating these criticisms in a coherent manner could provide scholars and practitioners with a more comprehensive and defensible approach to promoting workplace well-being. The Balance Framework accomplishes this.

The Balance Framework To address the criticisms and provide a more robust way to conceptualize research and practice on the good life, Gruman et al. (2018) developed The Balance Framework. The framework is meant to help researchers and practitioners better understand positive psychological phenomena that characterize and promote well-being. The balance framework underscores that all positive phenomena have nuanced natures and conditions that determine when they are, and are not, beneficial and desirable. To best understand ostensibly positive phenomena, the balance framework details five ways to consider balance: 1) balance as tempered view, 2) balance as mid-range, 3) balance as complementarity, 4) balance as contextual sensitivity, and 5) balance among levels of consciousness. Together, the five balance perspectives offer a comprehensive framework for conceptualizing the science and practice of well-being in organizations and help to address the criticisms leveled against positive organizational studies. In the following sections, an explanation of each of the five ways of considering balance is provided along with pertinent conceptual and empirical material offering an application of The Balance Framework to workplace well-being. Consistent with prior work on organizational topics that are informed by non-organizational studies (e.g., Rothman et al. 2017), the present chapter focuses on management research and theory but also draws on other fields as appropriate, notably psychology, in order to fully explicate the phenomena discussed. For continuity, in addition to discussion of general topics directly and indirectly related to workplace well-being, the

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presentation includes recurrent discussion of two popular workplace well-being topics to which The Balance Framework has previously been applied – optimism (Gruman et al. 2017) and mindfulness (Choi et al. 2020).

Balance as Tempered View The first element of The Balance Framework to be considered is Balance as Tempered View, which recognizes that ostensibly positive constructs can have negative aspects and vice versa (Wong 2012). Paralleling positive psychology more generally, variables in positive organizational studies are generally treated as unambiguously valenced, but upon reflection the valence of these constructs often becomes equivocal (Gruman et al. 2018). In line with this observation, Taylor (2001) notes that “positive in the most general sense has no verifiable objective standard” (p. 16). Adding to the equivocality, Lazarus (2003) explains that good and bad are two sides of the same coin. There are numerous organizational phenomena that appear positive on the surface but upon closer inspection have a negative side. For example, positive relationships at work, often referred to as high-quality connections, can promote well-being in the form of feelings of vitality and a high sense of positive regard (Dutton and Heaphy 2003), and are integral to social well-being in particular. Such relationships involve social exchanges which can be manifested in organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB’s) and prosociality. The former refers to employee behavior that supports task performance by preserving and enriching the organization’s social system (Organ 1997), whereas the latter expands on this notion by including a broader set of factors including motives and impacts that positively benefit others (Bolino and Grant 2016). However, research has shown that OCBs and prosociality are sometimes associated with negative work outcomes. For example, Lin et al. (2020) found that employees who help others at work experience increases in meaningfulness but also emotional exhaustion. Reviews of the dark side of socially oriented workplace phenomena reveal that they can deplete employee’s personal resources; foster role overload, job stress, work-family conflict, and unethical conduct; compromise individual and team performance, job satisfaction, and career progression; and promote competition and tension among employees (Bolino and Grant 2016; Bolino et al. 2013). Although high-quality connections are generally desirable and can play a role in the development of workplace well-being, it is important to appreciate that they are not unambiguously positive. Another positive quality is self-forgiveness, which can be invoked to assuage oneself after committing an offense. Self-forgiveness is “a willingness to abandon self-resentment in the face of one’s own acknowledged objective wrong, while fostering compassion, generosity, and love towards oneself” (Enright and The Human Development Study Group 1996, p. 116). Self-forgiveness is applicable in many work contexts including those involving transgressions such as bullying, failures such as poor performance, and job requirements necessitating undesirable behavior (Woodyatt et al. 2017). It is also associated with a variety of well-being

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outcomes including resilience, mental health, and lower levels of depression (Massengale et al. 2017). However, although it is generally thought of as being completely positive, it can also have a downside (Wohl and McLaughlin 2014). Wohl and McLaughlin (2014) note that self-forgiveness “does not always lead to positive outcomes. In fact, its offering can promote an array of negative outcomes. This is because forgiving the self for an acknowledged self-directed, ongoing harmful behavior brings about an emotional relief that weakens a person’s motivation to change. . .” (p. 426). Because of these psychological dynamics, self-forgiveness can lead to the perpetuation of damaging behavior such as smoking, gambling, and infidelity (Wohl and McLaughlin 2014). In like fashion, self-forgiveness can lead to the continuation of bullying, sub-par performance, and other undesirable behaviors in organizations and should be understood in a more balanced manner. Optimism, the tendency to have positive outcome expectations (Scheier and Carver 1985), offers numerous benefits. Optimistic people suffer less distress in the face of adversity, cope effectively with stressors, enact appropriate coping mechanisms, and enjoy health and social benefits as a result (Carver et al. 2010). It is understandable, therefore, why optimism is typically considered positive. However, optimism can lead to negative outcomes. For example, optimism can foster gambling problems and lead people to downplay the importance of health threats (Carver et al. 2010). People also have a tendency to be unreasonably optimistic which can foster regret, disappointment, and reductions in well-being (Shepperd et al. 2015). Lovallo and Kahneman (2003) suggest that optimism can compromise managers’ effectiveness by leading them to overestimate the benefits and underestimate the costs of their decisions. Conversely, although it tends to be negatively construed, pessimism can sometimes lead to high performance, notably for people who are high in anxiety (Norem and Chang 2004). Speaking directly to the notion of tempered view, Peterson and Chang (2003) note that “optimism and pessimism are complex constructs and it makes no sense to speak of the former as always desirable and the latter as always undesirable” (p. 64). Perhaps a more balanced form of optimism is realistic optimism, which involves maintaining a positive outlook within the constraints of what is reasonable (Schneider 2001). Employee engagement, the harnessing of oneself to one’s work role (Kahn 1990), is a positive organizational construct that exemplifies workplace well-being and also contributes to the experience of other desirable outcomes such as lower levels of stress and burnout and higher life satisfaction and positive affect (Bailey et al. 2017). However, engagement has also been shown to be associated with territorial behavior, knowledge hiding, and pro-job unethical behavior (Wang et al. 2019). Mindfulness is regarded as a positive phenomenon that is commonly defined as nonjudgmental, present-moment awareness (e.g., Lau et al. 2006). In a review of the literature on mindfulness at work, Good et al. (2016) note that mindfulness is associated with a number of well-being outcomes including lower stress, better mood, higher resilience, and higher quality relationships. However, mindfulness also has a downside. Research has shown that mindfulness undermines implicit learning (Whitmarsh et al. 2013), reduces feelings of guilt after a moral transgression (Schindler et al. 2019), and makes people more susceptible to false memories

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(Wilson et al. 2015). Mindfulness is not unequivocally good. There is similarly a dark side to awe (Gordon et al. 2017), courage (Pury et al. 2015), and even the pursuit of happiness itself (Gruber et al. 2011). Considered from the opposite angle, ostensibly negative phenomena can include positive features. As noted earlier, pessimism can be adaptive. Politics is commonly considered dysfunctional behavior that should be eliminated from organizations (Fedor et al. 2008), and a higher level of perceived political behavior has been shown to be negatively associated with job satisfaction (Abbas et al. 2014). However, politics can also have a positive, functional side that helps push organizations beyond the status quo and demonstrate a positive association with job satisfaction (Fedor et al. 2008). A particularly good example of how phenomena with positive or negative perceived valences can have oppositely valenced qualities is the research on affect. Negative affect has been shown to have positive consequences including reducing judgmental biases and stereotyping and increasing perseverance and politeness (Forgas 2013), whereas positive affect has been shown to produce negative effects such as increasing judgmental mistakes, stereotyping, and self-handicapping and reducing perseverance (Forgas 2014). In the work context, Bagozzi (2003) explains that negative emotions such as guilt can have positive consequences by, for example, motivating employees to repair and strengthen commercial relationships, and positive emotions such as pride can generate negative reactions such as fear of retribution. Forgas (2013) suggests that a more balanced view of positive and negative affect is warranted. Another good example of a balanced view is work in the area of personality which explores the upside of dark, and the downside of bright, personality traits (Smith et al. 2018). For example, among leaders, bright traits such as extraversion can lead to an overestimation of one’s abilities and hasty decisionmaking, and dark traits such as narcissism can foster consensus and strategic dynamism (Judge et al. 2009). Although phenomena such as prosociality, optimism, and mindfulness are generally beneficial in organizations and exemplify aspects of workplace well-being, a comprehensive, accurate, and honest understanding of these ostensibly positive phenomena requires an appreciation of the fact that they have a negative side to them. It is equally important to appreciate that seemingly negative phenomena may have positive aspects. A balanced perspective requires a tempered view of constructs that are casually viewed as positive or negative. Having now established the ambiguity of these terms, in the remainder of the chapter, the words “positive” and “negative” will be used without qualification for ease of exposition.

Balance as Mid-Range Grant and Schwartz (2011) note that most of the literature on positive topics is based on “the assumption that positive traits, experiences, and emotions have monotonic effects on well-being and performance” (p. 62). However, there is abundant evidence that positive phenomena can be overdone. Balance as Mid-Range recognizes that

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antecedents and manifestations of well-being may be best experienced at moderate, as opposed to maximum, levels. The Balance Framework expressly refers to “midrange” and not “mid-point” to reflect the fact that the ideal levels of well-being variables may not be the arithmetic average between high and low operationalized parameters and that ideal levels may vary among individuals (Gruman et al. 2018). The idea of a desirable mid-range as a path to happiness has ancient roots. The Greek philosopher, Aristotle (2004), taught that virtue lies between the vices of excess and deficiency. In his famous “doctrine of the mean,” Aristotle argued, for example, that the virtue of courage lies between the excess of rashness and the deficiency of cowardice. Similarly, the virtue of friendliness lies between the excess of obsequiousness and the deficiency of cantankerousness. More recently, this same approach has been applied, tentatively, to the literature on character strengths and virtues (Seligman 2015). For instance, the character strength of self-regulation lies between the excess of inhibition and the deficiency of self-indulgence, and the strength of vitality lies between the excess of hyperactivity and the deficiency of restraint. The idea that well-being may be best reflected at moderate as opposed to high levels suggests that people can experience an excess of desirable phenomena. Pierce and Aguinis (2013) refer to this as the too-much-of-a-good-thing effect, and provide examples from a number of management-related disciplines including organizational behavior, human resource management, and entrepreneurship, of how phenomena that are beneficial at moderate levels become harmful when taken too far. For example, they cite Ames and Flynn (2007) who demonstrated that compared to moderate levels of leader assertiveness, leaders who demonstrate high levels of assertiveness are viewed as less effective. Kaplan and Kaiser (2010) explain that it is possible for leaders to take their general strengths too far and that effective leadership requires implementing neither too little nor too much of a particular strength. For instance, leadership requires taking charge, but leaders who do so too much can become domineering and callous and demoralize their subordinates. Similarly, effective leadership involves enabling others. But leaders who are too enabling may not hold others accountable, be overly accommodating, and abdicate their responsibility (Kaplan and Kaiser 2003). In line with the principle of overdoing it, there are numerous examples of how variables directly and indirectly related to workplace well-being can be overemphasized. Conscientiousness is a valued personality characteristic that is positively associated with job performance (Barrick and Mount 1991) and job satisfaction (Judge et al. 2002); however, at high levels, conscientiousness can undermine well-being. Carter et al. (2016) found a curvilinear relationship between conscientiousness and well-being assessed as life satisfaction, job satisfaction, negative affect, positive affect, self-esteem, and work stress. They suggested that this occurs because at high levels conscientiousness crosses a line and reflects obsessive-compulsive tendencies that compromise well-being. In fact, it has been suggested that at very high levels, all of the facets of conscientiousness are maladaptive (Samuel et al. 2012). For example, at extreme levels, competence becomes perfectionism, order becomes fastidiousness, and self-discipline becomes doggedness, none of which promotes well-being.

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Social well-being is enhanced though high-quality relationships, but at extreme levels, such relationships can undermine well-being. Harris and Kacmar (2006) found that compared to employees who had moderate-quality relationships with their supervisors, those with high-quality relationships suffered more stress. The authors suggest that this happens because at high levels of relationship quality, subordinates are more likely to be subject to higher expectations, responsibilities, and additional roles that outweigh the benefits of the relationship. An excess of employee engagement can compromise well-being. Macey and Schneider (2008) note that engagement can be draining because it requires the expenditure of personal resources and that, at least to some extent, there is a limited pool of resources available to an employee. In support of this idea, Halbesleben et al. (2009) found that engagement was associated with higher levels of work-family interference. They concluded that it is possible for employees to be overinvested in work and that it is important to seek balance between engagement and family life. In line with Balance as Tempered View, adversity is generally considered a negative phenomenon, and although high levels of adversity may cause serious distress, a moderate amount of lifetime adversity is positively associated with mental health and well-being (Seery et al. 2010). Höltge et al. (2018) suggest that an ideal, moderate amount of adversity can promote not just resilience, but thriving, because it offers an opportunity to practice coping skills and develop and use resources. They refer to this as the “steeling effect” (Rutter 1987) in which past experiences of adversity increase resistance to future adversities. As Lazarus notes (2003), stress and adversity can play an important role in the cultivation of qualities needed to flourish. Consistent with Lovallo and Kahneman’s (2003) contention that positive outlooks can be detrimental for leaders, Shipman and Mumford (2011) suggested that an excess of confidence might foster destructive leadership involving poor decisionmaking, persevering with failing courses of action, and ignoring evident defects. Supporting this idea, they conducted a scenario study and found that overconfidence was associated with the development of poor vision statements. Similarly, in a study of teams participating in a strategic decision-making task, Papenhausen (2010) found that a moderate level of team optimism was positively associated with efforts to search for ways to improve team performance, whereas at high levels of team optimism, this effort was curtailed. Discussing the benefits of optimism at a moderate level, Gruman et al. (2017) note that: In a longitudinal study with inner-city women, Devine et al. (2000) found that moderate levels of optimism at Time 1 were subsequently associated with low levels of depression, but that higher levels of optimism at Time 1 were subsequently associated with higher levels of depression. They noted that their results call into question the idea that greater optimism produces better functioning, and concluded that excessive optimism can be detrimental. Similar results were obtained by Milam et al. (2004) who found that after controlling for disease status at baseline, HIV-infected individuals who displayed moderate levels of optimism had higher CD4 counts (a marker of relative health) months later compared to those with low or high levels of optimism. Milam et al. (2004) concluded that high levels of

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optimism do not protect against HIV disease progression speculating that high optimism might induce stress when desired positive health outcomes can’t be achieved. Milam et al. (2004) also suggested that there might be an “optimal margin of optimism” (p. 177). Thus, achieving well-being and success may be best accomplished by having some, but not too much, optimism (pp. 469-470).

Mindfulness can also be overdone. Britton (2019) explains that a number of mindfulness-related processes demonstrate an inverted U-shaped association with wellbeing and can be disadvantageous at elevated levels. For example, Britton (2019) discusses evidence suggesting that at high levels mindfulness can induce emotional blunting, dissociation, and depersonalization. Britton et al. (2014) found that sleep quality is enhanced at moderate levels of mindfulness and compromised at high levels. Mindfulness involves “reperceiving” (e.g., Shapiro et al. 2006), which entails detaching and stepping back from experience in order to observe it. However, an extreme level of detachment may manifest as social withdrawal, avoiding intimacy, and a reduced capacity to experience pleasure (Chapman et al. 1976). Britton (2019) therefore asks “how does one ensure that mindfulness produces the optimal level of psychological distance that ‘steps back’ far enough but not too far?” (pp. 160–161). Work conditions have been shown to have non-monotonic relationships with well-being outcomes. De Jonge and Schaufeli (1998) found that job characteristics including job demands, autonomy, and workplace social support demonstrated a curvilinear relationship with a variety of measures of employee well-being. For example, compared to moderate levels, a high level of job demands was associated with an increase in anxiety, and a high level of social support was associated with a decrease in job satisfaction. Similarly, Kubiek et al. (2014) found a curvilinear effect of job control on well-being among a sample of eldercare workers. Specifically, whereas moderate levels of job control were associated with low levels of irritation, depersonalization, and high engagement, at low and high levels of job control, the opposite pattern was observed. Curvilinear effects of working conditions are discussed by Warr (2007) who developed a vitamin analogy suggesting that at higher “doses,” certain workplace characteristics (e.g., valued social position) demonstrate an innocuous leveling-off effect, whereas others (e.g., personal control) have a toxic effect and produce decrements in well-being. The Moving Against aspect of the MMWWB (see Fig. 1) suggests that distancing oneself from work, as occurs during effective leisure time, may be part of the formula for producing well-being. However, even in this domain, curvilinear effects are observed. Lee et al. (2020) found that compared to moderate levels of leisure quantity (average daily leisure time), high levels were associated with reduced leisure satisfaction and happiness. Relatedly, although desirable at moderate levels, high psychological detachment during leisure time can compromise job performance and proactivity at work (Fritz et al. 2010). It is important to note that not all studies that explore curvilinear effects are successful in finding them. For example, Wiese et al. (2018) found no evidence of a too-much-of-a-good-thing effect in their investigations of the relationship between self-control and happiness. Similarly, Nickel et al. (2019) found no evidence for a

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curvilinear relationship between conscientiousness and a variety of well-being outcomes. That said, there is enough evidence to suggest that variables associated with well-being, and indicators of well-being itself, often demonstrate non-monotonicity and can be less-than-ideal at elevated levels. Future research is needed to establish the mechanisms and boundary conditions of these effects.

Balance as Complementarity The third aspect of The Balance Framework is Balance as Complementarity, which broadens the focus beyond individual constructs to consider the ways in which multiple constructs operate in tandem. As Gruman et al. (2018) note, “balance involves not only the gross balance between two poles of a variable, but balance among variables” (p. 56). Balance as Complementarity considers the joint effects of constructs that have opposite valences, such as positive and negative affect, in addition to the combined effects of positive constructs, such as character strengths and virtues (Gruman et al. 2018). Understanding workplace well-being requires a consideration of the ways in which positive and negative phenomena operate in tandem. As Aspinwall and Staudinger (2003) suggest, a key objective for an appreciation of human flourishing is “to understand whether and how positive and negative experiences depend on each other and work together” (p. 15). Linley et al. (2006) similarly suggest that an understanding of optimal human functioning requires an appreciation of the interrelationship between positive and negative aspects of human existence. The same notion has been recognized with respect to workplace well-being in particular. For instance, Bagozzi (2003) suggests that in organizations “positive and negative emotions reciprocally modulate each other” (p. 178). Although seemingly counterintuitive, there is evidence that people simultaneously experience positive and negative emotions (Folkman and Moskowitz 2000). There is also evidence that the co-occurrence of positive and negative emotions fosters various forms of well-being. For example, in their study of older adults, Ong and Bergeman (2004) found that individuals who demonstrated greater blending of positive and negative emotions had higher levels of resilience and lower levels of stress. Similarly, in their investigation of adults undergoing psychotherapy, Adler and Hershfield (2012) found that the mixed experience of happiness and sadness was associated with improvements in psychological well-being over time. Hershfield et al. (2013) found that the concurrent experience of positive and negative emotions was associated with fewer physical health problems, and an increase in mixed emotions was associated with better health over the course of a 10-year period. In three studies, Tugade and Fredrickson (2004) found that individuals who experience positive emotions in the face of stressful circumstances that elicit negative emotions recover more quickly from the stressors and demonstrate higher levels of resilience. The simultaneous experience of positive and negative emotions has also been shown to be positively associated with eudaimonic well-being (Berrios et al. 2018).

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Why might the experience of mixed emotions promote workplace well-being? Tugade and Fredrickson (2004) conclude that the experience of positive emotions during negative incidents may contribute to individuals’ ability to implement effective emotion regulation tactics. In a similar vein, Adler and Hershfield (2012) suggest that the concurrent experience of positive and negative emotions might better enable people to handle disruptive events and find meaning in their experiences. Berrios et al. (2018) suggest that mixed emotions help individuals to achieve equilibrium when facing conflicting goals. These interpretations build on conceptual work such as the Coactivation Model of Health (Larsen et al. 2003), which suggests that the contemporaneous experience of positive and negative emotions fosters wellbeing due to its ability to help individuals engage in effective problem solving, make sense of and find meaning in difficulties, and overcome distressing experiences. The applicability of the concurrent experience of positive and negative phenomena for understanding workplace well-being is not restricted to emotions. Shmotkin (2005) suggests that subjective well-being (SWB) is part of a process of pursuing happiness that works in tandem with the hostile-world scenario (HWS), which refers to an individual’s image of actual or perceived threats. He suggests that SWB operates to establish a favorable psychological environment and positive states of mind that complement the HWS, which scans the environment for perceived dangers. SWB operates as a promotion-focused self-regulation strategy oriented towards nurturance and accomplishment that works in tandem with the prevention-focused self-regulation strategy, represented by the HWS, which is concerned with safety and protection. The dialectical balance between SWB and HWS exploits the relative advantages of each and initiates coping strategies that minimize distress and restore SWB (Shmotkin 2005). This balance ensures that individuals are not overwhelmed by nightmares of immanent disaster nor lulled by naïve pollyannish fantasies (Shmotkin 2011). Shmotkin’s (2005, 2011) ideas suggest that workplace wellbeing may involve some degree of ambivalence. Ambivalence is the experience of “simultaneously positive and negative orientations towards an object” (Ashforth et al. 2014, p. 1454). In a review of ambivalence in organizations, Rothman et al. (2017) suggested that ambivalence may be more the norm than the exception and that it is associated with positive outcomes such as psychological and physical resilience, in addition to flexibility, which is a fundamental aspect of health (Kashdan and Rottenberg 2010). As Aspinwall and Staudinger (2003) suggest, “human strengths may primarily lie in the ability to flexibly apply as many different resources and skills as necessary to solve a problem or work towards a goal” (p. 13). Ambivalence can also promote other positive workplace outcomes such as trust, creativity, and wisdom (Pratt and Pradies 2012). Balance as Complementarity is also exhibited by the interplay of optimism and pessimism. In a sample of German medical patients, Herzberg et al. (2006) found that after taking optimism into account, pessimism offered incremental prediction of quality of life. Similarly, in a study of people suffering from arthritis, Benyamini (2005) found that coping strategies were most likely to be implemented by individuals who scored high on scales on optimism and pessimism concurrently. In short, the dynamic interplay of positive and negative aspects of life appears to be an

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important part of well-being in general and an integral aspect of workplace well-being. In addition to balance between positive and negative phenomena, Balance as Complementarity concerns balance among positive qualities. The research on mindfulness provides a case in point. Mindfulness is sometimes operationalized with five facets, namely, nonreactivity, observing, acting with awareness, describing, and nonjudging (Baer et al. 2006). Research has shown that different facet profiles are associated with dissimilar outcomes. For example, individuals who score high on non-judging and acting with awareness but low on observing demonstrate adaptive emotional health indexed by low depression, anxiety, affective lability, and distress intolerance. By contrast, individuals who score high on observing and low on nonjudging and acting with awareness demonstrate poor emotional health (Pearson et al. 2015). All of the facets are positive aspects of mindfulness, but research shows that the facets operate in clusters to produce outcomes that promote, or hinder, wellbeing. In a similar manner, Keyes (2007) explains that in order to flourish, individuals must exhibit adequate levels of positive functioning in three areas: positive emotions, positive psychological functioning, and positive social functioning. Flourishing individuals enjoy well-being benefits such as high levels of resilience and intimacy, low incidence of mental disorders, and few missed workdays (Keyes 2009). Character strengths represent another realm in which positive qualities may need to operate jointly. As discussed earlier, the literature on character strengths advocates for identifying and leveraging one’s signature strengths; however, some research suggests that balance among strengths in general may be sufficient. Rust et al. (2009) found that students who worked on building their character strengths had higher satisfaction with life regardless of whether they exclusively focused on building their signature strengths or focused on a signature strength in addition to a relatively weak strength. Similar results were obtained by Littman-Ovadia et al. (2017) who, as noted earlier, found that strength use in general, as opposed to signature strength use exclusively, was associated with well-being outcomes. Supporting the value of balance, Young et al. (2015) found that balance among strengths was associated with life satisfaction and argued that the balanced use of strengths is valuable because it enhances the ability to adapt to changing circumstances. The promotion of workplace well-being requires an understating of how various positive qualities, such as character strengths, operate synergistically. Fowers (2008) argues that isolating a few of character strengths as the basis of promoting what is good is inconsistent with the idea of virtue theory and that the presence of one strength does not compensate for the absence of another. Character, he suggests, involves the combination of numerous character strengths operating harmoniously. For example, he suggests that the character strengths of courage and justice must operate together. The former in the absence of the latter can produce assertiveness that is polarizing; the latter without the former can generate goodwill but not action. Similarly, Schwartz and Sharpe (2006) highlight the potential conflict between other

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strengths such as valor and prudence, justice and mercy, and leadership and humility and argue that the master virtue of practical wisdom is necessary to help coordinate and balance the others. They conclude that in lieu of a focus on cultivating signature strengths, there must be balance among the character strengths and virtues. Supporting the notion of a need for balance among positive qualities, Allan (2015) found that, in general, the greater the correspondence between character strength pairs such as honesty and kindness, the more participants reported finding meaning in life. He concluded that “balance and harmony among character strengths may be critical for well-being” (pp. 1256–1257). Balance as Complementarity also involves achieving equilibrium among the various manifestations of workplace well-being. As suggested by the multitude of constructs included in MMWWB (see Fig. 1), workplace well-being is not best represented by a single construct, but by a balance among many. This balance requires dynamic adaptability. Grant et al. (2007) explain that tradeoffs often occur when organizations try to promote employee well-being. For example, enriching jobs can foster psychological well-being in the form of job satisfaction, but compromise physical well-being due to increases in strain and fatigue. The first step in addressing these tradeoffs is to notice that they occur (Grant et al. 2007). The MMWWB helps to point out where important aspects of workplace well-being may be weak or absent in employees’ lives and, correspondingly, areas in which their well-being can be enhanced. Relatedly, the MMWWB helps to conceptualize how balance can be achieved among well-being constructs that appear to conflict. For example, hope is part of well-being and fits best with the Moving Towards part of the model. Seligman (2015) suggests that a deficiency of hope involves a present orientation, which is considered undesirable. However, the desirable quality of mindfulness, as typically defined, involves an explicit present-moment awareness (Brown and Ryan 2003) and fits best within the Moving With part of the model. Thus, at first blush, hope and mindfulness appear antagonistic. However, the MMWWB helps to synthesize these seemingly incompatible ideas by suggesting that they are both part of a more comprehensive understanding of well-being and are in fact complementary. Similarly, engagement fits within the Moving With part of the model, but psychological detachment fits within the Moving Against part. Again, these apparently conflicting constructs are easily harmonized within the inclusive parameters of the model. Further research is needed regarding Balance as Complementarity. There is little work on ambivalence in organizations as the topic has only recently become of interest to management scholars (Rothman et al. 2017), there continues to be debate concerning the details of the simultaneous experience of positive and negative emotions specifically (Russell 2017; Watson and Stanton 2017), and there is a paucity of research on the interplay of character strengths. That said, the available evidence suggests that effectively understanding and promoting workplace wellbeing requires an appreciation of how the various phenomena that bear on this topic complement and balance each other.

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Balance as Contextual Sensitivity Balance as Contextual Sensitivity suggests that different constructs may be positive or negative depending on the context. Gruman et al. (2018) note that “[w]hereas ‘balance as complementarity’ addresses within-person combinations, ‘balance as contextual sensitivity’ underscores that the extent to which a construct can be regarded as positive or negative may be situationally moderated” (p. 58). Additionally, Balance as Contextual Sensitivity recognizes that organizational and cultural contexts play an important role in the ways in which employees value, express, and cultivate workplace well-being. Emotions can be positive or negative depending on the circumstances in which they are experienced. As Lazarus observes, “any emotion can have a negative as well as positive valence depending on the context in which it occurs” (p. 107). Accordingly, workplace well-being is promoted by experiencing and expressing context-consistent emotions. Expressing positive emotions at inappropriate times can generate undesirable consequences (Bonanno et al. 2007). In their discussion of the contexts in which positive emotions can generate social costs, Greenway and Kalokerinos (2017) give the example of a funeral attendee who laughs out loud as an example of the incongruous expression of positive emotions, noting that such displays can produce deleterious outcomes. They conclude that in order to be advantageous, positive emotions should be expressed in the proper context. The same applies to negative emotions. In three studies, Coifman et al. (2016) found general support for the hypothesis that the experience of negative emotions in correspondingly negative contexts is associated with adaptive behavior and outcomes. For example, in a study of relationship quality, they found that negative emotional reactions in response to films depicting negative relational themes were associated with higher relationship adjustment. They also found that the experience of positive emotions in such contexts was associated with lower relationship adjustment. Coifman et al. (2016) concluded that negative emotions are functional and promote psychological health and adjustment when experienced in the appropriate context. Findings such as these underscore the importance of adjusting one’s emotional experience to fit the demands of the situation, something called expressive flexibility (Westphal et al. 2010). Westphal et al. (2010) found that expressive flexibility was associated with well-being and overall adjustment under conditions of high life stress. Under conditions of low life stress and when exposed to a threatening prime, low levels of expressive flexibility were associated with high well-being and adjustment. Westphal et al. (2010) argue that these results highlight the benefits of plasticity in emotional expressiveness, noting that the “flexible regulation of emotional expression in accord with situational demands is more important to adjustment than expression or suppression per se” (p. 92). The context-dependent value of varying levels of emotional experience is addressed in the Coactivation Model of Health which argues that although the cooccurrence of positive and negative emotions is beneficial for health and well-being, the desirable relative proportion of positive and negative affect is contingent on the

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severity of the stressor (Larsen et al. 2003). For instance, mild stressors call for a preponderance of positive emotions, and severe stressors call for a greater proportion of negative emotions. As Larsen et al. (2003) note, there is no “specific configuration of positive and negative emotions that is most beneficial in all circumstances” (p. 216). In short, workplace well-being is promoted by the experience of positive and negative emotions, and their co-occurrence, when they are in line with the demands of the situation. Contextual fitness is also required in order to derive benefits from character strengths. A number of authors have recognized that the positivity of character strengths and virtues is contingent on how appropriate they are for the situation. As Fowers (2008) notes, “enacting virtue is always strongly dependent on the context” (p. 640). Likewise, Newstead, Macklin, Dawkins, and Martin (2018) suggest that in order for an act to be considered virtuous, it must be enacted in a way that is contextually suitable. In line with Balance as Mid-Range, Schwartz and Sharpe (2006) note that the appropriate degree to which one enacts a character strength is not the midpoint of a scale and that “[w]here exactly the mean lies will itself vary from context to context – situation to situation” (p. 383). Similarly, Ng and Tay (2020) note that the appropriate, mid-range demonstration of virtue is “relative to the particulars of the situation in which it is expressed” (p. 4), which they refer to as situation-specific optimality. Implementing character strengths in the wrong context can compromise wellbeing instead of promoting it. For example, forgiveness is a virtue that is positively associated with psychological well-being, physical health, and positive relationships (McCullough et al. 2009). However, offering forgiveness in the wrong context can undermine well-being. McNulty and Fincham (2011) summarize research demonstrating that forgiveness can foster more or less positive outcomes when it is offered to offenders who exhibit less or more egregious behavior, respectively. McNulty and Fincham (2011) conclude that “forgiveness is a process that can be either beneficial or harmful, depending on the characteristics of the relationship in which it occurs” (p. 102). Although high-quality relationships are integral to well-being in general and social well-being in particular, contextual factors such as the nature of the relationship and the external environment play a significant role in the association between relationships and well-being (McNulty 2016). Even making an effort to improve the quality of a relationship can promote or hinder well-being depending on the context involving the general health of the relationship (McNulty 2016). The value of optimism has also been shown to be situationally contingent. For example, in a sample of newlyweds, McNulty and Karney (2004) found that optimism was associated with more stable future marital satisfaction when the couples’ initial interaction behavior was supportive and constructive, but was associated with steeper declines in marital satisfaction when the initial interaction behavior was problematic. When initial interaction behavior was problematic, lower levels of initial optimism were associated with more stable relationship satisfaction over time, and higher optimism was associated with steeper declines in future relationship satisfaction. These results demonstrate that optimism in the wrong context can undermine social well-being.

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When problems are easy to handle, optimism may foster well-being because it can promote resolution. However, when problems are difficult, optimism can promote unwarranted persistence and stress and compromise well-being. In support of this idea, Segerstrom (2005) found that optimism is negatively associated with cellular immunity when stressors are complex, uncontrollable, and generally difficult, but positively associated with cellular immunity when stressors are simple, transitory, and generally easy to handle. The value of mindfulness in fostering workplace well-being may also be moderated by context. The practice of mindfulness encourages approach-related emotion regulation tactics such as awareness and acceptance and the inhibition of avoidancerelated tactics such as distraction and suppression (Britton 2019). However, Bonanno and Burton (2013) note that successful coping involves the deployment of various emotion regulation tactics including distraction and suppression and the use of different tactics in different contexts. Highlighting the potentially situationally contingent value of mindfulness, Dane (2011) offers a number of propositions about the circumstances in which mindfulness is predicted to be positively and negatively associated with task performance. He suggests that that there will be a positive association between mindfulness and performance when employees operate in a dynamic task environment and have a high level of expertise, but the relationship between mindfulness and performance will be negative when employees operate in a static environment and have little experience with the task. The MMWWB (see Fig. 1) highlights situational appropriateness by suggesting that different forms of well-being may be more or less appropriate and conducive to overall well-being in different circumstances. For instance, certain active forms of well-being that characterize Moving Towards, such as thriving, may be less suitable during efforts to recover from work demands than during work hours, and the psychological detachment that is part of Moving Against may be less fitting at work than it is during leisure time. Perhaps more apropos, varying relative levels of the different forms of well-being may be appropriate under different conditions. Contextual sensitivity also involves an appreciation of the fact that the organizational context may be more or less conducive to workplace well-being. For example, Rego and Cunha (2009) found that the relationship between opportunities to learn and workplace well-being was stronger among employees who work in organizations with supportive work-family practices. Stiglbauer and Kovacs (2018) found that workplace well-being was compromised when the amount of autonomy employees had was discrepant from the amount they desired. In line with Balance as Mid-Range, Stiglbauer and Kovacs (2018) found that employees’ well-being was reduced when they perceived that they had too much or too little autonomy. Employee engagement is associated with contextual factors such as job characteristics, leadership, developmental opportunities, feedback, positive workplace climate, support, and rewards and recognition (Christian et al. 2011; Crawford et al. 2010). In short, organizational environments create a context in which workplace well-being is encouraged or discouraged. Workplace wellness initiatives that are inconsistent with the underlying organizational culture or climate may be perceived by employees as

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disingenuous and manipulative. The culture and climate thus represent contextual variables that play a role in determining whether workplace wellness efforts will be regarded as relatively positive or negative. A final important contextual variable is the broader culture. As Fineman (2006) suggests, it is necessary to be sensitive to variations in the cultural appropriateness of various emotional experiences and emotional display rules in order to properly understand what positivity means in particular environments. Happiness is not the main priority in many cultures (Ahuvia 2001), and the appropriateness of expressing certain emotions varies cross-culturally. For example, Japanese employees score low on employee engagement (Shimazu et al. 2010). However, this likely has less to do with Japanese workers’ reluctance to “bring their full selves” to their roles than it does with the cultural tendency for Japanese individuals to suppress positive affect (Shimazu et al. 2010). Additionally, the concept of the “self” differs across cultures (Kitayama et al. 1997). Therefore, what it means to “bring one’s full self” to a role can vary in different cultures and have implications for workplace well-being concepts such as engagement and authenticity (Saks and Gruman in press). There is evidence for consistency across cultures regarding aspects of well-being, but there is also evidence for variability. For instance, the relationship between the satisfaction of the need for autonomy and well-being appears to be stable crossculturally, but the methods for expressing and satisfying this need vary (Chirkov et al. 2003). Similarly, the need for high-quality relationships may be culturally universal; however, Brannan et al. (2013) found that perceived support from friends was associated with well-being in Jordan and the USA, but not in Iran. Results such as these suggest that the expression and drivers of workplace well-being in addition to the value placed on specific forms of workplace well-being may demonstrate cross-cultural variability. As a result, research and practice on workplace well-being must take cultural context into account and should examine not only differences across countries but also differences among individuals from different cultural groups within countries (Teramoto Pedrotti et al. 2009). Balance as Contextual Sensitivity recognizes that what is positive is contextually dependent. The promotion of flourishing workplaces requires a comprehensive understanding of the “developmental, material and social contexts” that regulate emotional experience, the deployment of human strengths, and foster the experience of workplace well-being (Aspinwall and Staudinger 2003, p. 14).

Balance Among Levels of Consciousness The final component of The Balance Framework is Balance Among Levels of Consciousness. It has long been known that consciousness exists at different levels. For example, Schooler et al. (2015) distinguish among an unconscious level involving processes to which individuals have no conscious knowledge or access, a conscious level involving mental awareness, and a meta-conscious level involving explicit awareness of the contents of consciousness. However, research and practice on workplace well-being focuses disproportionately on the level of conscious

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awareness. For example, most studies involve self-report measures of well-being that rely on conscious evaluations and ratings as opposed to implicit measures that assess unconscious processing. There is a relative paucity of research in organizational behavior that uses implicit measures (Harms and Luthans 2012), and research on workplace well-being is no exception. Balance Among Levels of Consciousness recognizes that much of what contributes to workplace well-being involves processes that occur outside of conscious awareness and that a more comprehensive understanding of workplace well-being can be achieved by studying phenomena at multiple levels of consciousness. As Aspinwall and Staudinger (2003) suggest: Even though reflexivity is one of the major discriminating features of the human species, it may not necessarily be the case that human strengths are always conscious and linked to intentional action or reaction. Rather, it is possible that human evolution, as well as ontogenesis, has produced “strength patterns” of perception, action, and reaction on an automatic and unintentional level” (p. 13).

The importance of studying unconscious processes is made particularly salient by the recognition that the vast majority of human mental activity is unconscious. Commenting on the magnitude of unconscious activity, Wilson (2002) suggests that the depiction of conscious processing as the tip of the mental iceberg is misleading and that it is more akin to a snowball at the top of the iceberg. Addressing the sophistication of unconscious processing, he adds that “[t]he adaptive unconscious does an excellent job of sizing up the world, warning people of danger, setting goals, and initiating action in a sophisticated and efficient manner” (pp. 6–7). Surveying a number of research areas, Hassin (2013) observes that numerous functions historically believed to require conscious processing can occur unconsciously and suggests that unconscious processes can execute every fundamental function performed by conscious processes. Hassin (2013) adds that understanding the potential differences in the ways in which conscious and unconscious processes execute the same functions is a matter for future research. These functions may be implicated in workplace well-being. Therefore, the balanced study of workplace wellbeing should involve an analysis mental state at different levels of consciousness. Mental states are commonly conceived as part of a “trilogy of mind” comprised of emotion, cognition, and motivation (Hilgard 1980). Each of these domains is involved in the experience of workplace well-being, and each has been shown to be influenced by processes outside of conscious awareness. A large body of research has examined positive and negative affect as indicators of well-being (e.g., Watson et al. 1988). Emotional experiences are often considered decidedly conscious. As Winkielman and Berridge (2004) note, it seems axiomatic that emotions are available to consciousness, because how could one “have feelings that are not felt?” (p. 120). However, Winkielman and Berridge (2004) go on to summarize research demonstrating that emotional processes can occur outside of conscious awareness and nonetheless influence behavior. For example, people’s affective reactions to neutral stimuli, such as Chinese ideographs, can be altered by subliminally pairing the stimuli with happy or angry faces. Importantly, this effect occurs in the absence

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of any conscious awareness among participants that their mood has been affected. Similarly, people’s behavior can be influenced by exposure to happy and sad faces without any corresponding changes to self-report measures of affect. Studies such as these demonstrate that people’s emotions and behavior can be affected by unconscious emotions without any conscious awareness. Emotions therefore have an explicit component corresponding to a subjective feeling and an implicit component associated with physiological and behavioral responses (Kihlstrom 2013). This distinction raises questions about employees’ awareness of the full range of their emotional experiences at work and the correlates of these experiences. Sometimes people are unaware of the perceptions and thoughts that elicit conscious emotion, and sometimes they are aware of their perceptions and thoughts but unaware of the emotions they trigger (Kihlstrom et al. 2000). Facts such as these should lead researchers to question whether there are antecedents of workplace positive affect other than those assessed with self-report measures, and whether there may be organizational variables that elicit positive and negative emotions that are not available to consciousness. Because employees may experience positive affect of which they are unaware, research on workplace well-being should not limit itself to the study of conscious affective experience (Winkielman and Berridge 2004). A more balanced approach that includes the assessment of unconscious affect with indirect measures would provide a more comprehensive account of the nature, antecedents, and outcomes of workplace well-being. Workplace well-being also involves cognition. For example, a common measure of well-being is life satisfaction, which Diener et al. (1985) describe as a cognitive, judgmental process. Judgments of life satisfaction, and other overall assessments of well-being, reflect conscious, cognitive evaluations. However, research reveals that, like emotions, cognitions can occur unconsciously and are influenced by unconscious stimuli. Decades of research reveals that cognitive processes involving phenomena such as memory, attitudes, learning, and judgments are influenced by implicit stimuli that occur outside of awareness (Greenwald and Banaji 2017). For example, Lewicki et al. (1988) had participants perform a task in which they had to indicate the location of a target presented on a computer screen by pressing a corresponding key. Unbeknownst to participants, the exposure of targets followed a complex pattern. Over the course of numerous trials, participants’ performance improved demonstrating that they had learned the pattern, despite the fact that none of them was able to consciously identify it. The participants thus learned a complex rule without conscious awareness. As the authors explain, the participants’ performance was “automatic in the sense that it was not mediated by consciously controlled processes” (p. 34). Other research demonstrates that when people’s behavior is influenced by stimuli outside of conscious awareness, they will often invent explanations for their behavior that in no way correspond to the precipitating stimuli (Nisbett and Wilson 1977). These confabulations are sincerely believed, but often simply reflect widely accepted causal theories instead of an accurate analysis of the behavior in question (Wilson 2002). Elaborating on the questionable accuracy of conscious accounts, Greenwald

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and Banaji (2017) suggest that “When people attempt to report on their conscious perceptions and judgments, they do so not based on valid introspection, but by using traces of past (possibly biased) experience to construct (possibly invalid) theories of current data” (p. 868). Consequently, explicit evaluative measures of workplace well-being which involve self-reports, like job satisfaction, may be influenced by unconscious processes that result in measures with dubious validity (Greenwald and Banaji 2017). Studies of workplace well-being are likely to generate novel and broader insights if they balance the use of self-reports with indirect measures that assess unconscious cognition such as tests of implicit association, thematic apperception, and conditional reasoning tests (Bing et al. 2007; Greenwald and Banaji 2017; McClelland et al. 1989). For instance, Kim (2004) developed a measure of implicit life satisfaction that was found to be uncorrelated with a measure of explicit life satisfaction and was less affected by transitory mood, social desirability, and culture than explicit measures (Jang and Kim 2009). Harms and Luthans (2012) developed an implicit measure of psychological capital, which, as noted earlier, is a higher-order construct that includes optimism. They found that after taking scores on the explicit measure of the scale into account, the implicit measure offered incremental prediction of several work outcomes, including satisfaction. Well-being also involves motivation. For instance, Huta and Ryan (2010) conceptualize hedonic well-being as the motive to seek pleasure and comfort and eudaimonic well-being as the motive to use or develop the best in oneself. Numerous investigations have demonstrated that motives can exist at an unconscious level. For example, Bargh et al. (2001) primed participants with a high-performance goal by embedding words such as “compete” and “succeed” in a word-search puzzle. In a subsequent task, primed participants achieved higher levels of performance than those in a control condition. Importantly, none of the primed participants was aware that their behavior had been affected. Dijksterhuis and Aarts (2010) note that “at least some volitional behavior does not require any conscious awareness at all: Goals and motivation can be unconsciously primed” (p. 469). In general, being motivated to achieve goals can promote well-being. For example, Sheldon and Elliott (1999) demonstrated that individuals who succeed at achieving goals that are personally important to them enjoy higher levels of wellbeing. This raises the question of why people might pursue goals that are not important to them and what happens to their well-being when this occurs. Unconscious motivation provides part of the answer. Unconscious motives stimulate spontaneous and enduring behavior that is inherently enjoyable, whereas explicit motives are associated with behavior involving more immediate social incentives (McClelland et al. 1989). As such, unconscious and explicit motives can conflict. Brunstein et al. (1998) found that when individuals made progress towards goals that were consistent with their implicit motives, they enjoyed higher levels of emotional well-being. In contrast, commitment to goals that were inconsistent with implicit motives resulted in a decrease in emotional well-being. Similarly, Baumann et al. (2005) demonstrated that (in)congruence between implicit and explicit motives was associated with (lower)higher subjective well-being and psychosomatic symptoms.

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Baumann et al. (2005) suggest that motive incongruence can be regarded as a stressor that compromises well-being. Just like cognitive measures, measures of implicit and explicit motives can be unrelated (e.g., Langens 2007). Therefore, comprehensively studying workplace well-being should involve a balanced assessment of implicit and explicit motives. The importance of Balance Among Levels of Consciousness comes into sharp relief when one recognizes that conscious and unconscious processes can operate in tandem. Greenwald and Banaji (2017) suggest three ways in which conscious and unconscious cognition may interact: 1) high-level unconscious cognition can guide thought and action, 2) unconscious and conscious cognition can operate in parallel but separately, and 3) unconscious cognition can operate prior to conscious attention. Similarly, Bing et al. (2007) suggest that the interaction between implicit and explicit measures is likely to involve either co-action, mediation, moderation, or interactive curvilinearity depending on the constructs in question. As an example of moderation, Zhang et al. (2020) found that the relationship between explicit self-esteem and life satisfaction was significantly positive only for individuals with high implicit selfesteem. It is for reasons exemplified by this study that some scholars have suggested integrating implicit and explicit measures for organizational tasks such as personnel selection (Bing et al. 2007). It is equally advisable to integrate implicit and explicit measures for an improved understanding of workplace well-being. Mindfulness research and practice offers an opportunity to consider balance among all three levels of consciousness (see Choi et al. 2020). Recall that mindfulness involves “reperceiving” – a meta-conscious awareness of the contents of consciousness that allows people to interrupt automatic thoughts. However, as noted above, people can misconstrue their (pre)conscious experiences. More research is needed on the veracity of meta-conscious insight and the well-being implications of various levels of accuracy and coherence. Additionally, much, if not most, unconscious processing is useful and adaptive. It remains unclear, therefore, what role mindfulness might play in potentially undermining adaptive unconscious processes that support well-being. Research on whether and how mindfulness influences unconscious processes themselves would also be valuable Research on workplace well-being focuses disproportionately on conscious experience. Balance Among Levels of Consciousness suggests that a better understanding on the nature, antecedents, and outcomes of workplace well-being can be achieved by balancing the current emphasis on conscious experience with an attendant focus on other levels of consciousness.

Discussion Early workplace well-being initiatives involved wellness programs that focused on preventing disease as opposed to promoting health. The turn towards positive organizational studies involved a change in this deficiency-oriented approach by introducing a focus on health promotion and a broader definition of workplace wellbeing. However, instead of promoting a more balanced perspective, the “positive”

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movement has contributed to the pendulum swinging to the other extreme, resulting in a number of criticisms being leveled against positive organizational studies and limiting the investigation and application of workplace well-being. In the present chapter, The Balance Framework was presented as a way to address many of the criticisms and provide a more effective way to conceptualize theory, research, and practice on workplace well-being. Balance as Tempered View addresses the criticism that ostensibly positive phenomena can have negative qualities. Balance as Mid-Range speaks to the criticism that employees can experience an excess of positive qualities. Balance as Complementarity resolves the criticism that workplace well-being focuses exclusively on positive characteristics. Balance as Contextual Sensitivity addresses the criticism that context, including culture, must be taken into account when understanding workplace well-being. And Balance Among Levels of Consciousness addresses that fact that research on workplace well-being has been limited to conscious experience. The Balance Framework thus offers a comprehensive way to consider workplace well-being, move past the narrow connotations of the term “positive,” and appreciate workplace well-being in a way that is more faithful to lived experience. Additionally, in this chapter, an attempt was made to bring some coherence to the plethora of constructs that characterize workplace well-being by introducing the The Movement Model of Workplace Well-Being. The model amalgamates the various constructs and supplements The Balance Framework by demonstrating how they inform Balance as Complementarity and Balance as Contextual Sensitivity. The model represents an initial effort to not only assemble well-being constructs in a meaningful fashion but also elucidate how they can be considered as individual aspects of a more comprehensive perspective of workplace well-being. It is hoped that The Balance Framework and The Movement Model of Workplace Well-Being will both stimulate novel research questions and theory-building.

A Balanced Approach to Theory and Research Investigations of workplace well-being would benefit from a more balanced approach to theory and research. At minimum, this balance should include longitudinal in addition to cross-sectional research, a consideration of workplace well-being at different levels of analysis, and integrative theoretical perspectives. Balance Among Research Designs. Most research on workplace well-being is cross-sectional. Research on this topic would benefit from more longitudinal studies for a number of reasons. First, self-assessments of well-being differ depending on whether they represent overall judgments or ongoing ratings. Newman et al. (2020) compared a variety of measures of well-being assessed as global evaluations or aggregated daily reports and found global reports to be significantly higher. The authors concluded that when providing global evaluations, individuals do not accurately replay their life experiences. Thus, longitudinal research conducted with ongoing ratings may provide more reliable reflections of average levels of wellbeing at work.

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Second, longitudinal designs can reveal longer-term effects that are masked in short-term cross-sectional research. For instance, the pursuit of self-esteem can produce short-term benefits but have longer-term costs, such as a failure to satisfy basic needs (Crocker and Park 2004). It is important to map the potential paths associated with the experiences and outcomes of workplace well-being over time. Shmotkin (2005) outlines a number of subjective well-being trajectories such as ascending, descending, curvilinear, and fluctuating. Similarly, Saks and Gruman (2018) present five patterns of engagement that can occur over the course of a year when newcomers join an organization. Greater insight into the time-course effects of positive constructs and their effects would go a long way towards delineating the dynamics of workplace well-being. Third, longitudinal designs that examine intraindividual variation can generate results that are different from between-person designs. For example, in their investigation of the relationship between self-efficacy and performance, Vancouver et al. (2001) observed the expected positive association in between-person analyses, but an examination of this relationship within individuals over time revealed a negative relationship. Thus, longitudinal research that examines within-person effects can shed light on dynamics that are masked between persons. In line with a balanced view, Ilies et al. (2015) suggest that employee well-being should be considered from both a between-individual perspective and an intraindividual perspective and that the two approaches can complement each other. Balance Among Levels of Analysis. Workplace well-being is typically conceived at the individual level (Oades and Dulagil 2016). However, as suggested in the section on Balance as Contextual Sensitivity, the work environment can promote or hinder well-being. It is worthwhile to ask about the extent to which individual well-being is supported in organizational contexts that are more or less “well.” Along these lines, Oades and Dulagil (2016) suggest that workplace well-being can be considered at the individual, group, and organizational levels and that there is a reciprocal relationship among them. Fisher (2010) notes that little is known about the causes and consequences of shared happiness at the group, unit, or organizational level. Wright et al. (2017) suggests that future research on workplace well-being should consider expanding the level of analysis from the individual to the team, organizational, and even societal levels. In a similar fashion, Bright et al. (2014) suggest that virtue should be investigated more rigorously at the organization level. They wonder: “Can an organization really be virtuous or ethical, and if so what do these macrolevel constructs look like relative to the more familiar micro ones?” (p. 454). A more balanced approach to theory and research would consider well-being at multiple levels of analysis. Examples of such efforts include Barrick et al.’s (2015) investigation of collective organizational engagement and Salanova et al.’s (2012) model of healthy and resilient organization. More work in this area with an emphasis on cross-level effects is warranted. Balanced Theoretical Perspectives. As noted earlier, Fineman (2006) argues that research on positive functioning in organizations is inconsistent with contemporary critical perspectives that focus on the construction of social reality. Although it is certainly the case that much of social reality is constructed, that construction is not

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arbitrary or absolute. Human beings have inherited an evolutionarily derived mental architecture that circumscribes their perceptions, thoughts, emotions, and ultimately the constructions they formulate. For example, babies are born with pre-existing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral tendencies (Bergesen 2004). Similarly, although there is variation in the expression of emotions across cultures, basic emotional experience is universal (Cordaro et al. 2018). Critical perspectives provide valuable lenses through which to consider workplace phenomena; however, like all lenses, they are limited (Gruman and Saks 2019). A more balanced way to conceptualize research on workplace well-being is through the lens of Constrained Construction, which acknowledges that social constructions do not have unlimited degrees of freedom. The study of workplace well-being conducted through the lens of constrained construction explores the parameters of constructions and the malleability of those parameters in an effort to understand the dynamics and boundaries of flourishing at work. As Peterson (2012) suggests, there are universal capacities underlying the conditions of social life, but the representation of these capacities can vary, and it is useful to understand this variation. Constrained construction helps to integrate nativist and constructionist approaches to the philosophy of social science, resolve the unnecessary friction between the two, and further advance research on workplace well-being.

Conclusion A balanced approach to conceptualizing workplace well-being addresses many of the criticisms leveled against positive organizational studies and helps to advance the field. It is hoped that researchers and practitioners will consider The Movement Model of Workplace Well-Being and The Balance Framework as valuable tools for considering the nature of workplace well-being that serve to support thriving employees in flourishing organizations.

Cross-References ▶ Employee Engagement: Keys to Organizational Success ▶ Hedonic Versus (True) Eudaimonic Well-Being in Organizations

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Part II Workplace Well-Being: Meaning and Leadership

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Fostering Workplace Well-Being Through Servant Leadership Gary Roberts

Contents Introduction: Servant Leadership and Employee Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Servant Leadership Religious Roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conceptual Framework: Servant Leadership and Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Servant Leader Employee Investment Behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Servant Leader Altruistic Leadership Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Servant Leader Community Investment Behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Servant Leader Trust Building Character Virtues and Behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Servant Leadership Transcendence Behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Employee Antecedent Well-Being Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Well-Being Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion and Future Research Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

One of the enduring images of Christianity is that of Christ as the good shepherd, which is a relevant metaphor for servant leadership’s emphasis on promoting the holistic well-being of employees, clients, and customers. Hence, employee wellbeing is a global construct that reflects the overall physical, mental, and spiritual health of employees (Roberts, Working with Christian servant leader spiritual intelligence: the foundation of God honoring vocational success. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). Servant leadership emphasizes two meta dimensions of stewardship and servanthood that directly promote employee well-being (Roberts, Christian scripture and human resource management: building a path to G. Roberts (*) Robertson School of Government, Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_9

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servant leadership through faith. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015). This chapter will review a large sample of servant leader empirical studies and present clear evidence of its efficacious influence on employee well-being. The research literature and subsequent analysis for this chapter is based upon 138 servant leader empirical studies published from 2004 to 2019. Well-being studies were then selected from this group of 138 by keyword search in the respective article abstracts. In addition, studies of closely related well-being variables such as employee thriving, work and family enrichment, work and family conflict, ethical and moral work climate, a positive work climate, and burnout were grouped with the well-being studies. A total of 22 well-being related studies were identified through this process. The 138 studies generated 285 empirical outcomes of which 275 (96.5%) are favorable in directionality regarding the influence of servant leadership on well-being–related outcomes. There were only 9 nonsignificant (3.3%) and 1 negative (0.35%) relationships identified. Of the 138 studies, a final grouping of 129 studies was selected for the final analysis through the elimination of non-well-being–related dependent variables. Keywords

Servant leadership · Employee well-being · Ethical leadership · Leadership effectiveness · Global leadership · Christian leadership

Introduction: Servant Leadership and Employee Well-Being One of the enduring images of Christianity is that of Christ as the good shepherd, which is a relevant metaphor for servant leadership’s emphasis on promoting the holistic well-being of employees, clients, and customers. Hence, employee wellbeing is a global construct that reflects the overall physical, mental, and spiritual health of employees (Roberts 2016). Servant leadership emphasizes two meta dimensions of stewardship and servanthood that directly promote employee wellbeing (Roberts 2015). Stewardship is efficiently and effectively pursuing and achieving the organization’s mission, vision, and values utilizing moral and ethical motives, means, and ends. Hence, the servant leader is a faithful shepherd and steward of the broad array of organizational resources, human, monetary, and informational. Servant leaders provide an environment that enables employees to achieve success on their respective jobs. The second meta dimension is that of servanthood, in which the leader as servant shepherd is motivated by agape and agapao love to promote the global well-being of employees and their best interests and long-term growth, development, and flourishing. Servant leaders embrace an altruistic worldview that combines ascetical commitment to delay or defer personal gratification to promote the global good. The tripartite ethical and moral foundation of servant leadership is the wisdom-based commitment to a balance of deontological, teleological, and virtue ethics. As such, servant leadership entails a complicated and nuanced amalgamated nature and ethos of the practical and the metaphysical in

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thought, behavior, and decision making. Servant leadership is an ongoing process of development and growth that is never fully achieved or perfected, given the inherent variability of human nature and conditions. This chapter will review a large sample of servant leader empirical studies and present clear evidence of its efficacious influence on employee well-being.

Servant Leadership Religious Roots Servant leadership possesses clear theistic roots in all of the major religions including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism (Bekker 2010; Irving 2010). From a Christian worldview, servant leadership is the integration and implementation of the Golden Rule laws that are written in the human heart (Romans 2:15) and reflect the human spirit’s desire to achieve transcendence, as God has “written eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11).” As such, servant leadership represents a spiritual law of cause and effect that is universal and applicable to all of humanity, regardless of espoused theist or non-theistic belief systems. The great challenge of servant leadership relates to its complex attributes and dimensional structure leading to a great range of conceptual and operational definitions as demonstrated by several reviews (Roberts and HessHernandez 2012/2013; Parris and Peachy 2012; Eva et al. 2019). For example, the Roberts and Hernandez analysis identified 39 dimensions of servant leadership in the 8 study sample. The lack of consensus is both strength and weakness given the universal scope of leadership and the variation of context and culture. The broad range of attributes also contributes to overlap with other related values-based leadership approaches such as transformational, ethical, and values-based leadership (Hoch et al. 2018). However, the lack of consensus in conceptual definitions has not impeded the demonstration of broad-based favorable effects of servant leadership across settings and cultures (Eva et al. 2019). The universality of servant leadership’s efficacy is reflected in the growing global empirical literature. A recent meta-analysis (Hoch et al. 2018) demonstrated that servant leadership explains significant and unique incremental variance in leadership effectiveness when compared to transformational, ethical, and valuesbased relationship approaches, while a second meta-analysis by Banks et al. (2018) demonstrated servant leadership was positively correlated with favorable employee attitude and performance outcomes at differential levels than other values-based leadership approaches (authentic, charismatic, ethical). A comprehensive review by Eva et al. (2019) of 285 servant leader articles also demonstrated consistently favorable influence of servant leadership on employee attitudes, behaviors, and performance.

Methodology The research literature and subsequent analysis for this chapter is based upon 138 empirical mostly quantitative studies published from 2004 to 2019 as identified by an ongoing automatic keyword search of abstracts in the Business Source Complete electronic database using the term “servant leadership.” Well-being studies were

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then selected from this group of 138 by keyword search in the 138 article abstracts. In addition, studies of closely related well-being variables such as employee thriving, work and family enrichment, work and family conflict, and ethical and moral work climate, a positive work climate, and burnout were grouped with the well-being studies. A total of 22 well-being–related studies were identified through this process. Empirical studies on servant leadership were rare prior to 2004. A seen in Table 1, there are 33 countries represented with the two most frequent countries of origin being the United States (32.2%) and China (18.2%). As per region of the Table 1 Frequency count of servant leader sample locations; 143 total, plus 5 joint, 2 USAForeign, 3 purely foreign Nation USA China Turkey Pakistan Canada Netherlands Indonesia Vietnam Iran New Zealand Spain Australia Germany Portugal South Africa Taiwan India Malaysia Finland France Ghana Kenya Lithuania Macau Nigeria Norway Trinidad/Tobago South Korea Philippines Russia Ukraine United Kingdom

# 46 26 10 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 143

Percentage (%) 32.2 18.2 7.0 4.2 3.5 3.5 2.8 2.8 2.1 2.1 2.1 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 100.0

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world, Table 2 indicates that about 7 in 10 are from North America (35.7%) and Asia (33.6%). Table 3 demonstrates that majority of empirical studies published in the early stages of servant leadership research (2004–2008) were from the USA (85.7%) while over the last 5 years (2014–2019) the frequency is reversed with 81.6% originating outside of the USA. The robust efficacy of servant leadership as a direct or indirect moderator/mediator variable on attitudes, behaviors, and performance is well established by this review. The 138 studies generated 285 empirical outcomes of which 275 (96.5%) are favorable in directionality regarding the influence of servant leadership. There were only 9 nonsignificant (3.3%) and 1 negative (0.35%) relationship identified. See the section “Appendix” for the complete tabular listing of results (Tables 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16). Even factoring for publication bias, this is an impressive and robust outcome on the efficacy of servant leadership. Of the 138 studies, a final grouping of 129 studies was selected for the final analysis through the elimination of non-wellbeing–related dependent variables.

Conceptual Framework: Servant Leadership and Well-Being Figure 1 summarizes the conceptual relationships between servant leadership and the key well-being outcomes in the literature. This review of the empirical literature grouped servant leader studies into global dimensions based upon the nature of the dependent variables and the independent variable servant leader attributes presented in the article abstracts. The author categorized the reviewed Table 2 Frequency count of studies by world region North America Asia Middle East Europe Africa Caribbean

51 48 19 19 5 1 143

35.7% 33.6% 13.3% 13.3% 3.5% 0.7% 100.0%

Table 3 Frequency count of location by time US and nonUS studies by year 2004–2008 2009–2013 2014–2019 Total

US studies 12 18 16 46

Percentage (%) 85.7 42.9 18.4 32.2

NonUS studies 2 24 71 97

Percentage (%) 14.3 57.1 81.6 67.8

Total number of studies 14 42 87 143

Percentage (%) of total 9.8 29.4 60.8 100.0

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SL Employee Investment Behaviors (30) Empowerment (12) Active listening (4) Emphasize follower development (3) Egalitarianism (2) Relationship building (2) Values and has confidence in people (2) Consulting and involving others (1) Interpersonal support (1) Learning (1), Sharing power (1) and Standing back (1)

• • • • • • • • • •

SL Altruistic Leadership Orientation (42) • Servanthood (10) • Motives, serve others first (5) • Agapao love (4) • Needs of others over self (4) • Put subordinates first (4) • Stewardship (4) • Altruism (3) • Altruistic calling (2), Covenantal relationship (2), Voluntary subordination (2), Optimal human functioning (1), Positive effect on least privileged (1) SL Community Investment Behaviors (9) • Creating community value (5) • Building Community (4) SL Trust Building Character Virtues and Behaviors (55) • Humility (9) • Moral integrity (7) • Healing (6) • Authentic self (4), Authenticity (4) • Behave ethically (4) • Empathy (4) • Trust (4) • Responsible morality (3) • Courage (2), Forgiveness (2) • Caring (1) • Credibility (1) • Gratitude (1) • Honesty (1) • Hope (1) • Wisdom (1) SL Leadership Transcendence Behaviors (14) • Vision (5) • Transcendental spirituality (3) • Calling (2) • Transformational influence (2) • Inspiring others (1) • Meaningfulness (1)

Employee Antecedent Wellbeing Variables (65) • Satisfaction (19) • Organizational trust (12) • Engagement (10) • Leader trust (4) • Affective and cognitive trust (3) • Empowerment (3) • Life satisfaction (3) • Procedural justice (3) • Interpersonal group trust (2) • Loyalty (2) • Career satisfaction (1) • Disengagement (1) • Interactional justice (1) • Procedural justice (1)

Wellbeing Outcomes (22) • Work/family enrichment (5) • Employee wellbeing (4) • Ethical and socio moral work climate (3) • Positive work climate (3) • Burnout (2) • Stress (2) • Work/family conflict (2) • Employee thriving (1)

Fig. 1 Servant leadership (SL) and workplace wellbeing model (# of studies)

studies and their linkage to the key two global servant leader dimensional attributes, servanthood and stewardship. The 138 studies used varying conceptual and operational definitions of servant leadership and of the dependent variable measures. Hence, one of the methodological weaknesses is relying on each reviewed study’s self-developed measures and definitions. There is no study

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that directly tested the elements of the model presented here; hence, this is an inductive framework based upon the pattern of results found in the reviewed studies. In some cases, both the independent and dependent variable are element of servant leadership such as the studies on empowerment. The researcher grouped servant leader (SL) studies into five global dimensions: (1) SL employee investment behaviors such as empowerment and active listening, (2) SL altruistic leadership orientation such as servanthood and serving others first, (3) SL community investment behaviors such as creating community value and building community, (4) SL trust building behaviors such as humility and moral integrity, and (5) SL leadership transcendence behaviors including vision and transcendental spirituality. A sixth global dimension was created consisting of studies that found a positive link between servant leadership and attitudinal and affective state variables. This sixth global dimension was labeled “employee antecedent well-being variables” and listed key attitude variables that produced positive psychological states linked to overall employee well-being. They include employee job satisfaction, organizational trust, and employee engagement. The final aspect of the model is the grouping of the 22 studies that reported a positive relationship between servant leadership and well-being outcomes including work and family enrichment, employee well-being, and positive work climate, among others. The next section summarizes the studies in each of the dimensions. To conserve space and avoid excessive citation detail that detracts from the text, the full number of citations are presented in the tables and the number of in-text cites are limited to three or fewer for each category. Given that many of the reviewed studies addressed multiple moderator and dependent variables linked to complex servant leader dimensions, the total number of studies classified by each dimension of the model exceeds the individual total of 104 individual studies.

Servant Leader Employee Investment Behaviors Servant leaders possess a favorable and optimistic worldview on human nature and invest in employee growth and development. It is vital to employee wellbeing to work in an environment in which employees are valued and are viewed not as instrumental means of production, but as human beings that are worthy of a long-term relationship with ongoing two-way investment. There are 30 studies that demonstrate servant leadership’s favorable influence on various manifestations of employee investment (see Table 4 for a complete list of cites). The most frequent and important is formal empowerment (Patterson 2003; Mittal and Dorfman 2012; van Dierendonck and Patterson 2015) which is the subject of 12 studies and follower development which is a focus of 3 (Wong and Page 2003; Hale and Fields 2007; Wong and Davey 2007). Another critical form of employee investment in relationship quality is active listening (4 studies), which is a very

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Table 4 Servant leader employee investment behaviors Attribute, number of studies 1. Empowerment, 12

2. Active listening, 4

3. Emphasize follower development, 3 4. Egalitarianism, 2 5. Relationship building, 2

6. Values and has confidence in people, 2 7. Consulting and involving others, 1 8. Interpersonal support, 1 9. Learning, 1 10. Shares power, 1 11. Standing back, 1

Servant leader studies that incorporate the attribute, 30 total studies Patterson, K. (2003); Wong, P. T. P., and Page, D. (2003); Dennis, R. S., and Bocarnea, M. (2005); Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Zhao, H., and Henderson, D. (2008); van Dierendonck, D. (2011); van Dierendonck, D., and Nuijten, I. (2011); Boone, L. W., and Makhani, S. (2012); Mittal, R., and Dorfman, P. W. (2012); Focht, A., and Ponton, M. (2015); Liden, R. C., Panaccio, A., Hu, J., and Meuser, J. D. (2014a); Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Meuser, J. D., Hu, J., Wu, J., and Liao, C. (2015); van Dierendonck, D., and Patterson, K. (2015) Spears, L. (1998); Barbuto, J. E., and Wheeler, D. W. (2006); Boone, L. W., and Makhani, S. (2012); Focht, A., and Ponton, M. (2015) Wong, P. T. P., and Page, D. (2003); Hale, J. R., and Fields, D. L. (2007); Wong, P. T. P., and Davey, D. (2007) Reed, L. L., Vidaver-Cohen, D., and Colwell, S. R. (2011); Mittal, R., and Dorfman, P. W. (2012) Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Zhao, H., and Henderson, D. (2008); Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Meuser, J. D., Hu, J., Wu, J., and Liao, C. (2015) Laub, J. (1999); Focht, A., and Ponton, M. (2015) Wong, P. T. P., and Davey, D. (2007) Reed, L. L., Vidaver-Cohen, D., and Colwell, S. R. (2011) Focht, A., and Ponton, M. (2015) Laub, J. (1999) van Dierendonck, D., and Nuijten, I. (2011)

important element demonstrating leadership commitment to employees (Spears 1998; Barbuto and Wheeler 2006; Boone and Makhani 2012; Focht and Ponton 2015). Active listening entails a systematic and ongoing focus on the other person, giving your undivided attention and focus including non-judgmental eye contact, body posture/movements, and tone of voice. With active listening, the leader employs a two to one or higher listen to talk ratio, probes frequently, and paraphrases. Given that we can think faster than speak, it is vital to control the tendency to think of a response while the other person is speaking. Other elements that are vital to investing in employees include promoting an egalitarian climate (2 studies) (Reed et al. 2011; Mittal and Dorfman 2012) that reduce status differences, communicating value, and confidence in people (2 studies) (Laub 1999; Focht and Ponton 2015), consulting and involving others (1 study) (Wong and Davey 2007), interpersonal support (1 study) (Reed et al. 2011), learning (1 study) (Focht and Ponton 2015), sharing power (1 study) (Laub 1999), and standing back and allow employees to grow (1 study) (van Dierendonck and Nuijten 2011).

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Servant Leader Altruistic Leadership Orientation The foundational DNA of servant leadership is servanthood, in which leaders cultivate a work climate in which subordinates flourish and grow. In order to accomplish this lofty goal of servant leadership, leaders must embrace an altruistic leadership approach that is reflection of a genuine and authentic internalized integration of agape or unconditional love. Leaders must make decisions that benefit the long-term best interests of the organization and its key stakeholders, placing the mission and the well-being of employees over personal interest. There are a total of 42 studies that demonstrated servant leadership’s effectiveness in this area (see Table 5 for a complete list of cites). There were 36 studies with dependent variables measures that assessed various forms of altruism. They include promoting servanthood (10 studies) (Greenleaf 1977; Liden et al. 2014a, 2015), serving others first (5 studies) (Greenleaf 1977; Patterson 2003; Focht and Ponton 2015), practicing agapao love which is the “golden rule” love of neighbor in the workplace (4 studies) (Patterson 2003; Sun 2013; van Dierendonck and Patterson 2015), prioritizing the needs of others over self (4 studies) (Laub 1999; Hale and Fields 2007; Focht and Ponton 2015), placing subordinates first (4 studies) (van Dierendonck 2011; Liden et al. 2014a, 2015), practicing altruism (3 studies) (Patterson 2003; Reed et al. 2011; van Dierendonck and Patterson 2015), altruistic calling (2 studies) (Barbuto and Wheeler 2006; van Dierendonck and Patterson 2015), voluntary subordination of self-interests (2 studies) (Sendjaya et al. 2008; Sendjaya and Pekerti 2010), the positive effect on the least privileged (1 study) (Greenleaf 1977), and committing to optimal human functioning (1 study) (van Dierendonck and Patterson 2015). In addition, there were two studies that addressed the closely related constructs of promoting a covenantal relationship in which leaders commit to a long-term relationship in which termination is a lastresort option (Sendjaya et al. 2008; Sendjaya and Pekerti 2010). There were four studies that reinforced servant leader effectiveness in the area of stewardship of human, financial, and information resources, another important manifestation of an altruistic commitment (Spears 1998; van Dierendonck and Nuijten 2011; van Dierendonck and Patterson 2015).

Servant Leader Community Investment Behaviors Employee well-being is not promoted by an isolated focus on the workplace. Employees and their families are part of communities whose quality of life is profoundly influenced by the nature of employment relationships. For example, servant leadership emphasizes providing fair and living wage compensation, generous benefits, and work/life balance that promote healthy families (Roberts 2015). Employees are not overworked and have time to invest in their families and communities. Servant leaders promote community volunteerism (Boone and Makhani 2012) and a spirit of engagement. There were 9 studies (see Table 6 for a complete list) that demonstrated a favorable influence of servant leadership on

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Table 5 Servant leader altruistic leadership orientation Attribute, number of studies 1. Servanthood, 10

2. Motives, serve others first, 5 3. Agapao love, 4 4. Needs of others over self, 4 5. Put subordinates first, 4

6. Stewardship, 4

7. Altruism, 3 8. Altruistic calling, 2 9. Covenantal relationship, 2 10. Voluntary Subordination, 2 11. Optimal Human functioning, 1 12. Positive effect on least privileged, 1

Servant leader studies that incorporate the attribute, 42 total studies Greenleaf, R. K. (1977); Spears, L. (1998); Laub, J. (1999); Wong, P. T. P., and Page, D. (2003); Wong, P. T. P., and Davey, D. (2007); Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Zhao, H., and Henderson, D. (2008); van Dierendonck, D. (2011); Boone, L. W., and Makhani, S. (2012); Liden, R. C., Panaccio, A., Hu, J., and Meuser, J. D. (2014a); Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Meuser, J. D., Hu, J., Wu, J., and Liao, C. (2015) Greenleaf, R. K. (1977); Farling, M. L., Stone, A. J., and Winston, B. E. (1999); Patterson, K. (2003); Boone, L. W., and Makhani, S. (2012); Focht, A., and Ponton, M. (2015) Patterson, K. (2003); Sun, P. T. (2013); Focht, A., and Ponton, M. (2015); van Dierendonck, D., and Patterson, K. (2015) Laub, J. (1999); Hale, J. R., and Fields, D. L. (2007); Wong, P. T. P., and Davey, D. (2007); Focht, A., and Ponton, M. (2015) Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Zhao, H., and Henderson, D. (2008); van Dierendonck, D. (2011); Liden, R. C., Panaccio, A., Hu, J., and Meuser, J. D. (2014a); Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Meuser, J. D., Hu, J., Wu, J., and Liao, C. (2015) Spears, L. (1998); Barbuto, J. E., and Wheeler, D. W. (2006); van Dierendonck, D., and Nuijten, I. (2011); van Dierendonck, D., and Patterson, K. (2015) Patterson, K. (2003); Reed, L. L., Vidaver-Cohen, D., and Colwell, S. R. (2011); van Dierendonck, D., and Patterson, K. (2015) Barbuto, J. E., and Wheeler, D. W. (2006); van Dierendonck, D., and Patterson, K. (2015) Sendjaya, S., Sarros, J. C., and Santora, J. C. (2008); Sendjaya, S., and Pekerti, A. (2010); Sendjaya, S., Sarros, J. C., and Santora, J. C. (2008); Sendjaya, S., and Pekerti, A. (2010) van Dierendonck, D., and Patterson, K. (2015). Greenleaf, R. K. (1977)

Table 6 Servant leader community investment behaviors Attribute, number of studies 1. Creating community value, 5

2. Building community, 4

Community investment behaviors: servant leader studies that incorporate the attribute, 9 total studies Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Zhao, H., and Henderson, D. (2008); van Dierendonck, D. (2011); Liden, R. C., Panaccio, A., Hu, J., and Meuser, J. D. (2014a); Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Meuser, J. D., Hu, J., Wu, J., and Liao, C. (2015) van Dierendonck, D., and Patterson, K. (2015) Spears, L. (1998); Laub, J. (1999); Reed, L. L., Vidaver-Cohen, D., and Colwell, S. R. (2011); Boone, L. W., and Makhani, S. (2012)

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creating community value (5 studies) (Liden et al. 2008, 2015; van Dierendonck 2011) and building community (4 studies) (Spears 1998; Laub 1999; Boone and Makhani 2012). Servant leaders grasp that the employment relationship is a central aspect of employee identity but strive to ensure a healthy balance providing a work climate that support a synergy between the key life domains.

Servant Leader Trust Building Character Virtues and Behaviors A servant leader commits to three forms of moral and ethical integrity, deontological, teleological, and character or virtue ethics (Roberts 2015). As such, servant leaders embrace a nuanced understanding of human nature and balance the multitude of values and principles that comprise organizational life. One of the rules of moral and ethical reasoning from a Christian servant leader perspective is that all behavior and decisions must be motivated by an authentic foundation of agape or unconditional love. This is reflected in scripture in 1 Corinthians 13: 13 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, [a] but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

A clear example of love-based moral and ethical reasoning in Christian scripture is represented by Jesus in Luke 13:10–17 when he is attacked by the religious leaders (Pharisees) for healing a crippled woman on the Sabbath, or the day of rest, in which all forms of work were prohibited by Jewish law. Jesus engaged in moral reasoning and replied to the Pharisees that the highest order moral decision-making value and principle is Golden Rule love by reducing human suffering versus honoring a lower order principle to avoid “working” outside of prescribed time periods. This situation mirrors many current organizational issues in which adherence to policies and procedures is valued over the short- or long-term influence of the policy on mission effectiveness or employee well-being. The second key element in trust building behaviors is character virtue. In the previous example, Jesus demonstrated courage and moral integrity by speaking “truth to power” and advocating for those who are weaker and suffering. It reflects a high degree of empathy and a desire to heal others, all key elements associated with servant leaders. Trust is a foundational element of employee well-being, as without trust employee stress levels increase dramatically. The importance of character elements in trust building behaviors is reflected in diversity of character attributes that are associated with effective servant leadership. The foundational character virtues are humility and integrity. Clear conceptual definitions of the key character attributes are taken from the work of Roberts (2015, pp. 23–24):

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• Humility: Humility is a foundational character attribute. Humility is essential for servant leaders to avoid the twin poisons of pride and fear. True servant leader humility is the recognition that success and higher performance is the product of the synergies of committed team members and an inherent understanding of the manager’s strength and weaknesses. Hence, humble managers are secure in their identity and perceive no threat when others perform well. For example, the humble servant leader actively appoints subordinates who complement his strengths and weaknesses and empower them to succeed. • Transparency: Transparency is a key character element that supports humility. Transparency is the consistent courage to share all types of information, positive and negative, regarding character and performance. When servant leaders practice transparency, it sends a clear signal that the manager welcomes open and honest feedback, thereby facilitating problem solving and driving fear from the workplace. For example, when a servant leader makes mistakes regarding the accuracy of budget forecasts, he/she accepts responsibility, apologizes for the negative consequences, and openly discusses how he/she and organizational practices can improve. He/she does not attempt to externalize the blame or create excuses. • Forgiveness: Servant leaders understand that personal and organizational wellbeing requires the genuine embrace of forgiveness. Mistakes, failure, weakness, and betrayal are a ubiquitous element of the human condition. Hence, servant leaders make the conscious choice to forgive others for their errors, and themselves for their contributions. Forgiveness applied with wisdom drives fear out of the workplace. The wise servant leader will publicly recognize employees with good faith attempts that result in failure, thereby helping to promote learning and eliminating the fear of failure. • Hope and Perseverance: The servant leader manager understands that hope is the foundation of perseverance under stress. Servant leaders communicate a genuine and contagious optimism and confidence that provides a rationale for employee sacrifices and a vision of a better future. Hence, the servant leader is a “lighthouse” projecting a beacon of hope in the midst of organizational storms. A servant leader demonstrates his/her solidarity with employees in times of fiscal stress by first absorbing budget cuts through reductions in his/her and the other executive team’s pay levels. He/she then charts a course of shared shouldering of the necessary budget cuts while empowering employees to restructure service delivery to enhanced efficiency and effectiveness to reduce job losses. • Compassion and Empathy: Servant leader understands the importance of understanding the experiences, needs, motives, and problems of their employees. If they are to serve and lead effectively, they need to take into understand the “worldview” of those they serve. For example, servant leader understands the workload levels and working conditions of employees and strives to maintain fair and sustainable staffing and performance expectations that reduce employee stress. This enables employees to avoid the perils of “compassion fatigue” in which they lack either the energy or motivation to help other employees or customers. There are a total of 55 studies that addressed key servant leader character virtues and behaviors (see Table 7 for a complete list of citations). The most frequent

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character virtues were humility (9 studies) (Wong and Davey 2007; Mittal and Dorfman 2012; Focht and Ponton 2015), authenticity (8 total studies with authentic self and authenticity) (Walumbwa et al. 2010; van Dierendonck and Nuijten 2011; van Dierendonck and Patterson 2015), moral integrity (7 studies) (Graham 1991; Reed et al. 2011; Focht and Ponton 2015), promoting healing (6 studies) (Spears 1998; Liden et al. 2014a, 2015), empathy (4 studies) (Spears 1998; Barbuto and Wheeler 2006; Sun 2013), trust (4 studies) (Farling et al. 1999; Dennis and Bocarnea 2005; Focht and Ponton 2015), courage (2 studies) (Wong and Page 2003; van Dierendonck and Nuijten 2011), forgiveness (2 studies) (van Dierendonck and Nuijten 2011; van Dierendonck and Patterson 2015), caring (1 study) (Focht and Ponton 2015), credibility (1 study) (Farling et al. 1999), gratitude (1 study) (van Dierendonck and Patterson 2015), honesty (1 study) (Wong and Page 2003), hope (1 study) (Searle and Barbuto 2011), and wisdom (1 study) (Barbuto and Wheeler 2006). There were 7 ethical behavior-related studies focusing on behaving ethically (4 studies) (Liden et al. 2008; Liden et al. 2014a; 2015) and responsible morality (3 studies) (Sendjaya et al. 2008; Pekerti and Sendjaya 2010; Sendjaya and Pekerti 2010). The rich array of studies demonstrates a robust positive association with servant leadership and the key character virtues that promote trust.

Servant Leadership Transcendence Behaviors Servant leaders irrespective of their foundational religious beliefs understand the importance of promoting spiritual growth through transcendence, the inherent human desire to achieve meaning, purpose, and a linkage to a cause that is greater than our individual interests and that will leave an enduring legacy. This is more readily developed and cultivated when leaders and subordinates embrace a theistic religious and spiritual perspective, but spirituality and transcendence is a universal human attribute. Interestingly, the number of servant leader studies that formally incorporate spirituality and transcendence is limited with only three studies employing transcendent spirituality (see Table 8 for a complete list of studies) (Sendjaya et al. 2008; Pekerti and Sendjaya 2010; Sendjaya and Pekerti 2010). The most frequent transcendence behavior linked to servant leadership is vision casting (5 studies) (Farling et al. 1999; Dennis and Bocarnea 2005; Boone and Makhani 2012). Servant leaders consensually develop a vision and direction for the future. A clear and compelling vision that is jointly developed promotes intrinsic motivation and provides the psychological and spiritual resiliency to resist discouragement, depression, and the absence of purpose. When combined with the other servant leader character attributes, it provides employees hope and confidence to endure setbacks, failure, and uncertainty. Other transcendence behaviors include promoting a clear calling (2 studies) (Barbuto and Wheeler 2006; Sun 2013), transformational influence (2 studies) (Sendjaya et al. 2008; Sendjaya and Pekerti 2010, inspiring others (1 study) (Walumbwa et al. 2010), and promoting meaningfulness (1 study) (van Dierendonck and Patterson 2015).

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Table 7 Servant leader trust building character virtues and behaviors Attribute, number of studies 1. Humility, 9

2. Moral integrity, 7

3. Healing, 6

4. Authentic self, 4

5. Authenticity, 4 6. Behave ethically, 4

7. Empathy, 4 8. Trust, 4

9. Responsible morality, 3 10. Courage, 2 11. Forgiveness, 2 12. Caring, 1 13. Credibility, 1 14. Gratitude, 1 15. Honesty, 1 16. Hope, 1 17. Wisdom, 1

Servant leader studies that incorporate the attribute, 55 total studies Patterson, K. (2003); Dennis, R. S., and Bocarnea, M. (2005); Wong, P. T. P., and Davey, D. (2007); van Dierendonck, D., and Nuijten, I. (2011); Mittal, R., and Dorfman, P. W. (2012); Sun, P. T. (2013); Reid, W. A., Bud West, G. R., Winston, B. E., and Wood, J. (2014); Focht, A., and Ponton, M. (2015); van Dierendonck, D., and Patterson, K. (2015) Graham, J. W. (1991); Ehrhart, M. G. (2004); Walumbwa, F. O., Hartnell, C. A., and Oke, A. (2010);and Reed, L. L., Vidaver-Cohen, D., and Colwell, S. R. (2011); Mittal, R., and Dorfman, P. W. (2012); Focht, A., and Ponton, M. (2015) Spears, L. (1998); Barbuto, J. E., and Wheeler, D. W. (2006); Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Zhao, H., and Henderson, D. (2008); van Dierendonck, D. (2011); Liden, R. C., Panaccio, A., Hu, J., and Meuser, J. D. (2014a); Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Meuser, J. D., Hu, J., Wu, J., and Liao, C. (2015) Sendjaya, S., Sarros, J. C., and Santora, J. C. (2008); Pekerti, A. A., and Sendjaya, S. S. (2010); Sendjaya, S., and Pekerti, A. (2010); Walumbwa, F. O., Hartnell, C. A., and Oke, A. (2010). Laub, J. (1999); Wong, P. T. P., and Page, D. (2003); van Dierendonck, D., and Nuijten, I. (2011); van Dierendonck, D., and Patterson, K. (2015) Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Zhao, H., and Henderson, D. (2008); van Dierendonck, D. (2011); Liden, R. C., Panaccio, A., Hu, J., and Meuser, J. D. (2014a); Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Meuser, J. D., Hu, J., Wu, J., and Liao, C. (2015) Spears, L. (1998); Barbuto, J. E., and Wheeler, D. W. (2006); Mittal, R., and Dorfman, P. W. (2012); Sun, P. T. (2013) Farling, M. L., Stone, A. J., and Winston, B. E. (1999); Patterson, K. (2003); Dennis, R. S., and Bocarnea, M. (2005); Focht, A., and Ponton, M. (2015); Sendjaya, S., Sarros, J. C., and Santora, J. C. (2008); Pekerti, A. A., and Sendjaya, S. S. (2010); Sendjaya, S., and Pekerti, A. (2010) Wong, P. T. P., and Page, D. (2003); van Dierendonck, D., and Nuijten, I. (2011) van Dierendonck, D., and Nuijten, I. (2011); van Dierendonck, D., and Patterson, K. (2015) Focht, A., and Ponton, M. (2015) Farling, M. L., Stone, A. J., and Winston, B. E. (1999) van Dierendonck, D., and Patterson, K. (2015) Wong, P. T. P., and Page, D. (2003) Searle, T. P., and Barbuto, John, E. (2011) Barbuto, J. E., and Wheeler, D. W. (2006)

Employee Antecedent Well-Being Variables The five global servant leader dimensions of employee investment behaviors, altruistic leadership orientation, community investment behaviors, trust building character virtues, and leadership transcendence behaviors exert a direct and indirect positive

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Table 8 Servant leadership transcendence behaviors Attribute, number of studies 1. Vision, 5

2. Transcendental spirituality, 3 3. Calling, 2 4. Transformational influence, 2 5. Inspiring other, 1 6. Meaningfulness, 1

Servant leader studies that incorporate the attribute, 14 total studies Farling, M. L., Stone, A. J., and Winston, B. E. (1999); Patterson, K. (2003); Wong, P. T. P., and Page, D. (2003); Dennis, R. S., and Bocarnea, M. (2005); Boone, L. W., and Makhani, S. (2012) Sendjaya, S., Sarros, J. C., and Santora, J. C. (2008); Pekerti, A. A., and Sendjaya, S. S. (2010); Sendjaya, S., and Pekerti, A. (2010) Barbuto, J. E., and Wheeler, D. W. (2006); Sun, P. T. (2013) Sendjaya, S., Sarros, J. C., and Santora, J. C. (2008), Sendjaya, S., and Pekerti, A. (2010) Walumbwa, F. O., Hartnell, C. A., and Oke, A. (2010) van Dierendonck, D., and Patterson, K. (2015)

influence on key employee antecedent well-being variables. There are total of 65 studies (see Table 9 for a complete list of studies) that directly link servant leadership and its positive influence on job satisfaction (19 studies) (Barbuto and Wheeler 2006; Cerit 2009; Ilkhanizadeh and Karatepe 2018), organizational trust (12 studies), (Reinke 2004; Jones 2012a, b) employee engagement (10 studies) (van Dierendonck and Nuijten 2011; Haar et al. 2017; Ling et al. 2017), leader trust (4 studies) (Reinke 2004; Joseph and Winston 2005; Burton et al. 2017), affective and cognitive trust (3 studies) (Sendjaya and Pekerti 2010; Schaubroeck et al. 2011; Miao et al. 2014), empowerment (3 studies) (Taylor et al. 2007; de Waal and Sivro 2012; Begzadeh and Nedaei 2017), life satisfaction (3 studies) (Prottas 2013; Ilkhanizadeh and Karatepe 2018; Li et al. 2018), procedural justice (3 studies) (Ehrhart 2004; Chung et al. 2010; Walumbwa et al. 2010), interpersonal group trust (2 studies) (Chatbury et al. 2011; Ling et al. 2017), loyalty (2 studies) (Ding et al. 2012; Carter and Baghurst 2014), career satisfaction (1 study) (Ilkhanizadeh and Karatepe 2018), disengagement (1 study) (Hunter et al. 2013), interactional justice (1 study) (Kool and Dirk 2012), and procedural justice (Chung et al. 2010). Clearly, job, career, and life satisfaction and trust in its various forms (organizational, leader, affective, interpersonal group and cognitive) are key attitudinal variables in promoting employee well-being. Joband career-related dissatisfaction and lack of organizational trust increase job stress and adversely influences employee well-being. Surveys demonstrate very low levels of employee engagement (34% of employees are engaged), with a broad array of performance and well-being benefits associated with higher degrees of trust (Harter 2018). Servant leaders promote an organizational environment that values procedural and interactional fairness including ensuring appropriate levels of employee due process and input, clear performance and discipline standards, and the rejection of favoritism through in-group and out-group formation (Roberts 2015).

Well-Being Outcomes There are 20 servant leader outcomes that directly assess the influence of servant leadership on various well-being variables (see Table 10 for a complete list). Servant

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Table 9 Empirical studies: employee antecedent well-being variables Dependent variable, number of studies 1. Satisfaction, 19

2. Organizational trust, 12

3. Engagement, 10

4. Leader trust, 4

5. Affective and cognitive trust, 3

6. Empowerment, 3

Studies and significance direction, 65 total studies Favorable: 18, Barbuto, J. E., and Wheeler, D. W. (2006); Mayer, D. M., Bardes, M., and Piccolo, R. F. (2008); Chung, J. Y., Jung, C. S., Kyle, G. T., and Petrick, J. F. (2010); Jenkins, M., and Stewart, A. C. (2010); Mehta, S., and Pillay, R. (2011); Schneider, S. K., and George, W. M. (2011); van Dierendonck, D., and Nuijten, I. (2011); Jones, D. (Jones 2012b); Prottas, D. J. (2013); Cerit, Y. (2009); Chan, S. H., and Mak, W. (2014); Donia, M. B., Raja, U., Panaccio, A., and Wang, Z. (2016); Grisaffe, D. B., VanMeter, R., and Chonko, L. B. (2016); Neubert, M. J., Hunter, E. M., and Tolentino, R. C. (2016); Akdol, B., and Arikboga, F. S. (2017); Irving, J. A., and Berndt, J. (2017); Ilkhanizadeh, S., and Karatepe, O. M. (2018); Thompson, G., Buch, R., and Glasø, L. (2019) Not significant: 1, Amah, O. E. (2018) Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 12, Reinke, S. J. (2004); Joseph, E. E., and Winston, B. E. (2005); Washington, R., Sutton, C., and Feild, H. (2006); Sendjaya, S., and Pekerti, A. (2010); Rezaei, M., Salehi, S., Shafiei, M., and Sabet, S. (2011); Jones, D. (2012a, b); Uru Sani, F. O., Caliskan, S. C., Atan, O, and Yozgat, U. (2013); Chan, S. H., and Mak, W. (2014); Begzadeh, S., and Nedaei, M. (2017); Ilkhanizadeh, S., and Karatepe, O. M. (2018); Karatepe, O. M., Ozturk, A., and Kim, T. T. (2019) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 10, van Dierendonck, D., and Nuijten, I. (2011); Parris, D. L., and Peachy, J. W. (2012); Prottas, D. J. (2013); Carter, D., and Baghurst, T. (2014); De Clercq, D., Bouckenooghe, D., Raja, U., and Matsyborska, G. (2014); de Sousa, M. C., and van Dierendonck, D. (2014); van Dierendonck, D., Stam, D., Boersma, P., de Windt, N., and Alkema, J. (2014); Haar, J., Brougham, D., Roche, M., and Barney, A. (2017); Ling, Q., Liu, F., and Wu, X. (2017); Sousa, M., and Dierendonck, D. (2017) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 4, Reinke, S. J. (2004); Joseph, E. E., and Winston, B. E. (2005); Seto, S., and Sarros, J. C. (2016); Burton, L. J., Welty Peachey, J., and Wells, J. E. (2017) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 3, Senjaya, S., and Pekerti, A. (2010); Schaubroeck, J., Lam, S. S. K., and Peng, A. C. (2011); Miao, Q., Newman, A., Schwarz, G., and Xu, L. (2014) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 3, Taylor, T., Martin, B. N., Hutchinson, S., and Jinks, M. (2007); de Waal, A., and Sivro, M. (2012); Begzadeh, S., and Nedaei, M. (2017) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 (continued)

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Table 9 (continued) Dependent variable, number of studies 7. Life satisfaction, 3

8. Procedural justice, 3

9. Interpersonal, group trust, 2

10. Loyalty, 2

11. Career satisfaction, 1

12. Disengagement, 1

13. Interactional justice, 1

14. Procedural justice, 1

Studies and significance direction, 65 total studies Favorable: 3, Prottas, D. J. (2013); Ilkhanizadeh, S., and Karatepe, O. M. (2018); Li, Y., Li, D., Tu, Y., and Liu, J. (2018) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 3, Ehrhart, M. G. (2004); Chung, J. Y., Jung, C. S., Kyle, G. T., and Petrick, J. F. (2010); Walumbwa, F. O., Hartnell, C. A., and Oke, A. (2010) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 2, Chatbury, A. A., Beaty, D. D., and Kriek, H. S. (2011); Ling, Q., Liu, F., and Wu, X. (2017) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 2, Ding, D., Lu, H., Song, Y., and Lu, Q. (2012); Carter, D., and Baghurst, T. (2014) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 1, Ilkhanizadeh, S., and Karatepe, O. M. (2018) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 1, Hunter, E. M., Neubert, M. J., Perry, S. J., Witt, L. A., Penney, L. M., and Weinberger, E. (2013) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 1, Kool, M., and Dirk, v. D. (2012) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 1, Chung, J. Y., Jung, C. S., Kyle, G. T., and Petrick, J. F. (2010) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0

leadership is positively associated with higher levels of work and family life enrichment (5 studies) (Zhang et al. 2012; Haar et al. 2017; Yang et al. 2018), employee well-being (4 studies) (Reinke 2004; Jaramillo et al. 2009b; MaulaBakhsh, and Raziq 2018), and ethical and socio-moral work climate (3 studies) (Jaramillo et al. 2015; Pircher Verdorfer et al. 2015; Burton et al. 2017), positive work climate (3 studies) (Neubert et al. 2008; Jaramillo et al. 2009a; Black 2010), lower levels of burnout (2 studies) (Babakus et al. 2011; Bande et al. 2015), lower levels of stress (2 studies) (Prottas 2013: Rivikin et al. 2014), reduced work and family conflict (2 studies) (Prottas 2013; Tang et al. 2016), and employee thriving (1 study) (Walumbwa et al. 2018). Servant leaders understand the foundational importance of work/life balance. Roberts (2015, p. 252) summarizes key servant leader well-being enhancement practices below.

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Table 10 Empirical studies: Well-being dependent variable outcomes Dependent variable, number of studies 1. Work/family enrichment, 5

2. Employee well-being, 4

3. Ethical work climate, sociomoral work climate, 3

4. Positive work climate, 3

5. Burnout, 2,

6. Stress, 2

7. Work/family conflict, 2

8. Employee thriving, 1

Studies and significance direction, 22 total studies Favorable: 5, Zhang, H., Kwan, H. K., Everett, A. M., and Jian, Z. (2012); Tang, G., Kwan, H., Zhang, D., and Zhu, Z. (2016); Haar, J., Brougham, D., Roche, M., and Barney, A. (2017); Wang, M., Kwan, H. K., and Zhou, A. (2017); Yang, Z., Zhang, H., Kwan, H. K., and Chen, S. (2018) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 4, Reinke, S. J. (2004); Jaramillo, F., Grisaffe, D. B., Chonko, L. B., and Roberts, J. A. (2009b); van Dierendonck, D., and Nuijten, I. (2011); Maula-Bakhsh, R., and Raziq, A. (2018) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 3, Jaramillo, F., Bande, B., and Varela, J. (2015); Pircher Verdorfer, A., Steinheider, B., and Burkus, D. (2015); Burton, L. J., Welty Peachey, J., and Wells, J. E. (2017) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 3, Neubert, M. J., Kacmar, K. M., Carlson, D. S., Chonko, L. B., and Roberts, J. A. (2008); Jaramillo, F., Grisaffe, D. B., Chonko, L. B., and Roberts, J. A. (2009a); Black, G. L. (2010) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 2, Babakus, E., Yavas, U., and Ashill, N. J. (2011); Bande, B., Fernández-Ferrín, P., Varela, J. A., and Jaramillo, F. (2015) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 2, Prottas, D. J. (2013), Rivkin, W., Diestel, S., and Schmidt, K. (2014); Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 2. Prottas, D. J. (2013); Tang, G., Kwan, H., Zhang, D., and Zhu, Z. (2016) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0 Favorable: 1, Walumbwa, F. O., Muchiri, M. K., Misati, E., Wu, C., and Meiliani, M. (2018) Not significant: 0 Unfavorable: 0

Provide employees with a job security reinforcing that layoffs are always a last resort option. Leaders should model a commitment to work/life balance for themselves and their employees by limiting work hours. Managers commit to a moral work environment emphasizing procedural, distributive, and interactional justice and avoid even the appearance of

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favoritism and “in-group” formation. Servant leaders seek to understand the needs and feelings of employees through genuine relationship building. Management drives fear from the workplace by encouraging employees to grow and learn through mistakes and failures and openly discuss their own weaknesses and failings thereby promoting two-way transparency. Management sets a clear mission, vision, value, and set of strategic goals for the organization providing a clear moral and performance directional compass. Managers commit to ongoing employee encouragement, communicate a realistic optimism that provides hope, and generates faith in management. The servant leader facilitates the development of employee social support networks and sponsors and encourages opportunities for social interaction among workers.

The servant leader embraces a long-term and enduring investment in the well-being of employees demonstrating a consistent, harmonious, and authentic moral, ethical, and mission-related worldview.

Conclusion and Future Research Recommendations The research literature on servant leadership supports with a high degree of consistency its efficacy in promoting employee well-being as broadly defined. The studies reviewed for this analysis demonstrated favorable direct and indirect influence with 95.6% of the dependent variables. Servant leadership research demonstrates significant “value-added” incremental explained variance in comparison to other leadership approaches such as transformational and authentic leadership (Hoch et al. 2018). Servant leadership’s espousal and practice of teleological, deontological, and virtue ethics generates the foundational trust levels that support healthy and robust workplace relationships. The results presented here demonstrate servant leadership’s efficacy in promoting desirable workplace attitudes, behaviors, and outcomes associated with global employee well-being in diverse settings, geographically, culturally, employment sector (private, government, nonprofit), and by type of occupation. Hence, the evidence surrounding servant leadership is compelling, but more research is required to fully develop and validate the broad-based effects. For example, more research is required to develop standardized measures of servant leadership and identifying the relevant moderator and mediator variables such as gender, personality level, and emotional and spiritual intelligence levels of leaders and subordinates that influence the effectiveness of servant leadership (Eva et al. 2019). Recent research has demonstrated that job characteristics such as larger spans of control for leaders can attenuate the effectiveness of servant leadership (Thompson et al. 2019). More research is required to demonstrate servant leadership efficacy in regions of the world including Central and South America and Africa. Another important area for future research relates to assessing the effectiveness of servant leadership in diverse workplace settings in terms of gender, race, age, nationality, and religion. In conclusion, servant leadership exerts an impressive degree of consistency in promoting the growth and well-being of employees. It reflects the presence of a global set of human conduct principles that mirror the golden rule precepts of the world’s major faith traditions. Traditional authoritarian and hierarchical forms of

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leadership are ill-suited to the fluid and changing present day workplace which requires rapid decision making in an environment of increasing complexity. Hence, today’s organizations require the cultivation of long-term employee growth and development in empowered decision making in conjunction with critical thinking and analytical skills, hence the need for ongoing servant leader empowerment. The other aspect of the modern workplace is the ongoing requirement of leaders and employees to manage their affective states and mental processing through the emotional intelligence principles of emotional self and others-based awareness and regulation (Roberts 2015). Hence, servant leaders will require increasing levels of humility to recognize self-limitations and invest in others, internalizing the words and example of Jesus in Mark 9:35 “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

Cross-References ▶ How Wakeful Leaders Create Flourishing Workplaces ▶ Leadership in Virtual Organizations: Influence on Workplace Engagement

Appendix Table 11 Master list, employee attitudes; number of favorable direct and indirect effects of servant leadership studies Variable Organizational (community) citizenship Organizational (customer service) commitment Job satisfaction Organizational trust (trust, affective, cognitive trust) Employee engagement (disengagement) Work/family Motivation Procedural/interactive/distributional justice Stress/burnout/health Employee well-being Need and life satisfaction Organizational identification

# 23 22 18 17 11 7 5 5 5 4 4 4 (continued)

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Table 11 (continued) Variable Commitment to change Ethical/moral work climate Interpersonal/group trust/healthy work relationships Positive work climate Self-efficacy/psychological capital Loyalty Career satisfaction Diversity management Employee thriving Job boredom Organizational fit Social capital Sum

# 3 3 3 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 148

Table 12 Master list, employee behaviors; number of favorable direct and indirect effects of servant leadership studies Variable In-role performance Turnover Employee creative and helping behavior Organizational learning/ knowledge sharing Job crafting Tardiness Team cohesion Voice and negative feedback seeking Adaptability to change Employee deviancy Extra-role performance Job social support Leadership avoidance Organizational culture Pro-environmental behaviors Service-sales ambidexterity Tacit knowledge Team functional conflict Sum

# 13 11 10 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 55

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Table 13 Master list, performance variables; number of favorable direct and indirect effects of servant leadership studies Variable Customer service/relations Firm performance Team effectiveness Corporate social responsibility Team potency Client satisfaction High performance attributes Organizational resiliency Profit Unit performance Sum

# 7 7 6 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 30

Table 14 Master list, leadership variables; number of favorable direct and indirect effects of servant leadership studies Variable Leader Competence/effectiveness Leader trust Leader/member exchange Collaboration Commitment to supervisor Empowerment Goal and process clarity Customer service recovery performance (failure) Leader development Leadership identification Leadership/relationship quality Satisfaction with supervisor Servant follower development Succession planning Supervisory support Task and development i-deals (personalized work arrangements) Women higher in servant leadership Sum

# 5 4 4 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 35

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Table 15 Master list, character variables; number of favorable direct and indirect effects of servant leadership studies Variable Leader character Agreeableness Empathy Extraversion Hope Integrity Sum

# 2 1 1 1 1 1 7

Table 16 Master list, character variables; number of nonsignificant and negative direct and indirect effects of servant leadership studies Variable Organizational outcomes (nonsignificant) Firm performance Anti-social behaviors Leadership span of control Leadership style preference Lean practices Organizational citizenship Satisfaction Team dysfunctional conflict Total nonsignificant Negative outcomes Lean tools, negative Total nonsignificant Totals negative Totals nonsignificant or negative

# 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 1 9 1 10

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Leadership in Virtual Organizations: Influence on Workplace Engagement Thomas Kohntopp and Jack McCann

Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Virtual Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leadership and the Virtual Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Critical Leadership Characteristics in the Virtual Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Challenges of Leading Virtual Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Engagement in the Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . International Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nigerian Construction Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trust, E-Leadership, and Organizational Commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Virtual Leadership and Distance Education Teams in Turkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Future of Virtual Workplace Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

This chapter will present the concept of a virtual organization and the role, responsibilities, and practices for leaders in these organizations. Corporations operate globally. Small- to medium-sized companies residing in a single country still rely on international suppliers and markets, among other things. As technology improves, develops, and advances, globalization will become more pronounced for all companies. Considering this technological trend, the virtual structure will likely become more prevalent. This chapter will also present models T. Kohntopp (*) College of Management and Technology, Walden University, Minneapolis, MN, USA e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] J. McCann Department of Business, Union College KY, Middlesboro, KY, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_12

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of leadership and how practical and effective they can be in a virtual platform. From a performance standpoint, employee engagement will be investigated, specifically considering how it functions under the “virtual” condition. Virtual organizations are highly suited to globalization and an international perspective will also be addressed. Finally, suggestions and recommendations will be offered to help virtual companies energize employee engagement. Keywords

Virtual organizations · Employee engagement · Globalization · Virtual leadership or E-Leadership · Trust

Introduction People have been gathering for a common purpose for a long time, prior to the formal concept of societies. From a broad perspective, organizations can be formal or informal. They can be for business, leisure, profit, or non-profit. They can be religious based or politically oriented. Organizations represent a collective effort by individuals striving to attain a desired outcome. Phillips and Gully (2014) offer a standard perspective for the current practice of joining together in a business context, “An organization is a group of people with formally assigned roles working together to achieve common goals” (p. 4). The early formation of a business “organization” essentially evolved from a person’s livelihood or trade when entrepreneurs transitioned from individual to collective productivity or operations. Tailors informally or purposefully joined and established garment factories. Bakers coalesced to form a bakery. Cabinet makers came together and created a furniture factory and so on. As organizations were established and the industrial revolution evolved, business took the form of factories, plants, institutions, or often retail establishments. They became the proverbial “brick and mortar” structures. Organizations served as a focal point of operations, business, and commerce. Expansion resulted in more of the operation at the original location or similar operations created at another location to better drive distribution or serve customer needs, as an example. The first aspect of business operations that ventured away from a “home office” was likely depicted by “salesmen” who traveled geographic territories managing accounts or selling products. The Fuller Brush Man (2018) from the 1920s or Willie Lohman (Miller 1949) went door-to-door using their car as an office. These traveling sales representatives set the stage for virtual organizations of the future where operations could succeed from locations away from the formal or primary business site. Employees assigned to positions in a virtual environment may face a type of workplace isolation, compared to workers in a traditional office setting or facility where physical structures typically serve as the center of activity. The virtual worker will have no breakroom, cafeteria, or opportunity to visit a co-worker in the

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adjoining cubicle. The traditional social aspect of a workplace evaporates in the virtual organization. The lower employee engagement is within a virtual organization with virtual leaders raises a concern for employee well-being. It is critical that employees working in virtual organizations experience meaningful levels of engagement to the degree that their counterparts receive in traditional organizations with physical offices and structures. Employee well-being cannot be sacrificed in the virtual context. What impact does decreased opportunities for engagement have on employees? How can engagement be maintained? These questions will be examined and addressed. This chapter will introduce the concept of a virtual organization and the role, responsibilities, and practices for leaders in these organizations. Corporations operate globally. Small- to medium-sized companies residing in a single country still rely on international suppliers and markets. As technology evolves, globalization will become more pronounced for all companies. Considering this technological trend, the virtual structure will become more prevalent. The chapter will also present models of leadership and how practical and effective they can be in a virtual platform. From a performance standpoint, employee engagement will be investigated, specifically considering how it functions under the “virtual” condition. Virtual organization are highly suited to globalization, so an international perspective will also be addressed. Finally, suggestions and recommendations will be offered to help virtual companies energize employee engagement.

Virtual Organizations One perspective of the external business environment encompasses society, the economy, legal/political influences, and technology, in a global/international context. Of these factors, technology has been the most important to the rapid development of virtual organizations. A popular notion for success in virtual organizations is that technology would drive results. This is accomplished through an extensive global information society that is rapidly expanding and becoming extremely sophisticated (Deresky 2014, pp. 28–32). With a virtual platform, appropriate technology is certainly essential for effective communication, accurate planning and scheduling, relevant delineation and allocation of resources, accounting and financial management, and various other control systems and operational endeavors. Virtual organizations rely on technology to enable operational activities among workers and departments that occur face-to-face in traditional “brick-and-mortar” companies. Discussions take place over telephone. Meetings are through Skype. Files and reports are distributed and edited in the “cloud” by all stakeholders. The growth of information technology has been the impetus for the expansion of virtual organizations (Zafar et al. 2015). Bejleri and Fishta (2017) provided a perspective on organization evolution in the context of “brick-and-mortar, click-and mortar, and virtual organization” (p. 275). Click-and-mortar representing the online interface with customer sales and service,

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and virtual representing an organization that is free of traditional (brick-and-mortar) parameters. This sequential change captures the concept (phenomenon) of conducting business in an environment where technology, as a resource, not only enables companies to enhance operations and success but drives companies to change in order to be more successful. We do not imply that click-and-mortar and the virtual organization configuration subsequently replace a previous configuration but merely that one step in the development enhances the prior stage. Virtual organizations are generally comprised of teams or individuals that operate in separate locals with some degree of autonomy. The key component that enables productivity is technological connectivity, often asynchronous (Burma 2014). Virtual organizations can certainly enhance a company’s success. However, challenges to effective leadership may arise, and employees can become disenfranchised when traditional levels of engagement erode. It appears that virtual teams/organizations will continue to be more common in the future, yet still face issues that may be less pronounced than in traditional organizations. Purvanova (2014) suggests that the virtual configuration is more cost efficient and more flexible when compared to traditional organizations. However, his review does acknowledge that some studies have produced contradictory results (i.e., face-to-face is more effective). The critical component that seems to fuel the difference depends on the actual worker, the person-job fit. So, it appears that individual differences must be addressed when determining an appropriate organization configuration. The author even believes that highly successful virtual organizations will still need to accommodate employees who dislike the mode of communication or extent to which it must be used, in comparison to employee satisfaction with communication modes in traditional organizations. Regardless of how appropriately aligned technology is in a virtual organization, the individuals working in the organization are the fundamental resource that ultimately enables organization success (Makarius and Larson 2017). Of course, this holds true in standard organizations, too. Since individuals are especially important to performance in virtual organizations, it is paramount that workers possess appropriate knowledge, skills, abilities, and other factors (KSAO) required for performing in a virtual environment. In addition to finding people best suited for jobs in a virtual environment, the company must offer relevant training and development opportunities so that workers can grow. It is also critical that managers provide appropriate leadership to facilitate individual success. An extensive review of published material on virtual teams acknowledges that technology has created the framework and reinforces the notion that individual workers are the critical resource for virtual success (Gilson et al. 2014). A point emphasized by the authors was that technological development and advances will continue to create opportunities and challenges for virtual team success. They urged more investigation as to how companies can support and lead workers in virtual teams. Many face-to-face practices in traditional organizations are incompatible with a virtual organization configuration. These differences may be problematic (Serrat 2017). Visiting a co-worker in the next office or cubicle down the hall, meeting for

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lunch, impromptu gatherings in the conference room or breakroom, and supervisors walking around seeing how and what people are doing in the traditional structure are not possible and are different in the virtual organization. The type and level of workplace engagement varies greatly. The hallmarks of the modern organization [virtual] are satellite offices, remote offices, home offices, virtual offices, hoteling facilities, and the electronic mail that underpins—and promotes—these. Today, knowledge workers receive few telephone calls and electronic mail is their communication vehicle of choice. (The use of videoconferencing is growing too.) After all, why should they walk around if they can type, point, and click? At the receiving end, managers are known to collect more than 150 messages each day. Yet, as knowledge workers on the rise tote up electronic status, they also distance themselves from colleagues. (p. 321)

Quisenberry (2018) champions the value of virtual organizations, though points out issues that could derail success. Some problems mentioned were poor communication, failure to share knowledge, and a simple lack of motivation. Of no surprise, these also tend to create problems in any type of organization. He does promote the value of emotional intelligence as a factor to bolster success for virtual teams. Again, employees high in emotional intelligence likely help any type of organization succeed. As reported by Quisenberry (2018), emotionally intelligent employees appear to foster success in virtual teams. It also seems that trust is an important factor that fosters success with these types of groups (Lukić and Vračar 2018). The concept of trust for the authors pertains to honesty and fairness, along with the quality of interpersonal relationships among employees. Interpersonal trust and employee trust in the organization are extremely valuable conditions for any business. DuBrin (2013) sadly stresses that many people, in general, distrust business leaders, often without any specific, concrete reason. He highlights that effective leaders or managers “walk-the-talk” (p. 35). This practice, though not always, could literally mean a physical presence in the office, plant, store, etc. In a virtual organization a literal walk-around is impossible. Daft (2015) states that “Leaders who model their ethical convictions through their daily actions command admiration, respect, and loyalty. Honesty and integrity are the foundation of trust between leader and follower” (p. 40). Again, under many conditions, not all, “modeling” is an in-person display or action. From another or contrary perspective, employees who are assigned to virtual positions or are members of virtual organizations must certainly have gained the trust of managers or leaders of their business. This potentially could foster reciprocal employee trust of management. Shepherd and Hagstrom (2015) provide another perspective on converting to or creating a virtual organization. They proclaim that without physical structures the virtual company is left with people and culture, the heart and soul of an enterprise. To preserve, develop, or maintain these important aspects of the organization, the following five steps are recommended. First, design your culture. Second, shout it out: recognize individual achievements and successes. Third, train management to motivate and inspire. Fourth, plan the metrics. Finally, assess the benefits. The

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authors believe that careful planning, designing, and implementation are basically what it takes to succeed in becoming virtual.

Leadership and the Virtual Context The term E-leadership was first coined in response to the new working environment where human interactions are mediated by information and communication technology. In this type of environment, leaders lead organizations and projects from a distance (Avolio et al. 2001). The transition to a global economy has required changes in organization and significant adaptation on the part of leadership (Avolio and Kahai 2003), along with a new leadership approach. E-leadership is viewed as a response and solution to global changes necessitated by technological development. E-leadership may also be a result of change due to a fluid global economy. These changes are creating virtual and flexible work options, and they continue to evolve requiring employers to formalize their virtual work policies and better manage their virtual workforces (Leonard 2011). Innovations in information and communication technology, such as the internet and e-commerce, have revolutionized the way organizations operate today. Therefore, new forms of organizations (e-business or virtual organizations) and a modern, new leadership form (e-leadership or virtual leadership) are taking place in this evolving business environment. The main feature of E-leadership and virtual leadership is the manner of interaction and relationship between leaders and followers. These leaders communicate via electronic mediums through the internet (Renu 2014), which may be asynchronous. Meyer (2010) found evidence that virtual managers need a broader skill set than those managers working with co-located traditional teams. Virtual managers must have the ability to switch between skill sets, based on the diversity of their team members and the distance between them. The new virtual world of business requires managers who are flexible and embrace diversity. According to Renu (2014), a virtual leader directs people from a distance to complete required work that accomplishes the mission and objectives of the organization. E-Leaders or virtual leaders are primarily found in E-business. E-business means doing business through electronic medium especially through internet. E-leadership is also called distance leadership or virtual leadership, and it is replacing traditional leadership because of advancements in technology. Lee (2014) postulates that leadership and communications are inseparable elements and the ways in which we communicate have evolved. Today there are more global-virtual teams than ever before, and this trend continues to grow. Organizations must utilize virtual team members from across the globe to meet the challenges of a global economy. These teams must communicate virtually through videoconference, telephone, and email to save money and time when resources are limited. This management challenge requires skills for running global-virtual teams that are different than what is needed for teams located in a common place.

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Meyer (2010) presents four ways in which leadership in a virtual environment differs from that in a traditional work setting. First, virtual team leaders must more extensively formalize roles and responsibilities of employees along with their own. Detail is important. Second, leaders of global teams must recognize that their styles of decision-making may be deeply rooted in the cultures of traditional teams, which could hinder virtual team performance. For example, global teams must develop very clear descriptions of how decisions will be made, and in more detail than with standard teams. Perhaps the best global team leader is one who is willing to try different decision-making processes at different times. Third, some aspects of trust are different in virtual teams than in most co-located teams, as trust is measured in terms of reliability. Leaders of virtual teams must create well-defined processes where team members must deliver specific results in a repeated sequence. Over repeated work cycles, trust is built. Fourth, a key to exceptional leadership is effective communication, including the message and how it is delivered. A written message often lacks important emphasis that spoken words convey. Adding a visual component enhances a simple auditory delivery. However, even leaders who sit attentively at a desk throughout a virtual meeting may lose a degree of persuasion because physical gestures commonly made in face-to-face meetings are not displayed as emphatically over a computer monitor. These four key elements are core to driving and positioning virtual organizations to succeed in the ever-increasing presence of virtual work. A strong concern for the human element combined with inspiration and motivation, trust, clear and frequent communication, and career enhancing training is a leadership characteristic that supports the elements that define the successful virtual organization. These elements are employee productivity, employee retention, employee attendance, employee development, and employee promotions (Meyer 2010).

Critical Leadership Characteristics in the Virtual Workplace Roy (2012) stated that leaders in today’s virtual environment need to be strong in relationship building founded on trust, built to be sustainable, enhance team spirit, and motivated by achieving form and functionality. Leaders must also have welldeveloped technical skills along with superior leadership skills. Furthermore, they must be empathetic enough to handle the frustration faced by their staff members (Roy 2012). According to Walker (2010), leadership is the key single factor that drives and determines the success of the organization. Gladys (2014) categorized leadership characteristics and the elements for a successful virtual organization and Table 1 summarizes these findings. Management must operate in a world shaped by globalization and the information revolution (Grove 1995). Organizations downsize, right size, outsource, reorganize, and reengineer to optimize the workforce size to an everchanging business environment. These adjustments demand the creation of more virtual work environments (Drew 1994). It is necessary to move from managing a twentieth century work environment to one in today’s virtual, digital, and global work environment.

Inspirational leadership is correlated with virtual employees’ focus on achieving organizational goals (Joshi et al. 2009)

Leaders’ trust is positively related to virtual team performance (Joshi et al. 2009)

Inspiration and motivation

Trust

Elements of the successful virtual organization Leadership characteristic Productivity Concern for the Virtual employees are human element more productive when acknowledged, empowered, and treated as individuals (Nauman et al. 2009)

It is incumbent upon leadership to foster relationships of trust to retain the virtual workers in the knowledge community (Morello and Burton 2006)

Retention Virtual employees are more likely to remain with an organization when leadership respects and cares about their well-being (Fisher and Fisher (2001) Leadership that is inspirational and motivational tends to result in commitment and loyalty from the employee (Bass 1999, p. 11) Emphasis on well-being in a virtual team influences the commitment demonstrated in areas such as attendance via technical connectivity (Hunton and Norman 2010) The trust associated with teleworking results in a flexibility that leads to less absenteeism (Gibson et al. 2002)

Attendance Considering the virtual worker as an individual positively influences attendance (Solomon 2000)

Table 1 Leadership characteristics and elements of the successful virtual organization

An attitude of trust on the part of the virtual leader needs to be aligned to ensure the empowerment and potential of virtual employees (Peters et al. 2010)

A virtual leader must lead and build relationships of trust where everyone develops through shared ideas and expertise (Malhotra et al. 2007)

It is important to motivate virtual employees by assisting them to rise to their potential performance (Clemons and Kroth 2011)

Promotions Leadership that cares about virtual employees creates an environment that is receptive to upward mobility in the organization (Clemons and Kroth 2011) Inspiration and motivation of transformational leadership in virtual teams lays the ground work for upward mobility (Kanter 2001)

Development Development of virtual employees rests with leadership providing assignments that offer professional growth (Fisher and Fisher 2001)

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A productive virtual organization requires a gap analysis of virtual employees is conducted for both IT and non-IT (Yu 2008)

Training Leaders who ensure appropriate training to virtual employees experience long term retention of employees (Otfinoski 2010)

Communication feedback encourages virtual employees to feel a part of the organization and reinforces a connection to the organization (Leonard 2011) Virtual teams led with appropriate communication and fewer interruptions see productivity increases correlated with decreased in absenteeism (Gibson et al. 2002) Developing virtual employees via collaborative training is core to their engagement; this level of engagement influences attendance (Busch et al. 2011) Leadership must ensure virtual workers have opportunity to grow and thrive through virtual training and online communities of practice (Nafukho et al. 2010)

Informal communication with employees aids in development and overall expertise, (Cooper and Kurland 2002)

Professional development and advancement of virtual employees is integral to change management and implementation of virtual organizations (Yu 2008)

Communication and inclusion in succession planning is critical so that employees see recognition for their work in the context of career advancement (Leonard 2011)

Note: Reprinted with permission from A Phenomenological Study of the Lived Experiences of Employees Who Work virtually and Their Perceptions of Leadership Behaviors that Create a Successful Virtual Organization (p. 42), Copyright (2014) by Ann Gladys. Published by Proquest LLC (2014) UMI 3619351

Virtual employees require extensive feedback and information to enhance productivity (Fisher and Fisher 2001)

Communication

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Table 2 Comparison of traditional teams and virtual teams Traditional teams Team members are in same location Team members use face to face communication There is synchronous communication Team members coordinate the task in a mutually reconciling manner

Virtual teams All team members are in different locations Team members use asynchronous communication Tasks are very structured and certain

Note: Kratzer et al. (2004, p. 2)

Successful virtual managers are becoming more important and necessary to manage virtual human resources. Table 2 presents a comparison of traditional teams and virtual teams. Perry (2008) stated that in 2008 nearly 80% of companies with more than 10,000 employees considered or employed digital forms of work collaboration. Society of Human Resource Management (2012) reported that 46% of human resource professionals from global organizations used some form of virtual teamwork. Considering the ongoing globalization and digitalization of work processes, collaborating in digital and virtual teams has become an important aspect of work in many organizations and in various occupations (Krumm et al. 2016).

Challenges of Leading Virtual Organizations Leadership is influencing others to successfully complete a collective undertaking (Yukl 2006) and tends to fall into either a directive or participative approach in most organizations (Avolio and Kahai 2003). Additionally, Bass (1997) discovered that true transformational leadership knows when to use behaviors from each dimension. Effective leadership is good for all organizational stakeholders, but ineffective leadership negatively impacts stakeholders making subordinates miserable, harming employee morale, lowering productivity, and irrevocably damaging the organization (Cascio 2000; Hogan and Kaiser 2005; Padilla et al. 2007). For better or worse, in virtual organizations technology accelerates leaders’ positive or negative organizational impact locally as well as globally (Avolio and Kahai 2003). The complexities of leadership in virtual organizations create challenges that interact with social influences and practices, making it difficult to successfully manage these types of organizations (Zofi 2011; Barczak et al. 2006). Language barriers can hinder clear and precise communication, along with inaccurate interpretation in high-context cultures (e.g., Asian, Arabian, Southern European) compared to low-context cultures (e.g., Swiss, German, American, Australian). Differences in perceptions of what cannot be seen during virtual communications (those without visual) dictate that team members are only able to perceive what is directly in front of them. Imagination must create the picture. In addition, the differences in organization status of a manager versus team members, namely,

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hierarchy within the team membership, can influence effectiveness of virtual interaction, though this condition also influences in-person situations. Cultural differences among different companies also comes into play, such as when working between global vendors or consultants. Though certainly obvious, consideration of time zone differences to avoid confusion is always a challenge with virtual communications, further creating complexities in leading virtual organizations. Additionally, research found that problems with communication are a recurrent thread among the challenges encountered in virtual program and project management endeavors (Hambley et al. 2007; Eisenberg and Krishnan 2018). Additional demands placed on leaders and employees to constantly interact and collaborate when working virtually increasingly overloads them and strategically managing these new challenges is necessary (Cross et al. 2018). Some of these challenges relate to technology, equipment expense, support, and infrastructure needed for virtual communications along with Internet and connectivity issues. Leaders must also face the greater challenges of motivating virtual employees being, sensitive to potential employee disengagement. Virtual leaders must also balance the needs of the organization’s service and quality expectations with employee expectations in order to align with the organization’s vision and mission.

Engagement in the Workplace One perspective on this topic is that employees with a willingness to be engaged are essentially (self) motivated (Daft 2015). An important aspect of this view is that engaged employees value their work and find meaning in what they do. Engaged employees are active on the job, freely interact with coworkers, are enthusiastic with a sense of belonging, and are committed to their work and the organization. Daft believes that the key to helping employees become engaged is leadership. Leaders who support and inspire workers provide the foundation for productive engagement. Leaders (managers) who are controlling and excessively directive rarely inspire employees to become engage. A slightly different view suggests that the employee experience will drive engagement, a desirable condition (ITA 2019). Central to this notion is a direct link between experience and employee satisfaction, which is bolstered by opportunities, tools, and programs. Basically, engagement in the workplace will not occur if employees are not satisfied. Plus, it is suggested that engaged employees with favorable work experiences are important to help create favorable customer experiences. What seems to foster a good work experience are all the collective interactions and support the employee has on the job from initially being hired to the present. Companies that consider how and what employees see and experience on the job, and create conditions favorable to the employee’s perspective, are consistent with an engaged work environment. “When fully realized, employee experience encompasses an integrated approach to building an engaged, enjoyable and productive workplace environment” (p. 15).

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Consistent communication, decision-making, and treatment of employees are essential for a company to establish favorable employee experiences (ITA 2019). It is also very important to understand and value diversity. A company that understands and responds to reasonable employee wants and needs will likely create an engaged environment. Taken collectively, the employee experience that is established in a traditional company may be more difficult to create in a virtual organization. Regardless, companies that create virtual organizations should strive to embrace and implement conditions and actions that reflect what appears to work well in ground-based companies. Employee engagement in the workplace is important for all organizations and more so for a virtual organization where unique challenges exist. Establishing an organizational environment where engagement flourishes requires conditions such as involvement, support, and commitment. To achieve a fully engaged workforce, employees would first need to be involved, which would foster support, and then lead to commitment, if everything goes as planned. Engagement should be thought of as what employees do in an active way to help the organization succeed. Essentially, employee engagement is “a heightened emotional and intellectual connection that an employee has for his/her job, organization, manager, or coworkers that, in turn, influences him/her to apply discretionary effort to his/her work” (Gibbons 2006, p. 5). People who are involved in an endeavor generally support it. For work, involvement could be straight forward, like sincerely asking for someone’s opinion or suggestion on improving a process or making a better decision. It may also be more active, like assigning an employee to a project team. Involvement should foster support, but it doesn’t guarantee support and only serves as an avenue to it. In organizations, especially work groups and teams, support is essential. If people don’t support the mission, goals, or tasks, success will be illusive, and if initially achieved, success will likely be fleeting. Support means that as an employee, I am willing to promote and advocate for initiatives or actions taken by colleagues or the organization. Employees who display support are typically passive when it comes to acting, though. Support is most often demonstrated verbally, and employee opposition is generally absent during initiatives or action. As involvement does not guarantee support, support does not guarantee commitment, the next step toward engagement. Commitment is the final precursor to engagement. With commitment, employees develop an intellectual and emotional state that compels them to embrace a cause or initiate action. Commitment is a condition where employees are ready and begin to act for a cause, work toward a goal, or start to fully participate, and thus become engaged. A review into (a) what comprises employee engagement, (b) why engagement is important to companies, and (c) identification of considerations for implementing it found applicable factors for both the organization and individual. Chandani et al. (2016) looked at 30 studies to identify areas related to employee engagement. From their review, 20 factors were identified, which if implemented favorably, would enhance engagement. They were (a) career development; (b) effective management

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of talent; (c) leadership; (d) clarity of company values, policies, and practices; (e) respectful treatment of employees; (f) company’s standards of ethical behaviors; (g) empowerment; (h) fair treatment; (i) performance appraisal; (j) pay and benefit; (k) health and safety; (l) satisfaction; (m) family friendliness; (n) talent recognition; (o) communication; (p) nature of job; (q) organization politics; (r) emotional factors; (s) productivity; and (t) personality factors. Various points of interest that emerged from the factors, many obvious, will now be summarized. Companies with an engaged workforce were more likely to offer training and development opportunities to employees. These organizations typically emphasized talent development and the growth of workers. Career planning was often part of the development process, too. Effective management of employees (i.e., tailoring management styles to the workforce) and strong leadership, with respect to support, creating a vision, and nurturing individuals, were also important for engagement. Clear company values and a relevant fit of organization values with worker values led to higher engagement. Not surprisingly, respectful and fair treatment of employees were other conditions associated with engaged workers. Company ethical standards, the application of ethical practices, and the absence of organization politics help to establish an environment that encourages engagement. In addition, empowered employees and those with autonomy generally show a higher level of engagement. Employees who work in organizations where performance is objectively reviewed, and timely feedback is provided with constructive direction, foster engagement. Related to this are pay and benefits, where fair compensation fosters engagement. Also, employees who believe their company earnestly creates safe and healthy work conditions are often more highly engaged. Organizations with frequent, clear, and informative communication, and open to employee feedback, are likely to have more engaged workers. As one might guess, satisfied employees and those whose talents are recognized are more likely to be engaged. Finally, a few specific individual characteristics are more common among engaged employees. Extroverted workers, as opposed to introverts, and those with an internal locus of control with high self-esteem tend to become more engaged. Those with a sincere interest in their job and work are more likely engaged, which would be expected. From a theoretical perspective, Dagher et al. (2015) were interested in how an employee’s personal belief in an ability to successfully perform on the job was related to engagement. To test this notion, the authors examined the degree to which self-efficacy influenced engagement on a sample of men and women working in the service industry. The concept of engagement used in their research relied on measures of vigor, dedication, and absorption. Vigor was depicted by the intense energy employees would put into work activity. Dedication encompassed the broad devotion and attention employees gave to completing work responsibilities. Finally, absorption referred to how extensively employees became immersed in their jobs and were actively involved in work. Results of their analyses indicated an employee’s self-efficacy greatly influenced engagement, as defined by vigor, dedication, and absorption. For the virtual leader, the recommendation from this study would be to hire competent employees who possess abilities to complete work assignments or thoroughly train workers so that they

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can accomplish tasks. Both actions would enhance self-efficacy, which should bolster engagement. Phillips and Gully (2014) bring some clarity to the concept by drawing a distinction between engaged and disengaged workers. According to their view, engaged workers want to perform well, be valued in their organization, and invest extra effort to succeed. Disengaged workers may be as well-qualified and competent as engaged workers, yet they view work as something that must be done, as opposed as something they want to complete. Engaged workers want to do their best. Disengaged workers do what is necessary, but not much more. Companies with engaged workers typically excel. To enhance engagement, it is suggested that employees: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Have clear goals and roles Have the resources needed Get meaningful feedback on their performance Are able to use their talents Are recognized for doing a good job Have positive relationships with coworkers Have opportunities to learn and grow Have supportive leadership (p. 146)

A study in Denmark explored what four organizations did to foster engagement of “distance” workers and the results (Poulsen and Ipsen 2017). Interviews were conducted to determine what actions were taken by virtual leaders and how they were received by employees. Leaders made a concerted effort to maintain high levels of communication, so employees did not feel so isolated from company operations. They also worked on developing trust and giving authority to workers. The authors found that leader “activities included planning, newsletters, and surveys, and the capabilities were to listen, create and show trust, and give authority to the employees” (p. 47). Though employees felt the work was challenging in a virtual environment, their sense of belonging and well-being was enhanced by the actions of their leaders. It appears that employees who became engaged through assignments or increased responsibility felt higher interest in working toward organizational success. Layng (2016) was interested in the role communication played in establishing a path to engagement by examining several studies of virtual teams and organizations. The review sought common themes for how communication was used, an important component to achieving success. Not surprising, trust was a critical factor that led to successful performance, being predicated in part on engagement. From a functional standpoint, communication was essential in fostering engagement, including frequency, method of delivery, specificity, and who received the communication (e.g., few or many), among other variables. Another interesting point that emerged was “ensuring engagement through accountability” (p. 205). This suggests that responsibility may help to solidify engagement. That is, employees receive relevant information and they then must act on it to complete tasks and meet expectations.

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An insightful study by Ho and Astakhova (2018) further examined engagement through its connection to employee passion for working. The authors acknowledged that passionate workers were engaged workers and they wanted to learn the nuances between the two conditions. With respect to the detail, they relied on personenvironment fit theory for their research. Specifically, Ho and Astakhova examined “the mediating roles of perceived demands–abilities (D–A) fit and person–organization (P–O) fit in the relationships between passion and job engagement, and between passion and organizational engagement, respectively” (p. 973). Results indicated that trust was the key contingency component to effective engagement and there were two facets to it. In one, extremely passionate workers who trust their organization demonstrate high organization engagement. For the other, workers who have trust for their immediate supervisor and co-workers show high levels of job engagement. The ramification for virtual leaders suggests that employees who are already highly passionate about work should be the primary candidates selected for virtual jobs. However, since passion for work is very difficult to instill and if it does arise, the passion, like love, often fades. The second area to address is developing trust, which typically comes about through favorable experiences. Practicing inclusive leadership will enhance employee well-being, a condition that helps to establish trust (Choi et al. 2017). Additionally, establishing a culture of servant leadership is a powerful way to foster trust and employee engagement (Kohntopp and McCann 2018). Schulze and Krumm (2017) also focused attention on individual worker characteristics with respect to factors that would encourage engagement within a virtual organization. The authors stated, “In spite of the increasing demand for virtual cooperation, still relatively little is known about the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) individuals need for virtual teamwork” (p. 66). They attempted to synthesize a wide range of research from many sources and conjectured that successful workers in virtual organizations would likely possess certain profiles as derived by KSAOs. To complicate matters, it was acknowledged that virtual teams and organizations varied greatly on (a) level of interaction (e.g., some degree of face-to-face interaction to none), (b) different facets of virtual operation (i.e., with respect to reliance on and implementation of technology, as well as the nature of operations), and (c) the ever-present interaction among KSAOs, level of interaction, and facets of operation. The complexity of the many possible perspectives would certainly make it difficult to grasp and cleanly define the role of effective engagement. Regardless, the authors identified factors that would help drive engagement and effective performance in a virtual context, including (a) personality characteristics like openness and trust and (b) experiences with technology, cultural diversity, and working in a dispersed environment (p. 73). The authors conclude that “the ‘virtual team player’ needs the knowledge and skills and be motivated to handle the challenges of technology use, cultural differences, and geographic dispersion” (p. 85). It has been acknowledged that engaging employees and keeping them engaged is extremely difficult in traditional organizations (Imperatori 2017). This concern will surely apply to virtual organizations. Technological advances and enhanced methods

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of communication allow companies to operate on a virtual platform, which generally increases the challenge to engage employees. As technology continues down an increasingly sophisticated path of development, at some point could it eclipse the capacity of virtual leaders and workers to be engaged at optimal levels? A study by Weber and Kim (2015) in a multinational organization addressed this question. One area they examined was engagement between peers and how technology could hinder collaboration among virtual workers. In response to this concern, the authors state, “understanding interactions in virtual organizations requires a more nuanced approach to virtuality and active management of technology implementation. Moreover, the findings demonstrate that managers need to actively manage the deployment of new collaborative technology by focusing on specific characteristics of work groups” (p. 385). In this context, more of a good thing (e.g., new technology, advanced software) isn’t necessarily better for virtual workers or the organization. To better establish and foster employee engagement, a strategic approach would be prudent (XpertHR 2019). It is recommended that organizations follow a four-step process to succeed. First, a company should promote its mission, vision, and values. Work roles, responsibilities, and relationships should also be clarified. Metrics for determining levels of engagement also should be established. Second, managers and supervisors need to learn about engagement and receive training on how to foster employee engagement. Sharing pertinent information and company expectations would also be necessary. Third, employees need support. Clear and relevant communication for employees is essential. Regular employee performance feedback is necessary. Support through training and applicable personal development are required along with appropriate rewards for success. Fourth, progress and achievement need to be measured. Survey feedback, performance reviews, and even exit interviews are ways to collect pertinent feedback. Data from these sources will help determine integration with the engagement path the organization desires. The strategic approach proposed here seems relevant to foster engaged employees. Since the concepts are crafted for a traditional face-to-face organization, extra attention and time would likely be needed for a virtual environment. The importance of employee engagement to organization success appears to be established. With that in mind, most investigations and reviews of engagement research are based on traditional organizations (i.e., bricks and mortar). However, the factors important to engagement in ground-based companies should also apply to virtual organizations. Just like with all challenges for virtual organizations, though, it will take more dedication and attention for smooth performance, along with appropriate identification of employee willing and able to adapt to virtual life.

International Perspectives Modern virtual organizations are possible because of technological advances. These same advances make global collaboration possible between countries and governments, as well as with businesses and commerce. It should come as no surprise then

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that the examination of virtual leadership has also been prominent on the international stage (e.g., Poulsen and Ipsen 2017). Hammonds (2006) found that the “Starbucks effect” is the hallmark of the global economy. Essentially, this pertains to the continuous emergence of new competitors with superior business models designed to surpass the industry’s leader. As a result, it forces organizations to reconsider and question the viability of what they have always done and make appropriate improvements. Capitalizing on continuous change has been the basis, in part, of the national competitive advantage. Competition creates pressure on the global organization to do more with less, to do it faster, and cheaper, and that customers have choices. A global organization may utilize a competitive strategy of production costs by manufacturing in the lowest cost country and then exporting to the global market. It may choose to license foreign companies to act on its behalf or to franchise and to create alliances and partnerships in order to strengthen its participation in global markets. Thuermer (2006) reported that global supply chain management yields significant benefits for organizations that move products in the global economy. Considering the overall supply chain, logistics is the cost center where savings and competitive advantages can be achieved. An organization can gain a competitive advantage in global markets by exploiting and spreading its value chain functions among nations in the most efficient and effective manner. An additional way an organization can gain this advantage is to transfer competitively valuable competencies from its domestic base to foreign markets. A global organization may able to deepen its strength and capabilities based on the fact it has more options than the domestic company does. Business activity of all types is moving in the direction of globalization (Acs and Preston 1997). Organizations can find competitive advantage in the world market in many ways. The factors of competition in the global market will drive the organization to satisfy customer demand and differentiate itself from its competition. Global organizations have many opportunities and risks in today’s business environment. Consequently, to gain in the global economy companies must learn to exploit competitive advantages using virtual teams and virtual leadership.

Nigerian Construction Industry Odubiyi and Oke (2016) examined virtual teams in the Nigerian construction industry from the perspective of virtual teams, using mixed-method research design. They determined that virtual teams are a type of team where members operate from different geographical regions and function primarily with and through the aid of information and communications technology media. Nigeria, as in other countries, primarily uses the traditional team type (face-to-face team) in construction works and that research about virtual teams is still in its nascent stages. Odubiyi and Oke (2016) found that communication among team members leading to flexibility of operation and decision-making was a key strength of virtual teams. The authors also found weaknesses among virtual teams. They require (a)

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special training, (b) a need to develop skills to manage conflict among team members, and (c) ways to adapt to the needs of clients regarding the communication and structures of virtual teams. Improving efficiency, through reduction in time-tomarket, collaboration ability of team members, and delivery time of projects were found to be common opportunities for virtual teams. Research also revealed that two threats among virtual teams in this population were members’ performance level and complexity of technical application. The study concluded that success of virtual teams depended on exploiting the opportunities that were opened to them. In addition, it was discovered that virtual teams support an enhanced organization structure, where reduced lines of authorities and hierarchies may exist and information sharing is rapid, versus the traditional team structure where informal discussions serve as a prominent channel for information sharing and exchange.

Trust, E-Leadership, and Organizational Commitment Iriqat and Khalaf (2018) investigated the enhancing role of building trust and the impact it had on e-leadership and organizational commitment in virtual teams. The authors discovered that e-leadership is significantly related to building trust and organizational commitment of virtual teams situated in Islamic banks in Palestine. They also found that the three dimensions of e-leadership (engagement, execution, and elasticity) significantly predicted organizational commitment. Furthermore, the authors discovered that trust building enhanced the impact of e-leadership on organizational commitment in these same banks. As a result of their research, Iriqat and Khalaf (2018) recommend to banking management that they focus on developing the electronic abilities and skills of directors through visioning, engagement, energizing, empowering, executing, and flexibility. As a result, increased organizational commitment and the trust of employees in banking sectors would be realized.

Virtual Leadership and Distance Education Teams in Turkey According to Kuscu and Hasan (2016), companies and universities have opened to the world, and because of globalization, many have developed a world-wide presence, reputation, and global brand. Many companies and universities now provide distance learning programs with classes and in-service training in virtual platform via the Internet. These learning opportunities may be conducted in one country and delivered synchronously to customers or recorded specifically for worldwide asynchronous consumption later. Individuals work in different time zones and environments as members of virtual teams, and virtual leaders are challenged to effectively manage their virtual teams. The authors examined virtual leadership in distance learning teams. For the purpose of the study, the virtual leader was any member of the team for academicians, a manager for a technical support team, and a teacher for students.

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The major findings of this research were about who the virtual leader was and what properties virtual leaders should hold. Communication skills were the most important ability for a virtual leader. Presently, virtual teams are indispensable in business and education. Regarding education, society has generally not moved beyond the conventional (traditional) concept, not realizing the value and relevance of virtual education. Many believe virtual leadership is simply management in another context, not understanding the nuances that exist between it and face-toface leadership. However, it is necessary to consider a virtual leader differently from conventional leaders (Kuscu and Hasan 2016). Kuscu and Hasan (2016) found that virtual environments were more challenging to leaders, since they are free-flowing, and it is more difficult to monitor environments in which organizational loyalty level varies. Thus, the most important duty of the virtual leader becomes motivating team members to achieve the mission of the organization. Virtual leaders must establish environments founded on confidence where job descriptions are clearly defined, and leaders know their team members well and can identify team member needs. The virtual leader’s job can be more challenging than other leaders, but it also has its advantages. The leader may be able to access more people at a time and to offer a comfortable working environment. The virtual leadership characteristics of all three groups studies indicate that communication skills, ability to motivate, and a functional level of technological competence were important. Another identified leadership skill is creating confidence on and leading the team. The common factor for effectiveness discovered among these three groups (i.e., academicians, technical support teams, and students) was that they required different skills as compared to other leadership approaches in conventional environments.

Future of Virtual Workplace Engagement The present and future of virtual leadership is connected to the rise and direction of the digital economy, as new technologies and applications will change the way business connects internally and externally with their stakeholders. Data are at the heart of the digital economy and its protection will be critical. The digital economy is of great interest domestically and internationally. Its development and future are at the heart of every country’s economic competitiveness (US Department of Commerce 2017). According to the US Department of Commerce (2017), the digital economy has become an integral part of the daily lives of most humans throughout the world. We use online tools and services to search for information, help with our children’s homework, and order household goods from our favorite retailer, along with many other uses from gaming to dating. Organizations throughout the globe use telecommunication and information technologies to solve problems, develop products, or provide services. Companies use these tools to find and connect with other businesses, connect internally between different business locations to share information, along with a myriad of other uses. These tools add value to the economy and collectively represent what is known as the digital economy.

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New technologies are at the forefront of delivering the digital economy and need for virtual leadership. According to AT&T (2019), for new technologies to be widely deployed, mobile and hard-wired networks must deliver “complex and wide-ranging network management capabilities for quality, performance, bandwidth, latency, and coverage” (Para. 2). Wireless and video traffic has grown exponentially and 4G set the foundation for the gig economy; 5G will jumpstart the next wave of unforeseen innovation (AT&T 2019). According to Segan (2018), 5G provides three new dimensions: greater speed (move more data faster), lower latency (responsiveness is improved), and the connectivity to more devices at one time is possible (improves performance of sensors and smart devices). The G in 5G means that it is a generation of wireless technology. Most generations (from 1 G to 5G) have technically been defined by the speed of their data transmission, they are also highlighted by breakthroughs in encoding methods that are known as air-interfaces making them incompatible with a previous generation of technology. According to Picincu (2019), advances in cloud services and videoconferencing technologies make it more common for leaders and their organizations to be virtual and enable teams to telecommunicate as needed or 100% of the time. This enables organizations to schedule employees more flexibly, part-time, and freelance and to allow teams and employees to work when and where they are most effective. Organizations are enhancing their capabilities for networking internally and externally and for virtual companies to develop and grow their businesses. These companies are reporting increased employee productivity as a result of telecommuting and virtual opportunities. Virtual organizations can be as viable and professional as traditional on-site companies and may even have competitive advantages through creative collaboration, unique company culture, and improved and new processes. According to Minton-Eversole (2012), almost half of organizations polled use virtual teams, per survey results released July 13, 2012, by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Virtual teams are defined in the SHRM poll as groups of individuals working across time, space, and organizational boundaries, interacting mainly through electronic communication channels. This research also reported that organizations use virtual teams in order to include talent from different locations because their organizations are becoming more global in focus. In addition, managers identified the need to boost collaboration, reduce travel, and increase productivity throughout the organization as reasons for virtual teams. Improved behaviors have also resulted as brainstorming for solutions, setting goals for team initiatives building team relations is an obstacle that prevents them from being successful. Challenges identified were time differences, distribution of work, cultural norms, leading virtual teams for projects, and developing plans for team initiatives or with virtual team projects. This research also found that most organizations in the USA were likely to use virtual teams if they were multinational. Tartell (2019) found that tools and technology currently available to leaders are WebEx, Lync, join.me, Facebook, Twitter, Yammer, instant messaging, Skype, and Facebook to name just a few. Virtual leaders must select the right tools to create the best possible connections and information with richness and scope as key factors.

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Richness is expressed as range and information of the medium and scope pertain to the reach of the technology. Leaders are successful when they are proficient in the use of technology; low technical proficiency leads to less than optimal results. Leaders of virtual teams now and in the future must know the audience, know the technology, and be prepared for technological challenges and failures with backup plans. Leaders must also understand that the richness of virtual, synchronous faceto-face communication is different in a virtual environment, and they must provide teams and individuals with more task-relevant information and increased communication frequency and regularity, along with developing stronger personal relationships that support virtual performance. Organizations like GE are becoming global networks as a result of technology and virtual networking. According to John Rice, vice chairman of GE and CEO of the GE Global Growth Organization, GE’s whole is greater than a sum of its parts, and their dynamic networking results in an exchange of ideas and solutions across GE, making the performance difference (Rice 2017). Nearly 70% of its business is outside the USA, so the networking exchange must reach across the entire organization of 300,000 employees operating in over 180 countries. Rice (2017) states that they do not have the perfect answer, but they continue to invest in the digital tools, training, and platforms for exchange for internal markets to work together be part of ideas, inventions, and practices at GE. However, when things don’t go well, he described them as a Game of Thrones with silos and fiefdoms. He notes that nothing changes without building the right culture, a new team culture for new ways of working. He states that the key insight from this initiative is that most people in the marketplace are external to the organization, but they are building value through internal exchanges finding the right combination of leadership and culture for their organization. According to Lepsinger (2017), virtual organizations and their leadership are challenged by physical distance separation, and it can also be difficult to build trust, develop accountability, and unite teams. Miscommunication and misunderstanding can be greater in virtual organizations, and many virtual teams are not as functional as needed. However, some organizations are getting it right. SAP, IBM, and GE are multinationals and examples of companies successfully meeting the virtual leadership and performance challenges. They are using technology tools to collaborate and support performance. They are training employees to use interactive tools and developing virtual leaders and teams to achieve their purposes. These high-performance organizations are overcoming virtual challenges and learning to adapt to issues as they occur. Multination-organizations, virtual organizations, and teams must embrace and learn from the successes and failure of those getting it right.

Conclusions This chapter introduced the concept of a virtual organization and the role, responsibilities, and practices for leaders in these organizations. Most corporations operate globally. Small- to medium-sized companies residing in a single country still rely on

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international suppliers and markets. As technology improves, develops, and advances, globalization will become more pronounced for all companies. Considering this technological trend, the virtual structure will likely become more prevalent. Employees assigned to positions in a virtual environment will face a type of workplace isolation compared to workers in a traditional office setting or facility with physical structures as the center of operation. The virtual worker will have no recognized breakroom, cafeteria, or opportunity to visit a co-worker in the adjoining cubicle. The traditional social aspect of a workplace evaporates in the virtual organization. Good natured conversations about the FIFA World Cup tournament or the NFL Super Bowl will be absent. Virtual organizations are generally comprised of teams or individuals that operate in separate locals with some degree of autonomy. A key component that enables productivity is technological connectivity, often asynchronously (Burma 2014). Virtual organizations can certainly enhance a company’s success. However, challenges with effective leadership may arise, and employees can become disenfranchised when traditional levels of engagement erode. The lower employee engagement in a virtual organization with virtual leaders raises a concern for employee well-being. It is critical that employees working in virtual organizations experience meaningful levels of engagement to the degree that their counterparts receive in traditional organizations with physical offices and structures. Employee well-being cannot be sacrificed in the virtual context. What effect do decreased opportunities for engagement have on employees? How can engagement be maintained? These questions were examined in this chapter and should be addressed in the workplace. This chapter considered models of leadership and how practical and effective they can be in a virtual platform. From a performance standpoint, employee engagement was explored, specifically considering how it functions under the “virtual” condition. Virtual organization are highly suited to globalizations, and an international perspective was also addressed. Finally, suggestions and recommendations were offered to help virtual companies energize employee engagement.

Cross-References ▶ Employee Engagement: Keys to Organizational Success ▶ Improving Engagement During Times of Change

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Diverse Personalities, Egos, Roles, and Relations: Toward Workplace Wellbeing

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Petros G. Malakyan, Tim Schlak, and Wenli Wang

Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Personality Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Personal Identities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Personality Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Personal Strengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Implications to Workplace Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ego or Adult Development Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Implications for Workplace Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fluidity of Leadership and Followership Roles in the Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Implications to Workplace Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Relational Model Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Implications to Workplace Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summaries and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

This chapter introduces and integrates four theoretical and practical approaches to workplace wellbeing: (1) personality approach that addresses personal identity theories, personality types (e.g., Myers and Briggs), and personal strengths (e.g., StrengthsFinder) to enhance self-awareness; (2) ego or adult development approach with its various developmental stages that chart the dynamic developmental stages as experienced over a lifetime; (3) multiple role identity approach that leads to the fluidity of leadership and followership, which has the positive potential for enhanced individual wellbeing and organizational team performance; and (4) relational model approach that extends its four fundamental P. G. Malakyan · T. Schlak · W. Wang (*) Robert Morris University, Moon Township, PA, USA e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_14

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forms of interpersonal relationships (e.g., Communal Sharing, Authority Ranking, Equality Matching, and Market Pricing) further into the six complex social relations in the metarelational model with proper inclusion and preclusion of social relations that enhance workplace wellbeing within the bounds of legality, morality, and cultural norms. These four approaches assume diverse intrapersonal and interpersonal perspectives and provide varying yet connected theoretical understanding and practical implications for a workplace wellbeing located at both the individual and organizational level. For each approach, the theoretical definitions presented are followed by practical explanations and explorations supported by examples of what the theories imply for workplace wellbeing. Workplace wellbeing comes from both personal and relational perspectives. This chapter demonstrates that an integrated understanding of self and the self’s interdependency with others through dynamic and permissible relations is instrumental to workplace wellbeing. Keywords

Personality · Ego · Leadership and followership · Relational model · Workplace wellbeing

Introduction Imagine a workplace where personality types, strengths, and personal characteristics of individuals are valued, appreciated, and considered as organizational assets rather than liabilities. Imagine organizations where employees are empowered to acquire new skills and develop themselves from where they have been, where they are in the present, to where they may arrive in the future. It is worthwhile to envision organizations where people are valued not because of their leadership role or devalued for their followership role, but because of their field expertise, competences, and qualifications, not to mention forms and dynamics of the mind. Likewise, it is a valuable exercise to foresee a work environment where human relationships are cultivated in the areas of Communal sharing for collective wellbeing, respect of Authority through leadership suitability and rotations, Equality Matching through equal division of labor and reciprocity, and Market Pricing through returns for investment of time, money, and efforts toward personal and organizational wellbeing. Are these workplace qualities and conditions attainable where the pursuit of individual freedom, creativity, happiness, satisfactions, and organizational profitmaking goals and flourishing is guaranteed and protected? In other words, is the workplace wellbeing for individuals in conflict with organizational goals? Michael Keeley offers a Madisonian solution to the problems in the workplace and society, “[James Madison’s] solution was to deter advantage-taking: to devise an impartial system of rules, checks, and balances that can accommodate personal ambitions while protecting each person’s basic interests from impairment by others—especially leaders who function in the name of the community” (Keeley 2014, 199).

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As the global workforce becomes more diverse, creating and maintaining a healthy workplace have become an urgent pursuit among organizational scholars and practitioners. Today’s employers and employees, particularly in the United States, are the broadest representation of the world’s cultures, religions, ethnicities, and sociopolitical persuasions. As a result, the tension between different personalities in the workplace, different ego maturation processes among working adults, the rising workplace stresses between leaders and followers, and relational and metarelational complexities among coworkers and potentially across workplaces have all become existential threats to the wellbeing of individuals and organizations. The abuse of leadership power and position, gender and ethnic discrimination, sexual harassment, unequal distribution of benefits and wages among workers, and other forms of workplace discrimination are not uncommon in today’s global workforce. How can one create a healthy and safe work environment in the midst of personality and ego clashes, power struggles between leaders and followers, and deteriorating relationships and trust between employers and employees and among stakeholders? What are the remedies to the above problems and criteria for workplace wellbeing? What would it take to reduce psychological stress at work and provide safer environments for individuals to produce, create, and multiply the common good, develop themselves and others, and foster organizational flourishing? James Madison, the Father of the United States’ Constitution, foresaw a government where individual and corporates rights could be protected under a system of law where checks and balances mitigate self-seeking by conflicting and polarizing interest groups and factions in society. He argued: Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuse of government. But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. (See p. 322 in James Madison (1961))

Can corporations and businesses govern in such a way that their organizational goals and ambitions are balanced with the wellbeing of employees and reflect diverse aspects of human nature? To address the aforementioned workplace challenges that employers and employees face in today’s organizations, this chapter offers four solutions for the wellbeing and flourishing of individuals and organizations: (1) personality approach to human diversity and commonality to reduce ethnic and gender discrimination at work on the premise that within multiple personality preferences and traits, we all share a common humanity at work; (2) ego or adult development approaches to ego clashes at work and the impact of ego maturation and evolution through stages on the wellbeing of today’s workplace; (3) fluidity approach to leading and following roles in organizations to eliminate psychological stress, unethical leadership practices, and power abuse at work; and (4) relational and metarelational model approaches to workplace wellbeing that fosters diverse workplace social relations within the bounds of legality, morality, and cultural norms and reduces group tribalism, class

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stratification, unequal treatment of individuals, and uneven distribution of benefits and wages among members of the workplace.

Personality Approach Research on personality studies (i.e., identity, traits and characteristics, psychological preferences, and strengths) has advanced in the field of psychology and philosophical psychology in the post-World War II era (Parfit 1971; Rosenberg 1979; Williams 1970; Clifton and Nelson 1996). Personal identity theories and self-assessment tools have been developed to understand one’s personal uniqueness, types, and strengths at work and in social interactions (Asplund et al. 2007; Clifton and Harter 2003; Myers et al. 2003). Additionally, numerous behavioral studies sought to understand human behavior in social settings from, first, personality attributes (the extent to which the individual’s behavior is a reflection of her or his psychological type and strengths) (Myers and Myers 2010) and, second, sociocultural characteristics (the extent to which one’s behavior is shaped and influenced by social environment) (Goffman 1963; McCall and Simmons 1966). Researchers have consistently reported that humans are not only unique due to their personality types and strengths but also similar in their biophysical, social, and psychological needs due to ongoing socialization processes (Buss 1984; Wahba and Bridwell 1976). Further, the studies confirm that humans are not only independents but also interdependent social beings (Tomasello et al. 2012) who, in addition to physical needs, seek social and psychological satisfaction in the workplace and enhance their quality of life at work according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Omodei and Wearing 1990; Sirgy 1986). Key personal identity theories and two self-assessment instruments (MBTI and StrengthsFinder) are summarized and discussed below.

Personal Identities According to Michael Hogg, Professor of Social Psychology at Claremont Graduate University in Los Angeles, one’s “idiosyncratic personality attributes that are not shared with other people” (Hogg 2006, 115) (“I”) are constitutive of individual personal identity. Psychological preferences contribute to personal identity formation as a unique individual. Individuals acquire process identities through the socialization process such as intrapersonal cognitive and interpersonal interactive processes. In other words, one may develop multiple identities through the combination of cognitive thought processes and various interpersonal experiences and interactions (Hume 1896; Whitehead 1978). This notion opens up new possibilities for dynamic identities to emerge within various self-reflexive and social dialogues between the self and society for identity construct that are both unique and dynamic. This so-called semiotic triad between the “present-past-future” and “I-me-you” identities is an ongoing process that may lead to future self-discoveries, growth, and new identity formations (MacKinnon and Heise 2010; Peirce 1989; Wiley

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1994). Additionally, identities evolve back and forth from independent to interdependent through paradigm shifts from “I” to “we” (Taylor and Dube 1986; Turner et al. 1994). The independent identity of “I” makes one differentiate herself or himself from others through personal uniqueness and autonomy (Banaji and Prentice 1994; Brewer and Gardner 1996; Markus and Kitayama 1991). The interdependent self-identity, however, also enables one to identify her or him with others in social interactions (Markus and Kitayama 1991). The above theories help us to conceptualize the process of independent and interdependent dynamic identity formations in the workplace and how this process contributes to the wellbeing of individuals at work.

Personality Types Isabel Myers (1897–1980) and her mother, Katharine Cook Briggs (1875–1968), by using Carl Jung’s (1971) theory of psychological types, created one of today’s most utilized self-assessment instruments called the Myers and Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to understand and appreciate human differences at work and life in general. The foundation of their instrument arose out of the need to match laborers’ (women in particular) personality giftedness with the production demands of US manufacturing during World War II as women temporarily came to replace men who had been conscripted for wartime military service (Myers and Myers 2010). MBTI consists of 16 personality types out of the dichotomistic preferences (see Table 1). Demarest later placed the 16 types in the context of the workplace in order to understand the influence of personality types on how one may behave or “consider important in many facets of everyday workplace interactions and activities” (Demarest 2012, 37). For the 16 psychological types, Demarest imputes workplace behaviors on how each type responds to conflict, how working styles defer from one type to another, how each type communicates and functions through teamwork, and on what basis each type makes decisions and deals with organizational change. Additionally, the MBTI research has produced data that helps in understanding the following aspects of a person: relationships between types, learning styles to make learning more effective, spirituality to discover one’s unique spiritual expression, and career to find one’s best-fit career. For instance, ISTJ personality type is most suited for careers in engineering, finance, trades, management, and economics and less so for careers in the arts, graphic design, music, photography, and so on (Martin 2015).

Personal Strengths The discussion and research on human talents and strengths have been grounded in positive psychology. Led by the late Father of Strengths Psychology, Donald O. Clifton, the goal of this self-assessment instruction project was to measure personal strengths and talents and lead a conversation about “what’s right with people”

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Table 1 Myers and Briggs’ personality preferences (Myers and Myers 2010) Extraversion (E) Sensing (S) Thinking (T) Judging (J)

or or or or

Introversion (I) Intuition (N) Feeling (F) Perceiving (P)

Table 2 Four domains of leadership strength (Rath 2006) Executing Achiever Arranger Belief Consistency Deliberative Discipline Focus Responsibility Restorative

Influencing Activator Command Communication Competition Maximizer Self-Assurance Significance Woo

Relationship building Adaptability Developer Connectedness Empathy Harmony Includer Individualization Positivity Relator

Strategic thinking Analytical Context Futuristic Ideation Input Intellection Learner Strategic

(Rath 2007, i). The study identified 34 commonly identified talents within the 4 domains of leadership strengths: executing, influencing, relationship building, and strategic thinking (see Table 2): StrengthsFinder has been further developed specifically for educators and students into an assessment called StrengthsQuest, which is to develop academic and leadership strengths while in college and to use strengths for career planning (Clifton et al. 2006).

Implications to Workplace Wellbeing Personal identities bring unique perspectives to the workplace because of one’s upbringing and life experiences. Thus personal differences should be perceived as assets for the organization rather than liabilities because they represent the tapestry of human diversity. We bring our identities to work to shape and be shaped by our coworkers and the work environment. This process is both affirming and transforming. On the one hand, our identities are verified and affirmed by others in the workplace as we interact and learn from others who are different from us; on the other, we add our own uniqueness to enable others to see what we see and do things differently and be supplementary to others. Further, due to the socialization processes at work, our identities change and develop as we move from “I” to “we” across the dynamic collective identity formation. Today’s workforce is dynamic and multifunctional where individuals, if opportunities are given, are capable of developing multiple and interdependent identities and different sets of skills for personal satisfaction and organizational growth. Take, for example, the breaking of gender stereotypes and developing dynamic career paths. In a March 4, 2019, CBS News report, Emily Chang, author of

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Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boy’s Club of Silicon Valley, reports there is a shortage of women in leadership roles among tech companies (e.g., Twitter, 32.5%; Apple, 29%; Google, 25.5%; Microsoft, 19.7%). Women can acquire leadership skills. Redfin, a real estate technology company, offers a good example. It once faced a shortage of women with technical skills. The company decided to pool women from the marketing team and teach them how to code, “and then they found that a year into it, these women were getting promoted at the same rates. So women can learn, and companies can change. It does not have to take forever,” Chang said (CBS This Morning, March 4, 2019. An interview with Emily Chang, the author of “Brotopia:” Progress toward gender equality “happening slowly” in tech industry. Retrieved from: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/workplace-gender-equality-techindustry-brotopia-emily-chang/). As a result, both women workers and the company flourished. Self-awareness of one’s psychological type and personality preferences helps one to be more efficient and productive. For instance, individuals with an extraversion preference tend to enjoy interactions and discussions because they are energized by the external world. Therefore they seem more engaged with others and energetic. The extraverts’ working style involves engaging others, moving around, welcoming people, and working in an interactive physical space. In team settings, extraverts are participatory, open, and relational. In times of organizational change, extraverts are good responders to external environment such as coworkers, the market, and customers. During conflict, extraverts are expressive and engaged and prefer to discuss issues without delay. Their contributions to the wellbeing of the workplace are in the areas of practicality, the larger picture of the organization, enthusiasm, and energy. Extraverts may never get bored with work that transpires in a social setting and requires relationship building. Thus, personality types such as ESTJs, ENTJs, ESFJs, ESTPs, ENTPs, ESFPs, and ENFPs feel motivated and flourish in careers such as registered nurse, corporate trainers, sales representatives, judges, executives, managers, coaches, actors, public relations, instructors, paramedics, firefighters, law enforcement officers, entrepreneurs, politicians, public speakers, and more. Examples include Bill Gates (ENTJ), Oprah Winfrey (ENFJ), Margaret Thatcher (ESTJ), and Barbara Walters (ESFJ) (retrieved from https://beaconstreetusa.com/wp/famous-people-and-their-myers-briggs-per sonality-types-part-1-the-extraverts/). The awareness of psychological preferences thus helps an individual selects her or his job in a way that her/his work accords with her/his psychological type, and with the right match, she/he can achieve personal satisfaction and high work performance. StrengthsFinder and StrengthsQuest have been utilized in organizations to increase employee engagement, develop organizational culture, create highly productive and functional teams, make career discoveries, develop academic programs, and enhance faculty and student development. According to Gallup, 90% of Fortune 500 companies use CliftonStrengths, an online assessment, as a tool to engage employees and boost performance. These organizations are using CliftonStrengths to determine what their employees naturally do best, understand how to develop their top talents, and utilize the customized results to help their

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employees thrive in the workplace (retrieved from https://buzzbinpadillaco.com/ tool-90-fortune500-companies-using-engage-employees/). The Gallup website contains numerous testimonials about the effectiveness of identifying one’s strengths (retrieved from https://www.gallup.com/builder/225317/ testimonials.aspx): Beverly Kracher, Ph.D. (Professor): “You can’t build something without thinking about the talent that you have and the talent around you . . . Having a well-rounded team with different kinds of leaders is essential to building a great organization.” Jeff Slobotski (Investor): “Focusing on a person’s talent so early in the creation of a company is essential . . . At the end of the day, business is all about people.” Shonna Dorsey (Community Builder): “I am excited to build more collaborative communities. I think there is a lot of strength and diversity and inclusion in being intentional about it and not just seeing it from a racial and ethnic perspective.”

Ego or Adult Development Approach The burgeoning field of adult development theory (also ego development theory) is a fairly new approach to workplace and lifetime development that brings adult development into the workplace around questions of growth, change, and complexity. Transformational learning posits that adult development moves through a logical sequence of stages, each of which sees an ever deeper unfolding of human potential around place and role in the world throughout a lifespan. What it holds in common with workplace wellbeing most immediately is that both lenses emphasize the need to consider the broader dimension of what it is to be human in pursuit of a wholehearted life. Where workplace wellbeing explores dimensions of job satisfaction and productivity, transformational learning describes a rich landscape where those engaged at work find varying and expanding meanings across the span of their careers. Most importantly, both approaches recognize that the way people make sense of the world around them is a fundamental consideration of work life that affects myriad dimensions of professional and personal lives up to and including organizational success. A number of scholars work in the area of adult development, and some focus in particular on the ways in which growth occurs and manifests itself in the workplace. The various theories themselves differ in their description of stages and phases, but overall they all hold that individuals growing over a lifetime mature in their world views and shift from static to dynamic, simple to complex, and self-centered to socio-centered over their lifetime. Two different frameworks are introduced that, although parallel to each other, present contrasting perspectives that supplement and expand the notion of workplace wellbeing in different ways. Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey’s work on adult development and individual change in the workplace is reviewed in order to locate

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intersections with wellbeing characterized by workplace support across development thresholds (Kegan and Lahey 2009). William Torbert’s (2004) work on Action Logics and Susanne Cook-Greuter’s descriptions of increasing ego embrace are introduced as touch points that connect to wellbeing through their consideration of complexity tolerance as a function of employee fit. In addition, these theories posit that individuals everywhere fulfill a compelling and ever-present need to make sense of their surrounding by assembling a coherent narrative about the world from the input that their overall work and life experience provides them. In this fashion, workplace wellbeing is a recognition that employees are storytellers and the workplace furnishes pieces of a story that employers would want to be told as positive and rewarding. In explaining the different stages, the ways in which that story is told across the adult development spectrum provide unique points of visibility into the motivating factors that individuals might seek in the workplace to construct a story that is meaningful and supportive of their overall growth and wellbeing. Kegan and Lahey situate their growth paradigms in the context of complexity and the responses individuals make to it. “When we experience the world as ‘too complex’ we are not just experiencing the complexity of the world. We are experiencing a mismatch between the world’s complexity and our own at this moment.” (Kegan and Lahey 2009, 12). Recognizing that the world or workplace will not reduce in complexity to suit need, their research explains how growth in mental and emotional capacity in adulthood allows adults to undergo cognitive and emotional leaps that permit the assimilation of increasingly complicated frameworks that would otherwise overwhelm earlier stages of mind. Their work carries a number of implications, but the primary implication for wellbeing is that adulthood and vocation are not exclusively about learning new things. They are fundamentally about reshaping the way we understand the world around us and the choices that we make that stem from the way we know the world. A number of findings and assumptions underpin Kegan and Lahey’s work and are worth including as they apply to Torbert and Cook-Greuter’s research as well. These include: • While mental complexity generally increases with the age of a population, age and seniority are not solely determinative of one’s level of mental complexity. • Development does not proceed continuously. It is accompanied by seasons of stability and status quo and periods of change. The tendency is for growth to plateau for significant periods of time. • Development is not guaranteed and fewer and fewer people reach subsequent plateaus. • There is no connection between worth, value, or happiness and higher plateaus. Higher is not necessarily better and the work world needs people at all levels. • Our development toward higher mental complexity is supported by our increasing ability to take more and more concepts, ideas, and attachments as object rather than as (solely) subject. For example: I am not my thoughts; rather, I have thoughts that I can direct my attention to in reflection in order to shift them if need be.

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Kegan and Lahey describe five total stages of development where the first two (the impulsive mind and the imperial mind, respectively) have roots in childhood and adolescence. While these two stages are rarely encountered in the workplace, Stage 3 socialized and Stage 4 self-authoring forms of mind predominate, and so they, along with the potential of Stage 5 self-transforming, assume center stage in the workplace when Kegan and Lahey apply their theories to how forms of mind intersect complexity. It is important to note that many people are between stages at any given time but still have a center of gravity that corresponds to a stage and that would inform their perspective on the world. 1. Stage 3: The socialized mind internalizes the perspectives of others to such an extent that it is impossible to separate what they believe from what a dominant group holds as true or valuable. Their development is formed by the expectations that surround them in their personal environment, and a sense of self is born when there is alignment between internal values and those values expressed by that with which they identify. Best expressed through relationships with others and belief systems, they have lost an internally coherent yet woefully inadequate perspective from childhood that is replaced by an identity that is fused with external perspectives that provide balance and stability in a complex adult world. At this level, the subject is her or his interpersonal relationships that they take as objects of interests and needs. 2. Stage 4: The self-authoring mind is able to define a sense of self without undue influence from external factors present in the surrounding environment. With a sense of self grounded in thoughts, emotions, and values independent from those offered by a group or system, the self-authored mind is able to develop and follow a sense of direction that is internally consistent and often focused on achievements and accomplishments and that is driven by the need to enact the very principles that are held by the self-authored mind as subject. While this level of mental capacity affords the ability to choose from among principles and values, their ability to explore their thoughts and feelings does not yet allow them to separate their identity and sense of worth from the carefully constructed system of beliefs that gives them meaning. 3. Stage 5: The self-transforming mind recognizes that it is not necessarily tied to any beliefs, identities, or roles but is rather a continual manifestation produced through the ongoing exploration of one’s beliefs, identities, and roles and conditioned continually through interactions with the surrounding environment. Liberated from a compulsion to hold an identity and self tightly as a reliable and often rigid expression of self as subject, the self-transforming mind sees complexity become the ground on which identity is constantly reinvented to account for a changing internal and shifting external landscape. At this stage, the subject is a shifting sense of self that simply is and that has the ability to author an identity as conditions and circumstances change. Each stage is, in a real sense, a reaction to what comes before it, especially where the ability to account for increasingly divergent voices and sources of information

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are concerned. The socialized mind, for example, is able to account for a modicum of diversity of perspectives by erasing their previously held insistence on an identity that goes about need fulfillment through often imperial means. This transition from stage to stage is also described in the work of Torbert and Cook-Greuter as vacillating between stages of ego differentiation and integration. Each successive stage is conditioned upon the need to either differentiate a sense of identity in opposition to or integration with a group. The first phase of development is typically presented as the period of conventional development, while the subsequent phase is referred to as post-conventional because of the widening realization that everyone is simply making sense of their lives as best they are able. This realization is strengthened by the understanding that identities are socially constructed patterns of human interaction generated by individual and societal responses. In what follows, Torbert provides the titles assigned to the stages, while much of the substance of the stages is sourced from Cook-Greuter’s comprehensive descriptions. Conventional Stages 1. The opportunist stage – the primary reality for this stage of development is the environment around them that they perceive to be a domain where they can exercise various forms of power in order to fulfill needs. Opportunists are always the protagonists in a story where it is “me against the world,” which makes trust and mutuality nearly impossible. This stage is often seen among children and is technically considered to be pre-conventional as it is exhibited in adulthood. 2. The diplomat stage – similar to Kegan and Lahey’s socialized mind, the diplomat relies on others’ opinions and perspectives to form a sense of self. They consider others’ perspectives in ways that foster their sense of self, but belonging and conforming to a group are of utmost importance as inclusion is the central value at this stage. Safety in numbers and a shared sense of purpose furnish the socialized mind with predigested distinctions and perspectives in a complicated world. Teenagers frequently demonstrate diplomatic tendencies in their total acceptance of peers’ views and their acceptance of predetermined roles. 3. The expert stage – where the diplomat seeks alignment, the expert seeks differentiation as a way to distinguish an identity against the conformity a group identity requires. This newfound identity of separateness expands alongside expertise in a given domain. Beliefs and values are reexamined and frequently discarded as ways of announcing a departure from group-setting norms. Capable of holding their identity as unique and distinct, they may scorn their previous belonging as they now view themselves as evolving in straightforward fashion through their life along more objective criteria, especially those concepts of self that spring from theories, plans, and information. This expertise and its lived expression are essential in establishing the self as superior to others yet leave experts exposed to criticism, which they may find threatening as it challenges their identity as an expert. 4. The achiever stage – this stage is the target development phase for Western culture as the achiever gains introspection into their internal world and

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independence that comes from choosing values and beliefs that they then identify with. Achievers care less for conformity or the perfectibility of their knowledge, and this is a defining feature of their uniqueness as they move from expert to achiever. Their quest for self-knowledge is supported by their expanding capabilities and successes and by their newfound ability to categorize information, events, and experience into useful variables. They believe that with the right methods, knowledge of the universe is within reach and that their improvement can be assured through effort, attention, and trial and error. What they lack, however, is appreciation for how they hold their knowledge for they cannot yet focus internally to explore the thought processes that are so useful for them in the real world. Believing they are the authors of their success, they acutely feel the responsibility to perform and succeed, often so much that they find themselves feeling inadequate when they fail to measure up. Post-conventional Stages 5. The individualist stage – the first post-conventional stage of development is characterized by the appreciation that individualists gain for their interdependence in the systems surrounding them. They realize that they influence the world around them in myriad ways, and it in return influences them in a continual cycle. Capable of standing outside the system that up until now has held them, they are able to observe themselves as participating in a game with no start or end. This new perspective gives them access to the values, beliefs, and assumptions they have held so tightly up until now. Questioning their thoughts and emotions in this fashion provides them with the vision to see beyond the previously unexamined ideas that may no longer find support in their current environment. The identity they previously cherished now appears as a construction that society helped them form. Moreover, an appreciation for the centrality of socialization’s role in identity formation is gained along with a realization that a fundamental subjectivity pervades all viewpoints, which can only ever be partial. Coming to know the truth that all meaning is socially and culturally determined allows them to observe themselves making meaning out of what the world presents with sufficient distance to begin to reject claims to certainty about the world. Knowing now that things are not necessarily what they appear to be, the individualist finds a (frightening) freedom of choice, free to explore the plethora of alternatives they might have previously chosen but were obscured from view. 6. The strategist stage – strategists acquire a systems view that helps them understand that multiple systems of relationships intersect in any given moment wherever they look. Their broadened timeframe and comprehension of the social and systemic impact of their work are supported by their enhanced ability to see patterns and trends that provide them insight into the “strategic” functioning of the broader contexts of their surroundings. They consciously strive toward a more integrated life thanks to a newfound self-determination capable of bridging various sub-identities and contexts that are always shifting. With milder selfdefense mechanisms, they also recognize the human requirements that growth entails and are able to open to a more holistic self-forgiving of mistakes because

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they see that everyone is forever moving along their own developmental path toward their own self-determined happiness. Thanks to this faith in others’ ability to make meaning out of the world around them, strategists are able to find solutions to problems and conflicts that serve a more wholehearted strategy that respects an individual’s autonomy while accounting for polarities that they would have previously concluded were unmanageable. It is interesting to note that strategists struggle with an enormous contradiction at this stage where they fail to see that their own grasping at perfectibility contradicts their burgeoning need to accept what simply is. 7. This acceptance of what simply is provides a bridge to the post-autonomous stages, which arrive with the realizations that nearly everything people encounter is a human-made construct and is therefore symbolic and abstract at heart. This includes the compelling desire to make sense out of all the contexts that the human mind is constantly selecting for its attention and processing. Alchemists are the most discussed out of the post-autonomous stage and are preoccupied with “the limits of discursive meaning making and with learning how to live with the existential paradox of being a mortal yearning for significance and immortality” (Cook-Greuter 2013, 85).

Implications for Workplace Wellbeing The adult development framework describes the ways in which those moving through developmental stages might experience the flow of events in their lives. Each stage provides a fairly stable way of processing the input that the senses take in and makes order out of it through cognitive, mental, and emotional lenses. Workplace wellbeing has traditionally focused on subjective experiences, attitudinal judgments, and job satisfaction, and numerous models have been published since the 1920s seeking to define and measure it. Given the lack of clarity or consensus around how to define and measure it, the implications of adult development theory are that wellbeing would mean different things to different people at different times in their lives as they progress through or remain in a given developmental plateau. Consider the Gallup Workplace Audit approach, which foregrounds the cognitive judgments individuals make over workplace conditions rather than explicitly measuring meaning or flow (Harter et al. 2003). Where in the Gallup audit wellbeing is in part defined as having opportunities at work to learn and grow, then a shift in the form of mind could potentially destabilize what an employee feels is an opportunity to learn and grow. Yet similarly, it could prompt the worker to ask new questions about their work and their workplace that provide new and welcome ways of seeing the world anew. The forms of mind one holds specify a certain distance between subject and object and imply an identity that has varying degrees of closeness from the criteria that would determine wellbeing. For example, the inability to put distance between a recent change in the workplace and one’s own affective experience may be particularly acute for the socialized mind, whereas the self-authoring mind may be capable

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of stepping back to see the ways in which a similar change could be used for other ends that promote one’s own and/or workplace goals and objectives. And for the self-transforming mind, such change is an opportunity to achieve distance and verify how much of the big picture the individual is actually seeing versus what predominates in her or his locus of attention at any one moment. This approach provides a novel insight into complexity, which is essentially an ever-increasing amount of change where cause and effect are not necessarily related or correlated. Complexity means different things for different people and positions throughout the organization, and it depends on many variables, including level of authority; degree of responsibility; proximity to and leverage over vision, mission, and strategic outcomes; as well as forms of mind. One of the simplest but most profound implications the frameworks of adult development present is that the lens someone uses to make sense of her or his world both enables and hinders interpersonal communications. While managers may think they are communicating clearly, the messages they are sending are being filtered through various ways of sensemaking that may allow the individuals using them to hear very different messages from their peers. For instance, almost any change initiative aimed at workplace wellbeing must be communicated properly from those tasked with creating, implementing, and messaging the project or initiative. It would be wise to take a comprehensive approach to communications that recognizes that the self-sovereign or opportunistic mind has little use for abstract thought. So if the psychological benefits of a program are presented, they should be communicated in ways that speak to the immediate benefits and concrete, long-term outcomes that are anticipated by those pushing the change. The socialized mind might seek out the group’s consensus before making her or his own determination as to how accepting peers will be of a wellbeing initiative so efforts to sway value setters in the organization may go a long way toward success. At the higher stages, other approaches would include the ability to provide an entry point where authoring one’s own story may appeal to the self-authored or achiever mindset, while the selftransforming or individualist/strategist mind may appreciate learning about the assumptions that underpin the proposed plan or the way it connects to things in the organization they care deeply about.

Fluidity of Leadership and Followership Roles in the Workplace The greatest threat to workplace wellbeing is probably the centuries-long hostility and mistrust between positional leaders and followers in organizations. Shaped by the scientific management, the industrial revolution has intentionally broken down work into specific responsibilities and roles such as routine tasks along a production line and management manuals on how to supervise subordinates to achieve maximum productivity. This process eventually divided the roles of leading and following in organizations by unnaturally creating static positional leaders and followers with distinct and parallel identities where the leader/manager is superior to the follower/subordinate (Koeber et al. 2003; Rost 1993). This stratification has

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resulted in the exploitation of human freedom and creativity at work at the expense of one’s self-worth and personal wellbeing. The outcome of the above division of labor has resulted in unequal distribution of decision-making power between leaders and followers, managers and subordinates, and resource allocations between employers and employees. History has shown us that often when leaders are elevated as heroes and even cult figures, they eventually cause social, political, and economic destruction, beginning with antiquity and continuing through the industrial era in the Western world. Industrial leadership and leader-follower relationships are increasingly being challenged among the twenty-first-century global workforce. Sociologists and social psychologists observe a major cultural and generational shift from Boomer to Millennial generations in the areas of communication styles, acquisition and dissemination of information, interpersonal relationships, the concept of physical and virtual space, and their attitude toward leadership authority, corporate loyalty, and commitment (Cunningham et al. 2015; Deal et al. 2010). Scholars who try to bridge the generational divide between Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials to increase productivity and profit observe major differences between them. Millennials, for instance, are team players, and having an organizational impact motivates them. They like open communication with their supervisors, and unlike Boomers, they tend to have different perspectives on the workplace, supervisor-subordinate relationships, cultural diversity, task performance, and information technologies (Myers and Sadaghiani 2010). Millennials lack loyalty and work ethics established by Boomer and Gen X and tend to establish their own ethics and functional work relationship (McGuire et al. 2007). These and other empirical findings seem to suggest that a new organizational paradigm is underway for the twenty-first-century global workforce and what workplace wellbeing means. It is more likely that Millennials create their own organizational structures that fit their worldview and meet their personal and group needs. With the vision of new organizational paradigm and subsequent leadership styles due to generational differences, it is even more important to ask the following questions to challenge the industrial leadership and leader-follower relationship. Can there be a balance between extreme leader-centric and follower-centric paradigms of leadership toward healthier work relationships between leaders and followers? What would it take to create new organizational structures where individuals engage in work activities based on their personal strengths, interests, and passions to unleash human creativity and reach personal and group satisfaction at work? Can organizations survive and thrive with less positional and more functional and relational followers and leaders? To address the questions, the future of leadership processes in the workplace will be examined from a multiple identity paradigm where individuals may lead in one and follow in another situation or context. Today, we are living in the postindustrial and post-structuralist era of process leadership where more and more followers engage in the leadership process in the workplace and the cult of leadership becomes ever more distasteful (Kelley 1992). Additionally, the values-based theories such as transformational, servant, ethical, inclusive, mindful, and adaptive leadership seem to stay in opposition to the

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hierarchical, less inclusive, or transformational structure of current organizations and their hiring and firing practices. Unlike the leader-centric and hierarchical paradigm of corporate leadership, the process-based approach to leadership offers more inclusive and fluid work relationships in the workplace (Collinson 2006; Gill et al. 1999). When more than one person is involved in decision-making processes in the workplace, it sets the stage for dialogue and mutual accountability between leaders and followers (Howell et al. 1990). The research on role identity theories offers helpful insights into understanding human capability of playing multiple roles in society. For instance, individuals often occupy more than one social position and play more than one role in society, enabling them to develop multiple selves or identities, such as spouse, parent, worker, and volunteer, through internal identity functioning and external verification processes (Burke and Stets 2009). Very little has been said, however, in research about leading and following roles that individuals may engage in at work to create mutually beneficial and healthier relationships between those who lead and those who follow in an organizational context. Can the exchange of leading and following roles create healthier relationships? This investigation takes these questions one step further in the workforce to develop competencies in leading and following with an assumption that trading leader-follower roles in organizations may minimize power abuse, eliminate social identity stereotyping for followers (Van Dick et al. 2007), and reduce psychological distress (Wethington et al. 2000). Multiple identities may interact across persons in a given situation (e.g., individuals working together to accomplish a group task) (Stets and Burke 2014). Further, multiple role identity theories help to conceptualize how the Leader-Follower Trade (LFT) approach may work in organizational settings, according to which “[l] eadership–followership processes occur in relationships and leading–following functions are exchangeable behaviors in human relationships. Thus, leaders and followers trade their functions from leader to follower and from follower to leader in order to develop their intrapersonal perspectives, foster interpersonal relationships, and maximize mutual effectiveness” (Malakyan 2014, 11). In other words, leaders and followers may interchangeably or simultaneously function as leaders and followers, if they are willing and equipped to exchange their roles for the benefit of the group and organization. This may be feasible only if the future workforce acquires leading and following skills (personal competency) and develops willingness (ego development) to become hybrid leaders-followers by interchanging their roles (Cox et al. 2010). Today’s pluralistic and multifaceted social reality of the postindustrial world demands that people operate from the leader and follower multiple role identities either interchangeably or simultaneously in order to match one’s self-image with social expectations (Schachter 2005). After all, “the role of followers and leaders are no longer as clearly demarcated as they used to be. We need to acknowledge both parts of ourselves” (Kelley 1992, 9). Leadership research moved from the leader-focused to the process-based understanding of leadership, which requires leader-follower relationship. The

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process approach to leadership asserts that leadership is not about the person but the process of relationships between those who lead and those who follow in context. According to identity salience hierarchy, a person’s idealized self-perceptual control system may create an identity hierarchy known as identity salience. One’s multiple role identities, developed during the socialization process, are structured in a salience hierarchy within one’s self (Stryker 1980/2002; Stryker and Serpe 1994). Role identities that are prioritized in the salience hierarchy motivate and drive one’s behavior. For instance, if a person chooses to take a leadership role at work as opposed to being a follower, that means that the leading role behavior is her or his identity salience. Thus, individuals, who adjust their leading and following behaviors to reflect the social value expectations, internally create identity salience hierarchies, where leadership is often perceived as a superior and followership as an inferior role, at least in organizations in the United States. The identity salience hierarchy explains why individuals in some cultures may prefer not to be identified with followership and strive for leadership identity instead. It provides a rationale for understanding why people in some social contexts are identified with a preferred leading role identity as opposed to non-preferred following role identity and why leading becomes their identity salience in the hierarchy of multiple identities. Additionally, after identifying with multiple role identities, individuals prioritize their identities in a salience hierarchy within their inner self. The identities occupied at the top of the hierarchy are those that motivate the individual the most and make her or him feel significant through the identity verification process. From the leadership perspective, if a person prefers the leader role identity over the follower role identity, the leader identity becomes one’s identity salience as a preferred role identity. The identity salience hierarchy may also explain why identity verification for followers often becomes irrelevant due to certain societal expectations (Burke 2006). Moreover, from the identity accumulation theory perspective, multiple role identities might well serve one’s emotional and psychological wellbeing (Thoits 1983). Although some studies indicate that multiple role identities increase or stretch depression and demand more time and energy (Brook et al. 2008), numerous studies suggest that multiple role identities reduce psychological distress (Wethington et al. 2000), physical health issues, or both (Barnett and Hyde 2001). In today’s complex social structures, people often occupy more than one social position and play more than one role in society. Through social processes, one may function as a leader in one and a follower in another social context toward the development of multiple selves or identities (Burke and Stets 2009) such as leader, follower, and other, which may contribute toward the wellbeing of individuals. Perhaps by overcoming the incompetency of leading and following among the workforce, maximizing human potential and creativity at work, and developing egos that are willing to interchange leading and following roles in the workplace, it is quite possible to resolve one of the greatest existential threats to workplace wellbeing – a centuries-long hostility and mistrust between positional leaders and followers in organizations.

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Implications to Workplace Wellbeing The integration of process-based leadership with multiple role identity theories offers new solutions to leader-follower relationships and workplace wellbeing. The workplace wellbeing begins with the physical wellbeing of the individual outside of the work environment. For instance, Wethington and associates argue that women who play multiple roles at home and work as wives, mothers, and wage workers “have a higher level of physical wellbeing than nonemployed mothers” (Wethington et al. 2000, 53). Thus, it is more likely that individuals who operate from multiple role identities have a greater chance to stay physically and psychologically healthy and be able to contribute toward the wellbeing of the workplace than those who function out of one role only. The research shows that to stay physically and psychologically healthy, one must engage in multiple role behaviors at home and at work. Barnett and Hyde, by departing from theories of functional, psychoanalytic, sociobiological, and evolutionary psychology with their gender pervasiveness views on personal abilities and social behaviors, proposed expansionist theory for the twenty-first-century work and family and offer empirical evidence to argue that multiple roles men and women play in society reduce stress-related mental and physical health problems (Barnett and Hyde 2001). Along with other scholars, they insist that multiple roles, in general, are beneficial when individuals engage in different roles in the family, at work, and in society and thus develop multiple role identities. There seems to be a consensus among scholars that multiple role identities make people feel physically and psychologically healthier. For instance, from the perspective of identity accumulation theory, Thoits concluded: “The greater number of identities possessed, the less psychological distress” (1983, 181). Practicing multiple roles at work may help positional leaders and followers see a physical and emotional benefit in trading their roles in the workplace in order to reduce stress. This requires a mutual willingness to exchange roles and develop competency to function as a leader or a follower. Through reciprocal agreements individuals may develop multiple volunteer identities at work, which in turn may reduce stress caused by one role. Without volunteer participation, new roles may create unnecessary interpersonal and expectation conflicts (Katz and Khan 1978) and increase stress. Thus, it is essential that leaders and followers mutually agree to engage in volunteer role exchange activities at work to improve workplace wellbeing. This notion finds support in Thoits’ finding between identity structures and psychological wellbeing that “the role-identities which are more voluntary [. . .] reduce distress and substance use more than other role-identities” (Thoits 1992, 247). Thus, viewing the multiplicity of leader and follower roles as fluid rather than static behavior may generate positive relationships between leaders and followers toward the reduction of the workplace stress and the increase of individual and group wellbeing. The pluralistic and multifaceted social reality of the postmodern world demands people to operate from the leader and follower multiple role identities either interchangeably or simultaneously in order “to match the self-image as seen by the

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individual with the one seen by the significant others around her” (Schachter 2005, 141). Thus the future of workplace wellbeing for the new generation lies in equipping and developing hybrid leader-followers capable of multiple role identities who seem to care more for the wellbeing of individuals and interpersonal relationships than to produce and consume more. As Diener and Seligman argue, workplace wellbeing is not dependent on economic indicators alone (e.g., high wages) but also on supportive and positive social relationships (Diener and Seligman 2004) as well as personal flourishing and happiness (Seligman 2011). Such a symbiotic process of leading and following between individuals with multiple roles may create an environment of (1) mutual trust and respect between context-based and situational leaders and followers; (2) mutual influence and fair distribution of power and resources among the members of the organization; (3) cultivating both leading and following skills to develop hybrid individuals and teams capable of leading and following for the benefit of the group or the organization; and (4) mutually accountable and two-way organizational communication. The role exchange has been beautifully displayed in nature. If aviation industry learns how to build planes from flying birds, why can’t scholars and practitioners of leadership and organizational studies learn from migrating geese and ducks how to lead whom so willingly and skillfully exchange their roles from leader to follower and from follower to leader for the benefit of the group goal? It is well-known fact that leading requires extra energy and efforts. It can be tiring and exhaustive. It can be stressful for the person in charge of the group or organization. Why not consider an organizational structure where leadership roles are rotated or exchanged, much like geese, not only to reduce stress for themselves but also create a healthy environment for others to lead? Cebula and Millard derive five lessons from wildlife scientists on migrating geese from Canada, lessons they applied in their work to the Butler University Men’s Basketball team: 1. When geese fly together, each goose provides additional lift and reduces air resistance for the goose flying behind it, 2. When a goose drops out of the v-formation, it quickly discovers that it requires a great deal more effort and energy to fly, 3. Geese rotate leadership, 4. Geese honk at each other, 5. Geese help each other (Cebula and Millard 2012, 50–53).

Can we be as cooperative, collegial, and competent as geese to reduce stress and increase workplace wellbeing by interchangeably overcoming the “air pressure” together, value the benefits of team accomplishments, intentionally and willingly exchange leading roles without personality and ego conflicts, “honk at each other” through information technology, and exhibit humility and willingness to help and seek help? Some scholars and practitioners use the term “fluid leadership” in connection with the restructuring of organizational hierarchy to “hierarchy of purpose” by getting rid of traditional roles and job titles of managers (e.g., Zappos CEO Tony

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Hsieh promoted “self-management” instead of traditional managers) (retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/zappos-ceo-tony-hsieh-on-misconception-aboutholacracy-2016-2). Attempts have been made to take power from executives and managers and distribute it among all employees who share a common purpose and yet are responsible for specific tasks and functions within the company. This approach may be successful if followers or company associates acquire leadership competencies and lead when necessary. As David Marquet, retired US Navy captain, puts it, “we have been genetically and culturally programmed to take charge and make it happen, to take control and attract followers, but what you want is to give control and create leaders” (Inno-Versity Presents: Greatness by David Marquet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psAXMqxwol8). Additionally, in team sports, the rotation of roles has proven to be not only useful but also empowering. The fluidity of roles is a way of life born of the natural order in order to avoid stagnation and establish dual relationships and mutual expectations (retrieved from https://blog.liberationist.org/why-you-need-to-rotate-your-teamroles-3c38cb9f847a). This seemingly utopian multiple role identity fluidities of leadership and followership may be realized in organizations where there is a high degree of willingness and competency to interchangeably shift leading and following roles in organizations for mutual empowerment and organizational goal accomplishments. Fluidity might just be the answer to the ever-changing workforce landscape for the twenty-first century with newer generational leadership styles than those that arose in the industrial age. Fixation is the way to death. Fluidity is the way to live. (Miyamoto Musashi) Fluidity and discontinuity are central to the reality in which we live. (Mary Catherine Bateson)

Relational Model Approach The workplace is a social environment with diversified human relationships. The quality of human relationships affects workplace wellbeing, so to improve workplace wellbeing, it is essential to first understand the basic forms of human relationships in general social settings. Fiske has categorized four basic forms of human relationships in social settings in his unified relational models theory (RMT). These forms are Communal Sharing, Authority Ranking, Equality Matching, and Market Pricing (Fiske 1992). In Communal Sharing, relational partners are equivalent and undifferentiated and have a shared identity. For example, people in a nonprofit organization (e.g., churchgoers) and members of a family (e.g., husband and wife) participate in Communal Sharing social relationships as they share their communal resources and contribute to communal wellbeing. In Authority Ranking, one person leads and

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takes precedence, while the others follow and defer. A priest’s relation to churchgoers and parents’ relation to children take the form of Authority Ranking. In Equality Matching, people keep track of favors and obligations and maintain balance by in-kind reciprocity, equal division of labor, and turn-taking. Yet another example would be volunteers in a church who contribute their varying expertise yet equally share responsibilities or parents taking turns shuttling children to school. In Market Pricing, each person seeks to gain a suitable rate of return for her/his investment of time, money, or effort. For instance, a church sells its real property at market price, and a family business sells its products/services to customers for monetary return. As illustrated with the above examples, an individual’s approach to social relations can be diverse and is often situational. One does not adopt or stick to only one form of social relations; one also chooses a combination of social relations depending on the context of the situations. Leadership and followership with welldefined roles of leader and follower typically fall into the Authority Ranking social relation. In most workplaces, especially in for-profit organizations, leader and follower are also in a Market Pricing social dynamic because they typically seek monetary compensation in the form of salary as a suitable rate of return for their roles and work. Fluid leadership and followership, however, enable the Communal Sharing and Equality Matching forms of social relations as well. Followers may take Authority Ranking as the main form of social orientation to their leader; they may also take Equality Matching as the main form to their fellow teammates within a sports setting and take Communal Sharing shared team identity to outsiders. In congruence with the multi-role identities theory, a person is nested in multiple forms of social relations with multi-role possibilities. In other words, depending on the context and task at hand, someone may assume different role identities and their relationship with others may require the taking of multiple forms of social relations. As mentioned above, in a situation with clear leader and follower roles, a leader may take Authority Ranking relation to followers and Market Pricing relation to the organization. In a situation with fluid leader and follower roles in multiple tasks, a leader may take Communal Sharing and Equality Matching relations to followers; and with Communal Sharing relation, there is no differentiation between leader and follower roles. Gilstrap and Morris suggest “nonprofits need to understand followership as an organizing concept through which members emerge from leader to follower or from follower to leader dependent on strategic organizational and stakeholder needs” (Gilstrap and Morris 2015, Abstract). The former president of Southwest Airlines Colleen Barrett adopted the servant leadership model for her organization. This model prioritizes the care of its employees before that of the customers. She argued that “treating all team members as equals – regardless of their title or seniority – and letting your staff know you believe in them is crucial when creating a productive workplace environment” (retrieved from https://www. tonyrobbins.com/career-business/how-has-southwest-airlines-made-money-for-30-plusyears-while-other-airlines-barely-survive/). At the lowest level of granularity (i.e., two individuals as a team), the complexity of social relations depends on the various forms and the fluidity of the social

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relations between the individuals. For example, “it takes two to tango” says Ira Chaleff, a leading author on followership, when it comes to workplace relations between leaders and followers. There is more to team dynamics than “leader + follower.” These two roles are woven together and interconnected. Leaders cannot function effectively without the followers’ “collaborative and supportive dance.” Followers, in turn, may “enhance or hinder the leader’s excellent fulfillment of their role.” (Retrieved from https://embracingfollowership.com/2016/08/23/leaderfollower-it-takes-two-to-tango/. Ira Chaleff put together a tango dance analogy that elevates the role of the follower in organizations. To watch the video, click the above link.) When team sizes get larger, the complexity of social relations increases exponentially. Such a complexity further increases at the organizational level because an organization often has multiple layers of hierarchical authorities and multiple teams at each hierarchical level. The problem seems to lie not only in the hierarchical structures of the organizations but also in the relationships between leaders and followers themselves, a situation that occasionally ends with abuse of leadership power and position. To minimize this risk, some communities and cultures advocate for hybrid organizational structures (mixture of hierarchical and flat) with more of Equality Matching relations and less of Authority Ranking relations. For instance, to be able to minimize hindrances for collaboration and innovation, some organizations find a middle ground to facilitate communications in order to boost employee morale by fostering innovation and collaboration. Audrey Tang, author of The Leader’s Guide to Mindfulness, writes: “It’s worth remembering business success is often less about the structure, but how you deal with people at an individual level. . .Hire someone for one job, but fail to tell them they’re likely to have to do x, y and z too, and it breeds discontent because people feel they’ve been misled. It’s far better to recognize people as individuals and train them for change. When this happens, talent tends to flourish whatever the environment, flat or hierarchical” (see Tang (2018). The quote is retrieved from https://www.raconteur.net/business-innovation/hierar chy-flat-structure). The increase in complexity of social relations echoes what Wellman stated that theories focusing on individuals cannot fully account for the dispersed, dynamic realities of leadership (Wellman 2017). Wellman emphasized the recognition that group members socially construct leadership and leadership is shaped by the group context. Wellman developed a relational models leadership theory in which shared cognition and contextual features presented early in a group may produce leadership emergence effects. He added that some groups may adopt an Authority Ranking model where leadership is consolidated, and others may adopt a Communal Sharing model where leadership is the collective responsibility of all members. Group members’ relational model convergence is consistent with leadership emergence. However, there may be events (e.g., special contexts) that can radically change group members’ perception of leadership. For example, leadership in crisis situations such as when there is high-risk task at hand (e.g., an active shooter, terrorist attack) may be perceived and exercised as more directive than participatory. Should it be rejected because of its authoritarian nature? The situations leadership scholars say “no”

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because different situations require different leadership styles (see situations leadership in Blanchard and Johnson (2015), Hersey et al. (2012)). To address the increased complexity in social relations, Fiske further developed a theory of metarelational models (MeRMs) that extends interpersonal relationships of Communal Sharing, Authority Ranking, Equality Matching, and Market Pricing to combinatorics of relations. It identifies six elementary forms of MeRMs with the taxonomy based on the number of persons, the number of relations among them, and the number of different kinds of relations. These six elementary forms of MeRMs provide norms to ethically navigate the complexity of social relations at the organizational level by introducing controls, termed “entailment” and “preclusion” by Fiske. Where two relationships are incompatible – the combination of them is “precluded” or prohibited, taboo, or inconceivable. MeRM theory depicts relationships that are shared and culturally informed, especially regarding the “entailment,” according to Fiske. Incest is a taboo in general for humans and animals, but polygamy varies by culture. MeRMs can be applied to explain the complexity in leadership and followership. For example, an authoritarian leader may strongly enforce strict followership and prohibit followers from taking on leading roles. In other words, a strict authoritarian leader only permits Authority Ranking relation between leader and followers. In comparison, a democratic leader may allow flexibility and role exchange from follower to leader and from leader to follower. Thus followers may take multiple roles and all four basic forms of relations between leader and followers are possible. In other words, only Authority Ranking relation between leader and followers is permitted. In comparison, a democratic leader may allow for much more flexibility in the roles of followership. The leader and followers can even have all four basic forms of relations. When there are more than just one leader and one follower, the relationships among leaders and followers need to further explained by more complex and challenging MeRMs. More interestingly, can these complex MeRM relationships reflected in leadership and followership foster workplace wellbeing and flourishing? To address this question, consider the following leadership-followership scenarios based on Fiske’s six elementary forms of MeRMs (see Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6).

Implications to Workplace Wellbeing Workplace wellbeing refers to both social and individual wellbeing. Since social wellbeing largely affects individual wellbeing and social relations were the focus of discussion related to relational models, it is social wellbeing that is emphasized here. RMs and MeRMs are ubiquitous and salient in everyday society (Fiske 2011); RMs and MeRMs are naturally presented in every workplace. Hence, the quality of social relations (CS, AR, EM, and MP relations in RMs) and the combinatorics of social relations at those in MeRMs are essential contributing factors to social wellbeing in the workplace.

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Fig. 1 2Persons – 2Relationships – 2Kinds. MeRM 1 (2p2r2k) – Scenario 1. Leader A is involved in Authority Ranking and Communal Sharing relationships with follower A. Although leader A is follower A’s supervisor at work in Company A, they both serve on the board of directors for a charitable trust, Company B. However, Authority Ranking and Communal Sharing relationships preclude each other because legal rules and policies in place prohibit leader A and follower A from engaging in any type of illegal financial transactions between Companies A and B such as money laundering, bank fraud, and others

Fig. 2 3Persons – 2Relationships – 1Kind. MeRM 2 (3p2r1k) – Scenario 2. Leader A and followers A and B are involved in Authority Ranking relationships. In other words, leader A is the supervisor of followers A and B. Leader A and follower A are both heterosexual males, entailing other relationships such as eating and working together in the same work space. However, the same Authority Ranking relationship between leader A and follower B, who is a female, precludes other relationships such as being alone together in the same room or having romantic relationships with one another according to universal human resources rules and regulations

MeRMs are “emotionally imbued, motivationally powerful, and morally laden” (Fiske 2011, 16). Therefore, the quality of MeRMs in the workplace is linked with the emotions of leader/followers, the degree of incentive compatibilities in organizational design that influences leader and followers’ motivations, and the degree of morality recognition by both leaders and followers in the workplace. In addition, MeRMs are also shared and culturally informed. Therefore the quality of MeRMs in

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Fig. 3 3Persons – 2Relationships – 2Kinds. MeRM 3 (3p2r2k) – Scenario 3. Leader A is involved in Authority Ranking relationships with followers A and B, while follower A and follower B are in Communal Sharing relationships. Followers A and B are married. As a supervisor, leader A’s Authority Ranking relationships with followers A and B may entail Communal Sharing relationships such as sharing meals, travel arrangements, and leisure time together. However, leader A’s Authority Ranking relationship precludes Communal Sharing relationships with followers A and B such as invading their privacy by telling them where to live, what to wear, and how many children to have, let alone having romantic relationships with them. The abuse of leadership power or position for personal gain or pleasure is punishable by law

Fig. 4 3Persons – 3Relationships – 1Kind. MeRM 4 (3p3r1k) – Scenario 4. Leader A (male) is the supervisor of leader B (female), while the latter is the supervisor of follower A (female). All three are involved in Authority Ranking relationships, which may entail some level of supervisory relationships between leader A and follower B. However, this Authority Ranking relationship precludes cultivating illegal transactional relationships between leader A and follower B such as compliance with unlawful acts or offering sex as an exchange for the company’s services and benefits. The company has strict human resources rules and regulations against sexual harassments and any form of sexual exchange between leaders and followers as a condition for receiving the company’s services and benefits

the workplace is also contextual to organizational and/or team’s shared identity and culture, which is often influenced by the multiple roles of leaders and followers, the fluidity of leadership and followership, and the relational models between leaders and followers.

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Fig. 5 3Persons – 3Relationships – 2Kinds. MeRM 5 (3p3r2k) – Scenario 5. Leader A (female), followers A (female) and B (male) are involved in Authority Ranking and Market Pricing relationships. Leader A is the supervisor of followers A and B. The following relationships may be entailed or precluded: (1) Equal pay may entail for followers A and B, despite their gender differences, due to the Market Pricing relationships with leader A and (2) the Authority Ranking relationships between leader A and followers A and B may preclude a Market Pricing relationship that results in equal pay for followers A and B due to a gender bias. The company has adopted a strong policy against gender discrimination to ensure unequal earnings for the same job are eliminated. However, organizational leaders follow other policies such as qualifications based on education and years of experience that may justify unequal pay

For instance, all six elementary MeRMs in the above six scenarios are either “emotionally imbued,” “motivationally powerful,” “morally laden,” or “culturally informed”: Scenario 1: It is immoral, at least in the United States, to create organizational schemes for money laundering or avoiding paying taxes. Thus it is immoral for leader A to be engaged in illegal activities. Neither is it moral for follower A to carry out illegal orders or be a part of any immoral practices between Company A’s business and Company B’s charitable trust. Scenario 2: It is unethical, at least in this context, for leader A, who is a male, to maintain the same relationship with follower B, who is female, as that with

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Fig. 6 3Persons – 3Relationships – 3Kinds. MeRM 6 (3p3r3k) – Scenario 6. Leader A is involved in Authority Ranking relationships with follower A while in a Communal Sharing relationship with follower B. An Equality Matching relationship may entail from Authority Ranking and Communal Sharing relationships. Suppose leader A supervises a research project in her university with follower A to address a community need. Leader A is also a volunteer member of a community council and has follower B helping her to create employment opportunities for the region. After introducing follower A to follower B, it is more likely that an Equality Matching relationship may entail between followers A and B. An Equality Matching relationship between followers A and B, however, may be precluded due to organizational or financial conflicts of interest

follower A, who is male. The Authority Ranking relationship prohibits leader A from having intimate relationships with follower B according to human resources rules and regulations. The awareness for what is permissible and not permissible in leader-follower relationships may contribute toward a mindful workplace wellbeing. Scenario 3: Leaders occasionally take advantage of their followers’ vulnerabilities by tempting them into moral compromises. In a healthy and supportive work environment, privacy and independence are protected rather than exposed or misused. Scenario 4: To build a healthy organizational culture, leaders and followers must refrain from motivating each other with unethical and illegal proposals. For example, in a movie called Indecent Proposal, a young married couple encounters a billionaire who offers 1 million dollars if he can spend one night with the wife. Due to the financial hardships, they both agree to his indecent proposal and end up destroying their marriage for many years (see https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/ pmwiki.php/Film/IndecentProposal). A workplace that cares for people’s wellbeing prevents such harms to occur in leader-follower relationships. Scenario 5: People who work in organizations, regardless of their gender, are all seeking decent wages for their investment of time and efforts in the company. Unfortunately, some people are paid less for the same job due to bias and discrimination (i.e., female wage gap). When employees are appreciated and treated fairly, it boosts the company’s morale and makes it an emotionally healthier and a welcoming place to work. It is economically less costly to treat people with dignity and respect in order to prevent turnover rather than spending time and resources to hire and train new employees.

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Scenario 6: Making charity donations as an organization in order to look good and be acceptable in the community and writing checks to nonprofits or charities are not uncommon corporate acts nowadays. However, what is the motivation behind and what is the real outcome of such contributions? For instance, on January 18, 2018, the Politico reported: President Donald Trump’s personal charity will shut down and disperse whatever funds it still has under a new agreement announced Tuesday by New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood. The attorney general’s office sued the Trump Foundation in June, alleging the president and several of his children used it for their personal and political benefit. That lawsuit, which seeks millions of dollars in restitution, will continue, even as the foundation agrees to cease existence. (Retrieved from https://www.politico.com/ story/2018/12/18/trump-foundation-to-shut-down-1067924)

The application of relational and metarelational models at workplace is diverse and complex. The above scenarios are only few demonstrative examples in various contexts of leadership and followership. They demonstrate that the quality of social relations – an indicator of workplace wellbeing – is situationally aware in its social structure, organizational design, and cultural context within the bounds of legality and morality. Recognizing legality, morality, and other organizational and cultural contexts of complex social relations provides the underlying ground of safety that is essential for workplace wellbeing and flourishing.

Summaries and Conclusion What is workplace wellbeing? First, it is self-awareness at the individual level. You live, act, and behave according to the self-awareness of who you are by utilizing your innate talents and abilities for the benefit of the self and others. Second, it is about dynamic development from who you were in the past, who you are now, to who you may become in the future through the process of personal development at the individual level as well as through interactions with others at the organizational level. Third, it is not about you as the leader or the follower in a given context, but about the fluidity and the dynamic relational processes at work to do good and not cause harm and to build others up rather than diminish them. Fourth, it is about relations you build at work in today’s interconnected world, be it from elementary relational models between two individuals to more complex metarelational models among multiple coworkers, workgroups, and workplaces. Workplace wellbeing is about nurturing self-respect, respect of others and the law of the land, exercising fairness and justice when distributing labor and profit, being inclusive and tolerant of human diversity as a gift rather than an obstacle, and being able to balance personal and group interests at work. Imagine if you and I were to multiply good within the boundaries of mutually agreed and permissible “entailed” and prohibited “precluded” dynamic relationships by thinking, acting, and behaving in accord with what it means to be ethical and

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well-rounded virtuous individuals. Such a workplace built by such virtual, welldeveloped beings would no doubt be a sanctuary for collective wellbeing.

Cross-References ▶ Fostering Workplace Well-Being Through Servant Leadership ▶ Positive Psychological Well-Being at Work: The Role of Eudaimonia ▶ Purpose, Meaning, Joy, and Fulfillment at Work ▶ Purpose, Meaning, and Well-Being at Work ▶ Toxic Leadership and Workplace Bullying: The Role of Followers and Possible Coping Strategies ▶ Western Wisdom Traditions and Workplace Spirituality

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Workplace Well-Being and Human Flourishing: A Case Model of Homeboy Industries and Reducing Gang Recidivism

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H. Eric Schockman and Cody Thompson

Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Origins of Workplace Wellness Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Wellness in the Private Sector at the Turn of the Twentieth Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Wellness in the Private Sector at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century . . . . . . . . . . . Opportunity for Paradigmatic Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Ethical Virtuous Life Applied to the Nonprofit Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Human Flourishing and the Human Dignity-Centric Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Human Dignity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Initial Exploration of Qualifying Flourishing Within the Human Dignity-Centric Model . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

This paper explores the history of human resource management and its contribution, or lack thereof, to human wellness and flourishing in the workplace. The role played by mental, social, and ethical models is considered, and the results of the programs that emerge from past models are found lacking. Because of this fact, and the potential for change that is presented by the latest industrial revolution, an alternative model is put forward. This alternative model, the Human DignityCentric Model, was originally constructed by Mea and Sims. The ethical foundations therein can be traced back to Aristotle’s concept of virtue ethics and the H. E. Schockman (*) Center for Leadership, Woodbury University, Burbank, CA, USA e-mail: [email protected] C. Thompson Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_62

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more modern articulation of Catholic social doctrine and teaching. An example of this model in practice is found at Homeboy Industries, the Los Angeles, California-based nonprofit that is the largest gang rehabilitation and reentry program in the world. By using work as a vehicle for the cultivation of wellness and a virtuous life, Homeboy has left an indelible mark on the lives of its program’s participants and the fabric of the communities that it is involved in. An exploratory quantitative pilot study was conducted, and the results were in accordance with the author’s hypothesis regarding the potential for this model as a generalizable framework that can be applied across the nonprofit sector and beyond. Keywords

Human flourishing · Workplace well-being · Homeboy Industries · Eudaimonia · Gang intervention · Human Dignity-Centric Model · Radical kinship · Restorative justice

Introduction Effectively syncretizing academic theory and real-world practical application is a challenging, but necessary, undertaking. Gaps persist between theory and practice in fields as diverse as business strategy, advertising, and nursing (Gergely and Leonard 2007; Hughes et al. 2008; Rolfe 1998). Taking measures to bridge these gaps is necessary to ensure that nascent theories and conceptual models do not lay dormant and that their potential to confer benefits to practitioners and relevant stakeholders is fully realized. In an effort to accomplish this in the field of workplace well-being and human flourishing, a case model of Homeboy Industries (HBI) is presented here to illustrate Mea and Sims’ Human Dignity-Centric Model (2018) and demonstrate how it can be adapted to the nonprofit sector and social enterprises. Kuhn’s (1970) two-criterion test for paradigmatic change and scientific revolution and Lewin’s three-phase change model (1947) demonstrate that there is both an opportunity and a need for the implementation of alternative theories into the field of workplace well-being and flourishing. Once the need is established, the theory is outlined, and this outline is interwoven with a case study that focuses on the operations and practices of HBI, a gang intervention, rehabilitation, and reentry program based in Los Angeles, California. To demonstrate the impact that theoretical and conceptual models have on practitioners, the presentation of the Human Dignity-Centric Model and the HBI case model is preceded by a short exploration of the history and current state of workplace wellness initiatives. This review briefly outlines the impact that ideological and conceptual models have had on the development, selection, implementation, and evaluation of wellness programs. This concise overview is not exhaustive, and it is strictly illustrative in nature. This illustration acts as a backdrop against which the Human Dignity-Centric Model can be juxtaposed and made more vivid.

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Origins of Workplace Wellness Programs Workplace wellness programs, the ostensibly modern efforts that some may quickly associate with pedometers, fitness apps, and nap pods, are a long existing by-product of biological and social influences converging upon one another. At the biological level, humankind is like all other living organisms in its compulsion to behave in ways that ensure survival and long-term viability (Brown and Richerson 2014). The drive to secure wellness and prosperity is an evolutionary imperative. This drive is compounded by religious and ideological frameworks that encourage individuals to engage in prosperity-seeking behaviors and to seek prosperity for the collective. The power of these frameworks, for example, is most notably presented in Weber’s Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1958). The interaction of biological imperatives and these ideological maxims made the emergence of wellness seeking an inevitability. This inevitability became a reality far before the advent of corporatesponsored gym memberships or smoking cessation programs. Just as the emergence of wellness-seeking behavior was an inevitability, so too were the codification and regimentation of these behaviors. While they are fairly rudimentary and lack the technical sophistication of many modern efforts, strategies for enhancing wellness date back multiple millennia and can be found in the texts of each of the three Abrahamic religions (Lapin 2014; Langbert and Friedman 2003; Zangoueinezhad and Moshabaki 2011). Wellness strategies can also be identified in secular texts, as similar wellness-enhancing strategies can be found in works like Sun Tzu’s The Art of War (Sun Tzu 1978). Despite their rapid ascendance in the twenty-first century, these examples make it clear that wellness programs, broadly conceptualized, are not strictly a modern phenomenon. It is important to acknowledge the historical roots of workplace wellness programs because they shape their current state. Many of the traditions that came about during the formative stages have become calcified, and these elements impact modern efforts. These anachronistic facets are impeding the success of well-intended modern programs and hindering progress.

Workplace Wellness in the Private Sector at the Turn of the Twentieth Century Despite the antediluvian roots of wellness seeking, the genesis of formalized workplace wellness programs for all intents and purposes did not occur until the twentieth century. The second industrial revolution, which produced the assembly line and enhanced the process of mass production (Kehoe et al. 2001), created technological and managerial disequilibrium. In Lewin’s change model, disequilibrium, or unfreezing, is a necessary antecedent for organizational change (Lewin 1947). One of the changes that occurred during this period was the way organizations managed and stewarded human resources. As manufacturing firms watched their machinery churn out widgets at previously unprecedented rates, they began to reconsider the way they utilized their human workforce. Many of these organizations began to form

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specific functional units that attempted to do so by focusing on the development and implementation of human resource management strategies, but the practice was not prevalent until 1912. The turning point, the metaphorical big bang of formalized human resource management in the modern Western industrialized sense, was the formation of the Employment Manager’s Association of Boston. After this seminal organization was established, similar associations sprang up in quick succession in other industrialized cities along the Eastern seaboard of the United States (Kaufman 2008). The establishment of these associations led to the rapid proliferation of the previously fledgling practice of human resource management. The modus operandi of most human resource managers at this time was to contribute to their organization’s overriding goal of profit maximization. They sought these ends by addressing what they dubbed the “labor problem” (Kaufman 2008). The linguistic framing labor as a problem is telling. This impersonal framing conceptualized the men, women, and children that toiled on the factory floors as just one of many inputs into the industrial system. Each individual worker was dissolved and stripped of their uniquely human qualities, and they were collectively reformed as a homogenized group labeled “labor” (Galloway and Vedder 2003). They became a line item on the company budget that did not differ from physical materials and resources. In addition to this depersonalization and relabeling, labor proved to be a problematic input because of the deficiencies, inconsistencies, and frailties that are inherent in humankind. Solving the labor problem equated to identifying strategies to maximize the reliability and functionality of the biological cogs within the organizational machine while mitigating the negative impact that their unavoidable deficiencies had on the organization’s bottom line. Employees were far from ends in and of themselves in the Kantian ethical tradition. As far as organizations and human resource managers of this era were concerned, the “wellness” of an employee was determined solely by their ability to contribute to the productivity of the organization. They were strictly means-to-the-organization’s-ends. Productive employees were deemed well, and an unproductive employee was deemed ripe for termination. The working conditions that emerged during this period are a striking illustration of the degree to which organizations favored their own wellness over the wellness of their workers. Inhumane and exploitative conditions were the norm. Twelve-hour shifts, child labor, sweltering heat, physical peril, and a complete lack of job security were just some of the unsavory facets of employment that laborers had to contend with (Budd 2005). These conditions swiftly, albeit crudely and inefficiently, extracted value from the employee. Once the employee’s value, what Marx would describe as their labor power (1906), began to wane, they were cast aside and replaced with another set of willing hands that reached out from the deep pool of available laborers (Kaufman 2010). As one withered employee exited, dozens of other fresh applicants leapt at the opportunity to assume the vacated position. This labor surplus made it possible for this system, which was fraught with inefficiencies, to continue to function and churn out goods and services. Progress was made when organizations began seeking a remedy for, rather than a reduction of, these inefficiencies. Scientific management eventually established

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itself as the preeminent approach. Largely the brainchild of Frederick Taylor, the man who penned The Principles of Scientific Management and earned the moniker of the father of scientific management (Kemp 2013), scientific management was a four-part theory focused on improving organizational efficiency. In short, it proposed that the effective division of individual tasks, if coupled with proper oversight and analysis, could have a multiplicative impact on outputs (Taylor 1967). By minimizing waste through scientific management, organizations were able to fully capitalize on their existing labor rather than watch much of it leak out of the system due to negative externalities caused by adverse working conditions. For a time, this was satisfactory, but when no more value could be extracted from the worker and transferred to the organization, organizations again sought to innovate. The next wave of innovation was focused on generating wellness for the employee. This represented a significant stride forward, as it was the first intentional development of employee wellness, but the ends that were sought remained the same. The programs that were put in place to generate employee wellness were enacted with the expressed intent of feeding that newfound verve and energy into the organization. With this end in mind, human resource management departments devised and implemented corporate welfare programs. Andrew Carnegie’s US Steel Corporation, once known for their velvet glove and iron fist approach to human resources, was one of the early proponents of this concept. After carefully calculating cost and benefit, organizations like US Steel parceled out housing, healthcare, and support for families (Kaufman 2010). Unfortunately, this well-being did not belong to the laborers. It was effectively loaned to them until it could be fed back into the organization. If this loan was not repaid, and if these programs did not sufficiently demonstrate their ability to positively impact the organization’s bottom line, they were swiftly and unceremoniously terminated (Kaufman 2010). Once again, corporate welfare proved to be little more than the prudent maintenance of the human cogs in enterprise. The methods that human resource managers implemented were now more advanced and effective than they were when the Employment Manager’s Association in Boston first met, but the model remained unchanged. The goal was still to maximize profit and the well-being of the organization by effectively leveraging human capital as a means toward that end. With these models still firmly in place, the window for change that was opened by the second industrial revolution began to close as bureaucratic organizations matured and became more rigid. To borrow from Lewin once more, these models became frozen, and organizations continued to adhere to them for decades.

Workplace Wellness in the Private Sector at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century Nearly a century after the second industrial revolution, a third industrial revolution sparked. This revolution, prompted by digitization and globalization, has led to sweeping changes in the form and function of organizations. In terms of form, the

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long-predicted shift away from rigid hierarchical systems and toward more egalitarian matrix structures (Bennis 1966; Scott 1995) has become a reality and has given rise to a new suite of desirable managerial competencies based on emotional and social intelligence (Boyatzis 2008). In terms of function, intellectual labor and creative tasks, which bear little resemblance to the smelting of steel, have increased in value as organizations emphasize outcomes over outputs (Wymbs 2012). Even the manufacturing process has undergone a paradigm shift courtesy of additive manufacturing (Durach et al. 2017). These sweeping changes have shaped the world of workplace wellness. At first glance, these programs appear entirely dissimilar to their forebearers, but familiar patterns are evident upon further examination. These familiar patterns can be traced back to the models that were frozen in place nearly a century ago. Similar to the second industrial revolution, the third industrial revolution has created a degree of disequilibrium and has begun to unfreeze organizational practices and behavioral patterns, thus opening a window for change. As a result, a flood of workplace wellness programs has entered the marketplace. The goals pursued by these programs are effectively summarized by the National Bureau of Economic Research, which stated that these programs are “intended to reduce medical spending, increase productivity, and improve well-being” (Jones et al. 2018). To curb the negative impact of everything from tobacco consumption, to obesity, to stress and psychological turmoil, large and small organizations alike are rapidly implementing programs. According to an analysis conducted by the RAND Corporation, more than 90% of organizations with over 50,000 members, 80% of those with 1000 or more members, and 50% of those with 50 or more members have some kind of workplace wellness program in place. Participation rates drop slightly for organizations with less than 50 members, where roughly 33% of organizations have a program in place, but these low rates are unlikely to remain (Mattke et al. 2015). Of organizations that lack workplace wellness programs, nearly half indicated that they would be adding one in the coming year (AON 2012). Program implementation appears to be reaching a saturation point, and these numbers clearly indicate that workplace wellness programs have proliferated a wide variety of industries and organizations. While they have effectively in taking root, workplace wellness programs have been slow to bear fruit. They have not yet fully delivered on their lofty promises. To begin, the rate at which organizations have implemented programs has far outpaced individual participation rates in the programs that are implemented. Programs struggle mightily to solicit participants, with somewhere between 50% and 75% of employees opting out (Toker et al. 2015). As a consequence, many organizations have turned to financial incentives and penalties to address these participation shortfalls. Seventy-five percent of programs offer incentives (Mattke et al. 2015), and the ascendant practice of installing punitive measures for non-participants has grown so ubiquitous that regulators have begun placing caps on penalties and surcharges (Batorsky et al. 2016). Despite humankind’s innate desire to be well and do well, these programs have thus far failed to entice employees to even sign up. Further, when programs do manage to generate

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sufficient interest, they frequently fail to make the desired impact. The research conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research found no significant causal effects on healthcare expenditures or employee productivity (Jones et al. 2018). These findings say nothing of the third goal, improved well-being, which is often neglected entirely. The failure of these programs to enlist participants and produce transformational change can be attributed, at least in part, to the outmoded frameworks that are applied, the anachronistic strategies that are implemented, and the ends that are pursued. First and foremost, these programs still reflect the framing of labor as a problem. They are fixated on addressing and minimizing maladies and assume that by removing illness, they will produce wellness. They fail to recognize that wellness is not merely the antithesis of illness. Second, these programs have a tendency to divide employees into discrete parts. Since the days of scientific management, organizations have attempted to facilitate experimentation and analysis by dividing tasks and employees into neat, tidy fractions. This failure to recognize the indivisible wholeness of humankind leads to programs that attempt to treat symptoms that emerge while ignoring the causes that exist elsewhere in the organism. Programs that do not account for the delicate interrelationships and dependencies that exist in human beings find themselves striking at branches while the roots go untouched. Finally, the explicit goals that are being pursued by many of these programs, the ends that are in mind, are no different from those that were sought by US Steel and the like during the second industrial revolution. They still intend to cut costs in the short term as they generate wellness which can be fed back into the organization in the long term. Wellness never truly belongs to the employee. The individuals who carry out these programs, no matter how well intended or capable, are bogged down by the century-old mental models and processes that remain in place. Fortunately, the third industrial revolution has opened the door to still greater change. The opportunity still exists for alternative models and revolutionary change in the area of human flourishing and mindfulness. If scholars and practitioners alike can capitalize on this inflection point, new egalitarian models have the potential to emerge, supersede the status quo, and establish themselves as viable alternatives for organizations of the future.

Opportunity for Paradigmatic Change Kurt Lewin’s change model can guide practitioners as they determine when an unfreezing event can invite change, and Thomas Kuhn’s preconditions for paradigmatic change can guide them as they determine whether or not truly revolutionary, transformational change can occur. In Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1970), Kuhn outlines two conditions that constitute paradigmatic change: (1) sufficiently unprecedented and (2) sufficiently open-ended (p. 10). Kuhn also makes a clear distinction between “normal science” and “revolutionary science.” Normal science depends on evolutionary theory. The

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scientific method propels movements forward incrementally as progress is made by standing on the shoulders of intellectual giants. The foundational models remain intact, and nuance is layered atop these foundational models as knowledge is generated. If the two necessary conditions for revolutionary change exist, normal science and its incremental muddling forward can be cast aside, and revolutionary science can take place. For Kuhn, revolutionary science occurs when a series of “anomalies” begin to occur in the course of scientific experimentation. These anomalies begin to blow Swiss cheese holes in predictions and traditional forecasting, forcing a reconsideration of the models and modes of thinking that inform those predictions and forecasts. When Kuhn’s insights are mapped onto the terrain of organizational behavior, specifically those behaviors that pertain to the generation of wellness for employees, it appears that the preconditions for paradigmatic change are satisfied. The fields of “human flourishing” and mindfulness are blossoming, and a wave of theories and models have been put forth (Bynum 2008; Melé 2012; Karns 2011; Vogt 2005). Wellness in the workplace can be transformed and reimagined as the pursuit of human flourishing, rather than the pursuit of better bottom lines and lower rates of sick, leaves. Instead of fixating on illness elimination, practitioners can transcend remediation and look toward true wellness generation. The realization of this potential depends on the willingness of practitioners to step into the breach and the ability of newly formed models to guide them through the ambiguity that will ensue. If we accept the hypothesis that meaningful work is integral to human flourishing (Veltman 2016), the Aristotelian concept of eudemonia, the pursuit and practice of living a virtuous life, can provide an initial design for accomplishing this. It is important to note here that paradigmatic change and scientific revolution does not require the wholesale disregard of historic developments or mental models. It calls for a careful and exhaustive reexamination of existing models to determine whether or not long-held or long-abandoned precepts are actually viable in the current context. Aristotelian eudemonia falls into the latter category. While it may be regarded as archaic, this oft-neglected model is readily applicable to the modern context. Eudemonia is based on the fundamental idea that well-being and flourishing are the natural by-products of ethical actions. Meaningful work is integral to human flourishing because work comprises the majority of people’s time and is the impetus for many of their actions. Work is not an individual’s life, but much of their life is spent at work. If individuals are forced to carry out meaningless work in an unethical system, eudemonic well-being would be beyond reach. It would drift away every day as the virtue and dignity of the employee are compromised. Further, work-life balance has thus far proved illusory in the twenty-first century. Since the advent of the smartphone and constant e-mail communication, employees find it difficult, if not impossible, to sever themselves from their work. Work and life have never been entirely separate spheres, but the steadily increasing degree of overlap integration between these two elements makes the need for a unifying ethical framework more salient.

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The Ethical Virtuous Life Applied to the Nonprofit Sector With the ends of eudaimonia and flourishing in mind, ethical work and a virtuous life must be defined. Defining and outlining the constituent elements of a deontologically moral and holistic life is a complicated affair. It has preoccupied great minds from Aristotle to Hegel, and the challenge lingers today as contemporary philosophers probe these frontiers (D’Souza and Adams 2016). Hegel, for example, through the ontogenetic-psychological analysis of the Phenomenology of Spirit, identified a eudemonistic teleology in the development of consciousness (1977). The potential that was identified for rule-based ethics to advance human flourishing is germane to the environment of business, nonprofits, and the social enterprises like Homeboy Industries (HBI) that exist in both realms. From this deontological perspective, ethics is perhaps best epitomized by Immanuel Kant’s “categorical imperative” (Bordum 2002). A Kantian non-metaphysical perspective calls for the treatment of individual workers as “ends in him or herself” and for the discourse and moral aspects of situational ethics on the worksite to stand in accordance with this. This clashes with the concept of consequentialism, the prevailing historical view that led to the abuse of workers as “means-to-an-end” and the wholesale disregard of their spiritual wellness and flourishing, which in turn prompts organizations to abandon the notion that employees are divisible. They must be treated as indivisible ends. While Kant proposed that morality is born from reason alone, this rational process must be coupled with negative and positive duties that guide action. These duties insulate against transgressions by prescribing categorical imperatives, which “would be that which represented an action as necessary in itself without reference to another end, i.e., as objectively necessary. . . the imperative duty may be expressed thus: act as if the maxim of thy action were to become by thy will a Universal Law of Nature” (pp. 36–38, 47–49). Actions that violated these duties and fell outside the “doctrine of Universal Law” would impede wellness both for the actor themselves and for the collective members of homo economicus (Kant 1889). This is of vital importance to organizations because it makes the value proposition of ethical organizational practices abundantly clear. By straying from natural law, organizations create two victims: the employee and themselves. Treating employees as indivisible ends is the first paradigm shift that organizations must take, and the implementation of a rational system that prevents violations of universal law is the second. In taking these steps, organizations can reverse the pattern of dual victimization and begin reaping the benefits of mutual flourishing. Kant’s “good motive” (being the only thing that is unconditionally good) is really a restatement of virtue ethics (perhaps wrapped in part with a taste of the golden rule). When we treat everyone and everything as an end in itself, then and only then can this Path of Enlightenment lead us to the Kingdom of Perpetual Peace. Returning to Aristotle, we can see that he opined that we should view ethics framed as moral virtues. This framing has a redemptive quality in that it provides a framework for the cultivation of virtues over time. The cultivation of a virtuous character, espoused in the scriptures of Abrahamic religions, is echoed in Plato’s

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dialogues (e.g., Republic, Gorgias). These dialogues advance the idea that virtues are a set of habits and human conditions that can be righteously learned and reinforced if the appropriate conditions are present. Moral excellence can be something that is developed (technē). This notion of technē – skill, craft, and technical knowledge –is a critical concept in the Platonic dialogues. According to Roochnik in his examination of the primitive Homeric meaning of the term (later adopted by Plato): it is knowledge that can be taught, it is certifiable, and its goal produces something useful for members of a community (Roochnik 1996, pp. 20–21). Plato’s main thesis in the Republic is that self-correcting justice (righteousness, correct conduct) and living a just life can bring a happier life regardless of consequences, which has direct bearing on this chapter. The Nicomachean Ethics (Aristotle 2000, 2015; McKeon 1925) is the ultimate wellspring for understanding of this ethical construct. Here, Aristotle explains that individuals can begin their lives ethically or unethically, but their present state does not determine the ethical quality of their lives. The ultimate determination of an ethical life is made at its conclusion, and it is based on the degree to which an individual utilizes discipline and habituates virtuous actions. The practice of habits, which, when activated, lead to virtue (arête), is a moral precondition leading to eudaimonia well-being and the flourishing of the heart. Aristotle ventures to say that “Moral virtue comes about as a result of habits, whence also its name ethike is one that is formed by a slight variation from the word ethos (habit) . . . Neither by nature, then, nor contrary to nature do the virtues arise in us; rather we are adapted by nature to receive them and are made perfect by habit” (Aristotle 2000, p. 331). Here lies hope for both organizations and individuals. Hope is found in the idea that their current habits and ethics are impermanent. They are malleable, and with concerted effort, an ethical life and an ethical organization can both be built over time. This incremental progress will, over time, reach a transformational tipping point that leads toward eudaimonia and human flourishing. A vibrant example of meaningful work, human redemption, and eudaimonia can be found at Homeboy Industries, where the applied practice of redemption occurs through the organization’s pursuit of radical kinship and restorative justice. If it is viewed through a law and order, tough-on-crime lens, Homeboy Industries’ approach appears counterintuitive because it is neither retributive nor punitive. When it is viewed through the lens of well-being and human flourishing, it is as intuitive as it is impactful because of its generative and restorative nature. Why did Los Angeles give birth to Homeboy Industries (HBI)? According to the latest data, the City of Los Angeles remains the gang capital of the United States. Today, there are more than 450 active gangs and their membership stands in excess of 45,000. Los Angeles County sees over 150,000 jail admissions every year, and there are 46,000 individuals residing in in Los Angeles County detention facilities on any given day (Homeboy 2018). Surrounded by this milieu, Homeboy Industries stands as the largest gang prevention, rehabilitation, and reentry program in the world. Their outputs are impressive, as they serve over 8000 individuals each year through a wide array of programs, but their outputs are secondary to the outcomes they achieve. These outcomes, their unquantifiable contributions to the well-being

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and flourishing of their program’s participants and the communities they reside in, are unprecedented in a country that has long been mired in a culture of mass incarceration. Radical kinship and restorative justice, which are some of the bedrock principles of the organization, have shaped therapeutic modalities that have broken the cycle of intergenerational violence and recidivism in families and communities across Los Angeles and the globe. These modalities, which contribute to the development of habitual virtue and human flourishing, will be revisited later in this chapter.

Human Flourishing and the Human Dignity-Centric Model William Mea and Ronald Sims’ Human Dignity-Centered Business Ethics: A Conceptual Framework for Business Leaders (2018) is an enlightening, thoughtprovoking entry in the emerging field of human flourishing. What makes this particular model so germane to the current case model of HBI is that Mea and Sims’ conceptual framework could be interpreted as having been built upon natural law and application of recent Catholic social doctrine and teaching (CSD/T). HBI was founded 30 years ago by Jesuit Priest Father Greg Boyle, S.J., and HBI’s faithbased origins and philosophical paradigms align with many of those drawn upon by Mea and Sims. In the author’s conversations with the current leadership with HBI, two things were noted: firstly that HBI has evolved from their religious moorings and now functions in a way that is more akin to a secular humanistic operation and secondly that the Catholic Church does not contribute to the approximately $14 million operating budget. They may not be financially bound to one another, but the Catholic Church’s spiritual support of Fr. G or G-Dog remains. Along with this spiritual support, the influence of Catholic theology and philosophy remains alive as well. Mea and Sims derive much of their “Human Dignity-Centered” (HDC) business model from natural law and CSD/T. Natural law dates back to our old friend Aristotle. It asserts that virtues are natural and that they become evident when reason is applied. According to Engelland, natural law “consists of the insights of human conduct and behavior that our Creator built into nature,” and it “is discernable through natural reasoning” (2017, p. 31). The idea that there is a symbiotic relationship between reason and nature can also be found in the work of philosophers from other Greek and Roman philosophical schools. Stoics like Marcus Aurelius and Seneca spoke extensively on the value of living in accordance with nature, which they also commonly referred to as physics, and both indicated that reason or logic can be used to reveal how one can live such a life (Marcus 1990; Seneca et al. 2017). The concept of natural law is developed in Catholic social doctrine and teaching by Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas opined that people of faith may live a more earthlyholy moral life by applying their well-developed sense of reason. In doing so, they can identify actions that are in accordance with the natural laws that God imbued in all of creation. Discussions of natural law in CSD/T extend beyond individuals, and

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it is applied to the daily machinations of business and labor. A practice of humanistic management and ethical treatment of employees can be found in the volumes of Catholic encyclicals which begin with Pope Leo XIII, who addressed the early conditions of industrial capitalism in Rerum Novarum. Organizations, like individuals, can utilize rationality and use CSD/T as their guide to an ethical life, a life in accordance with natural law. At this juncture, only a brief outline of the most prevalent liturgical themes regarding this work can be referenced. Banaga (2000) identified five distinct, central themes that emerge from Christian theology as it pertains to the spirituality of work: (1) the dignity of work (from St. Augustine, St. Aquinas, St. Benedict); (2) work as a redemptive endeavor (Genesis 1: 1–2:4); (3) work as co-creation (Acts 17: 28); (4) the necessity of work (John Paul II encyclical letter On Human Work); and (5) work as a calling (Yahweh (God) in the Talmud calls on his people to obey his commandments). Each of these themes is manifested daily at HBI, and they each interact intimately with the concept of dignity.

Human Dignity Dignity is derived from the Latin root dignitas, which indicates the sanctity and worth of all people. This sanctity transcends the facile categorizations that are applied to humankind, and it excludes no one. Donna Hicks, in Leading with Dignity, explores the role that dignity plays in modern organizational culture and surfaces some of its hidden aspects (2018). Hicks sees human dignity as a fundamental, inalienable right. This conceptualization of dignity is compelling, and it can be found in CSD/T. To paraphrase Vatican II . . . by his Incarnation, he, the son of God, in a certain way united himself with each man. Another Vatican II document, “The Joys and Hopes,” Gaudium et Spes (December 7, 1965), speaks directly to the theme of human dignity and paints it as a God-given right: a right that is on par with food, water, and shelter (paragraph 27). To paraphrase John Paul II, the dignity of each person is entrusted to the Creator, and God is but a reflection of this divine gift. Hicks’ concept of dignity as a right is also expressed by secular bodies. Similar notions are enshrined in Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was drafted in 1948 by United Nations General Assembly (United Nations General Assembly Resolution 217A). Article 1 encapsulates the more than 30 specific articles in the UDHR in saying: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. . .” (emphasis added). Much like workplace wellness, the vital importance of dignity is bubbling up into the modern zeitgeist after centuries of advocacy from religious and secular thinkers. Mea and Sims tie this idea of dignity to with work by drawing on the thinking of Bolton (2010). According to Bolton, there are two dimensions of human dignity: dignity in work and dignity at work. Dignity “in” work encompasses such concepts as work satisfaction, meaningfulness, respect for workers, and personal development. Dignity “at” work encompasses well-being, just rewards, and equal opportunity (p. 19). Mea and Sims crystalize these components and provide a concrete

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Ethical Prism Magnanimity

Inputs

Humility

Control Strategy

Results

Common Good

Solidarity

Trust

Organizational Structure

Human Dignity

Renewal Courage

Right Order

Practical Application Radical Kinship Restoritive Justice

Sustainability

Wisdom

Fairness Cultrue and Everyday Actions

Fig. 1 HDC framework readapted to nonprofits. Adapted from original framework of Mea and Simms 2018

structure that they dubbed a “Human Dignity-Centric” (HDC) framework. Within the HDC framework, inputs pass through an ethical prism with dignity at its core. This prism transforms the inputs through the practical application of these ethical principles and produces flourishing for the organization, the employee, and the community through trust, profit, and sustainability. Some slight adaptations were made to the original framework to form a model that is applicable to the entire nonprofit sector and to Homeboy Industries more specifically (Fig. 1). This model retains the general structure that Mea and Sims laid out in their original framework. As is the case in any systems modeling, the movement begins with inputs and proceeds in this order: inputs ! outputs / practical results ! return loop (via culture and everyday actions) ! inputs / renewal “Inputs” consists of three subcategories: (1) strategy and strategic planning, which dictates all future action and allocation of resources (a practice that both private and nonprofit sectors almost unanimously consider “good governance” and one that HBI engages in to chart their course for the future); (2) organizational structure, which differs slightly from the original model in that the nonprofit sector does not have a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders and they do not have to account for them within their structure; and (3) organizational renewal, which in the nonprofit sector consists of refining the organizational processes ethical practices as the organization pursues its mission. In the “human dignity” inner virtue orbit, there is little differentiation from the private and nonprofit sectors. Both are compelled to seek the common good, and it behooves both to pursue right order, which is effectively summated in the words of Jim Collins who urged enterprises to get the right people in the right place based on competence and fit (Collins 2001). HBI goes to great lengths to seek out individuals

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with the technical and personal competencies that are required to provide their services and has attracted medical practitioners, business executives, and social workers to fill these roles. Solidarity is what binds the constituent parts of right order into a cohesive whole, thus allowing organizations to work toward a unified set of goals and objectives. The outer circle of virtues that surrounds the inner orbit of human dignity is also similar to Mea and Sims original model. For example, wisdom pertains to the knowledge of past and present, as well as the ability to extrapolate practical applications that will serve the organization and its stakeholders in the future. In the context of HBI, knowledge is an understanding of an individual or a community’s past, and wisdom is the effective provision of wellness services that helps them prosper. Humility is the ability to simultaneously recognize personal fallibility without allowing that recognition to invalidate personal self-worth and to recognize the innate value of the work that is done. This is integral to HBI’s programs, as they non-judgmentally cast a light on their client’s areas for growth and help them address these through job training, counseling, tattoo removal, or any other program they require. Courage is the cardinal virtue that prompts those who possess it to hold steadfast to just, ethical action in the face of external consequences that may include physical, professional, psychological, social damage (The #MeToo movement serves as a modern exemplar of courage in this sense). At HBI, “courage” is demonstrated daily. The HBI staff step in to support those who are widely maligned by society and cast aside as irredeemable and those who are on the margins, fully aware that the chorus of support is not universal. They are exposed to sharp and occasionally violent rebukes from some. Amidst threats from gangs and tough-on-crime advocates alike, they press on and persevere. Control in the original Mea and Sims model is likened to temperance and the utilization of reason and the rejection of action based on passion. The same definition is applied here, and its potential utility for ethical leaders is well articulated by Daniel Goleman in Emotional Intelligence (1995). Temperance is a virtue that is extensively cultivated through HBI’s programs, as lives guided by reason are built moving through anger and substance management courses, and habitual patterns of good conduct in the workplace. The two final virtues, fairness and magnanimity, serve as poles for the ethical circle. Fairness represents the Platonic concept of justice, which along with wisdom, courage, and temperance was considered the core virtues, while magnanimity in this context is encapsulated by Mary Parker Follet’s (1949) notion of “doing things with people, not to people.” Magnanimity is the virtue that perhaps shines brightest at HBI, where the clients of their programs are neither infantilized nor are they romanticized. They are treated as they are, as equally dignified seekers of redemption and flourishing. The greatest differentiation between the original model and the current iteration is the practical application of the results. Each of the three elements that comprise it, trust, sustainability, and profit, differs significantly from the original conceptualizations. Profit differs most significantly. In the for-profit realm, economic profit dominates attention. Results of individual actions are based on ROI, profit margin,

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and stock price. In the nonprofit sector, financial sustainability and stable operations and administration ratios are desirable and necessary conditions, but profit is not a prime driver. For this reason, and to tailor the current model to the present focus of HBI, radical kinship and restorative justice take the place of profit in this model. Profits are easily understood and readily calculated at the end of the fiscal year, but radical kinship results are more nebulous. Boyle’s (Fr. G’s) latest book, Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kindship (2017), examines unconditional love, the power of non-judgmental inclusion, and listening to the voices of those on the margins. Radical kinship is Fr. G’s distinctively Ignatian idea that humankind is capable of “finding God in all things,” and it entails a “no-matter-what-ness” where nothing can expel God. In Fr. G’s original model of HBI, there is a Jesuit-like Christocentric focus on loving and serving the “neighbor” and “community-writ-large.” Producing this love and serving in this capacity serves as both an output and an outcome. It is an output in that members of the community seek to engender as much of it as possible, and it is an outcome in that it is infectious and contagious. By freely living these virtues, members of the community spread this contagious, infectious spirit of kinship and justice to the people they serve. Once inculcated, these new members continue to extend the borders of the community and envelop wider social domains. Employees and volunteers engage in this freely and without sanctimony. Ignatius himself would sign his letters “Ignazio, peregrine” meaning “Ignatius the pilgrim.” Radical kinship and restorative justice can be understood to some degree as an open invitation to join in a pilgrimage toward flourishing. Trust, while universally important, takes on a unique hue in the nonprofit sector. Richard Titmuss in his groundbreaking treatise, The Gift Relationship (1970), considers “the trust factor” in the nonprofit sector a deep sociological and psychological bond that develops between human service providers and their clients. This form of trustworthiness goes much deeper than mere predictability of cold commercial transactional exchanges. It is the allotment of freedom to pursue one’s mission and in the belief that it will be pursued in good faith. This good faith entails an understanding that nonprofits will not exploit clients and that they will proceed with full transparency and openness. This expectation of transparency was codified into law in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, but the other facets of trust are more covenantal than they are contractual. The way sustainability is presented here is similar to Mea and Sims’ model, but it comes with a significant caveat. It is similar in that it encompasses three dimensions, economic, social, and environmental, and it is also similar in the way that each of these spheres is defined. Economic sustainability includes financial practices that ensure the long-term fiscal viability of the organization. Social sustainability is concerned with maintaining good standing with stakeholders outside of the organization by dealing with them fairly and evenly; and environmental sustainability focuses on actions that show reverence for the natural environment and fulfill the duty of stewarding that environment for future generations. The major caveat is that for-profit organizations seek an infinite horizon, but nonprofits do not. At least that would be the case in an idealized world. Sustainability allows for continuous

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operation and production. Survival and expansion are the two imperatives guiding for-profit organizations, so it is sensible to pursue perpetual sustainability on those grounds. Nonprofits on the other hand do not seek sustainability for these ends; they only seek sustainability so long as their mission remains unfulfilled. While few nonprofits have been able to accomplish this, due to the fact that many work to remedy the intractable wicked problems that confront contemporary society, the ideal end state for a nonprofit is its own dissolution: a conclusion that is brought about by fulfilling their mission and ultimately rendering their services and support unnecessary. In conjunction with radical kinship, HBI also pursues restorative justice for both the individuals they serve directly and the communities they serve more broadly. Restorative justice is at the heart of HBI’s provision of dignity because it seeks to resurface the innate dignity that God imbued within these individuals and communities. This process begins with the simple recognition of that dignity, with seeing God in all things, proceeds with treating all things accordingly. Through this, healing occurs, and dignity is reclaimed. Upon this foundation of dignity and self-respect, clients are able to construct a moral and ethical life that consists of habitual ethical actions. These ethical actions, in accordance with natural law, steadily lead them toward a place of true flourishing where they access a sense of wellness that is truly theirs. Because of their egalitarian motives and sustainable practices, HBI harvests this wellness and feeds it back into the system. The individual simultaneously is free to flourish. The HBI experiment, which began in 1988, has become a blueprint for restorative justice for over 250 organizations around the world. From Utah to Scotland to El Salvador, HBI is being transported and replicated. These are not cookie-cutter facsimiles; they are carefully adapted, culturally sensitive iterations of a proven model. Through the Global Homeboy Network, communities everywhere have realized that marginalized populations do have a voice in breaking the vicious cycle of poverty, violence, and recidivism and that the destruction of this negative cycle is the first of many steps toward human flourishing. This model is not stagnant, it is living and ever-evolving, and the evolutionary process is captured by the return loop and the renewal elements of the model. Much like the clients that they serve, HBI is in a continuous pattern of self-reflection and rebirth. Its moral and ethical core remains sturdy and unflappable, but its practices and strategy bend and adapt based on the sociocultural and economic contexts that it is exposed to.

Initial Exploration of Qualifying Flourishing Within the Human Dignity-Centric Model HBI’s outcomes, their contributions to the well-being and flourishing of individuals and communities, are well documented and do not call for further examination here. This gives initial credence to the notion that a human dignity-centric organization, one that acts in accordance with duty and natural law while it engages in the

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redemptive process of ethical development, is capable of generating true flourishing for external stakeholders. What is missing thus far is evidence indicating that the production of wellness and flourishing occurs internally as well. If the flourishing of external stakeholders comes at the expense of internal members of the organization, then this would represent a reversal of the zero-sum game that has been played by organizations for over a century, but it would be a zero-sum game nonetheless. It would represent a transfer of wellness from one party to another, not the generation of flourishing that belongs to all parties. This kind of self-sacrificial behavior could lead to eventual burnout and organizational entropy, which threatens long-term sustainability and the continued nourishment of well-being for the individuals and communities who they serve. In an effort to determine whether or not the readily evident generation of flourishing in the lives of external stakeholders was occurring in conjunction with the generation of flourishing in the lives of HBI’s employees, a phenomenological study was conducted. Utilizing a quantitative survey, the authors sought to provide some insight as to the level of flourishing that existed within the work lives of these employees and what role their work at HBI played in producing eudaimonia among their clients. Quantifying human flourishing and empirically demonstrating it has long been a challenge. Seminal theories like Maslow’s concept of self-actualization receiving wide criticism on those grounds, even from the author himself (Maslow 1991) and from other scholars in the field (Leonard 1984). To provide structure to the amorphous concept of flourishing, two eudemonic models were consulted and utilized: Ryff’s Model of Happiness (1989) and Keyes’ Model of Social Wellbeing (1998). In Ryff’s Model of Happiness, happiness is produced by six internal factors: self-acceptance, personal growth, purpose in life, environmental mastery, autonomy, and positive relations with others. In Keyes’ Model of Social Wellbeing, wellness is manifested from five social influences: social integration, social acceptance, social contribution, social actualization, and social coherence. These two models were selected because they mirrored Bolton’s concept of dignity in work and dignity at work. Ryff’s model represents the internal structure of flourishing in life and in the workplace, while Keyes’ model compliments it by shedding light on the exchange of flourishing that occurs between the self and the environment. From these two models, a 29-question survey was designed. Five of the questions were demographic (over 75% of the respondents were female, and the majority of respondents were employees of 1–5 years), and the remaining 24 questions focused on the 11 elements identified by Ryff and Keyes. Questions prompted participants to rate their level of disagreement or agreement on a five-point Likert scale (Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Agree, Strongly Agree). Surveys were distributed via an online instrument, and participation was anonymous. Only core staff at HBI received a link to the survey. Core staff were defined as full- or part-time employees or volunteers who contributed to the day-to-day operation and management of HBI. Because workforce trainee programs are one of HBI’s central treatment modalities, trainees were

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excluded from the survey. While they do play a role in the day-to-day operation of HBI, they are best categorized as program participants, not core staff. At the conclusion of the survey, a total of 32 responses had been received, all of which were complete. When these responses were compiled, the results provided initial indications that flourishing was indeed occurring in the lives of HBI’s employees. As is the case with any organizations, HBI is not a utopia. Despite these imperfections, the data makes a strong case for it being a place that generates flourishing for all those who are engaged with HBI, both internally and externally. This continuum of flourishing for external and internal stakeholders was paralleled by the moral and ethical continuity that is offered by HBI. Of the 32 respondents, over 90% either agreed or agreed strongly that the personality of the organization matched their own; 72% either agreed or agreed strongly that the values of the organization matched their own; and 67% of respondents felt that their work helps them to fulfill personal goals and realize values that are important to them. These three questions were related to Ryff’s concept of purpose and life, as well as Keyes’ concepts of social actualization and social coherence. The high scores in these categories can be linked to the value of a coherent unifying moral and ethical framework that is capable of fusing work and private life. By bridging these two spheres, employees are invited to seek eudemonia in a workplace where the values and ethics are clear. This has an additional benefit of increasing social coherence because the behavior of others is more stable and predictable when it is guided by a distinct ethical framework. According to the results of the survey, opportunities to develop and strive for something larger than one’s self abound for employees of HBI. This is related to the cultivation of a virtuous life as well as Keyes’ idea of social contribution and Ryff’s conceptualization of personal growth, purpose in life, and autonomy. Seventy percent of respondents agreed with the statement that their “spiritual quest is enhanced by my work and leads me to a renewed source of healing and empowerment,” while 82% agreed or strongly agreed that they were part of something bigger than themselves, namely, the creation of radical kinship and restorative justice. Eighty-nine percent agreed or strongly agreed that HBI motivates them to reach a higher calling. In addition to this, the majority of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that HBI supports an ethical path toward righteousness. These collective responses echo the importance of both moral ends and ethical means. When an organization pursues something beyond shareholder’s value and invites its employees to pursue their own goals for growth and fulfillment, both parties mutually benefit. There is a reciprocal exchange of support that allows for the simultaneous success of both groups. Further, when the means to accomplish these goals are in accordance with natural law, and when the employee and organization are in accordance with one another in terms of their guiding ethical and moral maxims, then both entities can support the other without risk of self-sacrifice or moral compromise. In combination, these results provide an initial indication that flourishing is not only theoretically possible, but it is being realized through the implementation of alternative models of thought and holistic development of wellness, fulfillment, and eudaimonia.

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Conclusion This was an exploratory empirical study focusing on workplace flourishing and eudemonia in the case of Homeboy Industries. There are clear methodological limitations to the author’s initial study, and we urge further qualitative and quantitative measurements and research. Areas for further research and analysis would include (but are not limited) to at least two paradigmatic pursuits: repeatability, for example, assessing the application of the HBI model in the context of other entities in the Global Homeboy Network, and generalizability, for instance, can our initial findings and analysis be applied to other nonprofits, for-profit enterprises, or public sector organizations? Workplace wellness programs, after a period of apparent stagnation, have rapidly advanced since the start of the twenty-first century and the emergence of the latest industrial revolution. New narratives are surfacing that can feed into humanistic management and the holistic development of the individual in the workplace. This development will inevitably radiate out into general society as the beneficiaries of these programs leave the workplace and return to their lives as mothers, fathers, friends, and community members. There is hope that in applying a Human Dignity-Centric Model, with a focus on restorative justice and radical kinship, a new scientific revolution may come to gang recidivism and rehabilitation not only in Los Angeles but throughout the globe and that this revolution will prompt similar transformations in other regions and in other arenas.

Cross-References ▶ A Humanistic Perspective for Management Research: Protecting Dignity and Promoting Well-Being ▶ Diverse Personalities, Egos, Roles, and Relations: Toward Workplace Wellbeing ▶ Having an Ethical Mindset Might Enhance Workplace Well-Being ▶ Let My People Go: Emancipating Values as a Remedy for Religious Role Conflict ▶ Organizational Spiritual Maturity (OSM): The Root of Workplace Well-Being ▶ Positive Psychological Well-Being at Work: The Role of Eudaimonia ▶ Renewing the Soul: A Workplace Wellness Strategy Grounded in Redemption ▶ Sustainable Happiness, Well-Being, and Mindfulness in the Workplace ▶ Wellbeing and Spirituality: Insights from the World’s Wisdom Traditions ▶ Western Wisdom Traditions and Workplace Spirituality

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Seeking Meaning for the Contemporary Workplace: Insights from the Desert Fathers and Mothers

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers and Mothers: A Brief Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Apophthegmata: The Desert Mothers and Fathers as Spiritual Mentors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eight Deadly Thoughts: Overcoming Barriers to Spiritual Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Purity of Heart: Learning to Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Implications for Workplace Flourishing Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mentors Who Support and Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Overcoming Barriers to Self-Reflection and Clear Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Transcending Self to Respond Appropriately . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Contemporary organizations have become increasingly aware of an employee’s desire for meaningful work. According to Afsar, Badir, and Kiani (J Environ Psychol 45:79–88, 2016), employees who feel a “sense of self-worth, meaning, interconnection, interdependence and collective purpose” (pp. 95–96) in their work are more likely to be intrinsically motivated to accomplish tasks and be more innovative (Afsar and Rehman, J Manag Spiritual Relig 12:329–353, 2015). Organizations that create a climate characterized by trust, open communication, and service see an increase in productivity and efficiency, a reduction in expenditures, higher customer satisfaction, lower rates of employee turnover, and

M. R. Carey · D. Q. Tran (*) Department of Organizational Leadership, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA, USA e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_63

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deeper organizational engagement (Afsar and Badir, J Work Learn 29:95–108, 2017; Podsakoff et al., J Appl Psychol 94(1):122–141, 2009). As twenty-first century organizations and their members continue their quest for greater productivity and purpose, one historically distant source has emerged as an enduring reservoir of wisdom. Distressed by a lack of respect for human dignity and authentic community, the desert mothers and fathers disentangled themselves from secular society in search of a deeper grasp of interiority. For instance, in his Conferences, fifth-century C.E. monk and writer John Cassian (1997) tells the stories of individual spiritual leaders who lived and prayed in the deserts of Egypt. One such spiritual leader, Abba Moses, explains that while the ultimate goal of monastic life is the kingdom of God, the more immediate goal (that which leads to the kingdom) is the acquisition of puritas cordis, or purity of heart. Thomas Merton (The wisdom of the desert. New Directions, New York, 1960), a twentieth-century C.E. monk and writer, wrote that one who is pure of heart “has an immediate apprehension of the way things really are” (p. 8); i.e., such a person is not prey to extreme emotional reactions, considers things from a transcendent point of view, has discretion, and responds appropriately and completely to each person and every situation he or she encounters. In other words, personal well-being. Whether religious or secular, leaders are prey to addictive and neurotic thinking, segmentalism, and psychological projection, and their dysfunctional thinking and acting leads to unhealthy organizational environments. The concept of purity of heart, developed in the early years of Christian monasticism, has much to offer leaders and scholars of leadership, not only in understanding “the way things really are” in organizations but in how personal well-being is connected to community well-being, and vice versa. To that end, the purpose of this chapter is to draw wisdom from the stream of experience shared by the early Christian monks – the desert mothers and fathers – and illustrate their relevance to the contemporary quest for workplace well-being and human flourishing.

Introduction As ethical scandals at Uber, Facebook, Wells Fargo, Volkswagen, and other corporations have suggested, the relentless pursuit of record-breaking production and profits can negatively impact an organization in myriad ways, including but not limited to profits, public perception, organizational morale, worker satisfaction, productivity, and workplace mental health and well-being. Echoing the insights of organizational leadership scholars and commentators such as Avolio (2010), Bass and Bass (1974/2008), Dembinski (2011), Fry (2003), Laloux (2014), and Metcalf and Benn (2012), Rothausen (2017) asserted that “the world needs fundamental change in the ways business organizations are led, how they function, and the ends they pursue, away from fear-based, economics primary, transactional cultures, values, and ends, and toward love-based, prosocial, balanced cultures, values, and

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ends” (p. 811). With growing interest in (Cartwright and Cooper 2009; Day et al. 2014; Nielsen and Noblet 2018) and evidence of (Stringer 2016) a “direct linkage” between “output, or productivity and happiness or wellbeing in the workplace” (Theobald and Cooper 2012, p. 6), academics and practitioners are harvesting insights from various disciplinary theories, empirical models, organizational practices, and wisdom traditions in order to cultivate more healthy, sustainable, and productive workplaces. To that end, the aim of this chapter is to make a modest contribution to the workplace well-being literature by identifying resonant principles and practices from the contemplative wisdom tradition of the desert fathers and mothers and exploring their intersection with the construct of workplace well-being. This exploration begins with a historical overview of the contemplative wisdom of the desert fathers and mothers and continues with a synthesis of their suggestions for overcoming impediments to spiritual growth through a self-reflective process of becoming more aware of inner intentions by purifying one’s heart. This chapter concludes with a brief reflection about three key implications for human flourishing in the contemporary workplace.

The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers and Mothers: A Brief Overview In spite of romantic images that are sometimes associated with the monastic flight to the desert, the desert was first of all a fearful place. It was home to the demons with whom the monk engaged in fierce and constant battle. Yet it was not only a place that inspired fear. This battle against the demons was, among other things, a struggle with the self, where one sought and sometimes gained a new kind of freedom. (Burton-Christie 1993, p. 55)

In the late third century C.E., Athanasius, a bishop of Alexandria involved in the key theological and political disputes of the early Christian Church, published a book entitled the Life of Antony. As was the case with many biographical works of the time, it was less a historical account of the actual person known as Antony of the Desert and more a hagiography: that is, Athanasius was less concerned about what actually happened to Antony in the desert and more interested in showing the ways in which Antony was truly a saint and a model for Christians. In Athanasius’ presentation, Antony had heard the words of the Christian Gospel that convey these words of Jesus: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven,” and then he gave away what he had and left the civilized world of the Roman Empire behind him, fleeing to the Egyptian desert to live the rest of his life there as a hermit. In his Life, Athanasius describes how Antony was repeatedly attacked by demons in the desert and how he successfully fought against them with the assistance of God. Athanasius’ biography of Antony became as close to what we today might identify as a “best seller” and inspired many men and women to leave the cities and towns and enter into the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, to confront the demons there and to martyr themselves for Christ. The word “martyr” is used

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specifically here to underscore the fact that even though traditional martyrdom (as in physically dying for the Christian faith) had ended with the Edict of Milan in the early fourth century C.E., the story of Antony’s life in the desert became for some Christians their way to achieve a kind of spiritual martyrdom. It is well known that the ideal for the early Church in the period prior to Constantine was martyrdom. It was considered such a great thing by some because it was a more perfect imitation of Christ, who died for the sake of sinners. In any case, it was viewed as a signal victory of Christ over the Devil, renewed in the person of his faithful witness. When peace was restored to the Church this ideal shifted to that of witnessing to Christ through the life of virginity, asceticism and prayer—the monastic life. (Bamberger 1972, p. 47)

So great was the impact of Antony on the imaginations of Christians that by the middle of the fourth century C.E., thousands had entered the desert to imitate his life, and Athanasius wrote that “the desert had become a city” (Harmless 2004, p. 275). This certainly was a period of human flourishing for that time and place, however alternative and different it might be from our experiences today. Given that the desert experiences of the third to fifth centuries C.E. are so different from our experience, is it still possible to look back to them in order to reimagine human flourishing today? Given that individuals like Antony fled the cities and marketplaces of the time to live a solitary life in the barren desert, is it still possible to gain insights from their lives that can be of value to those who remain active in the world? Given that the goal of Antony and others in the desert was complete surrender to the will of God – and given that these Christians believed literally in demons who would attack them in order to undermine their progress toward this goal – is it still possible to see connections between their search for meaning and that of contemporary women and men in today’s workplace? To answer these questions, it may be helpful to examine how a more contemporary descendant of the men and women who fled into the desert in the third to fifth centuries C.E. described their goal. Thomas Merton was a well-known monk in the United States in the mid-twentieth century C.E. In reflecting on the early desert hermits or anchorites, Merton wrote that they conformed to nothing except the “secret, hidden, inscrutable will of God which might differ very notably from one cell to another!” (Merton 1960, p. 6). To become this liberated, however, required the individual to be spiritually mature and acutely aware of his or her own biases, fears, anxieties, and resentments. The end result of this struggle, according to Merton, was “a clear unobstructed vision of the true state of affairs, an intuitive grasp of one’s own inner reality as anchored, or lost, in God through Christ” (Merton 1960, p. 8). Merton was an American monk who fled the world to live in an isolated monastery in Kentucky, yet at the same time, he was a significant voice in the United States for civil rights and against the Vietnam War. Merton lived solely in a monastic community for 27 years, yet he corresponded with leaders and writers throughout the world who were grappling with the existential search for meaning, and he offered insights based on his experience of living in a monastic community based on traditions inherited from the desert mothers and fathers. Merton remained a

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practicing Catholic until his unexpected death at the age of 53, and while he therefore acknowledged the real presence of evil in the world, he also understood that the struggle with demons that the desert Christians described was related to the very human obsessions, compulsions, and addictions that produce what he described as a “false self” that must be overcome to discover one’s “true self.” For the purposes of our reflection on workplace well-being in the twenty-first century C.E., let us assume that as participants in a variety of communities and organizations, we also want “a clear unobstructed vision of the true state of affairs,” and while some may not agree with Merton (1960) that this indicates “ . . . an intuitive grasp of one’s own inner reality as anchored, or lost, in God through Christ,” (p. 8), we may yet agree that we have something to learn from those who are dedicated to see the world as it actually is, not as they would like it to be, or how they fear that it is. And although some are uncomfortable with identifying the presence of evil in the world with the existence of actual demons, most of us can acknowledge that obsessions, compulsions, and addictions have the power of demons in the lives of those afflicted by them. For example, the first three steps of Alcoholics Anonymous state: 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol, that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. (Schaef and Fassel 1988, p. 227) Another way to understand the ways in which the things that happened in the Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian deserts so long ago still have relevance for modern people in contemporary workplaces is to recognize that the issues of community have not changed significantly over the course of history: In their desert “cities,” the monks wanted to create a new world. They sought a harmony of human relations free of the greedy grasping that pervaded the towns and villages they had left behind. Some stories gently mock their former world. One tells of two old men who had lived together many years and never fought. One said to the other, “Let’s have an argument like other people do.” But the other said, “I don’t know how to have an argument.” So the first told him, “Look, I’ll put a brick between us. Then I’ll say, ‘That’s mine.’ Then you say, ‘No, it’s mine.’” So the first monk put the brick between them and started the argument: “That’s mine.” The second played his part: “No, it’s mine.” The first immediately relented: “Okay, it’s yours. Take it.” So the two gave up, unable to argue. This quaintly expressed the desert ideal. But the reality was otherwise. Modern readers often imagine that for monks, sexuality posed the great struggle. But ancient sources indicate otherwise. Anger, not sex, figured more prominently. The challenge was human relations. (Harmless 2004, p. 236)

Clearly there is something to be learned from the experiences of the men and women who searched for meaning in these desert environments sixteen centuries ago. In order to draw the most helpful material from their experiences, this examination will begin with what is called the Apophthegmata, more commonly known as

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the “sayings” of the desert fathers and mothers, a collection of stories about how the mature leaders of the desert communities provided encouragement and counsel to those who came to them to be mentored. The ideas of Evagrius Ponticus, an educated scholar who ended up fleeing to the desert and living among the communities of monks there, will be explored, focusing on Evagrius’ “eight evil thoughts” – a precursor to the more well-known Seven Deadly Sins – and how this list was used to counsel the desert monks in their working against dysfunctional thinking. In addition, the writings of John Cassian, a contemporary of Evagrius and a monk who also visited and interviewed many of the individuals who had fled to the desert in the fourth to fifth centuries C.E., will be reviewed, especially Cassian’s concept of “purity of heart,” which is related to what Merton (1960) defined earlier as “a clear unobstructed vision of the true state of affairs. (p. 8).” Finally, this examination summarizes what those who seek meaning in contemporary workplaces can learn from the desert fathers and mothers.

Apophthegmata: The Desert Mothers and Fathers as Spiritual Mentors As mentioned previously, beginning in the third century C.E., some Christian women and men in a Roman Empire newly made hospitable to the Church primarily by the Emperor Constantine’s embrace of the Christian faith made the decision to disconnect from established culture, first by living on the margins of cities and towns and later by withdrawing altogether from civilized society; “by the last quarter of the third century some of the ascetics had already begun the practice of anachoesis, or withdrawal from society into the desert, a separation that involved both an external geographical shift of momentous nature and a new kind of exploration of the inner geography of the soul” (McGinn 1991, p. 133). Why did these anchorites leave society for the isolation of the desert? Although there are as many reasons as there are types of individuals drawn to the desert, a common motive was to disentangle themselves from a society increasingly devoid of respect for human dignity and community. For Merton (1960), “Society – which meant pagan society, limited by the horizons and prospects of life ‘in this world’ – was regarded by them as a shipwreck from which each single individual man had to swim for his life (p. 3).” Related to their distress about the lack of respect for human dignity and authentic community was a refusal on the part of the anchorites to buy into the dysfunctional thinking and relationships of the age. Therefore, their rejection of society was not a rejection of community, but rather a rejection of what they saw as the systematic oppression of people that made community impossible. [O]ne of the reason why they fled from the world of men was that in the world men were divided into those who were successful, and imposed their will on others, and those who had to give in and be imposed upon. The Desert Fathers declined to be ruled by men, but had no desire to rule over others themselves. (Merton 1960, p. 5)

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Asceticism, while of great value, was not promulgated as a goal in itself but always as a means to the end that was this inner transformation. Because charity and hospitality were essential instruments to and consequences of purity of heart, gradually a loose community of anchorites in the desert formed to support each other and to learn from those spiritual masters given the title of abba (father) or amma (mother), who had safely traveled the road of self-examination and complete openness to God. According to Merton (1960), “There was more real love, understanding and kindliness in the desert than in the cities, where, then as now, it was every man for himself” (p. 17). For Chittister (2015), To go into the desert was to “do battle for Christ.” It was the moment of great withdrawal from the world, but not because the world was necessarily bad. The problem lay in the fact that the noise and activity of the world had the capacity to distract seekers from the greatest problem of them all: themselves. The Desert Monastics went to the desert not to escape the sins of the world, but to confront their own. (p. 53)

Although the spiritual maturity of these abbas and ammas was attractive to thousands of those who joined them in the desert, the novice – and often naïve – searcher often fell into dysfunctional thinking when left to his or her own thoughts. These men and women seeking to become more perfect instruments of God’s will found that they must first confront their own demons and needed the guidance of men and women who had experience in the struggle against dysfunctional thinking. According to Swan (2001), “The ammas show us how to begin the spiritual journey and what the elements of a life-giving and challenging spirituality are. They model healthy mentoring for us, showing us signs of what a modern amma or abba might look like” (p. 152). Such mentoring was essential in the reality of the desert experience. The word for “desert” in Greek is eremos and means “abandonment.” It is the term from which we derive the word “hermit.” The desert was a place to come face-to-face with loneliness and death. Nothing grows in the desert. Your very existence is, therefore, threatened. In the desert, you are forced to face up to yourself and to the temptations in life that distract you from a wide-hearted focus on the presence of the sacred in the world. The desert is a place of deep encounter, not a place of superficial escape. It is a place that strips you down to the essentials, forcing you to let go of all the securities you cling to in life, even your images of God. The desert leaves you feeling alone, mortal, limited. Yet it is through the fierceness of this very experience that the desert elders saw a doorway to an encounter with a God who was much more expansive than anything believers imagined. (Paintner 2012, p. x)

The counsel of the abbas and ammas was exhibited by their listening to and questioning of those who came to them for advice. In the stories presented in the Apophthegmata, the traditional pattern of this counsel began with a novice monk coming to the master monk and asking for a “word of salvation.” The elder monk responded with a question or a demand for a certain action, “much in common with Indian Yogis and with Zen Buddhist monks of China and Japan” (Merton 1960, p. 9):

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One day a brother came to Abba Macarius the Egyptian with the classic request, “Abba, give me a word that I might be saved.” Macarius demanded action: “Go to the cemetery and abuse the dead.” And so the monk went to the cemetery and hurled insults at those buried there. The account gives no hint of what the monk felt during this odd display of wrath. Nor is there any hint what colorful insults he used. Only that he “threw rocks.” The monk then returned to Macarius, who questioned him: “Didn’t they say anything to you?” “No,” the monk replied. Macarius then told him to go back the next day, and this time he was to praise the dead. The monk did as he was told. He poured out compliments: “Apostles, saints, righteous ones.” Again the monk returned to Macarius, who again asked him: “Did they answer you back?” “No,” the monk again replied. Macarius then gave him a rhema: “You know how you insulted them and they did not reply, and how you praised them and they did not speak; so you too, if you wish to be saved, must do the same and become a dead man. Like the dead, take no account of either the scorn of men or their praises, and you can be saved.” (Harmless 2004, p. 171)

Another example of the counsel contained in the Apophthegmata comes from Amma Syncletica. In this case, she is reflecting on a key aspect of the ascetical life lived in the desert: fasting. Although the healthy understanding of fasting is as a means to liberate the monk from being compulsively driven by his or her wants, Amma Syncletica understands that fasting can also become an obsession more about control than liberation: [Amma Syncletica] said: “There is an asceticism which is determined by the enemy and his disciples practice it. So how are we to distinguish between the divine and royal asceticism and the demonic tyranny? Clearly through its quality of balance. . . . In truth lack of proportion always corrupts. While you are young and healthy, fast, for old age with its weakness will come. As long as you can, lay up treasure, so that when you cannot, you will be at peace.” (Ward 1984, pp. 233–234)

In both the words given by Abba Macarius and Amma Syncletica, the focus is on the needs of those who are the listeners; that is, these are particular words meant to address particular issues of the young monks seeking counsel. While Marcarius’ counsel is more clearly meant as a teaching moment for the young monk who heads to the cemetery to throw insults – and later compliments – at the dead there, Syncletica’s counsel was designed to help someone who was tempted to become obsessive about fasting. Furthermore, in both cases there was an expectation that the “word” of each elder must lead to action on the part of the novice: the one must become like a dead person, the other must seek balance: Some brothers . . . went to see Abba Felix and they begged him to say a word to them. But the old man kept silence. After they had asked for a long time he said to them, “You wish to hear a word?” They said, “Yes, abba.” Then the old man said to them, “There are no more words nowadays. When the brothers used to consult the old men and when they did what was said to them, God showed them how to speak. But now, since they ask without doing that which they hear, God has withdrawn the grace of the word from the old men and they do not find anything to say, since there are no longer any who carry their words out.” Hearing this, the brothers groaned, saying, “Pray for us, abba.” (Ward 1984, p. 242)

The reason why men and women entered the desert in the third to fifth centuries C.E. was to become more perfect instruments of God’s will, to surrender themselves

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to God in the same way that the early martyrs of the Christian Church surrendered to God. What was required was a letting go of one’s demand to have things one’s own way, to fight against the demons that became stronger in the desert, and to have clarity about the obsessions, compulsions, and addictions that are an impediment to surrendering to God’s will. The desert mothers and fathers provided both example and words to lead others to overcoming these demons, based on their own long experience of surrendering to God: . . . the conversation between monk and abba centered not on sins per se, but on logismoi, on “thoughts.” In the vocabulary of the desert, the term “thoughts” tended to have negative connotations . . .. It might include temptations, but just as often, it might be any preoccupation, something the monk might not be able to get off his mind. A “thought” could simply be a desire or a feeling, innocent enough in itself, such as missing one’s family or wanting to go explore the nearby desert, feeling stung by someone’s gossip or simply wondering what it really took to be a monk. The abba helped the monk discern the “thought,” whether it was good, evil, or neutral, whether it should be acted upon, ignored, or fought against. This dynamic was not so much private confession as spiritual direction. Even this terminology is a bit misleading, for the abba did not “direct” the monk. As Columba Stewart has noted: The whole life was about opening up: of self to another and of the self to God, with no obsessive concentration on the self or on the relationship with one’s abba. . .. (Harmless 2004, pp. 229–230)

This culture of mutual support eventually evolved into the monastic culture promoted by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century C.E., and he looked to the desert experience to understand how “to guide those who lived in community as they sought to develop purity of heart” (Tran and Carey 2018, p. 3). In the Rule that Benedict composed for his monks – and which is still used by Benedictine monks today – the writings of John Cassian were recommended as a means to access this desert experience. Cassian’s writings were key to introducing the lives and practices of the desert monks of Eastern Christianity to the monks of Western Europe. In his Conferences and Institutes, Cassian shared and processed his experience in the Egyptian desert, and drew upon a number of interviews he had with well-known ammas and abbas there. One of the abbas he encountered while a desert monk was Evagrius Ponticus, the first person to put in writing what had been limited to an oral tradition of the wisdom of the desert.

Eight Deadly Thoughts: Overcoming Barriers to Spiritual Growth The earliest written version of the Apophthegmata comes at the end of the fourth century C.E.; before that, the sayings of the desert mothers and fathers were transmitted from monk to monk through an oral tradition. In much the same way, the wisdom of the desert was transferred from master to novice through direct relationship in small desert communities. It is Evagrius Ponticus who first does a systematic examination of the desert experience, outlining the key teachings of the ammas and abbas there.

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Evagrius was born into a Christian family in 345 C.E. and was educated in philosophy and theology; he was ordained as a Church lector by Basil of Caesarea (who was instrumental in the development of monastic communities) and promoted to deacon by Gregory of Nazianzus. Evagrius was on a clear trajectory to success as a Christian scholar, being very involved with Gregory of Nazianzus, the Archbishop of Constantinople, in dealing with the dogmatic controversies of the day. While by all accounts Evagrius was a good cleric while in Constantinople, he was also quite taken by the social prominence that his ecclesiastic career afforded him. Gradually, “he grew careless, worldly, and delicate” (Bamberger 1972, p. xxxix). Evagrius eventually fell in love with the wife of a prominent member of the high society of the city and, in despair over his lack of control over his passions, fled Constantinople and traveled to Jerusalem to be received by the monastic community there. Although Evagrius had resolved to control his passions so as to avoid repeating the same situation he had fled in Constantinople, gradually he began to grow lax in Jerusalem, until a serious illness triggered his resolve to be a better person, at which point he fled deeper into the desert of Egypt and joined a monastic community there. He would remain in the desert for the rest of his life, and eventually he became one of the wise abbas guiding monks in their spiritual development. Because Evagrius came from a scholarly background, as he interacted with the elders of the monastic communities in the desert, he collected a number of their counsels in the form of stories similar to the Apophthegmata, which were then published. More related to the current topic, however, is the work of Evagrius which sought to explain the teaching of the desert abbas and ammas on the struggle with demons. Evagrius understood the dangerous illusion of a finite “false” self; the rejection of it was the way for the desert monks to become instruments of God’s will, which was personal as well as infinite. Evagrius’ writings are divided between his ideas about contemplation (i.e., a kind of “Christian nirvana”) and his ideas as to how one makes oneself ready for contemplation. Given the reliance on God’s personal relationship in contemplation (i.e., grace), the focus of Evagrius’ effort to become ready is not so much on what one does, but on what one doesn’t do: that is, how one rids oneself of the illusions of the false self. Thus, in Evagrius’ major work, called The Praktikos (praktikē means the practical acquisition of virtue), he outlines a method to confront the “demons” of the false self, which Evagrius and other early monastic writers called logismoi or temptations. This struggle, which Evagrius equates with the discipline of a monastic life, eventually leads to a state of apatheia, not so much a lack of feeling or emotion as it is a freedom from domination by one’s passions: The labours of the praktikē are rewarded by God with the birth of love and the gift of apatheia, ‘dispassion’ or ‘freedom from compulsion.’ Apatheia does not mean freedom from temptation, since Evagrius emphasizes that certain temptations will continue until death. Rather, it refers to freedom from the inner storm of ‘passions,’ irrational drives which in their extreme forms would today be called obsessions, compulsions, or addictions. (Dysinger 2005, p. 34)

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The Praktikos reviews eight evil thoughts or logismoi and offers suggestions for combatting them. As a disciple of Evagrius and also a desert monk who interviewed many elders in the Egyptian and Palestinian deserts, Cassian wrote in support of what Evagrius had identified as the critical work against the eight evil thoughts, although in his Conferences Cassian (1997) slightly reorders reorder these eight so as to underscore the relationship between each to the previous logismoi that Evagrius had noted in his initial listing in the Praktikos. They are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Gluttony (gastrimargia) Lust (porneia) Avarice (philarguria) Anger (orgē) Sadness (lupē) Listlessness (acēdia) Vainglory (kenodoxia) Pride (huperēphania)

In Evagrius’ original view, each of these thoughts is a kind of specialization by a demon that leads the monk away from his or her goal of surrendering to God’s will through the achievement of some measure of apatheia, or “passionlessness.” In battling this specialized demon, the monk discovers the true virtue that is the counterpart of the evil thoughts: There is a certain logic to the order of the thoughts as Evagrius lists them and analyzes them, an order derived from experience. Thus, for example, fornication follows rather naturally from someone who gratifies his desire for food and comfort. Or if one loves money and is frustrated in his aims to amass it, he will become sad or angry. Vainglory or pride are dangers for the monk who has had some success in his fight against the other thoughts. Thus, in a general way the order of the eight thought follows the order of spiritual progress. (Driscoll 2003, p. 12)

As previously mentioned, the goal of the demons is to keep the monk from achieving some level of passionlessness; the eight evil thoughts, when allowed by the monk to linger in his or her mind, lead to passions. So, according to Evagrius, the desert mothers and fathers assisted others in learning the art of constant vigilance over one’s thoughts, which is praktikē. The key here is understanding the nature and quality of the demon through the most attentive observation of one’s inner impulses and thoughts. Evagrius writes: If there is any monk who wishes to take the measure of some of the more fierce demons so as to gain experience in his monastic art, then let him keep careful watch over his thoughts. Let him observe their intensity, their periods of decline, and follow them as they rise and fall. Let him note well the complexity of his thoughts, their periodicity, the demons which cause them, with the order of their succession and the nature of their associations. Let him ask from Christ the explanations of these data he has observed. (Evagrius, as cited in Bamberger 1972, pp. 8–9)

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What are the ideas about the eight deadly thoughts that first Evagrius in the Praktikos (Bamberger, 1972) and then later Cassian in the Conferences present? Even though their primary audience was the desert monks, what they share has much to say to us today, who often struggle with passionate thoughts as well. • Gluttony (gastrimargia): Although one of the chief disciplines of the desert experience was fasting by the individual monk, that the vice of gluttony is the first of the eight evil thoughts underscores that it is the gateway to the other evil thoughts. How does a monk linger in the logismoi of gluttony? – By breaking his or her fast before the required time – By eating to satiation when the fast is over – By requiring better food when the fast is over • Lust (porneia): Evagrius’ focus here is on both physical sexual activity – which for the celibate monk is forbidden – and the desire for sexual activity. If related both to the goal of achieving passionlessness, lust can be understood, like gluttony, as a gateway to evil thoughts as well. In fact, Evagrius understands that gluttony unchecked leads to lust, and lust unchecked leads to avarice – all representing a distortion of a “want” into a “need,” thus leading the monk away from surrendering to God and toward his own finite self. • Avarice (philarguria): Like gluttony and lust, avarice leads the monk away from his or her commitments. For example, those who entered the desert first gave away their property and money to the poor – avarice is the thought that leads to rejecting that and, if already done, wanting to take back what was previously owned. By lingering on the thought of acquiring more and more, the monk is led to dissatisfaction with his or her current state. This then leads to the logismoi of anger. • Anger (orgē): One kind of anger flares up inside the monk but is kept inside the monk’s heart; another kind breaks out in angry words or actions. Perhaps the most dangerous to the monk is one that doesn’t simply flare up interiorly or externally but is nurtured for days, months, or even years. • Sadness (lupē): According to Sinkewicz (2003), “The thought of sadness arises from the frustration of any pleasure or appetite whether of the body or the soul . . .. For example, anger produces the appetite for revenge and the frustrated desire for revenge leads to sadness” (p. xxviii). There are two kinds of sadness that the monk must confront: one arises once anger has ceased, or from a hurt that was suffered, or from an obstructed desire; the other comes from despair. The latter logismoi leads to the even more dangerous temptation of acedia. • Listlessness (acēdia): Evagrius’ use of acedia has troubled translators for centuries. Early Syrian scholars defined it as “despondency of spirit” or “ennui,” while Cassian translated it into Latin as taedium cordis, or “weariness of heart (Harmless 2004, p. 324). Perhaps it is best to allow Evagrius to describe the effects of acedia on the monk who lingers there: The demon of acēdia —also called the noonday demon—is the one that causes the most serious trouble of all. He presses his attack upon the monk about the fourth hour and

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besieges the soul until the eighth hour. First of all he makes it seem that the sun barely moves, if at all, and that the day is fifty hours long. Then he constrains the monk to look constantly out the windows, to walk outside the cell, to gaze carefully at the sun to determine how far it stands from the ninth hour, to look now this way, that way to see if perhaps [one of the brethren appears from his cell]. Then too he instills in the heart of the monk a hatred for the place, a hatred for his very life itself, a hatred for manual labor. He leads him to reflect that charity has departed from among the brethren, that there is no one to give encouragement. Should there be someone at this period who happens to offend him in some way or other, this too the demon uses to contribute further to his hatred. This demon drives him along to desire other sites where he can more easily procure life’s necessities, more readily find work and make a real success of himself . . . (Evagrius, as cited in Bamberger 1972, pp. 8–9)

• Vainglory (kenodoxia): The monk can be attacked by the temptation of vainglory by either feeling uplifted by things outside the self or by being inflamed with the desire for empty praise because of spiritual things. Evagrius centers his description of vainglory on that which even a desert monk living alone with few things might fall prey to, underscoring the fact that the logismoi of vainglory is a very subtle thought which can mask itself easily among the virtuous. He suggests that the dedicated monk might imagine healing people, the demons uttering terrible cries as they flee, thereby gathering a crowd who desire to merely touch his cloak because he or she is so holy. • Pride (huperēphania): Since the actual goal of the monk to surrender one’s self to God, pride “induces the monk to deny that God is his helper and to consider that he himself is the cause of virtuous actions. Further, he gets a big head in regard to the brethren, considering them stupid because they do not all have this same opinion of him” (Evagrius/Bamburger 1972, p. 20). The eight evil thoughts described by Evagrius (Bamberger, 1972) in the Praktikos and by Cassian (1997) in the Conferences are meant as a discernment guide for the monk doing battle with his or her ego in the desert. The abbas and ammas aided those under their direction by helping them identify thoughts as good, evil, or neutral and therefore what the correct response to them was: . . . it was the commitment to truth, to seeing things as they are, which disposed the monk for contemplation of God. . .. To see fantasy, projections and pious wishes, depends in the first place upon stripping away the mask of fantasies and projections about ourselves. We find that the masks we place on ourselves and the masks we see on the face of God are, in the end, the same, and are of our own making. The goal of the elder was utter transparence to divine light. The elder, far from being a center of power and a “director,” served in his or her transparence to divine light as a lens which focuses the light of truth on the dark places in the disciple’s heart. (Stewart 1990, p. 27)

For Evagrius, to see things as they truly are is to battle the eight evil thoughts so as to achieve freedom from the dominance of passions. This passionlessness has nothing to do with apathy or a lack of emotion: “there is a vast difference between Evagrius’ teaching of apatheia (. . . ‘imperturbability’ . . .) and apathy, or insensibility” (Casiday 2006, p. 90). For him, it is the quiet state of the rational soul that results

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from gentleness and self-control. According to Swan (2001), “The goal of the desert journey was apatheia, a quality of the interior spiritual journey in which the inner struggle against inordinate attachments has ceased. Grounded in profound interior freedom, the ascetic was free of the strong pulls of worldly desires” (p. 25). Apatheia produced love: the ascetic life is ultimately about learning to love: In the fallen world [these invisible principles] are no longer clear to us: we tend not to see God’s meaning in the world and all its parts; rather we tend to see the world in relation to ourselves and read into it our meaning. As a result the world becomes an arena for human conflict, for we all see it differently, in a way that is focused on separated selves. To see the logoi of the natural order is to see it as it is and to be freed from private prejudices, which are rooted in the disorder created in our hearts by the passions. It is also to understand the providence and judgment of God, as Evagrius puts it, that is to understand how God has constituted the cosmos as a kind of arena in which fallen souls learn how to turn back their attention to God. (Harmless 2004, p. 349)

Cassian tells the stories of individual spiritual leaders who struggled with logismoi, living and praying in the deserts of Egypt. One such spiritual leader, Abba Moses, explains that while the ultimate goal of monastic life is the kingdom of God, the more immediate goal (that which leads to the kingdom) is the acquisition of puritas cordis, or purity of heart. Cassian’s concept of puritas cordis is the positive expression of Evagrius’ apatheia. As Merton (1960) wrote, the one who is pure of heart “has an immediate apprehension of the way things really are” (p. 8); i.e., such a person is not prey to extreme emotional reactions, considers things from a transcendent point of view, has discretion, and responds appropriately and completely to each person and every situation he or she encounters.

Purity of Heart: Learning to Love Both Evagrius and Cassian thought and wrote within the third to fifth centuries Christian experience of human and societal chaos, decay, and death. For both, “perfection” is attained through a disciplined life that seeks to develop a sense of purpose, growth, and transformation. “Purity” refers more to purification; that is, the goal is not a lack of experience but of a coming to grips with it. Cassian’s concept describes a purity of intention and a singleness of heart; in the context of addiction, obsessions, and compulsions, purity of heart is radical honesty about the self. He used the term to signify moral worthiness, physical integrity, and psychological balance, especially as understood in the context of Christ (i.e., redemption, wholeness): Cassian defines purity of heart theologically by pointing beyond process to achievement: purity of heart is love . . .. Cassian’s equation of purity of heart with love is part of his strategy to forestall misunderstandings about the proper place of ascetical discipline or works of ministry in the monastic life. Ascetical deprivations help to purify the heart, but they are not themselves the goal. Cassian knew that obsession with “perfect” monastic

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observance can lead to despair and abandonment of the monastic life, or to anger (a most fatal passion for the monk), or to a judgmental stance towards others. Mistaking the means for the goal can arouse the very “passions” the monk is meant to shun, creating resentment toward those who disrupt one’s daily routine or anger over the borrowing or disappearance of trivial items. (Stewart 1998, p. 44)

Cassian is aware of the ease with which the monk may succumb to self-deception, giving as an example the story of a monk who grandly gave away all his vast wealth and properties to follow the call of Christ and then once in the desert became upset about a borrowed book or missing pen. He also describes situations where monks went mad in the desert, committing suicide or believing that God was commanding them to kill others. At the beginning of the Conferences, Cassian shares the words of Abba Moses “that monks need to learn the fine art of discernment, to sort through the inner stream of thoughts and discern their origin, whether they arise from God, from the devil, or from themselves” (Harmless 2004, p. 390). Key to our understanding of what Cassian meant by purity of heart is that for him it refers not just to the heart but to the body and mind of the monk. The goal of the desert monk is peace of mind, what was known as hesychia, or a deep interior stillness. Cassian links his concept of purity of heart to stability (stabilitas), steadiness (immobilitas), integrity (integras), and tranquility (tranquillitas). This deep interior stillness is what many contemporary writers see as connected to the concept of the true self. For Paintner (2012), “The desert is ultimately a metaphor for inner attentiveness, vulnerability, and transformation. It is the still point within each of us where God and the true self dwell” (p. xiv). Evagrius spoke of the experience of katastasis or the coming to one’s true state. Cassian describes the same idea as an ecstasy of heart (excessus cordis) or an ecstasy of mind (excessus mentis): The mystical image of the human being can be formulated roughly as follows: above all in the first half of our lives we construct our “empirical ego,” which can also be understood as the sum of our attitudes and behavioral mechanisms. The overidentification with such roles, habits, and character features is the chief obstacle in our search for our (true) “self.” (Rohr and Ebert 2001, p. xii)

Thomas Merton also focused on these concepts in his writings in the last century. Merton entered the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky in 1941 when he was in his late 20s. Before entering he was a writer, and after entering his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, was published and became a best seller. Similar to the effect of Athanasius’ Life of Antony on his generation, Merton’s autobiography was instrumental in the choice of many people to enter religious orders in the Catholic Church in the latter half of the twentieth century. Throughout his life as a Trappist, Merton investigated the foundations of the monastic culture, including the stories of the desert mothers and fathers, which he shared in his book The Wisdom of the Desert, published in 1960: What the Fathers sought most of all was their own true self, in Christ. And in order to do this, they had to reject completely the false, formal self, fabricated under social compulsion in

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“the world.” They sought a way to God that was uncharted and freely chosen, not inherited from others who had mapped it out beforehand. They sought a God whom they alone could find, not one who was “given” in a set, stereotyped form by somebody else. Not that they rejected any of the dogmatic formulas of the Christian faith: they accepted and clung to them in their simplest and most elementary shape. But they were slow (at least in the beginning, in the time of their primitive wisdom) to get involved in theological controversy. Their flight to the arid horizons of the desert meant also a refusal to be content with arguments, concepts and technical verbiage. (Merton 1960, pp. 5–6)

The next year, Merton continued his processing of the concept of the true self versus the false self in his book New Seeds of Contemplation: “Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self. . . . My false and private self is the one who wants to exist outside the reach of God’s will and God’s love—outside of reality and outside of life. And such a self cannot help but be an illusion” (Merton 1961, p. 34). Merton’s concept is not directly related to psychologist David Winnicott’s (1965) notion that one’s false self is a defensive mask of behavior that complies with others expectations in order “to hide the True Self, which it does by compliance with environmental designs” (pp. 146–147). Rather Merton’s notion of the false self has to do with the ways in which an individual ran away from his or her connection to God’s reality by creating an illusory reality, based on desires and fears: The core of our being is drawn like a stone to the quiet depths of each moment where God waits for us with eternal longing. But to those depths the false self will not let us travel. Like stones skipped across the surface of the water we are kept skimming along the peripheral, one-dimensional fringes of life. To sink is to vanish. To sink into the unknown depths of God’s call to union with himself is to lose all that the false self knows and cherishes. (Finley 2003, p. 30)

The embrace of the true self was a developmental journey for Merton, not a onceand-for-all attainment. One way to think of this is to reflect on the act of peeling an onion: after removing one skin, there exists another below it. The same process applies to developing one’s true self: little by little one removes aspects of one’s false self that are based on desires or fears, gradually letting go of the illusion of control. Like the counsel of the abbas and ammas in the deserts regarding the eight evil thoughts, Merton advises the modern seeker of meaning to become conscious of how he or she maintains the illusion of separation from God. For Merton, as for the thirdto fifth-century C.E. desert monks, God is discovered to be present in our true self. This journey is one of humility and sacrifice and mirrors that of the lives of the desert mothers and fathers: The secret of my identity is hidden in the love and mercy of God. But whatever is in God is really identical with Him, for his infinite simplicity admits no division and no distinction. Therefore, I cannot hope to find myself anywhere except in Him. Ultimately the only way that I can be myself is to become identified with Him in whom is hidden the reason and fulfillment of my existence. Therefore, there is only one problem on which all my existence, my peace and my happiness depend: to discover myself in discovering God. If I find Him I will find myself and if I find my true self I will find Him. (Merton 1965, pp. 35–36)

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Implications for Workplace Flourishing Today What does the desert experience of the third to fifth centuries C.E offer men and women of the twenty-first century C.E.? What can be said about human flourishing of the meaning in today’s workplace? In this examination of the lives and desert abbas and ammas, three key implications for workplace flourishing today are as follows: • The benefit of a mentor who both supports and challenges the individual. • The importance of overcoming barriers to self-reflection and clear thinking. • The importance of transcending self in order to respond appropriately to the demands of workplace life.

Mentors Who Support and Challenge As evidenced in the desert experience of the mothers and fathers, “the concept we call mentoring has been around for thousands of years” (Clutterbuck et al. 2017, p. 1). However, it is only in the past 35 years that mentoring has attracted widespread attention from academics across the disciplines and professions (Howley and Trube 2015). Broadly speaking, the relational process of mentoring consists of interpersonal interactions that “generally brings colleagues together voluntarily to interact in an informal way” (Mangan 2012, p. 532). Workplace mentors provide transforming input by a combination of support and challenge: Mentors dance an intricate two-step as they practice the art of supporting and challenging more or less simultaneously. While giving the well-timed push into a new area of potential competence, the mentor may also provide essential counsel when a protegee is in well over his head. (Parks 2011, pp. 168–169)

Support is provided by a safe space in which the mentor confirms the mentee’s “sense of worth and helping her to see that she is both ok where she is and capable of moving ahead whenever she chooses; challenge is provided in order to open a gap between the learner and the environment, a gap that creates tension in the learner, calling out for closure” (Daloz 1999, p. 206). Support without challenge leads to co-dependence; challenge without support leads to oppression: Support refers to activities that affirm the value of the individual (e.g., display of respect, trust) or reduce uncertainty and anxiety (e.g., set clear expectations, provide resource materials or role play possible responses to difficult situations). Effective mentors balance support with challenge. They challenge their protégé to approach situations in a new way by highlighting incorrect assumptions, establishing tasks and pointing out inconsistencies between what the protégé says and what the protégé does. (Bower et al. 1998, p. 595)

In his book on effective mentoring, Laurent Daloz describes the method of challenging students in words that could also describe the approach of the desert mothers and fathers: “The mentor may assign mysterious tasks, introduce

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contradictory ideas, question tacit assumptions, or even risk damage to the relationship by refusing to answer questions. The function of challenge is to open a gap between student and environment, a gap that creates tension in the student, calling out for closure” (Daloz 1986, p. 213).

Overcoming Barriers to Self-Reflection and Clear Thinking Psychologist Carl Rogers is one of the founders of person-centered counseling, and early in his career, he described the critical conditions for effective counseling. These could just as easily be a description of the direction given by wise ammas and abbas long ago: For constructive personality change to occur, it is necessary that these conditions exist and continue over a period of time: 1. Two persons are in psychological contact. 2. The first, whom we shall term the client, is in a state of incongruence, being vulnerable or anxious. 3. The second person, whom we shall term the therapist, is congruent or integrated in the relationship. 4. The therapist experiences unconditional positive regard for the client. 5. The therapist experiences an empathic understanding of the client’s internal frame of reference and endeavors to communicate this experience to the client. 6. The communication to the client of the therapist’s empathic understanding and unconditional positive regard is to a minimal degree achieved. No other conditions are necessary. If these six conditions exist, and continue over a period of time, this is sufficient. The process of constructive personality change will follow. (Rogers 1957, p. 95)

Another contemporary approach to the individual’s work of self-reflection and letting go of what keeps him or her embedded in the false self is in mindfulness practice. For example, American Zen teacher Charlotte Joko Beck wrote extensively on the connection between Zen practice and modern psychology. She describes Zen practice in a manner congruent with the spiritual practice of the desert in the third to fifth centuries C.E.: All good practice aims to make our false dreams conscious, so that there is nothing in our physical and mental experience that is unknown to us. We need not only to know our anger, we need to know our own personal ways of handling our anger. If a reaction is not conscious we can’t look at it and turn away from it. Each defensive reaction (and we have one about every five minutes) is practice. If we practice with the thoughts and physical sensations that comprise that reaction, we open to wholeness, or holiness, if you want to call it that. In good practice we are always transforming from being personally centered (caught in our personal reactions) to being more and more a channel for universal energy, this energy that shifts the universe a million times a second. In our phenomenal lives what we see is impermanence; the other side is something else; we won’t give it a name. When we practice well we are increasingly a channel for this universal energy, and death loses its sting. (Beck 1989, p. 106)

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Merton’s (1960) assertion that the fruit of disciplined self-reflection in the desert was the possibility of touching into the true self with its “clear unobstructed vision of the true state of affairs” (p. 8) is critical to effective action. Diane Eshin Rizzetto was a student of Beck’s who also understood Zen practice and echoes both Merton and the desert ammas and abbas when she writes: “It seems, then, in order to see things more clearly, we need to be able to see when we’ve strayed into reactive thinking. Only then do we have a chance to take action that best suits the conditions present at any given time and that best serves the situation” (Rizzetto 2012, p. 3). An equivalent to the self-reflection practiced in the desert of the third to fifth centuries C.E. is the Enneagram. The Enneagram is a typology that focuses on a psychology of nine different human character types, similar to the way in which the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator distinguishes among 16 different types. Like the Myers-Briggs and other personality descriptors, the Enneagram shows the way in which each one of the nine enneagram types represents the overall way in which a person has consciously and unconsciously adapted himself or herself to the world. Uncovering the underlying compulsion involves the unveiling of the hidden basic defensive strategy a person has developed to ensure security and create a meaningful existence. This defensive strategy has been so carefully hidden that it is probably not consciously perceived nor reflected upon and, therefore, it is a problem in need of attention. The compulsion of each type is a way of defending the self, a way which is, unfortunately, disruptive of bondedness with others: The identifying negativity stems from a specific compulsion ingrained in a person’s selfconcept and has a great influence on behavior. The compulsion is a kind of “hidden sin,” where sin is understood as a kind of paralysis or hindrance to becoming one’s authentic self. This disconnection from the true self is caused by the individual’s lack of understanding of his or her real motives and the underlying drives of his or her personality. (Carey 1999, p. 20)

Therefore, the basic idea of the Enneagram is that each type is characterized by a compulsion, which is an erroneous way to live out the good qualities or essences of human nature; each type has taken a good quality of being human and made it into a compulsion by pushing it to the extreme. What was a limited way of living as a person has been turned into the ultimate way of being. Interestingly, although there are several legends surrounding the formation of the Enneagram as a tool for spiritual direction or psychological counseling, a recent work on its use has proposed that it is based upon the work of Evagrius, specifically his eight evil thoughts: Evagrius developed a list of eight—or even nine, in one passage from the text De vitiis quae opposita sunt virtutibus (On the vices opposed to the virtues)—vices or distracting “thoughts” that impede the way to God and to passionless peace of heart . . .. The eight vices, then, are: anger (ONE in the Enneagram), pride (TWO), vanity or thirst for glory (THREE), sadness (in the sense of self-pity) or envy (FOUR), avarice (FIVE), gluttony (SEVEN), lust (EIGHT), and laziness or “acedia” (NINE). “Fear,” which is classified in the Enneagram as type SIX, is missing. (Rohr and Ebert 2001, p. 10)

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Transcending Self to Respond Appropriately Self-transcendence affects one’s understanding of events and people; in the sense that the self-as-subject achieves any degree of objectivity, it is to that extent that it transcends itself (Conn 1981, p. 104). According to Piaget (1971), “Egocentrism signifies the absence of both self-perception and objectivity” (p. xii) and that through an apparently paradoxical mechanism, etc., it is precisely when the subject is most self-centered that he knows himself the least, and it is to the extent that he discovers himself that he places himself in the universe and constructs it by virtue of that fact (Piaget 1971, p. xii). The process of self-transcendence is not a one-time achievement; it is not one which, once achieved, is permanent: “Subject-object relations emerge out of a lifelong process of development: a succession of qualitatively more extensive objects with which to be in relation created each time; a natural history of qualitatively better guarantees to the world of its distinctiveness; successive triumphs of ‘relationship to’ rather than ‘embeddedness in’” (Kegan 1982, p. 77). This self-transcendence points to the same dynamic that the desert ammas and abbas pointed to: purity of heart or seeing clearly. As Abba Moses told John Cassian, though the ultimate goal of monastic life is the kingdom of God, the more immediate goal (that which leads to the kingdom) is the acquisition of purity of heart. Whatever we today might call purity of heart for those in the workplace – e.g., altruism, selftranscendence, servant-leadership – to the degree one possesses it, to that degree both organization and individual benefit.

Conclusion What the Desert Monastics knew in a very special spiritual way, long before modern psychology began to offer leadership workshops, is that when we try to function as if we are an island—distinct, invincible, detached from all others—is exactly when we fail most. (Chittister 2015, pp. 14–15)

The concept of a leader’s fundamental option for self-transcendence has been presented as instrumental to moral leadership. For moral leadership to be present, “transformation must take place in the leader before it can take place among his or her followers” (Carey 1992, p. 232). Such self-transcendence is no longer an option for workplace leadership or followership for that matter. Individuals who seek only to maximize their financial worth, companies that seek mainly the bottom line, and countries that seek basically to marginalize or control others create dysfunctional persons, and societies, and, ultimately, a dysfunctional world. The most effective individual for today is one who has grappled with his or her demons, has chosen to turn away from lingering on destructive thoughts, and has shifted his or her values to those which are universal, cosmic, and transcendent. Such individuals become leaders in their workplaces, regardless of whether or not they

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hold formal authority. This deeper, more authentic leadership implies a selftranscendence that comes with genuine self-enlightenment, and that is the product of patient psychological reflection, or spiritual grace, or both.

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Fostering a Sense of Belonging in the Workplace: Enhancing Well-Being and a Positive and Coherent Sense of Self

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Contents Belonging as a Fundamental Human Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Belonging as an Innate Human Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Attributes of Belonging in the Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Perceived Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shared Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Impact of a Sense of Not Belonging on Psychological Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mood and Emotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sense of Self . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Impact of a Sense of Not Belonging on Performance in the Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Role of Organizational Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fostering a Sense of Belonging at Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Developing Quality Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

The need to belong has long been established as a fundamental human need and one that when thwarted has significant detrimental implications for psychological well-being, including self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and cognition, as well as behavior. A growing body of work has explored the experience of belonging and social exclusion in the workplace and found belonging in the workplace to have equally significant implications for emotion, cognition, and sense of self, as well as performance. In particular, sense of not belonging at work has been found to impact self-efficacy and self-esteem, as well as undermine a consistent and

L. Waller (*) Faculty, Ashridge at Hult International Business School, Berkhamsted, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_83

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coherent self-concept through the conflict that emerges between who individuals know themselves to be and how they feel and behave during the experience. Research also suggests, however, that the organizational culture of the workplace is involved in both determining and fostering a sense of not belonging at work, and as such organizations have a role to play in fostering a sense of belonging at work and enhancing employee well-being. Keywords

Belonging · Exclusion · Inclusion · Self-concept · Well-being

Belonging as a Fundamental Human Need The need to belong is defined as an innate need for interpersonal attachments (Baumeister and Leary 1995) and is a vital component of the theories of human need and motivation, theories which explore the factors believed to be the primary drivers of much of human thinking and activity (Borkowski 2005; Baumeister and Leary 1995). While lacking much empirical support, Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is nonetheless the most familiar and commonly referenced theory of human motivation (Maslow 1943). The theory proposes that human behavior is motivated by a desire to satisfy one of five basic human needs: physiological needs; safety needs; belongingness or love needs; self-esteem needs; and self- actualization needs, as detailed in Fig. 1. Maslow proposes that these needs are related to each other in a hierarchy and that the higher needs will not be attended to until the lower needs are at least partially satisfied, and that until satisfied the individual’s capacities will be put to the task of satisfying that need. Maslow also suggests a particular need can dominate an individual, so that they become defined in terms of that need, their behavior becomes organized by the drive to satisfy that need, and they focus only upon achieving a future where that need is satiated. An alternative need theory developed by Alderfer (1972) proposes a three-stage model of existence, relatedness, and growth needs (ERG). Existence refers to the individual’s concern with material needs such as food, water, money, working conditions. Relatedness refers to the need to develop and maintain interpersonal relationships with friends, family, peers, and other working groups. Growth refers to the individual’s need for personal development, to make a contribution, and to be creative (Borkowski 2005). Focusing only on growth needs rather than basic human needs, McClelland’s 3Needs Theory (1985) also identified three motivational needs: achievement; power; and affiliation. Achievement refers to the need to excel and succeed; power refers to the need to influence others; and affiliation refers to the individual’s need to be liked and approved of (McClelland 1985). Finally, Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory (2000) also explores inherent growth tendencies and suggests that human motivation is determined by the pursuit of three innate psychological needs: autonomy; competence; and relatedness. The authors contend that these are universal, psychological needs that

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Fig. 1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1943)

must be satisfied for optimal functioning in terms of well-being, growth, integrity, motivation, and psychological adjustment. As such, while there is a lack of agreement in terms of the number and types of need that drive human behavior, particularly in terms of the inclusion of the basic needs of physiology and safety, the need to belong is fundamental to all the major theories of need and motivation, described variously as belongingness, relatedness, or affiliation, and supports the argument that human beings are driven to establish and maintain a sense of belonging and affiliation with individuals and groups.

Belonging as an Innate Human Motivation The Belonging Hypothesis (Baumeister and Leary 1995) similarly proposes that human beings have an innate need to form interpersonal relationships which are frequent, positive interactions, and involve an interpersonal affective concern that is stable and perceived to be enduring. A wealth of research supports the general proposition that all human beings desire to form social bonds and do so spontaneously. Anthropological studies, in particular,

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consistently find that individuals in all societies will naturally form into social groups (Mann 1980), and numerous experimental studies, particularly those exploring ingroup behavior, have found examples of spontaneous group formation and development of social bonds, such as the spontaneous development of group favoritism through random assignment to groups, even when allocation is entirely arbitrary (Sherif et al. 1961, 1988; Tajfel et al. 1971). In the classic Robbers Cave experiments for example, Sherif et al. (1961, 1988) randomly allocated 12-year-old boys into two groups in order to explore the development of social bonds and the concept of ethnocentrism – that we are driven to preferably evaluate aspects of our own group. Keeping the two groups apart for the first week while they worked to achieve common goals (such as completing a treasure hunt or building apparatus), the authors found that the two groups rapidly formed intra-group bonds. They developed a group structure as observed through the establishment of a hierarchy of status positions, established group norms and attitudes, such as naming their groups, referring to objects as “ours” and created group characteristics, such as being “tough” (Sherif et al. 1988). They also found that when competition was introduced between the two groups, fierce opposition developed, expressed through actions such as burning the other group’s flag or eating their food, and characterizing them in unfavorable terms. Such rapid development of ingroup bonding and out-group opposition as such demonstrating that human beings do naturally develop social bonds.

The Protective Benefits of the Group Leary and Cox (2008) suggest that the need to belong may actually be an adaptive mechanism and propose that the human species has survived primarily as a consequence of social inclusion and living in social groups which offered protection, nurture, and support. The process of natural selection, they argue, favored those who established and maintained interpersonal connections with social groups. Several anthropologists, evolutionary theorists, and social psychologists similarly postulate that successful cooperation and harmonious group relations would have resulted in group inclusion (De Waal 1989), whereas those who were less successful would more likely be excluded and in turn less likely to be able to survive (Caporael 1997, 2001). The Neurological Nature of Belonging There is also evidence from the field of neuroscience which suggests that the drive to belong may be an adaptive response to the threat to our survival posed by social exclusion (MacDonald and Leary 2005). Specifically, research has found that bonding and social interaction stimulates the dopamine system which is involved in reward and reinforcement. The release of these neurochemicals makes bonding a rewarding and inherently pleasurable experience, thus encouraging a preference for social interaction and driving the belongingness motivation (Carter 1998). Another indication that supports the adaptive nature of the need to belong is that social pain, defined as the pain experienced through interpersonal rejection or loss

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(Sturgeon and Zautra 2016), has been found to trigger the same neurobiological systems for monitoring and responding to rejection as physical pain (Eisenberger et al. 2003). The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a structure in the brain known to be activated by physical pain, specifically the affective rather than sensory component (Rainville et al. 1997), and research using neuroimaging techniques has found the ACC is activated by social rejection (Eisenberger et al. 2003). In addition, the periaqueductal gray (PAG), brain structure which is a part of the brain associated with pain detection and reduction, and inhibits pain transmission signals (MacDonald and Leary 2005), has also been found to be activated by social isolation in animals (MacDonald and Leary 2005). It would seem that social attachment systems have evolved to alert us to a threat to our social exclusion by stimulating the same neural pathways as physical pain – suggesting that social exclusion is as critical to our survival as a species as physical harm (MacDonald and Leary 2005).

Attributes of Belonging in the Workplace Social relationships, therefore, are critical to our survival as a species and promote our sense of belonging to social groups. However, being the place where we spend a great deal of our time work now provides much of the social support that used to be gained from extended families and community (Gill et al. 1999). As such the work context and the development of relationships and support from colleagues have become particularly central to our sense of belonging.

Relationships A study exploring the experience of a sense of not belonging at work by Waller (2019) found an absence of quality relationships to be one of three main attributes to not belonging. What individuals lacked were genuine relationships characterized by trust, empathy, knowledge and understanding, feeling like one mattered, and an ability to be open. Other research finds similar patterns, with not belonging being associated with an absence of interest from others and meaningful association with others, as well as a lack of stability in maintaining relationships (Belle et al. 2015). A sense of belonging conversely has also been found to be impacted by a lack of interpersonal relationships and the extent to which colleagues are accepting and supportive (Levett-Jones and Lathlean 2009), and predicted by perceived support from colleagues (Dávila and Jiménez 2012).

Perceived Value However, in the context of the workplace in particular, belonging is not only about the need to develop social relationships but is a broader construct involving more

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than just affiliation. Belonging at work is also a function of feeling valued, a feeling of value that is related to a sense of contributing to the organization, to having a sense of purpose, and the capability to do one’s role (Levett-Jones and Lathlean 2009; Belle et al. 2015; Hagerty et al. 1992; Masterson and Stamper 2003). Waller (2019) proposes that not adding value at work is a key attribute of a sense of not belonging in the workplace, with not belonging associated with a perception of not contributing to the organization, a lack of a sense of purpose, and a lack of capability to effectively perform. Hagerty et al. (1992) also define sense of belonging as “the experience of personal involvement in a system or environment so that persons feel themselves to be an integral part of that system or environment” (p. 173), and according to McClure and Brown’s (2008) conceptualization of organizational belonging, belonging is not just about developing relationships, but is also about “what it is like to be valued at work” (p. 14).

Shared Characteristics A sense of belonging at work has also been found to involve a sense of similarity through shared characteristics. Hagerty et al. (1992) consider belonging to involve an experience of congruence through a sense of shared characteristics and identify antecedents of sense of belonging as the potential for shared or complementary characteristics. Similarly, Waller’s (2019) study found that different social, professional, or educational backgrounds and different individual characteristics, sexual orientation, or age impacted an individual’s sense of not belonging at work by putting them outside of the group. That is not to say, however, that being similar to those around us is always best for our well-being, and social identity theorists have found that a lack of uniqueness is in fact related to poor psychological well-being (Berger et al. 1980; Tajfel and Turner 1986). These studies, however, intimate that uniqueness must be at the expense of belonging and view personal and social identities at opposite ends of a continuum (Turner et al. 1987). Optimal Distinctiveness Theory (ODT), however, suggests that a sense of belonging actually constitutes a balance between a sense of similarity and a sense of distinctiveness (Brewer 1991). The type of distinctiveness involved in this balance is one that supports an individual’s sense of valued contribution rather than one that separates the individual from the group (Vignoles et al. 2002). As such, belonging at work can be considered to involve a balance between shared characteristics and distinctive value.

Impact of a Sense of Not Belonging on Psychological Well-Being A large body of research has found that thwarting of the need to belong has a detrimental impact on one’s psychological well-being, specifically sense of self, emotion, and cognition.

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Mood and Emotion Thwarting of the need to belong has been found to be related to anxiety and depression (Barden et al. 1985; Tambor and Leary 1993), and related to emotional distress (Blackhart et al. 2011) and mood (Gerber and Wheeler 2009), a relationship that has also been found in the workplace. Waller’s (2019) research found participants articulated feeling depressed, or feelings that are closely associated with depression such as being exhausted, feeling desolate, or desperate. Others felt anxious, scared, or vulnerable about the experience they were having, the vulnerable state they were in, or the situation they had found themselves in. For all individuals the emotional and psychological impact was not fleeting or insignificant, but deep, powerful, and encompassing (Waller 2019). Similarly, Levett-Jones and Lathlean (2009) found anxiety and depression to be related to a diminished sense of belonging for student nurses; Shakespeare-Finch and Daley (2017) found that workplace belongingness was the strongest significant negative predictor of psychological distress (including assessment of both anxiety and depression) with ambulance workers; and Cockshaw and Shochet (2010) found a negative correlation between depression and workplace belongingness. However, some research fails to find a relationship between belonging and emotion (Begen and Turner-Cobb 2015). For example, in a series of experiments, Twenge et al. (2002) consistently found no impact of social exclusion on mood, and while Blackhart et al. (2009) found rejected participants felt worse than neutral controls and accepted participants, they did not actually experience emotional distress. The inconsistency in findings between experimental studies and field studies in the workplace, however, is argued to be an artifact of the methodology used, in that laboratory studies do not allow opportunities for participants to reflect on the experience of exclusion and to appraise the exclusion in terms of the importance to their sense of self or their responsibility for the exclusion (Kitchens and Gohm 2010). Theories of emotion, however, contend that cognitive appraisal of an experience is vital to the intensity and the valence of an emotional response (Arnold 1960; Scherer 2001, 2004). The Appraisal Theory of Emotion (Arnold 1960; Lazarus 1966), for example, argues that different stimuli can cause different emotions in different people, or different emotions in the same person depending on the context in which they happen and their relational meaning (Roseman and Smith 2001). Attribution Theory (Weiner 1985) similarly contends that different dimensions of causality, such as self-other responsibility or situational control, are also related to different affective reactions. For example, negative events that are internally attributed typically result in negative affect, such as shame and guilt, whereas negative outcomes that are externally attributed often result in anger or frustration (Harvey et al. 2014). As such, cognitive appraisal of an experience is vital to one’s emotional response, particularly in terms of how relevant the experience is to the self, how much control one feels one has over the experience, and how much responsibility one takes for the experience. Experiences, therefore, that do not allow for appraisal are less likely to result in an emotional response.

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Sense of Self Perhaps the most significant implication of a sense of not belonging at work to an individual’s psychological well-being is the impact that it has on an individual’s sense of self. While there exist various conceptualizations of self-concept, common across all is the perception that it is one’s view of oneself – the knowledge that an individual holds about themselves, incorporating traits, values, memories, and self-relevant information (Greenwald and Pratkanis 1984; Kihlstrom and Cantor 1984; Markus and Nurius 1986). In addition to this personal knowledge, self-concept is also argued to incorporate a relational, or collective sense of self in terms of who one is in relation to other people or groups, and as such is thought to be socially and contextually determined, developed through interaction with others and society, through social roles and membership of groups, and comparison with others (Baumeister 2011; Brewer and Gardner 1996; May 2011; Markus and Nurius 1986; Shrauger and Schoeneman 1999). Indeed, Baumeister argues that one’s identity is defined by the specific tasks and role that one has in a society or group and that the purpose of the self is to secure, maintain, and improve one’s place in a social group. Integral to acceptance is that others consider the individual to be good, in terms of behaving in acceptable ways, and as such this motivates individual behavior to be good, resulting in acceptance, respect, and ultimately survival and reproduction. A sense of not belonging therefore has significant implications for the development of the self-concept. In Waller’s (2019) study of sense of not belonging at work, self-concept emerged as the core concern of the participants – the meaning they attributed to the experience in terms of their sense of self. Feeling like they did not belong left them questioning their self-knowledge and questioning their abilities and their worth. How they felt about the experience left them questioning their resilience and their strength, and how they attempted to resolve the experience left them questioning their authenticity and their courage. This poor self-concept was further compounded by concerns that others held negative perceptions of them too. Their sense of not belonging left them feeling unable to be themselves at work, and undermined their self-concepts, creating a paradox between who they knew themselves to be and who they became during the experience, resulting in a conflict in self-concept which intensified the psychological impact of sense of not belonging in the workplace. This theoretical framework is illustrated in Fig. 2.

Self-Esteem An element of the self-concept that has consistently been found to be related to belonging is self-esteem. Self-esteem refers to how one evaluates dimensions of the self-concept involving both cognitive and emotional components (Campbell et al. 1996). Leary’s (2005) Sociometer Hypothesis proposes that self-esteem is an internal gauge that alerts us to the threat to our acceptance, inclusion, or relational value, and motivates behavior to address this threat and enhance likelihood of being included. Leary’s research offers strong support for his hypothesis finding both a correlational

Fig. 2 Conceptual framework of a sense of not belonging in the workplace (Waller 2019)

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and causal link between inclusion/exclusion and self-esteem (Leary et al. 1995, 1998, 2005). Others have also supported this relationship, finding a significant relationship between rejection and self-esteem (Gailliot and Baumeister 2007) and between social exclusion, self-esteem, and emotional distress (Blackhart et al. (2009). These relationships have also been found in studies exploring exclusion and belonging in the workplace. For example, Waller (2019) found that self-esteem was a fundamental element of a sense of not belonging at work, with participants blaming themselves for the experience, assuming they had done something wrong, or that a deficiency in them was responsible for their sense of not belonging. Their self-esteem was also impacted by their emotional response to not belonging, which they interpreted as weakness. Hitlan et al. (2006) also found high levels of perceived exclusion to be related to higher levels of threat to self-esteem in the workplace, and Levett-Jones and Lathlean (2009), in their qualitative study of belonging with student nurses, found not belonging to be associated with diminished self-worth, self-blame, and inadequacy.

Self-Efficacy Self-efficacy, defined as one’s belief that one can be successful in future tasks (Bandura 1997), has also been found to be related to belonging. Waller (2019) found that a sense of belonging was related to a lack of confidence in ability to competently do the role, or lack of conviction in decisions and judgment, as well as a perception of being less competent than others. These perceptions left participants feeling that they were not good enough and compounded their sense of not adding value and therefore their sense of not belonging. Self-efficacy also emerged as critical to Levett-Jones and Lathlean’s (2009) research exploring nursing students’ progression towards attaining a sense of competence. Their conceptualization perceives belonging as a process, and their Ascent to Competence conceptual framework (see Fig. 3) suggests that individuals begin at

Fig. 3 Conceptual framework of an Ascent to Competence (Levett-Jones and Lathlean 2009)

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the stage of safety and security, and progress through the stages of belongingness, self-concept, learning, and finally competence, whereby students consider themselves to be an “efficacious and capable professional” (p. 2873).

Conflict in Sense of Self As well as an impact on self-esteem and self-efficacy, Waller (2019) also found that the experience of not belonging was associated with a conflict in self-concept which emerged in two key ways, the first of which was an internal conflict between what participants thought they knew about themselves compared to how they felt during the experience, such as feeling weak, incompetent, vulnerable, or emotional. These feelings were expressed as an inner turmoil of distorted perception, irrationality, and loss of control. The experience, therefore, left them questioning who they were, and resulted in a cognitive dissonance further undermining the clarity of their selfconcept. These findings are supported by the multifaceted conceptualizations of self which imply that the differing contexts, influences, and interests of these different elements of the self may at times be in conflict. Horton et al. (2014) further distinguish between deep-structured and situated elements of the self, the former referring to deep rooted identities that are fundamental to one’s self definition, the latter referring to transient, situation-specific identities that may operate within one domain. Horton et al. (2014) propose that conflicts that threaten this deep-structured identity are likely to have deep-seated psychological consequences, and that the impact of identity conflict is contingent on whether the elements of self in conflict are deepstructured, reflecting ubiquitous values and beliefs, or situational, reflecting competing demands and requiring different attitudes and behaviors. Cognitive dissonance theory also supports the impact of deep-rooted self-concept conflict on psychological well-being. The theory proposes that inconsistent cognitions lead to an aversive affective state (dissonance) which leads to a drive to resolve the inconsistency and maintain consonance (Festinger 1957). Cognitive dissonance, according to Festinger, involves three core principles: Inconsistent cognitions need to occur simultaneously; they need to be directed at the same object; and they need to be propositional beliefs – that is they need to be considered by the individual to be true. This theory indicates that although inconsistent propositional beliefs about oneself are targeted at one object and may be considered to be true, inconsistency between situated identities would not necessarily result in cognitive dissonance as they do not occur simultaneously – one can be a professional in the workplace and a mother in the home. Inconsistent cognitions about deep-structured self-constructs however, such as “I am resilient,” “I am rational” would result in the aversive affective state of cognitive dissonance as they are propositional beliefs, targeting the same object simultaneously as they apply in all contexts. Theories of self-concept unity further highlight the psychological impact of selfconcept conflict. Donahue et al. (1993), for example, argue that self-concept differentiation (SCD) is reflective of a fragmentation or lack of an integrated core identity. They conceptualize SCD as the extent to which an individual considers themselves to have different personality characteristics across five different roles (friend,

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romantic partner, son/daughter, student, and worker). This variance represents inconsistency in terms of both attitudes and behaviors that may be demanded of different social roles, and also in terms of personality characteristics and traits, representing a deeper felt conflict. Their research indeed found SCD to be positively correlated with depression, anxiety, and neuroticism and negatively correlated with self-esteem. Campbell et al. (1996) also propose that self-concept clarity is related to psychological adjustment. Self-concept clarity (SCC) is defined as a subjective belief regarding the extent to which an individual’s self-concept is clearly defined, internally consistent, and temporally stable. They argue that self-concept clarity has important implications for self-esteem, over and above the evaluation of one’s self-concept as positive or negative. They found a relationship between SCC and global self-esteem, whereby while those with positive evaluative components and high self-concept clarity also exhibited high self-esteem, those with low self-esteem did not necessarily have negative views of themselves but did have low self-concept clarity (Campbell 1990; Campbell and Fehr 1990). These studies therefore suggest that low self-esteem might not just be related to negative self-beliefs but also to an inconsistency and uncertainty in those beliefs. As such, the conflict in self presented by a sense of not belonging might have a significant impact on psychological wellbeing over and above the direct impact of sense of not belonging on self-esteem.

Ability to Be Oneself at Work As well as an internal conflict in deep-rooted elements of the self, Waller’s (2019) research also found a sense of not belonging to impact participant’s ability to be themselves. This ability to be oneself is considered by some to be critical to a sense of belonging, with belonging defined by May (2011) as a “sense of ease with oneself and one’s surroundings” (p. 368). Miller (2003) similarly describes belonging as “something. . .fundamental to who and what we are. . .it might be stated that belonging is in some way part of what constitutes our identity” (2003, p. 217); and Weeks (1990) argues that identity is about belonging and perceived to be determined by one’s ability to be fully oneself and not belonging the inability to be oneself. The importance of ability to be oneself to belonging emerged in Belle et al.’s (2015) study exploring the experience of organizational belonging for high-intensity teleworkers which revealed a picture of the holistic totality of their experience of belonging at work captured in three overall themes: the context (nature of the work); the construct of the work (how it is performed); and employee’s confidence in the work. They found that individuals developed a sense of organizational belonging through three processes: choice, in terms of the choice to undertake telework; negotiation, in terms of the ability to influence and decide how they conducted their work; and knowing, in terms of knowing the organization, the norms, and personal understanding of others, and an understanding of self. Knowing emerged as an important and encompassing theme, associated with developing competence and confidence. It involved a deeper knowing of the self, and a recognition of the balance between personal and organizational identity. The consolidation of their research resulted in a definition of belonging as “experiencing an acknowledgement

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Fig. 4 High-intensity teleworkers’ development of a sense of organizational belonging (Belle et al. 2015)

of one’s talents, interests, and experiences, and finding whole acceptance of one’s self expression of these” (p. 90) (Fig. 4). As such, the ability to be oneself is critical to a sense of belonging at work. However, research consistently finds that not belonging often motivates conformity behaviors and self-presentational tactics to convey a particular impression of oneself, undermining a sense of coherent and authentic self (Leary 2005). For example, in Waller’s (2019) research, the inability for participants to be themselves was found for the most part to be driven by their attempts to resolve the experience of not belonging, either by trying to find an “identity” that would fit or through withdrawing or conforming in order to be accepted. While at times this behavior impacted self-concept through what it said about who they were (in terms of their weakness, or lack of courage) at other times it presented a clear paradox between who they thought they were and how they behaved, for example, between being the extravert and withdrawing or between being compassionate and behaving insensitively. Levett-Jones and Lathlean (2009) and Williams et al. (2000) also found not belonging and social exclusion, respectively, to be related to conformity, and Champion et al. (1998) found that in order to fit in, medical practitioners became “chameleons,” adapting and changing to suit their environment, with the best way to fit in being to conform to established norms and practices. Leary and Cox (2008) propose that conforming behaviors are driven by beliefs regarding socially acceptable ways to belong, resulting in conformity to these social norms through the individual’s fear of being rejected. This concern for social acceptance can lead to both attitude acquisition and change, with individuals adopting attitudes that enhance their potential for acceptance or expressing attitudes that differ from their own privately held beliefs and attitudes. This is supported by

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Hewlin’s (2003) work on Facades of Conformity which she defines as “false representations created by employees to appear as if they embrace organizational values” (p. 634). Hewlin argues that in order to gain acceptance at work individuals pretend to embrace organizational values and suppress their own values to give the impression of conformity. This conformity is evident in all interactions in an organization and can involve both emotional and behavioral facades. For example, conformity may be enacted through modeling others, expressing appropriate emotions or opinions, or wearing appropriate clothes (Ibarra 1999; Hochschild 1983; Rafaeli et al. 1997). As such, a sense of not belonging in the workplace encourages behaviors that while designed to enhance one’s sense of belonging also serve to undermine the selfconcept and an ability to be authentic in the workplace, potentially perpetuating the experience.

Authenticity and Psychological Well-Being As well as undermining the self-concept, a lack of an ability to be oneself and be authentic in the workplace also has a direct impact on psychological well-being. Authenticity is defined by Rogers (1961) as a sense of empowerment and an ability to behave in ways that are consistent with one’s beliefs and values rather than the result of external pressures. An authentic individual is one who feels “consistency between their inner and outer senses of self and correspondingly experience coherence between their thoughts, feelings, and behavior.” (Robinson et al. 2013, p. 720). Kernis and Goldman (2006) define authenticity as an individual’s tendency to behave in ways that reflect their values, beliefs, and true selves irrespective of context. They propose that authenticity is comprised of both cognitive and behavioral elements – cognitive being an awareness of one’s self, attributes, and capacities and an unbiased and accurate self-perception; and behavioral being a tendency for honest self-expression and openness within relationships. The cognitive aspects reflect one’s understanding and appraisal of oneself – their self-concept clarity, whereas the behavioral aspects reflect one’s ability to act in concordance with that understanding of self through one’s interactions (Goldman and Kernis 2002). A study by Menard and Brunet (2011) explored the relationship between authenticity and well-being, making the distinction between subjective well-being and psychological well-being. Subjective well-being was defined as evaluations of life satisfaction and affect, including anxiety, depression, and distress (Diener 1984), and psychological well-being as the perception that one is realizing one’s true potential and pursuing meaningful goals (Ryan and Deci 2001; Keyes et al. 2002). The results of their study found that both the cognitive and behavioral dimensions of authenticity were related to subjective well-being, in that managers who were more authentic in the workplace were more satisfied with life and experienced more positive affect, as well as related to psychological well-being. As such, from the perspective of the individual, the impact on psychological wellbeing of a sense of not belonging is apparent. Sense of not belonging in the workplace has a significant and intense impact on self-esteem, self-efficacy, and on a sense of having a coherent, integrated and authentic sense of self. Furthermore,

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sense of not belonging has a detrimental impact on emotional state, and is associated with negative affect, anxiety, and depression.

Impact of a Sense of Not Belonging on Performance in the Workplace However, as has been discussed, a wealth of research suggests that thwarting the need to belong may also have important implications for how employees behave in the workplace, ultimately affecting their contribution and performance, and as such, the experience has important implications for organizations as well as individuals. Interestingly, while some studies have found exclusion and not belonging to be related to prosocial behaviors, for example, engaging in group work and seeking out social connections (Maner et al. 2007), willingness to help (Mohamed et al. 2014), and working extra hard (Levett-Jones and Lathlean 2009); others find the experience is related to more interpersonally harmful behaviors, such as cursing at someone at work, and reduced interpersonally helpful behaviors, such as volunteering to do things for the team (Thau et al. 2007). The conflict in these findings is argued to be related to an individual’s ability to control their situation and actually enhance their likelihood of belonging and feeling included (Gerber and Wheeler 2009). Rejected individuals in one study who were able to enhance their inclusionary status by interacting with their excluder were more likely to rate their excluder as attractive and sociable and treat them favorably than those without that opportunity (Maner et al. 2007). Waller (2019) proposes that when sense of not belonging is associated with a perceived lack of control, a perceived lack of ability to proactively enhance one’s sense of belonging, the associated behaviors can involve disengagement, withdrawal, or disruption, impacting performance and the value individuals add to the organization. These behaviors may also result in limiting potential through attempting to protect themselves from further undermining their sense of self, and on occasion may result in them leaving an organization or profession. As such, the benefit of helping individuals to avoid the experience or to constructively and adaptively resolve it is apparent, both for the sake of the individual and for the sake of the organization.

Role of Organizational Culture Research suggests, however, that organizational culture may have a significant influence on the emergence and maintenance of a sense of not belonging, and as such may have a role to play in alleviating or avoiding the experience. Schein (1985) identifies three layers of organizational culture: artifacts; beliefs and values; and assumptions. Artifacts are the visible manifestations of a culture such as rituals and rewards, structures, practices, and processes and represent in a visible way the underlying values and assumptions of an organization (Beyer and Trice 1987). At

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a deeper level, beliefs and values are the espoused beliefs that are used to validate patterns of behavior and guide choices in ways of working, and determine how individuals act, speak, and interpret their organization (McDermott and O’Dell 2001). Underlying assumptions are the unconscious, implicit beliefs, and expectations shared by members of the organization, such as perceptions, thoughts, and feelings (Al Saifi 2015). Given that the core values and underlying assumptions of an organization are perceived to be both deeply rooted and ingrained and key indicators of what is right and wrong, misalignment with these core values is likely to result in a cognitive dissonance and a perception of not belonging. This was indeed found by LevettJones and Lathlean (2009) whereby the degree of harmony between student nurses’ values and those of the clinical setting in which they found themselves was related to their sense of belonging, and when they experienced a dissonance between these values they often felt alienated, disillusioned, and psychologically disengaged. Similarly, Belle et al. (2015) also found that organizational belonging and identification at an organizational level was predicated on an alignment between personal values and the ideals and principles of the organization. Waller’s (2019) study also found that organizational culture often provided the context in which sense of not belonging could manifest. These cultures reflected pervasive, stable elements of the organization which often inhibited participants’ ability to speak up and be themselves, or with which they struggled to find a fit. They were perceived as unsafe for offering ideas, ruthless, misogynistic, or operating on a basis of distrust and political play, and many were maintained by strong hierarchy or uncompassionate leadership. Participants described these environments as lacking support and some felt a sense of not being valued as an individual, impacting their sense of self-worth and self-respect as they failed to speak out. The perceived competitive nature of these environments was intrinsically individualistic and exclusive, leaving individuals feeling left out of the influential group. An aspect of organizational culture that is particularly critical to belonging in the workplace is psychological safety, which is defined by Edmondson (1999) as an individual’s perception that the team environment is safe for interpersonal risk taking. Of particular pertinence to the experience of belonging at work is the role that psychological safety plays in the ability to be open, which was explored by Liange et al.’s (2012) study investigating the impact of psychological safety on “voice.” The authors distinguish between two types of voice: promotive voice through which individuals express ways to improve practices and behaviors; and prohibitive voice through which individuals express concern about practices and behaviors. Liange et al. (2012) found that psychological safety was most strongly positively related to subsequent prohibitive voice, supporting the role of psychological safety in our ability to speak up and voice concerns about experience, which the literature suggests is an important function of quality relationships, which are in turn important to one’s sense of belonging. Scott et al. (2014) further support the role of culture on one’s experience of belonging in the workplace through their exploration of the moderating effects of perceived organizational support (POS) on organization-based self-esteem (OBSE),

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which is defined as the employee’s perception of his or her self-worth and competence as a member of the organization. POS is defined as the “perception that the organization values one’s contributions and is concerned about his or her wellbeing” (Scott et al. 2014, p. 1237). Their study found that POS mitigated the negative relationship between social exclusion in the workplace and organizationbased self-esteem. The culture of an organization as such can provide the context in which a sense of not belonging in the workplace can manifest and be maintained, through inhibiting the individual’s capacity to speak out, to be themselves, and to feel accepted at work. Organizations, therefore, clearly have a role to play in supporting the development of a sense of belonging in the workplace.

Fostering a Sense of Belonging at Work As illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, Waller (2019) proposes a model of a sense of workplace belonging that emphasizes the need to pay attention to both the attributes of belonging at work, the role of organizational culture in belonging at work, and also the often cyclical nature of the impact of belonging on the self-concept.

Developing Quality Relationships Given the integrity of quality relationships to sense of not belonging, establishing practices and processes within the workplace that encourage the development of these relationships, and the establishment of a positive social network may help to Fig. 5 Organizational model of fostering a sense of belonging at work (Waller 2020)

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Fig. 6 Individual model of fostering a sense of belonging at work (Waller 2020)

ensure that employees have access to supportive, empathetic, and genuine relationships. These relationships can serve to provide a safe space for voicing concerns about belonging in the workplace, help the individual to feel understood, “known” for all that they are, not just those characteristics which might set them apart, and be appreciated for their diversity and their contribution. Offering training and development in relational skills, such as active listening, emotional intelligence, and communication skills, recruiting on the basis of these relational skills, and rewarding employees for demonstrating these relational skills can help in promoting the development of quality relationships (Baker and Dutton 2007). Similarly, making available opportunities for out of work gatherings and engagement in informal “off-task” activities can also help to develop trust, camaraderie, and meaningful relationships in the workplace (McClure and Brown 2008).

Developing a Sense of Value In terms of ensuring that employees feel valued and valuable, organizations should first ensure that their employees have the necessary skills and knowledge to perform in their roles and make a valuable contribution to the organization, which would also enhance their sense of self-efficacy. This is particularly true when employees are new in role or new to the organization. Providing clarity on the expectations, requirements, and boundaries of roles, along with training in the necessary skills, will serve to develop employee’s self-efficacy and sense of competence (Gardner and Pierce 1998). Organizational socialization is the process through which employees learn about and come to appreciate the norms, values, and expected behaviors of an organization, and is argued to contribute to an individual’s ability to adjust to and fit in with the organization in which they work (Louis 1980). As such, employees should have the opportunity to develop a true understanding of the institution, the

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culture, and the role in order to ensure appropriate socialization and establish a secure foundation upon which they can develop their sense of competence and belonging (Levett-Jones and Lathlean 2009). Job design and organizational structure can also enhance an employee’s sense of adding value with less structured hierarchies and more autonomous job designs signaling to the employee that they are perceived by their manager as trusted, competent, and valued (Gardner and Pierce 1998). Providing employees with autonomy, positive feedback and involvement in decision-making can also facilitate a perception of being valued (Boccio and Macari 2013), and increasing task demands and job control may also promote a sense of achievement and positive self-esteem. Positive and constructive feedback, and recognition and reward for distinctive contributions will also help to develop a sense of unique, differentiated value (McClure and Brown’s 2008). Similarly, providing opportunities for employees to experience successes, and providing positive feedback on those successes, might also help to develop a sense of competence and value (Levett-Jones and Lathlean 2009).

Establishing a Culture of Psychological Safety Organizations can also influence the development of a sense of belonging through the creation of an organizational culture that fosters psychological safety, allowing individuals to both contribute and feel included and valuable, and also feel comfortable to express their concerns and vulnerabilities, as well as their difference and uniqueness. One means of fostering psychological safety is through the establishment of high-quality relationships – relationships in which goals and knowledge are shared, and there exists mutual respect for the expertise, skills, and abilities of others (Gittell 2002). Relational work practices that encourage knowledge sharing across functions, and employee involvement and participation across the workplace, have been found to enhance the development of shared goals and mutual respect and could therefore be effective in enhancing psychological safety and belonging (Gittell 2008). Leadership style is also important to the development of psychological safety (Nembhard and Edmondson 2006), particularly the extent to which leaders are inclusive. Nembhard and Edmondson (2006) define leader inclusiveness as “words and deeds by a leader or leaders that indicate an invitation and appreciation for others’ contributions” (p. 947). It involves behaviors that deliberately and proactively invite team members into discussions and decisions helping to ensure their voices and perspectives are heard, as well as appreciative behaviors, such as a positive response to contributions that demonstrates those perspectives are valued. It is distinguished from participative leadership, which involves consultation, shared decision-making, and delegation of authority to subordinates (Bass 1961; McGregor 1960; Yukl 1994) in that it focuses specifically on behaviors that invite and acknowledge others’ views. Leaders, therefore, need to be aware of the impact that their style of leadership might have on the ability and willingness of employees to speak up, contribute, challenge, and raise concerns (Edmondson 1996, 2003). Ensuring that managers are

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conveying a message of inclusivity to their employees will help to mitigate the personal risks associated with speaking up about a sense of not belonging and encourage disclosure, potentially leading to an appreciation that they are not alone in their experience or to opportunities to enhance their sense of belonging. This can be supported through development programs that focus on developing these inclusive leadership skills as well as enhance leader’s awareness of the role that they play in developing supportive environments and the influence they have, through role modeling, on the attitudes of others (Levett-Jones and Lathlean 2009). As such, through the way that they behave, leaders can model the inclusive behaviors they expect of others and promote a climate that fosters psychological safety and promotes belonging (Pearson et al. 2005). As mutual trust is a key characteristic of psychological safety (Edmondson 2003), practices that enhance interpersonal trust between employees may also serve to enhance psychological safety. Perceptions regarding the motives and intentions of another are key factors in determining trust (Costa 2003) and so the development of trust may be facilitated by increased knowledge and understanding of others (Zeffane and Connell 2003; Hardin 1992). Therefore, practices that facilitate learning about other members within a team may increase trust levels, enhance psychological safety, and promote cultures that foster belonging. Human resource departments should also ensure they are selecting, promoting, training, and managing performance in a manner that fosters a culture of mutual respect, collaboration, and the development of supportive relationships (Scott et al. 2014). Practices might include performance appraisals that incorporate expectations about collaboration, information sharing and cooperation, and rewarding employees for such behaviors. Providing development of skills such as emotional intelligence, open door policies, and inclusivity may all support the development of a culture in which individuals feel valued, respected, and able to speak out, and as such enhance their sense of belonging. Organizational culture can also be particularly important when considering diversity and the potential impact of a minority status on sense of not belonging. Research by Phillips et al. (2018), for example, found that racial minority employees were less likely to disclose personal information about themselves, feel able to be authentic in the workplace, and less able to develop connections and relationships across demographic boundaries. It may be particularly imperative, therefore, that organizations find ways to help overcome these barriers to relationship development and acceptance of difference. Emphasizing commonalities, such as work goals, while adopting a culture of openness and curiosity to different experiences and demographics may help to demonstrate the value of difference and diversity (Phillips et al. 2018).

Identifying Adaptive and Constructive Resolution Strategies Waller’s (2019) research suggests that the resolution strategies that individual’s employ in order to resolve sense of not belonging often make the difference between resolving and moving on from the experience or exacerbating and perpetuating it. As such, there is value in helping employees to identify the strategies that they use, and understand the extent to which, for example, avoidant coping strategies such as

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withdrawal are compounding the experience of not belonging through separation from others and reduced contribution. Employees could be helped to resolve the experience through adopting more constructive problem-solving strategies (Welbourne et al. 2007) such as finding ways to add value to their teams and leveraging their strengths. There is a role, therefore, for work-place counseling or coaching practices in helping employees to identify and employ more constructive coping strategies. Such practices would also offer the opportunity for employees to discuss their experience, allowing them to both be supported and potentially discover that they are not unusual in their experience. There is also a role for leaders in terms of helping employees to develop a sense of control. As this need for control may be implicated in the maladaptive and destructive resolution behaviors found in some research, enhancing a sense of control through offering the autonomy and the space in which employees feel able to develop relationships, add value, and enhance their sense of belonging might encourage more proactive, constructive, and adaptive resolution strategies. Through understanding these strategies and adopting more constructive methods of developing a sense of belonging, individuals may be more likely to be able to overcome and move on from their experience (Shifron 2010). As the meaning that individuals attribute to the fact that they are experiencing sense of not belonging, or the meaning they attribute to their emotional or behavioral responses in terms of their self-concept is critical to the experience, there is yet another role for workplace counseling and coaching practices in helping employees understand and identify the attributes and underlying beliefs that influence how they interpret events, which then influences how they respond to that event. Challenging these attributions, such as internal causal attributions for sense of not belonging, and helping employees to make more accurate attributions, such as attributing the cause of the experience to the situation, might also help individuals to avoid the impact of sense of not belonging on self-concept, and thus their psychological well-being.

Enhancing Awareness of the Prevalence of Sense of Not Belonging Developing awareness of the potential prevalence of sense of not belonging, and an understanding that this is an experience which has been experienced by many across their careers, in and of itself might also help to alleviate the impact and break the cycle. Helping individuals who are going through the experience to realize that they are not “deficient,” they are not different, and they are not weak might again help them to appropriately assign responsibility for the experience to the situation, and to maintain a more positive sense of self throughout the experience, helping them to find constructive ways to resolve it and avoid the spiral of the undermined selfconcept. Developing an understanding in managers too, of the impact of a lack of quality relationships, of a sense of not adding value, or feeling different and diverse might also help leaders to identify those at risk of sense of not belonging. For example, employees who have not established quality relationships, who are in a minority demographic, or perhaps have experienced a failure in the workplace which might impact their self-efficacy or sense of adding value may all be at risk of a sense of not

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belonging. Being open to the potential presence of these attributes and mindful of their impact on belonging may alert leaders to a need to intervene and support their employees in reestablishing a sense of belonging. Similarly, being aware of the behavioral ways in which sense of not belonging may manifest, such as withdrawal or conformity behaviors, may also help managers to identify a sense of not belonging in their employees and provide the impetus for them to engage their employee in conversation and understand how they may support them in mitigating the experience. Including discussion of this phenomenon in business school practices, in coaching development programs, in leadership development programs, and as part of induction and socialization practices, therefore, holds the potential to limit the impact and duration and self-perpetuating nature of a sense of not belonging in the workplace.

Summary The need to belong is a fundamental human need, crucial to our survival as a species, and motivates a wealth of human behavior. Thwarting of this need, however, has significant consequences for our psychological well-being, and in the workplace, in particular, for a positive and coherent sense of self. A sense of belonging in the workplace is determined by the development of quality relationships, a perception of shared characteristics, and a sense of adding value. As such, organizations can support the development of a sense of belonging by encouraging the development of relationships, ensuring employees are able to perform effectively and make a valuable contribution and by fostering an inclusive and psychologically safe climate so employees feel included and valuable and able to voice their concerns and vulnerabilities. They can also attenuate the experience of not belonging by offering workplace counseling and coaching practices to help employees engage in constructive coping strategies as well as be aware of the attributes and associated behaviors of sense of not belonging so leaders can support employees in developing a sense of belonging at work.

Cross-References ▶ Efficient Diversity Management for Workplace Well-Being ▶ Improving the Quality of Work Life: An Interdisciplinary Lens into the Worker Experience ▶ Purpose, Meaning, Joy, and Fulfillment at Work ▶ The Internal Conversation of How Human Objects Speak ▶ The Mediation Effect of Psychological Safety on the Relationship Between Interactional Injustice and Innovative Work Behavior ▶ Working for Inclusion: Addressing Legal and Ethical Safeguards for LGBTQ Employees

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Happiness and Workplace Well-Being: Transformational Leadership and the Role of Ethical and Spiritual Values

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Contents Workplace Happiness and Well-Being: Meaning and Significance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Happiness and Well-Being Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Transformational Leadership: Its Link to Ethical and Spiritual Values Leading to Happiness and Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Unethical Leadership Leading to Unhappiness of People at Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Selfish Behavior: Cause of Workplace Unhappiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Values Contributing to Transformational Leadership as well as Happiness and Well-Being . . . Truthfulness and Honesty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harmony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trust and Credibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patience and Tolerance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Authenticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Interconnectedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Self-Awareness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Selfless Service and Self-Sacrifice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Humility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harmlessness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Meaning in Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Courage: Basis of Excellence and Virtues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Concluding Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

Happiness and well-being – being the main objectives of human pursuit (Fisher 2010) – have attracted attention in organizational context (Cooper and Marshall 1978; Smith et al. 1995; Danna and Griffin 1999; Simone 2014), given the growing emphasis on quality of life at work. Increasingly, larger part of waking life is being spent at the workplace, resulting in spilling over of the workplace experiences into personal and family life. Happiness and well-being have also known to have positive effect on customer care and, consequently, on profitability and productivity. It has been observed that transformational and other forms of positive leadership have great potential to contribute significantly to individual’s happiness and well-being (Turner et al. 2002; Sivanathan et al. 2004) by ensuring justice with different stakeholders and customers but also providing money as well as meaning that help to eradicate negativity and useless stress and contribute to positive experiences. Transformational leadership and its variants like authentic leadership, servant leadership, ethical leadership, and responsible leadership are deeply rooted in spiritual and ethical values (Kumar and Vij 2014). Practicing moral values stemming from spirituality contributes to individual’s happiness and well-being (Ricard 2008). This chapter explores how transformational leadership and its variants contribute to happiness and workplace well-being and how spiritual values contribute to transformational leadership as well as happiness and well-being of the people in the workplace. Keywords

Happiness and workplace well-being · Transformational leadership · Workplace spirituality · Spiritual values · Values-based leadership

Workplace Happiness and Well-Being: Meaning and Significance Happiness and well-being – being the main objectives of human pursuit (Fisher 2010) – have attracted attention in organizational context (Cooper and Marshall 1978; Smith et al. 1995; Danna and Griffin 1999; Simone 2014), given the growing emphasis on quality of life at work. Increasingly, larger part of waking life is being spent at the workplace, resulting in spilling over of the workplace experiences into personal and family life. Happiness and well-being have also known to have positive effect on customer care and, consequently, on profitability and productivity. It has been observed that transformational and other forms of positive leadership have great potential to contribute significantly to individual’s happiness and well-being (Turner et al. 2002; Sivanathan et al. 2004) by ensuring justice with different stakeholders and customers but also providing money as well as meaning that help to eradicate negativity and useless stress and contribute to positive experiences. Transformational leadership and its variants like authentic leadership, servant leadership, ethical leadership, and responsible leadership are deeply rooted in spiritual and ethical values (Kumar and Vij 2014). Practicing moral values stemming from

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spirituality contributes to individual’s happiness and well-being (Ricard 2008). This chapter explores how transformational leadership and its variants contribute to happiness and workplace well-being and how spiritual values contribute to transformational leadership as well as happiness and well-being of the people in the workplace.

Happiness and Well-Being Construct Hedonic view of happiness attempts to define happiness as good life and pleasant feelings (Kahneman et al. 1999; Ryan and Deci 2001; Ryff and Singer 2000, 2008) with focus on pleasures. However, there is difference in feeling happy and being happy. Pleasures are momentary, sensual, and dependent upon external circumstances, whereas happiness is everlasting state of mind-human flourishing, not dependent upon the external circumstances. There is nescient unawareness in pursuit of pleasures, whereas there is awakened freedom from mental blindness and afflictive emotions in case of happiness (Ricard 2008, pp. 40–48). The difference between happiness and pleasures as based on Ricard’s explanation is stated through Table 1. Eudaimonic view as based upon Aristotle’s interpretation of happiness pointing out that happiness lies in self-realization, understanding meaning of experiences and meaning of one’s life, fulfillment of inner potentials, and living according to one’s own domino– one’s talent, and deeply held values (Seligman 2002, 2011; Sheldon and Elliot 1999; Warr 2007). Accordingly happiness does not lie in living relaxed and lazy life that leads to losing track of time and forgetting personal problems but making challenges in effective way to pursue inner growth and life, the life of selfactualization (Maslow 1968) and fully functioning person (Rogers 1961). The sources of happiness are not only successful economic pursuits and feeling of emotional satisfaction in interactions with surrounding members but finding the meaning in the work and existence to deep state of human flourishing – deep contentment and calm that one develops around oneself.

Table 1 Difference between happiness and pleasure Pleasure Momentary, only the shadow of happiness Sensual, esthetic, or intellectual stimuli Dependent upon external circumstances Unbalanced and tilted toward joy Lack of awareness Exhausted by usage Happiness of madman

Happiness Everlasting, permanent State of mind, human flourishing Not dependent upon the external circumstances Profound emotional balance Freedom from mental blindness and afflictive emotions Remains as it is Pleasure of sages

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It is a state of non-dependence upon external objects, persons, and situation which is described in Hindu Text Manu Smriti as follows:

All sorrow is dependence upon others and all happiness is dependence on oneself. This summary of characteristics of happiness and sorrow should be understood properly.

This ultimate state of self-realization with non-dependence is attained after living life to fullest possible extent and liberating oneself from needs and desires. The distinction of well-being as hedonia and eudemonia is largely based on ancient Greek philosophy. Scholars agree that the eudaimonic view of happiness can be traced to Aristotle (and Stoic philosophers) and is aligned with various twentieth-century intellectual traditions and psychological traditions, including humanistic psychology and positive psychology (Deci and Ryan 2008). Hedonic pertains to “affective-related” or “pleasure-centered” aspects of well-being denoted by such concepts such as happiness, emotional well-being, subjective well-being, and pleasure/pain affect. According to Kraut, hedonia refers to “the belief that one is getting important things one wants, as well as certain pleasant affects that normally go along with this belief” (see Kraut 1979, pp. 167–196). The Greek word eudaimonia goes beyond “feeling good type” happiness variety. It signifies being in good terms with one’s real self or inner spirit, “daimon.” It is vitally linked to being virtuous and moral excellence (arête). For Greeks, being happy and being virtuous were the same thing. Accordingly, eudaimonic well-being seems to capture concepts such as flourishing, optimal functioning, self-actualization, self-realization, personal meaning, and growth – in short, living a life in the pursuit of virtue and excellence (Sirgy 2018, vii, p. 1). According to Waterman, eudaimonia is defined as “an ethical theory that calls people to recognize and to live in accordance with the daimon or true self” (see: Waterman 1993, pp. 678–691). We can also compare this distinction to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – hedonic well-being representing the lower half of Maslow’s pyramid and eudaimonic well-being pertaining to the upper part, representing sense of belonging, purpose, and self-actualization. Similarly, this distinction of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being seems to correspond to Martin Seligman’s concepts of the pleasant life (hedonic happiness) and meaningful life (eudaimonic happiness) (Seligman 2002, 2011). Psychologists have used happiness and subjective well-being interchangeably (Diener 1984; Cropanzano and Wright 1999; Frey and Stutzer 2000; Lyubomirsky 2001; Seligman 2002). Though describing happiness and well-being is like describing proverbial elephant being touched and described by blind men with their own partial description, yet researchers have attempted to indicate with different indicators. There are economic indicators denoting economic well-being that includes employment (Mohanty 2009), income, job creation, etc.; social indicators of social wellness like health, families, and communities (Diener and Suh 1997; Haefen et al. 1999); and psychological indicators like freedom from misery index like depression,

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drug abuse, anxiety, etc. to positive indicators like autonomy, personal growth, purpose in life (Frankl 1959), feeling of positive emotions (Goleman 2003), etc. Based on the research by different researchers, the broad indicators of happiness and well-being can be summarized as follows: • Job satisfaction (Judge and Locke 1993; Brief 1998; Cranny et al. 1992). • Job involvement (Lodahl and Kejner 1965; Fisher 2014) – a state of identification with one’s job to alienation and meaninglessness (Brown 1996). • Employees engagement (Harter et al. 2003; Kahn 1990; Saks 2011) with involvement of people’s physical, cognitive, and emotional being with “vigor, dedication, and absorption” (Bakker and Demerouti 2008, pp. 209–210). • Positive emotions and feelings that broaden and build an individual’s personal resources like physical, intellectual, and social (Fredrickson 2000; Vacharkulksemsuk and Fredrickson 2013) and positive communication ensuring respect and dignity. Positive emotions broaden and build an individual’s personal resources like physical, intellectual, and social (Fredrickson and Losada 2005) as they produce unusual, flexible, creative, and receptive pattern of thought (Isen and Daubman 1984; Isen et al. 1987) and increase brain’s dopamine levels. Positive emotions can overcome the cardiovascular reactivity (Fredrickson and Levenson 1998) and depressive tendencies and can undo negative emotions. Positive emotions broaden people’s momentary thought-action repertoires (Fredrickson 2000) and enlarge the cognitive context (Isen et al. 1987). Positive emotions also increase one’s social resources as the persons feel connected with their surrounding members. • Thriving at work (Spreitzer and Sutcliffe 2007) with vigor involving positive affective experience like emotional energy, cognitive liveliness, enthusiasm, excitement, appreciative enquiry, and physical strength. • Flow (Csikszentmihalyi 1990, 1996; Csikszentmihalyi and LeFevre 1989) an enjoyable state of optimal and peak experiences when skills and challenges are high and the sense of time is lost. • Learning organization with individual and team learning and team spirit (Senge 1990) as opportunities to learning and growth are antecedents (Harter et al. 2003). • Supportive environment like supportive supervision, team empowerment, loose organizational structure, high autonomy and clarity of roles (Turner et al. 2002), support from colleagues, sense of trust between colleagues, etc. • Affective organizational commitment – a feeling of attachment and belongingness to larger organization (Fisher 2010) [with larger purpose of serving humanity].

Transformational Leadership: Its Link to Ethical and Spiritual Values Leading to Happiness and Well-Being Happiness and well-being of people at workplace are the result of respectful and supportive environment, fair treatment and recognition, autonomous and challenging job with matching skills, use of realistic job previews and socialization practices,

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adopting high-performance work practices, and competent leadership (Fisher 2010). Transformational leadership with idealized influence, inspiration motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration (Avolio 1999; Bass 1990; Bass and Avolio 1993) has potential for enhancing the well-being of employees (Sivanathan et al. 2004). During the time of crisis, transformational leaders display idealized influence to win the willing cooperation of their followers and can consequently focus on the long-term health and well-being of the employees rather than adhering to short-term benefits. Leaders inspire their followers to aspire for higher challenges with realistic feelings of self-efficacy, stimulate them intellectually to innovate, and give them individualized consideration by actively listening and valuing their options that give employees sense of well-being. Transformational leadership occurs when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality with fused purposes (Burns 1978). This type of leadership–being elevating, mobilizing, inspiring, exalting, uplifting, exhorting, and evangelizing–engages the hearts and minds of others, enlarges the shared vision, clarifies purposes, makes behavior congruent with principles and values, and enables one to achieve greater motivation, satisfaction and greater sense of achievement (Burns 1978; Crainer 1997, p. 50). As this leadership involves an ethical influence process (Kanugo and Mendonca 1996), it is guided by universal ethical principles such as responsibility and fairness along with empathy (Johnson 2013, p. 190) that contribute to employees’ well-being. Similarly, authentic leadership, another variant of transformational leadership, talks about fostering positive self-development, bringing people together around a shared purpose, and empowering them to set up and lead authentically in order to create value for all stakeholders (Luthans and Avolio 2003). To Avolio, Luthans, and Walumbwa (2004), authentic leaders are deeply aware of their thinking pattern and behavior and are perceived by others as being aware of their own and others’ values/moral perspective, knowledge, and strengths. They are aware of the context in which they operate and are confident, hopeful, optimistic, resilient, and high on moral character. Ethical leadership incorporates, demonstrates, and promotes moral principles – like integrity, fairness, honesty, trust, etc. among followers through communication, reinforcement, and decision-making (Brown and Trevino 2006). Such leaders engage in acts beneficial to others and refrain from causing harm to others (Kanungo 2001). Ethical leadership behavior involves being very supportive and helpful when someone has a problem, being fair in distribution of rewards and benefits, being open and honest while communicating, making sacrifices to benefit others, setting clear ethical standards for the work, and adhering them strictly by holding people accountable (Yukl et al. 2013). This behavior further contributes to happiness and well-being. Similarly spiritual leadership practicing “the values, attitudes, and behaviors necessary to intrinsically motivate one’s self and others so that they have a sense of spiritual survival through calling and membership” (Fry 2003, pp. 693–727) demonstrates reflective practices or ethical, compassionate, and respectful treatment of others (Reave 2005; Fairholm 1996; Pruzan 2008). Their act of empathy,

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compassion, integrity, patience, courage, and humility contributes to well-being and happiness of others. Servant leadership (Greenleaf 2003; Spears 2010) attuned to basic spiritual values like service motive and taking care of others with sublimation of ego for higher purpose enables to enter into authentic relations (Covey 2003). Responsible leadership (Freeman and Auster 2011; Maak and Pless 2009) cares for the needs of others and acts as global and responsible citizen (Maak 2007). Transformational leadership and its variants are deeply rooted in spiritual values as they emphasize moral values like liberty, equality, and justice and are guided by universal ethical principles – responsibility, fairness, etc. – along with empathy (Johnson 2013, p. 190). Laura Reeve (2005) reviewed 150 studies and finds consistency between spiritual values and practices in context of effective leadership. The study demonstrates that values which were considered spiritual – integrity, honesty, and humility – have definite effect on leadership success. Gay Hendricks and Kate Ludeman (1996), authors of Corporate Mystics, identify the characteristics of corporate mystics/spiritual leaders with three sources of leadership as integrity, vision, and intuition in the organization: absolute honesty, fairness, self-knowledge, focus on contribution, no dogmatic spirituality, getting more done by doing less (in effortless effort), calling forth the best of themselves, openness, special sense of humor, keen distant vision and up-close focus, unusual self-discipline, and balance in their lives (pp. 4–20). Likewise, servant leadership may be approached as primary expression of spiritual leadership, while authentic leadership is about being true to yourself. Authentic leaders are altruistic, honest, trustworthy, and principled decision-makers who care about the well-being of their followers and the needs of the broader society. Servant leadership represents a shift from followers serving leaders to leaders serving followers. Since leadership is an expression of who we are, in discovering, living, and sharing our deepest values lie the fulfillment of our life and leadership. The transformational, ethical, and authentic leaders lead others by their examples than directing others. Ethical leaders act as moral persons as well as moral managers while discharging their role as leaders (Johnson 2009, p. 76). They treat their people fairly and express care and concern for them. Authentic leaders draw both positive and psychological capacities among the followers by generating greater selfawareness and self-regulated positive behavior besides fostering positive self-development (Luthans and Avolio 2003).

Unethical Leadership Leading to Unhappiness of People at Workplace As the person assumes power or builds connections, unless and until inner transformation takes place, she/he is likely to indulge in unethical leadership style like: • Abusive supervision: displaying hostile verbal and nonverbal behaviors like rudeness, harsh language and tone, public criticism of belittling others intentionally, fits of anger, inconsiderate actions (Bies 2001), sarcastic ridicule or scornful

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attitude (Keashly and Harvey 2005), and threats to spoil performance appraisal or to take action. Petty tyranny (Ashforth 1997): Boss’s misuse of power and authority in oppressive, capricious, and vindictive way. Supervisor aggression (Schat et al. 2006): Supervisor’s behavior intended to physically or psychologically harm staff member in a work-related context. Supervisor undermining (Duffy et al. 2002): Supervisor’s behavior intended to hinder, overtime, the ability to establish favorable reputation at the cost of others. Negative mentoring experiences (Eby et al. 2000): Giving wrong direction to the working of the juniors with intention to deplete their valuable resources. This negative mentoring is usually done on certain hidden pattern to foster the interests of particular lobby at the cost of institution’s objectives. Workplace bullying (Hoel and Cooper 2001): When one or several individuals over a period of time perceive themselves to be on the receiving end of negative actions from one or several individuals, in a situation where the target of bullying has difficulty to defend himself against these actions. Unlike previous types, these need not be necessarily downward. Destructive leadership (Krasikova et al. 2013; Einarsen et al. 2007): Volitional behavior by a leader that can harm or intends to harm a leader’s organization and/or followers by (a) encouraging followers to pursue goals that contravene the legitimate interests of the organization and/or (b) employing a leadership style that involves the use of harmful methods to influence with followers, regardless of justifications for such behavior.

These negative leadership styles are likely to cause following adverse effects upon the subordinates: (a) Harassment. Harassment is “repeated activities, with the aim of bringing mental (but sometimes also physical) pain, and directed toward one or more individuals who, for one reason or another, are not able to defend themselves” (Bjorkqvist et al. 1994, pp. 173–174). To Leymann (1990, p. 120), “Psychical terror or mobbing in working life means hostile and unethical communication which is directed in a systematic way by one or a number of persons mainly toward one individual.” (b) Discrimination and injustice. The negative leadership is likely to discriminate and do injustice to others for his or her selfish motives even by forming cliques, coterie, and caucus that exert power over others and grab resources. As a result, the victims feel injustice being done and perpetuated by others. Adam’s (1965) theory suggests that the individuals make comparisons between the ratio of their inputs to outcomes with others’ ratio of inputs to outcomes. If the individual finds or feels that his or her ratio is not favorable as compared with another, she/he perceives inequality and injustice on number of dimensions including monetary rewards, procedures, respect, and empathy in interpersonal relations and sharing of information. (c) Toxic environment. Another unethical practice that negative and destructive leadership fosters with its power is creating toxic environment where certain

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members of the organization have to work under conditions that most disfavor them. Padilla et al. (2007) view this environment as ineffective as well as destructive to its employees because of breach of psychological and implicit contract of maintaining harmony or treating others with respect and dignity. These toxic environments include manipulating employees through fear, setting unrealistic targets, defaming them, putting them in most unfavorable position, creating conditions of discomfort for them, forcing a person to work with persons who will not cooperate, etc. This environment is motivated by [negative] leader’s desire to derive sadistic pleasure with use of power. (d) Greedy behavior. Leaders behaving in unethical way are likely to exert power in unethical and selfish way and consequently indulge in greedy behavior targeted at materialistic pursuit and power. The concept of greed is primarily an excessive desire related with materialistic needs (Balot 2001, p. 1) or material wealth (American Heritage Dictionary 2011). The Greek synonym for the word greed is pleonexia that means “the desire to acquire more of something (whether that object is tangible, wealth, or intangible, honor or power) in a manner that either takes that good from another, or prohibits another from accessing or acquiring that good” (Burghart 2015, p. 8). Different themes that touch the definition of greed include selfishness, acquisitive motivation, immorality (Robertson 2001, p. 5), injustice, and exploitation because of lack of distributive fairness (Balot 2001, pp. 80–82). To Long (2008, 2009), the four elements of greed include individualism and selfishness, ignoring and avoiding signs of greed-ridden environment, presence of compliances justifying the greedy behavior, and treating others as instruments to be used and discarded. The underlying characteristics of manifested greed are: • Selfishness directed at acquisition of power and possessions • Violation of moral norms • Creation of environment fostering greed • Exploitation and injustice Such negative behaviors are likely to affect the happiness and well-being of others. Because of harassment, the organization suffers with decline of team spirit and moral of the persons and deprives itself of organizational learning and creativity. As a result, not only individual but the organization fails to perform to its peak level and settles at below optimum. Social isolation, stigmatizing, voluntary unemployment and absenteeism, social maladjustment, intentional decrease in the work efforts, adverse effects on quality of professional and private life, and ripple effect which include chain reactions where friends and family members get involved because of their relations with the victim are common social effects of harassment. Social-psychological effects include loss of copying resources, breakdown of coping system, channelization of psychic energy into negative direction, cultivation of negative attitude, and perceiving particular group/cult of instigator (s) with selective and negative features. Psychological effects include feeling of depression and total helplessness, feeling of rage about lack of legal remedies, anxiety and despair, immediate stoppage of flow and authentic communication (quite different

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from transfer of information), and working of subtle mind that makes hidden connections, useless emotional bickering, and resentments among affected persons. Psychosomatic and psychiatric include depression, hyperactivity, suicide, psychosomatic illness, and decline in immune system to fight diseases. The person harassed may feel lesser control and influence (Vartia 1996). Abusive supervision and other negative leadership ultimately lead to following bad effects which are not good for the organization in the long run: • Reduced job satisfaction (Tepper et al. 2004) as the abused person feels loss of meaning of one’s job. • Bad effects on work to family relations and family to work relations. • Feeling of rancor and retaliation that further hampers the creativity and flow of individual. • Emotional burnouts and psychological stress and distress – such as anxiety, diminished self-efficacy, somatic health complaints, job strain, etc. – causing harmful effects on health, happiness, and harmony (Harris et al. 2005; Tepper 2000; Duffy et al. 2002; Restubog et al. 2011). • Depletion of valuable resources of individual and organization as it reduces the level of organizational commitment and engagement at work (Duffy et al. 2002; Schat et al. 2006), leads to defensive as well as dysfunctional behavior of individuals (Schaubhut et al. 2004; Tepper et al. 2009), and adversely affects the image of the leader (who cannot lead by example. Moreover, effective leaders are product of self-mastery, which is diametrically opposite to abusive supervision). • Loss of self-esteem of the abused person, increased alcohol use (Bamberger and Bacharach 2006), and increased incidences of absenteeism. • Change of direction from professional relations to personality relations as the affected persons actively search the weaknesses of the boss to tarnish his or her image. • Displaced aggression further deteriorates health and family relations (Hoobler and Brass 2006). • Surface acting characterized by outward displays of emotions that do not match true inner feelings by some persons. This further leads to inner tension and turmoil as surface acting being effortful consumes mental resources (Beal et al. 2006; Grandey 2003). • Expansive impact that results in loss throughout many areas of life of abused person as well as spoiled environment of the organization. Ultimately staff resist in organized way.

Selfish Behavior: Cause of Workplace Unhappiness Another cause of negative leadership is selfish behavior which is pursued either with or without considering the interests of others and implications of one’s act upon others. Selfish motivation is defined as “simply to benefit oneself without

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considering the implications of their actions for the well-beings of others or adjusting their actions to take other’s well-being into account” (Crocker et al. 2017, p. 301). In selfish behavior, there is lack of empathic concern for others. People’s primarily selfcentered, self-interested, and selfish behavior is manifested in narcissism with greater entitlements and exploitative tendencies, behaving without ethics and empathy; aspiration for fame and fortune in quick way; pursuit of hidden agenda because of jealousy with others; shortcuts and compromises with ethics and values; egoistic care; tendencies to manage others’ impression about oneself; unmitigated communion, i.e., giving others with expectation of reward in future; vindictiveness and arbitrary interpretation and enforcement of rules at the altar of organizational objectives and human values; manipulating others and diverting others’ attention on useless and unnecessary matters; opportunism; nepotism; concealing and deliberate misinterpretation of information; showmanship; etc. Some of these dis-values emerging out of selfishness are induced and some are forced, but induced dis-values are more dangerous (Chakravorty and Chakraborty 2013). Building fragile and calculative relationships, eulogizing one’s insignificant acts and seeking back-patting and patronization from persons in power, remaining mute over one’s or group members’ misdeeds, even rationalizing them in cunning and manipulative ways, accusing others and excusing oneself, and deconstructionism emerge out of selfishness. This selfish behavior is manifestation of a person’s body-mind perspective ignoring other perspectives. Though selfish behavior helps to gain obvious benefits like greater resources and power along with pleasure in short run, yet it involves certain associated costs. Selfishness is highly correlated with poor psychological well-being, physical health, and relationship (Kasser et al. 2014); smoking and drinking (Dittmar et al. 2014); negative self-appraisals (self-doubt, self-discrepancy, and self-ambivalence), feeling of guilt and regret in long run, lower life satisfaction, and higher envy (Krekels and Pandelaere 2015); increased symptoms of anxiety and depression over time (Crocker et al. 2010); lesser emotional clarity and emotional confusion (Canevello and Crocker 2015); greater loneliness [and alienation] (Crocker and Canevello 2008); social anxiety due to pursuit of impression management goals (Leary and Kowalski 1990); psychological distress due to giving others with expectations (Fritz and Helgeson 1998); deteriorated relations with others and bad martial relations due to low level of support to partner and physical health problems (Brunell and Campbell 2011), cardiovascular diseases and heightened cortisol and alpha-amylase in response to negative effect (Cheng et al. 2013). Ultimately, selfish behavior leads to unhappiness.

Values Contributing to Transformational Leadership as well as Happiness and Well-Being Values are “multifaceted standards that guide conduct in a variety of ways” (Rokeach 1973, p. 13). These are internalized beliefs developed over a period of time among individuals that guide his or her decisions and courses of action. To

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Rokeach (1973), “A value is an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end-value of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite mode of conduct or end-state of existence” (p. 5). There are certain values that contribute to transformational leadership as well as happiness and well-being of people.

Truthfulness and Honesty With growing number of corporate scams and scandals such as Enron, WorldCom, Taco, Satyam, etc., honesty, truthfulness, and integrity of corporate leaders have gained focus of attention (Dirks and Ferrin 2001; Clapp-Smith et al. 2009). Palanski and Yammarino (2007) after reviewing more than 30 articles have identified integrity, synonymous of honesty, and truthfulness with 5 main categories: as wholeness (Badaracco and Ellsworth 1991; Lowe et al. 2004; Koehn 2005), as consistency between words and action (Tracey and Hinkin 1994; Paine 1996; Worden 2003), as consistency in adversity (Kouzes and Posner 2011b), as being true to oneself or authenticity (Cox et al. 2003; Howell and Avolio 1993), and as morality and ethics such as justice (Den Hartog et al. 2002; Rawls 1971) and empathy/compassion (Koehn 2005; Lowe et al. 2004). Audi and Murphy (2006) talk about substantive virtues and adjunctive virtues. Substantive virtues are morally good in themselves, whereas adjunctive virtues are necessary for achieving moral uprightness like courage and persistence. Honesty, truthfulness, and integrity are substantive virtues as their pursuit leads to happiness and well-being without putting any additional psychological burden on the person’s mind. As one becomes honest with oneself, one’s spiritual and psychological capitals increase that help to cultivate resilience in the time of adversity in pleasant way. Considering it unique virtue, leadership researchers have linked it with transformational leadership (Burns 1978; Parry and Proctor-Thomson 2002; Tracey and Hinkin 1994) and its variants like authentic transformational leadership (Bass and Steidlmeier 1999), authentic leadership (Avolio et al. 2004), spiritual leadership (Fry 2003), etc. Transformational leadership has been found to be positively related to perceived leader’s integrity (Parry and Proctor-Thomson 2002). Kouzes and Posner (2011a) after their more than 30 years of research on relationship between credibility and leadership remark, “Honesty is absolutely essential to leadership. If people are going to follow someone willingly, whether into battle or into the boardroom, they first want to assure themselves that the person is worthy of their trust” (p. 8). Honesty earns respect and voluntary cooperation of others as “people are likely to lend their time, talent and toil willingly” (Kouzes and Posner 2011a, p. 17) if they perceive their leader’s credibility – trustworthiness, expertise, and dynamism – as reflected in being honest, forward-looking and inspiring. On the other hand, in business dealings, people do not like to follow and deal with people who are “duplicitous, deceitful and dishonest” (Covey 2003, p. 9). Brown and Trevino (2006) describe ethical leadership as demonstration and promotion of normatively

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appropriate conduct through ethical behavior that include integrity, honesty, and trustworthiness. To them, ethical leaders are “characterized as honest, caring and principled individuals” (2006, p. 597) who practice what they preach. Burn’s theory of transformational leadership projects transformational leaders with strong moral commitments that influence their followers to elevate their level of morality and honesty. Bass and Steidlmeier (1999) describe authentic transformational leaders possessing “virtues of authenticity, integrity, truthfulness and credibility.” Gardner et al. (2005) view that authentic leaders are guided by their true self reflected by their core values, beliefs, and feelings than pressurized by environmental contingencies and integrity and honesty are core values of such leaders because of their moral origin. To Reave (2005) spiritual leadership requires spiritual values that include integrity with consistency among actions and thoughts. Honesty and integrity are linked with trust, satisfaction, performance, and followers’ integrity (Palanski and Yammarino 2007) that contributes to employees’ happiness and well-being. Marques et al. (2005) identify honesty as one of the themes of spirituality at workplace as it fosters culture of spiritual awareness at workplace that contributes to ultimate happiness and well-being of individual. To Yang (2004) ethical leadership deeply grounded in honesty and integrity leads to subjective well-being of employees because employees feel to reciprocate by performing better (Brown and Mitchell 2010), become more loyal and ethical at workplace (Schminke et al. 2005), and feel higher level of job satisfaction (Koh and Boo 2001). Studies by Ilies et al. (2005) demonstrate that authentic attributes of leader not only influence his or her well-being but also the well-being of the employees. Moreover honesty and integrity earn the respect of the employees and their positive perception about the organization that increases the job satisfaction and consequently well-being.

Harmony Building and maintaining harmony within organization are unique challenges for leaders as optimal functioning of an organization requires the harmonious coexistence of all its members (Ruiz Jiménez et al. 2015), whereas absence of harmony leads to negative consequences like conflicts (considered the other side of the same coin with harmony on one side – Leung and Brew 2009) that result in unnecessary bickering with emotional scars and adverse effects on resonance among members and group cohesiveness. This harmony is not confined to prevention and resolution of conflict and forcing wrapped up phenomenon with superficial harmony (Huang 1999, 2016) but fostering positive intragroup relationship (Seashore 1954) to social integration (O’Reilly et al. 1989) to genuine quality relationship in the form of high degree of mutually communal sharing and connectedness. Harmony also requires high degree of involvement, cohesion, and collaboration among members (in contrast to competitive behavior as well as interpersonal conflicts); respect, trust, support, and concern for the welfare of others (Eddleston and Kellermanns 2007); and sense of responsibility for the organization as well as

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society. To Drucker (1954) leaders should realize the impact of their business policy and actions upon society and should consider “whether the action is likely to promote the public good, to advance the basic belief of our society, to contribute to its stability, strength and harmony” (p. 388). To cultivate harmony with the surrounding environment, one’s inner harmony with the surrounding environment is essential as the outer conflicts are the manifestation of the inner conflicts of man (Horowitz 1957). Transformational leadership and its various forms being deeply rooted in spiritual values foster harmony not only within themselves, as to them “harmony means being comfortable with oneself as well as with others” (Balsekar 2003), but also among different group members by leading with their personal examples. As they defuse the differences with their idealized image and profound influence, the team task performance is affected with knowledge-sharing activities that have positive effect on the group’s innovative performance (Barsade 2002; Forgas and George 2001) and creativity (Amabile et al. 2005) with members’ focus on valueproducing activities (Mayer and Gavin 2005). They not only manage task conflicts but also overcome tension, anxiety, and harassment of different individuals due to conflicting roles by getting their willing cooperation even transcending their defined roles. Their acts of creating harmony in spontaneous way prevent leakage of vital energies and diversion of psychic attention. Harmony is conducive to not only transformational leadership but also to wellbeing of different members as well as society. To Drucker’s understanding and view, managerial harmony occurs when the organization serves the larger society through corporate social responsibility through ethical conduct (Romar 2004). Harmony among different group members leads to positive communication that ensures respect and dignity of members and helps to harness their vigor and dedication to effective job involvement and engagement. Harmony leads to positive resonance among members that contribute to experience flow with clarity of goals and freedom from negative emotions which ultimately lead to their happiness and well-being. Bruce Lipton propagated through his book, Biology of Belief, and his research that mind controls the biology as harnessing the power of mind is more effective than drugs and chemicals. Based upon his research on findings of quantum physics and epigenetics, that reveals that genes do not control life but the environment or perception of the environment control gene activity. “Bruce Lipton’s research on cloned stem cells, spread over forty years, revealed the mechanisms by which perceptions created in the mind control the lives and fate of the fifty trillion living cells that comprise our bodies” (Kalam 2015, p. 140). The findings of new science are simple case of mind over matter in controlling our faith, which has been advocated by spiritual leaders for millennia. In context of organizations, leaders leading with spirituality induce positive belief that work shall be accomplished in meaningful way without depletion of energy and reinforce positive emotions like love, compassion, and happiness to overcome negative emotions like fear, jealousy, hatred, etc. They also make other people to be mindful that “dark forces [are] trying hard to manipulate us into negativity” (Lipton 2008) and help them to feel freedom by knowing how “they are working for

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bad people, powers and programmes-wittingly and unwittingly. . ..[that] will help them to change and improve our existing structure” (Kalam 2015, p. 141). In this manner, they transform the environment by creating harmony and peace in the environment and subsiding violence in general and other specific and subtle forms of violence in organization like harassment, jealousy, toxic environment, etc. They know that the best way to stop violence is to feel that we all are spiritual beings needing love in the form of altruistic care and positive resonance and work toward advancing civilization by realizing that “Survival of the Most Loving” is the highest form of ethical conduct.

Trust and Credibility Trust in context of organization has been defined as the willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actions of another party, “decision to rely on another party under condition of risk”(Currall and Epstein 2003), “one party’s level of confidence in and willingness to open oneself to the other party” (Hon and Grinig 1999, p. 2), and employees’ willingness to be vulnerable to their organizations’ actions based on the belief that their organizations have integrity and are dependable, competent, etc. Thus trust in general involves willingness to become vulnerable upon the actions of the other persons (especially persons in power) who will fulfill their promise and shall behave with honesty, reliability, and integrity. Trust also involves expectations that trustee’s actions shall be beneficial not detrimental to one’s interest and trustor shall maximize trustee’s interest. The other term related with trust is credibility that stems from the same root, credo, meaning “I trust or believe.” Communication researchers Berlo et al. (1969) point out the characteristics of “source credibility” as trustworthiness, expertise, and dynamism. Trust and credibility are the building blocks of the learning organization, team, and interpersonal relations. Stephen Covey (2006) puts forward the proposition that trust always affects two outcomes – speed and cost. If trust in organization or relationship is low, the speed of getting things done will be slow and the costs will be high. Conversely, when trust is high, the speed of getting things done will be fast and cost will be low, and consequently organizations with high trust cultures significantly outperform their counterparts with low-trust cultures in various performance indicators. In context of leadership, “Credibility is the foundation of leadership” (Kouzes and Posner 2011a, p. xi), as it enables the leaders to earn the trust and confidence of their followers. In the intensive and ongoing research since the 1980s-with interviews and focus group opinions of more than 1,00,000 people over more than three decadessearching the qualities people most look for their willing cooperation, credibility is the answer (Kouzes and Posner 2012, p. xv). Kouzes and Posner (2011a) point out the characteristics of admired leaders in the form of 225 values as provided by more than 1500 nationwide managers, which are subsequently analyzed into 225 factors and then reduced to 15 categories with following the most frequent categories (pp. 4–5):

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• Integrity (honesty, trustworthiness, character, convictions) • Competence (capable, productive, efficient, professional) • Leadership (inspiring, decisive, providing direction) Transformational leadership requires trust of followers which is earned when they perceive their leader as honest and possessing integrity (Bass 1990; Carlson and Perrewe 1995). Trust is built and maintained by transformational leader by walking the talk, through patterns of actions consistent with espoused values (Kouzes and Posner 1992), and behavioral integrity (Simons 1999). Trust is the basis of sound and sustaining relationship as viewed by different social scientists (Arrow 1974; Coleman 1990; Kramer and Tyler 1996) that influences the group performance by channelizing their energy to common goal (Dirks 1999). On the relationship of trust and integrity with transformational leadership, Childers (2009) states that transformational leadership is significantly and positively correlated with trust (r ¼ .49, p < .001) and behavior integrity (r ¼ .72, p < .001). As honesty is essential to earn the trust of leader and to transform the organization, an organization cannot afford low-trust culture that “foster(s) on high-control management, political posturing, protectionism, cynicism and internal competition and adversarialism simply cannot compete with speed, quality, and innovation” (Covey 2003, p. 2). Without trust, it is difficult to maintain team cohesion and initiate change programs in smooth way as it provokes resistance than cooperation due to suspicion.

Patience and Tolerance Leaders have to experience tolerance and patience in different situations. One’s style of leadership is usually the outcome of one’s self or personality, one’s surrounding with circle of close associates and the situation. Situation may be routine or peaceful or of crisis. If the leader has cultivated profound peaceful state of mind with patience, she/he is more likely to respond in cool and calm manner with “calm, collected and concentrated mind” (Dalai Lama and Muyzenberg (2008) undisturbed by reactive thoughts and negative emotions. The opposite of such state of mind lacking patience is least effective and hyperreactive mind as witnessed in abusive supervision (Tepper 2000; Bies 2001) with fits of angers thrown at subordinates destroying the peace of organization. Therefore Dalai Lama and Muyzenberg (2008) advocate patience as one of six perfections that a leader should possess as trait (other being generosity, ethical discipline, enthusiastic effort, concentration, and wisdom) that has a definite ability to affect others in profound way especially in provocative circumstances, hostility, criticism, and disappointment (p. 37). However, patience does not mean inaction but control over anger and reactive behavior and direction of one’s energy in positive manner. In context of leadership, Abdul Kalam witnessed patience in spiritual leader Pramukh Maharaj of Akshardham, Gandhinagar, who defeated the nefarious designs of the terrorists in 2002 by not reacting to provocation designed to elicit a backlash but by encouraging his followers to pray for restoring peace in the state of Gujrat.

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Abdul Kalam narrates that Pramukh Swamiji showed magnanimity by avoiding blame game or imputing motives. “There was not even a hint of anger in his eyes. . . .When I would later meet Nelson Mandela, I once again saw this power of tolerance, patience and forgiveness” (Kalam with Tiwari 2015, p. 15). In corporate world, leaders thrived because of resilience and their ability to view setbacks as learning experiences and challenges as opportunities to excel (Sonnenfeld and Ward 2017). To Anderson (2003), positive emotions like unconditional love, compassion, etc. enhance health as these push aside the negative emotions. For instance, generosity stemming from altruism gives rise to love for humanity and casts out the fear and anxiety emerging from self-centeredness. To him, three negative emotions sadness/ depression (depressive emotions), fear/anxiety, and anger/hostility (aggressive emotions) increase susceptibility to disease and worsen health outcomes. On other hand, altruism and forgiving act as protective factor against morbidity and mortality. Similarly, Daniel Goleman (2003, p. 33) states that negative feelings like anger, anxiety, and depression if strong and prolonged can “increase vulnerability to disease, worsen the symptoms, or hinder recovery. On the other hand, more positive states like equanimity and optimism seem to have salutary effect on health.” Positive emotions broaden and build an individual’s personal resources like physical, intellectual, and social (Fredrickson and Levenson 1998; Fredrickson 2000, 2004) as they produce unusual, flexible, creative, and receptive pattern of thought (Isen and Daubman 1984; Isen et al. 1987) and increase brain’s dopamine levels. Positive emotions can overcome the cardiovascular reactivity (Fredrickson and Levenson 1998) and depressive tendencies and can undo negative emotions. Positive emotions broaden people’s momentary thought-action repertoires (Fredrickson 2000) and enlarge the cognitive context (Isen et al. 1987). Positive emotions also increase one’s social resources as the persons feel connected with their surrounding members. Leaders acting out of tolerance and patience prevent negative emotions like fear, anxiety, anger, hostility, etc., to take place as these emotions increase susceptibility to diseases and worsen health outcomes (Anderson 2003; Goleman 2003). On the other hand, more positive states like equanimity and optimism seem to have salutary effect on health of the members. Leaders demonstrating patience can prevent negative emotions to spread among members through their wounding words.

Authenticity Personal authenticity has been explored throughout history, from Greek philosophers (“Know Thyself” – Socrates) to Shakespeare (“To thine own self be true” – Polonius, Hamlet). At one level, it implies owning one’s personal experiences, as indicated by the dictum “Know Thyself.” Similarly, “To thine own self be true” (Shakespeare) advises that one acts in accord with one’s true self (Harter et al. 2003). Thus, authenticity as defined in this context seems to be closely linked with selfawareness, sincerity, truth, and transparency. The first essay on authentic leadership was written by R.W. Terry in 1993, followed up in 2003 by Bill George, the exemplary former head of Medtronic.

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George has discussed the concept of authentic leadership in his bestseller Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value. In the context of rampant corporate scandals and pervasive financial crises, George argues that leadership needs to be completely reexamined and rethought. This calls for a new type of leader who embodies qualities such as integrity, transparency, humility, and a deep sense of purpose (George and Sims 2007; George et al. 2007). Bill George (2003, p. 9) states concisely: “We need leaders who lead with purpose, values and integrity; leaders who build enduring organizations, motivate their employees to provide superior customer service, and create long-term value for shareholders.” Authenticity is usually identified (sometimes confused) with sincerity, autonomy, congruence, and genuineness. Authenticity is defined as the unity and purity of one’s thoughts, words, and deeds. The Greek world close to “authentic” is authentikos with its root authentes derived from the word autos that means “self” and hentes means “doer or being.” Thus being authentic means acting on one’s own authority. It is similar to the meaning as stated as “Ideal mode of living characterized by high levels of self-awareness, self-direction and self-reflection. . .attaining this level of selfknowledge means overcoming the power of unconscious to compel us to act without fully knowing why” (Oxford Dictionary of Critical Thinking 2010), “unobstructed operation of one’s true or core self in one’s daily enterprise” (Kernis and Goldman 2006, p. 294). Acting authentically means nonconformance to societal, cultural, and external rules, boundaries, or anything that is not true to an individual’s core self or person’s own makeup (Golomb 1995; Taylor 1991), consciously and mindfully striving for an awareness of one’s values, beliefs, thoughts, and feelings, followed by maintaining consistency (or exploring the inconsistency) of those inward concepts with one’s outward expressions and beliefs (Burks and Robbins 2012). To be authentic means to understand oneself and realize fully one’s being in situation, whatever this situation may happen to be (Satre 1948). As one becomes genuine and shows consistency between values and actions, one attains authenticity that becomes expression of the genuine self and facilitates inner growth and development in one’s personal life and development of authentic relations with others. Consequently, Jarvis (1992) links authenticity with reflective learning as authentic people are autonomous learners not controlled by others with their repetitive and ritualistic performance. In context of leadership, authenticity incorporates four components: selfawareness, balanced processing, internalized moral perspective, and relational transparency (Walumbwa et al. 2008) that leads to authentic leadership which is close to concept of transformational leadership. Authentic leadership is “a pattern of leader behavior that draws upon and promotes both positive psychological capacities and a positive ethical climate to foster greater self-awareness, an internalized moral perspective, balanced processing of information, and relational transparency as the part of leaders working with followers, fostering positive self-development” (Walumbwa et al. 2008, p. 94). Authentic leaders are genuine people who are true to themselves and to what they believe in. These leaders bring people together around a shared purpose and empower them to step up and lead authentically in order to create value for all stakeholders (George et al. 2007).

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Bill George and Peter Sims (2007) advocate discovering one’s True North, “Just as a compass points toward a magnetic field, your True North pulls toward the purpose of your leadership. When you follow your internal compass, your leadership will be authentic, and people will naturally want to associate with you. Although others may guide or influence you, your truth is derived from your life story and only you can determine what it should be.” To them five dimensions of an authentic leadership are: • • • • •

Pursuing purpose with passion Practicing solid values Leading with heart Establishing enduring relationships Demonstrating self-discipline

To Avolio, Luthans, and Walumbwa (2004), authentic leaders are “individuals who are deeply aware of how they think and behave and are perceived by others.” They are aware of their own and others’ values, moral perspective, and context in which they operate. Authenticity is positively associated with well-being at work (Menard and Brunet 2011). Carl Rogers (1961) contends that the growth tendencies that contribute to ultimate happiness and well-being do not flourish without authenticity. Leaders’ authenticity contributes to the happiness and well-being of followers. As authentic leaders are self-aware and self-reflected, they do not harm others intentionally through their arbitrary functioning. As they know that their behavior is likely to harm others’ interest, they mold it. They take decisions based on their values and convictions and do not succumb to external pressures and arbitrary imposed rules that may harm others. As their working is transparent and consequently their actions are predictable, it prevents anxiety and tension that contribute to unnecessary stress. Their self-awareness compels them to work with duty-conscious approach than expecting entitlements from others.

Transparency Transparency usually means full disclosure of all relevant information in a timely manner. Being inclusive word as talked in political science, leadership, governance, public relations management, etc., it has been interpreted with differently in different contexts: full disclosure and legal as well as ethical compliance, candor, integrity, honesty, ethics (personal qualities), etc. Transparency has been defined and described by different authorities as “full disclosure of all relevant information in a timely manner” (Berglund 2014, p. 362), “disclosure of accurate, and relevant information related to governance and financing of the stakeholder” (Wehmeier and Raaz 2012; Bushman and Smith 2003; Williams 2005), “flow of information to those outside the firm” (Bushman et al. 2004, p. 207), flow of “information on matters of public concern” (Cotterrell 1999, p. 414), etc. Transparency not only

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incorporates clarity without any distortion (Connelly et al. 2011) but also qualities like understandability, interpretability, and coherence (McGaughey 2002) as it is associated with visibility and predictability (Gray and Kang 2014, p. 459). Transparency also means moving beyond apparent information to accessing the authentic reality to “have informed voice in decision or to assess the decisions made by insiders” (Florini 2007, p. 5). Transparency being the opposite of secrecy (Coombs and Holladay 2013), lifting the veil of corporate secrecy (Rawlins 2009), enables a state in which no corporate governance mechanism would be required (Berglund 2014, p. 363). But such state of corporate governance focuses more on ethical functioning of leaders that shall make the structural and legal aspect of corporate governance redundant. But we find growing number of scandals in corporate world like Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, and Satyam (India) because of lack of transparency. Leaders claim transparency, but there is difference in claiming transparency and being transparent. Because of lack of transparency, trust is eroded and further dealings are stopped. Though organizations have legitimate interest in guarding information about innovation, original processes, secret recipes, or corporate strategies, yet they cannot afford to keep different stakeholders in darkness. In the present networked universe with competition at global level “where information travels globally with the click of a mouse, transparency is no longer simply desirable, it is becoming unavoidable” (Bennis et al. 2008, p. 11). So transparency is a matter of survival as it is essential for gaining trust of different parties, ensuring justice with different stakeholders, discharging corporate social responsibility through disclosure of strategic information, eliminating corruption, and establishing organizational legitimacy and reputation. “Transparency begins with openness” (Johnson 2013, p. 425); leaders need to be open about their policies, compensation packages, and values and share this through websites, publications, press releases, and other means. Therefore, attempts have been made by law to bring transparency in corporate governance like SarbanesOxley Act attempted to make corporate governance more transparent by incorporating relevant provisions. As transparency cannot be legislated in totality, it requires commitment and compliance of moral responsibility by leaders to bring that. Authentic leadership theories talk about authenticity of leaders that includes relational transparency along with self-awareness, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective (Walumbwa et al. 2008). Relational transparency involves presenting authentic self to others and being open and expressive of one’s thoughts and feelings appropriate to situation and circumstances. As trust is crucial in winning the hearts of the followers, transformational leaders remain transparent “as necessary” (Sreedharan, 2019, personal communication) to meet the aspirations of different stakeholders. This transparency not only wins the willing cooperation and trust of employees and other stakeholders but also helps in crisis management. Therefore Johnson (2013, p. 425) regards crisis preparedness and trust as two positive by-products of transparency. Transparency contributes to well-being at workplace with reduction in anxiety and stress and enhancing the level of trust among people. As the working of the

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persons whether of ruling or ruled group becomes more transparent, their actions become more predictable. Transparency enhances the quality of governance, functioning of government services, and accountability of service distribution (Ljungholm 2015). This increases the level of happiness of the public as good governance and politics with reduced level of corruption are one of the indicators of happiness. Buell et al. (2014) conducted two field and two laboratory experiments in food service settings and found that allowing transparency of operational processes by customer and of customer behavior by employees contributes to 22.2% increase in customer-reported quality and reduces processing times by 19.2%. This also contributes to employee’s satisfaction and their willingness to exert efforts. Transparent communication with behavioral integrity has positive effect on the engagement of the followers and consequently upon their performance (Vogelgesang et al. 2013). Transparency also results in thriving at work as the case study research conducted by Patrice K. Jenkins (2010, p. 4) finds the following six main factors that contribute in collective thriving: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

High-quality relationships High challenge Inclusiveness Transparency Whole person Eileen: The Woman and Company

As transparency facilitates thriving at work, it leads to the happiness and wellbeing of people at workplace. Thriving at work also means positive affective experiences, cognitive liveliness, enthusiasm, appreciative enquiry, etc. which is possible because of transparent communication fostering trust and cooperation. Moreover, transparency also allows people to develop authentic connections without being entangled and to avoid wasting one’s time and energy on superfluous works resulting in activity without productivity, useless meetings, and social gatherings.

Interconnectedness To Mitroff and Denton (1999), the single word that best captures the essence of spirituality is “interconnectedness.” This interconnectedness plays vital role in people’s lives in the form of compassion, humanity, acceptance, holism, non-violence, etc. with other human, animate, and inanimate beings. According to Vedantist’s perspective, different manifestations in existence are not isolated and discrete entities, as universal consciousness is flowing through all of them. Similarly Buddhist perspective of interconnectedness is reflected in sufferings and its causes stemming out of our desires, craving, ignorance, and negative emotions that need to be addressed. Physicists have a favorite phrase, the butterfly effect that means that if a butterfly should fly in here and get hurt, the effect of that accident would be felt in galaxies thousands of light years away (L’Engle 1996, p. 256).

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Quantum scientists talk about quantum entanglement as the physical phenomenon when pair or groups of particles interact and share proximity by which the quantum property of each of the particles cannot be described in isolated and independent way. Therefore quantum scientist David Bohm (2003) views that we feel separate without separation “because we are sticking largely to the manifest world as the basic reality where the whole point is to have separate units relatively separate anyway, but interacting. In non-manifest reality, it is all interpenetrating, interconnected, one” (p. 149). This interconnectedness enables the leader to experience the sacredness of human life, vibrating energies of different people and functioning harmoniously without ego, without manipulating through exercise of power mechanism and “relat[ing] to one another in less coercive and more creatively supporting ways” (Greenleaf 2003, p. 23). Without feeling of interconnectedness, leaders may pretend feign kindness and empathy. . .but will subtle forms of manipulations that will lead to controlling others’ behavior or exercising doctorial behavior (Covey 2003, p. 10). Without feeling of this interconnectedness, leaders are likely to exercise destructive leadership style like abusive supervision (Tepper 2000; Bies 2001; Keashly and Harvey 2005), petty tyranny (Ashforth 1997), workplace bullying (Hoel and Cooper 2001), and destructive leadership (Krasikova et al. 2013; Einarsen et al. 2007). Feeling of interconnectedness enables the leaders to contribute to the happiness and well-being of others as they view it as their own happiness and well-being.

Self-Awareness The first quality of transformational, authentic, and servant leadership is selfawareness gained through self-knowledge. Advocates of emotional intelligence (Goleman 2003) regarding self-awareness hold that knowledge about one’s emotions is the first and foremost requirement of leadership. Without self-knowledge, service of others cannot be authentic or ethical as we cannot transcend our narrow selfinterest. Vedanta teaches that seeking self-knowledge is not a matter of “acquisition” or a result of our “doing” but a matter of “understanding” our true nature. Usually we identify ourselves with body-mind mechanism and consequently become egoist which superimposes the useless limitations due to selfishness. As a result, we fail to understand our real nature and identify the unreal as the real. Vedanta explains that one is not just the limited body-mind complex but pure awareness. This feeling gives one inexhaustible courage, freedom to act, and abundant happiness not only for oneself but for other beings that surround us. Therefore advocates of Vedanta like Raman Maharshi, Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, Nisargadatta Maharaj, etc. have taught to realize oneself. With self-awareness, ego and world shall look like illusive dreams. “A man verily becomes liberated in life if he feels: God is the Doer. He alone is doing everything. I am doing nothing” (Sri Ramakrishna: Gospel, 1942, p. 142) and performs one’s ordinary duties in an unselfish manner. In this context Bhagavad Gītā (shaloka 5.8 and 5.9) state:

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naivakiṃcitkaromī tiyuktomanyetatattvavit pas´yan˜ s´ṛṇvanspṛs´an˜ jighrannas´nangacchansvapan˜ s´vasan //5.8// pralapanvisṛjangṛhṇannunmiṣannimiṣannapi indriyāṇī ndriyārtheṣuvartantaitidhārayan //5.9// Remaining absorbed in the Self, the knower of Reality should think, ‘I certainly do not do anything,’ even while seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving, sleeping, breathing, speaking, releasing, holding, opening and closing the eyes – remembering that organs function in relation to the objects of the organs. (Gambhirananda 1984)

While performing one’s ordinary duties in detached way, one should renounce the world in one’s mind as mind is the source of all bondage and liberation. In one of his talks, Ramana Maharshi (1955/2006, p. 342) profoundly remarks, “By ‘spiritual leaders’ we understand those who are ‘spiritual’ as opposed to ‘physical’. Spirit is unlimited and formless. Being unlimited it includes the leaders, the man,. . . There is no differentiation.” According to his view, to become authentic leader, one should “Realize the Self within [oneself]” (Maharshi 2006, p. 1). Self-awareness has profound impact upon the ethics of the leaders. Self-aware leaders are unlikely to manipulate and coerce others, misuse power for selfish ends, claim excessive privileges, or engage in fraudulent and inappropriate behavior. They are more willing to contribute to the welfare and well-being of others and consequently act as role models for their followers. Their self-awareness enables them to become open and transparent about their limitations and take suggestions from others which contribute to learning and sharing and help them to harness trust and cooperation of other members.

Selfless Service and Self-Sacrifice Selfless service and self-sacrifice are hallmarks of servant leadership, one of the variants of transformational leadership which is practiced by putting others’ interest first. “Great leaders approach their work as a contribution, as a service, without any sense of entitlement whatsoever” (Dhiman 2012, p. 140). Vedanta talks of Nishkam karma – doing actions without being attached to results or sense of doership and treating work or actions as offering to the Divine. This selfless service can be offered in numerous ways like financial assistance, physical help, emotional and spiritual support, etc. The other related concept of selfless service is self-sacrificing behavior. Vedanta talks about this voluntary sacrifice as offer to Lord – Yajana – which may take forms like materialistic or psychological sacrifice of self-control and self-

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discipline or other forms. But sacrifice in the form of sharing of knowledge is regarded as the highest form of sacrifice as all karmas find their culmination and completeness in the knowledge of the Divine, sarvaṃkarmākhilaṃpārthajn˜ āneparisamāpyate (Gītā 4.33). The aim of selfless service is to contribute to the welfare and well-being of others through thoughts, words, and actions without expectations of reward. Mahatma Gandhi – rare example of transformational, ethical, and servant leadership who devoted his life for the freedom and upliftment of his countrymen – remarked profoundly, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

Humility Traditionally, humility has been identified as having or showing a low estimate of one’s own importance (Pearsall and Trumble 1996, p. 689) or “cultivating awareness of one’s insignificance before the universe” (Kant 1996). However this selfabasement has been criticized by philosophers like Nietzsche (1996). As humility stems from understanding that something greater than itself exists due to human limitations (Spinoza 1985) as well as truthful understanding of one’s strengths and weaknesses (Comte-Sponville 2001), we choose to regard humility as “a personal orientation founded on a willingness to see the self accurately and a propensity to put oneself in perspective. . .neither self-abasement nor overly positive self-regard” (Morris et al. 2005, p. 1331). This humility is opposite of pride, arrogance, selfcenteredness, and egoist attitude and is found in creative persons. Humility does not necessarily mean to think of oneself as insignificant, timid, or worthless. As someone has rightly observed, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”1 In fact, humility signifies utter sincerity with oneself, requiring one to think of one’s abilities as no greater, and no lesser, than they really are. Humble people know what they can and cannot do. They take note of both their gifts and their limitations in a realistic manner. True humility is definitely not about self-deprecation. We are taught to think pride is a good thing whereas humility is the absence of pride. Pride has meaning only when comparing others to yourself. By comparing ourselves to others, we learn to play the ubiquitous game of “one-upmanship.” A humble person does not base his or her self-worth on how she/he stacks up to others. She/he is content to make her/his honest contribution without raising a flag. Thus, such a person feels no need to play the game of one-upmanship. Most people often tend to confuse humility with false modesty. We all have been guilty of this at one time or another. We have a tendency to devalue what we’ve done under the pretense of humility. In fact, refusing to accept genuine appreciation is often a cover for seeking more praise from others. That is perhaps why true humility is very hard to come by. 1

This quote is often misattributed to C.S. Lewis. According to C.S. Lewis foundation, this quote belongs to the category of misattributed quotes and is NOT by C.S. Lewis. See: http://www.cslewis. org/aboutus/faq/quotes-misattributed/.

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Humility has been appreciated in highest regard in spiritual texts of different religious traditions. According to Vedantic perspective, as universal consciousness flows through all beings, it is futile to view oneself as island in itself and pursue pride and ego. Sikhism upholds humility as source of virtues. Similarly, Buddhists view sufferings resulting from craving and ignorance, and its ending involves freeing oneself from selfishness, cravings, and ignorance for which humility of thought plays its significant role. Taoist traditions believe in letting go in order to achieve greater harmony with Tao as Chap. 66 of Tao Te Ching states, “All streams flow to sea because it is lower than they are, humility gives its power. If you want to govern the people, you must place yourself below them” (Mitchell 1988). Research by Collins (2001) provides strong evidence of the usefulness of humility in leadership as he finds the great companies being led by level 5 leadership which is blend of humility and strong personal will. Though level 5 leaders are still ambitious, yet their humbleness helps to engage the members in effective way. They work with spirit that “we are acting as team and glory belongs to Him.” Nielsen et al. (2010) study the role of humility in socialized charismatic leadership and view that humility prevents excessive self-focus and permits understanding of oneself and one’s relationship with others. As business environment in twenty-first century is becoming more unpredictable and uncertain, researchers suggest that humility would play critical role in leadership (Morris et al. 2005; Vera and Rodriguez-Lopez 2004). Humility has been described as important hallmark of servant leadership (Patterson 2003; Russel 2001; van Dierendonck 2011) as well as spiritual leadership Fry (2003). Authentic leadership (Luthans and Avolio 2003) also emphasizes humility as the essence of authenticity is to “know thyself” (Avolio et al. 2004, p. 802). Humble people are less likely to experience negative emotions like envy and jealousy compared with low-level humility people (Ricard 2008) as they exercise greater self-awareness. This self-awareness helps the leaders to accept their personal shortcomings than indulging in any kind of impulsive, impetuous, self-aggrandizing, and narcissistic behavior with “self”-orientation.

Harmlessness Harmlessness being deeply rooted in spirituality has been discussed in Indian spiritual texts like Hindus, Jains, and Buddhism with maxim: Ahimsa Parmo Dharma – non-violence is the highest spirituality as its practice through selfawareness and mindfulness leads to spiritual elevation. To understand harmlessness in depth, it is essential to understand its opposite – violence. Violence in general is “the ensemble of actions and hostile aggressive attitudes between individuals, including use of constraint, and force in order to obtain something against the other’s will or in order to harm his physical or mental integrity” (Ricard 2013, p. 339). According to World Report on Violence and Health, violence is the intentional use of physical force or power, threaten or actual, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation (Kurg et al. 2002). Thus violence not only includes physical harms but

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harms inflicted to destroy the mental health and happiness of other beings through the use of power. Different forms of violence usually witnessed at workplace include bullying and harassment, discrimination, oppression and suppression, jealousy, etc. Possession and unethical use of power fan the fire of violence. Violence at workplace is an extension of violence residing inside oneself. According to Vedanta and BG 3.26, unless one realizes that the other person is extension of one’s consciousness, there cannot be eradication of violence. Vedanta’s, Mahatma Gandhi’s, Buddhism’s, and Jainism’s philosophical understanding of violence is very profound and penetrating. Violence causes harm to the welfare and well-being of other individuals. Reckless use of resources, depriving others of justice in our social relations, wasting others’ time and resources, gossips, back-biting, talking and shouting loudly, egotism and show-offs of power, money, relations, etc., manipulating and imposing one’s own will upon others, flattery and false patronization of others, disrespecting others’ time and attention, sarcasms, belittling others, treating callously, non-performance of one’s duty, useless interferences and impediments, not respecting the interpersonal boundaries of human relations, etc. are different forms of violence that are causing harm to the society. Violence usually takes place in man’s thoughts, words and deeds. Violence is not only confined to killings, hate campaigns, hatred, destroying others’ property, but also includes so many subtle acts that go unnoticed in our daily life (Tables 2 and 3). Table 2 Different forms of violence Action Killings Murders Elimination of trees Causing harm to environment Wastage of resources: natural, human resources, time, etc. Conspiracy

Speech Hurting others with humiliating words Speaking untruthful or misleading statements

Passive Discrimination Oppression Suppression

Table 3 Seven sins of Mahatma Gandhi and their manifested forms Seven sins of Mahatma Gandhi 1. Wealth without work 2. Pleasure without conscience 3. Knowledge without character 4. Commerce without morality 5. Science without humanity 6. Worship without sacrifice 7. Politics without principles 8. Right without responsibility (added by his grandson)

Manifested forms Cheating, exploiting other’s weaknesses, not performing one’s duty for which one is paid Loud noise, spending money recklessly, eating too much, adultery, lack of simplicity Arbitrary interpretations, withholding information, lack of transparency Exploitation, adulteration, scams, etc. Not applying science for humanity at large Not sacrificing, window-shop spirituality Intentions to grab power for personal motives Senseless pursuit of feminism when harmony is sacrificed

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Different Causes of Violent Behavior In Ricard’s view, one’s mental disposition, emotions of that time and the situation in which the person is caught, leads to “the attitude that incites us to harm others are linked in part to our dispositions and our character traits, but they are also influenced by our transient emotions and by situations in which we find ourselves” (Ricard 2013, p. 339). Matthieu Ricard’s description can be elaborated with following Tables 4, 5, and 6: Table 4 Mental disposition and character traits Lesser chances Sage – Self-knowledge and treatment of other beings not different than me Spiritual and ethical behavior Peace and harmony Belief in existence/God Mindfulness and conscientiousness Sensitivity and empathy Treating oneself and others as equal being Humble and self-efficacy Perception as strong (lesser chances of manifestation) Non-existence of ego-self-efficacy

Higher chances Criminals, narcissistic – treating others as raw material for magnificence of ego Unethical and unlawful behavior Inner turmoil Lack of trust even in the legal mechanism Promotion and patronization by cult, brain washing Insensitivity, influence of drink and drugs, use of religion as opium, impulsive behavior Inferiority or superiority complex Fragile and inflated ego, selfish and sadistic Perception as weak (greater chance of manifestation) Crystallization of ego through institutionalized efforts

Table 5 Transient emotions Lesser chances Calm, collected, and connected mind Compassionate and caring attitude Matured and detached Loving heart Feeling of contentment

Higher chances Scattered and agitated Negative and callous attitude Immature and passionately involved Wounded pride, desire for revenge, hatred Feeling of jealousy, hatred, and negativity

Table 6 Transient emotions Lesser chances Fresh Normal No urgency Silence and spaciousness General peace and harmony

Higher chances Exhausted and irritated Mass and mob movement Urgency (in case of non-planned) General disturbance Provoking violence

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The desire for revenge as blood vengeances is approved in many cultures (Pinker 2011, p. 164; Baumeister 2001) as wounded pride constantly drags the person to make great sacrifice to avenge and the unaddressed violent angers distort three-forth perceptions to mental fabrications (Beck 1999) that view the targeted person as evil to be harmed. The endless cycle of resentment and reprisals goes endlessly. Violent people are more arrogant, vain, and narcissist (Baumeister 2001) who have abnormally inflated ego and are ready to react at the slightest provocation (Berkowitz 1978, pp. 148–161). Another cause of violence is feeling of injustice, unfair treatment, and lower faith in legal justice (Baumeister 2001), and consequently affected persons find it easier method to create a parallel and expeditious justice, sometimes morally justified (Black 1983). In addition to these causes, accentuated heat of the moment (Baumeister 2001) because of escalated situation, lack of empathy, etc. is common cause of violence at workplace. Workplace harassment has attracted attention for study since the 1980s. Scornful and vindictive attitudes, indifference, and utterance of wounding words by boss or colleagues destroy the inner well-being of the person at workplace and consequently adversely affect his level of engagement, performance, and quality of life. As a result, the organization suffers because of decline of team spirit and morale of the persons and deprives itself of organizational learning and creativity. As a result, not only individual but also the organization fails to perform to its peak level and settles at below optimum (Leymann 1990, 1993; Adams 1992; Chappell and Di Martino 2000). Therefore, harassment being violence against humanity needs to be minimized. The causes of such harassment may be jealousy of people, lack of emotional maturity and sensitivity, lack of harmony in personal life that extends to professional life, feeling of privilege guaranteed by organizational hierarchies or legal mechanism or political relations, lack of inner growth and elevation and consequently egotistic attitudes and inability to tame the inner devils, etc. Why certain people harass others? Although, here is no empirical research study dealing with the psychology of the perpetrators, yet different psychologists have described the personality of the perpetrators as “excessively controlling, cowardly, neurotic, and hungry of power” (Davenport et al. 1999, p. 58) or narcissistic personality disorder who needs to cover up their own deficiencies. These are evil personalities who like to pursue their self-interest at the cost of others. Their threatened egotism and inflated self-appraisals compel them to direct their outward angers toward others than to avoid downward revisions of self-concept (Baumeister et al. 1995, p. 5). Field (1996) calls perpetrators as “serial bullies” who act selfishly out of self-interest, self-aggrandizement, and self-preservation and are insensitive and callous to the needs and difficulties of others. They use “criticism, humiliation, etc. in the guise to addressing shortfalls in performance – in reality, these are for control and subjugation, not for performance enhancement (Field 1996).

Meaning in Life Meaning in life entails number of experiences and their interpretations with transformed attitude that foster a sense of meaningfulness in life. It is not only the

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product of profound life-altering experiences of life but also part of the “significance beyond the trivial or momentary [experiences of daily life] to have purpose, or to have coherence that transcend chaos” (King et al. 2006, p. 180). Steger (2012) calls it web of connections, understandings, and interpretations that help us comprehend our experience and formulate plans directing our energies to the achievement of our desired future, as our lives matter, make sense, and are more than days and years. Meaning in life refers to an individual’s ability to understand life, oneself, and the outside world and adapt to it accordingly. The Japanese concept, synonym of Meaning in Life, Ikigai (Garcia and Miralles 2016) means “the happiness of always being busy”(p. 2), “keep doing what is being loved for as long as the health allows” (p. 10) and “finding a purpose in life” (p. 14). It means maintaining a stoic attitude of serenity in the face of setbacks and pursuing one’s purpose of life with passion. Meaning in life encompasses both presence of and search for meaning (Dezutter et al. 2013; Steger 2012). Presence of meaning indicates whether the individual perceives one’s life as significant and purposeful and comprehends oneself as fitted in the surrounding work (King et al. 2006; Steger et al. 2008). Search for meaning indicates the strength, intensity, and activity of people to enhance and establish their understanding and purpose of their lives (Dezutter et al. 2013; Steger et al. 2008). Meaning in life also includes three components: purpose, significance, and coherence (Ward and King 2017; Martela and Steger 2016). Purpose in life means having a sense of direction, mission, and goal in life; significance denotes feeling in an individual that his or her role is being valued in social surrounding and consequently she/he has to make important contribution beyond his or her personal existence; and coherence is feeling of order between oneself and the world and perceiving one’s world as comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful. Though meaning in life has not been searched extensively in organizational context and leadership studies, yet there are indirect evidences of its benefits for the organization (Ward and King 2017). Maslow (1943) proposed five stage models of human hierarchy needs that ascend from physical needs, to safety needs, to love and belonging, to esteem needs, and to self-actualization at the highest level. His later on model was expanded to include cognitive, aesthetic, and transcendence needs (Maslow 1970). To him, happy persons would have fulfilled these eight levels of needs ranging from concrete to abstract, down to earth to divine needs. The top of these two abstract needs – self-actualization – signifies realizing one’s personal meaning in life, and transcendence means becoming integrated person and being valuable part of the world. Consequently attaining happiness involves realizing meaning in life along with becoming holistic person. As meaning in life is associated with spirituality– transcendence, connectedness with higher purpose, and sacredness (Mitroff and Denton 1999)– transformational leaders being fully evolved persons with deep-rooted ethical and spiritual values (Fry 2003) actively search the meaning of their lives, facilitate others in realizing meaning in life, and create work environment supportive of one’s spiritual development along with organizational mission. Through their idealized influence and intellectual

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stimulation, they overcome meaninglessness manifested in the form of organizational dysfunction, ineffectiveness, and stress impacting organizational performance (Fleming 2004; Mitroff and Denton 1999). They also help others to find meaning and happiness at workplace with greater commitment and motivation by making the work more meaningful. Persons high in meaning in life enjoy their work more and report lesser workaholism (Bonebright et al. 2000). As meaning in life is positively associated with psychological well-being (Steger et al. 2008), it is also perceived as linked with meaning in work that contributes to engagement, greater organizational commitment, and job satisfaction (Geldenhuys et al. 2014; May et al. 2010). Meaningful work is also linked to lower depressive symptoms, hostility, burnouts, absenteeism, and other negative outcomes at workplace and life (Steger 2012). Many people look to their career as source of meaning as greater amount of time is being spent at workplace these days, and work is perceived as source of understanding world, opportunity to serve others, means to self-expression of one’s full potentials, and contributor to attain personal growth and elevation. Transformational leaders not only overcome meaninglessness as manifested in apathy, alienation, frustration, and increased stress (Debates et al. 1995) but also create a work environment that is supportive of increased individual and organizational performance with reduced negativity. As eudaimonic approach emphasizes transcending personal feelings of pleasures to personal elevation and virtuous pursuits (Ryff and Singer 2003), meaning in life is typically included as one of the important aspects of happiness and wellbeing. Meaning in life has great motivational power as it inspires and energizes people, gives them hope and optimism especially in adversity, and helps to maintain physical and psychological health. Victor Frankl’s work Man’s Search for Meaning (1959) being elaboration of Nietzsche’s quote “He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how” with authenticity of his experiences as well as stories of his patients related with Nazi concentration camp demonstrates that though human beings cannot avoid suffering, yet they can choose to cope with it in better and effective way by finding meaning in it and move forward with enlightened purpose with spiritual freedom. Meaning in life enables to develop resilience and cultivate a spiritual connectedness with something larger than the momentary experiences (Steger 2012). Research studies illuminate that meaning in life contributes to psychological and physical health as it is linked with positive emotions (King et al. 2006; Steger et al. 2006), higher morale (Ryff and Singer 2000), satisfaction in life (Steger et al. 2006), positive perception of the world, and hope and optimism (Mascaro and Rosen 2005; Steger et al. 2006). It is negatively associated with factors depriving happiness: depression (Debats 1996), anxiety, general psychological distress, and post-traumatic stress disorder (Mascaro and Rosen 2005). People with meaning in their lives can effectively cope with cancer, spinal cord injuries, cardiovascular diseases, etc. (Steger 2012). Therefore researchers have included meaning in life as one of the indicators of positive functioning (Diener and Seligman 2002) or reaching one’s potentials (Ryan and Deci 2001).

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Courage: Basis of Excellence and Virtues Courage has been upheld as one of the highest virtues by philosophers of different ancient periods over different times (Dahlsgaard et al. 2005). Greek philosopher Plato regarded courage as one of the four cardinal virtues (other being temperance, wisdom, and justice). To Aristotle, courage is mean between extremes of cowardice and foolhardiness (Durant 1926). Courage has been described as “willingness to face tough choices as well as overcoming the fear associated with them”(Clancy 2003, p. 132); “moral disposition to resist the strong and unjust opponent” (Lopez 2003); “ability to endure what is necessary to achieve a good end, even in the face of great obstacles” (Cavanagh and Monberg 1999, p. 2); “(a) a willful, intentional act, (b) executed after mindful deliberation, (c) involving objective substantial risk to the actor, (d) primarily motivated to bring about a noble, good or worthy end (e) despite perhaps the presence of the emotion of fear” (Rate et al. 2007); wise and mindful action in the face of danger and risk; etc. Risk, fear, [higher] purpose, and [mindful] action are key commonalities of courage (Hannah et al. 2010; Goud 2005). To Klein and Napier (2003), courage involves five factors: candor (speaking and hearing truth), purpose, rigor, risk, and will. Similarly Kilmann et al. (2010) opine that in the condition of courage, the person has free choice to act significant risk and s/he chooses to act to pursue excellence or other worthy aims despite fear with mindfulness. Consequently, acts without higher purpose like reckless and rashness action, forced bravery, acts out of thrill of sensation, and revenge are not courage as there is lack of mindfulness. Similarly act out of vanity or curiosity are not courage as “a brave man is one who conducts himself as he ought. . .it is impossible to call a man brave who risks his life out of vanity or curiosity or greediness” (Tolstoy 1999, p. 22). Courage being act of bravery requires action, in the condition of danger or risk for a higher purpose in mindful and conscious way. Courage is verily the hinge of all virtues and values as it compels to take action for higher purpose by harnessing inner strength and resources. A person may be morally sensitive with high priorities to moral values if wilts under pressure or is distracted or discouraged from moral courage, proves to be wimp and weak-willed, and consequently ethically fails. To speak and listen truth, one needs moral courage – “the behavioral expression of authenticity in the face of the discomfort of dissension, disapproval, or rejection” (Lopez et al. 2010, p. 23) – that requires the willingness to speak up or take action for oneself as well as for others (Bronstein et al. 2007, p. 661), as evil flourishes not only because of acts of evil persons but also good men’s inability to rise to occasion. Courage is helpful to gain self-mastery and self-discipline by asserting against inessential pressures and focusing attention on relevant issues. Earning trust and credibility requires to cultivate integrity, dynamism, and competency that need courage of taking action in mindful way on continuous basis. Similarly, being authentic and transparent need moral courage. Moral courage along with mental strength is needed to introspect, delve deep, and prepare oneself for cultivating self-

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awareness and experiencing interdependence with other beings; otherwise its talks shall be shallow and superficial. The attributes of an effective team leader lie in character that include moral aspects like “honesty, integrity, sacrificing self-interest for the greater good, and treating people with respect” (Hollenbeck 2009, p. 137). Team leaders act with feelings of duty as well as moral identity which require courage to act. “Individuals possessing a high level of character (duty and moral identity) are more likely to exhibit courage by demonstrating acts of team leadership under conditions of risk” (Amos and Klimoski 2014, p. 119). Leaders need to take risk while standing for the values they cherish. Bolman and Deal (2006) put the leader in wizard and warrior’s role: the wizard role enables them to bring imagination, creativity, meaning, and magic, whereas the warrior role mobilizes strength, courage, and willingness to fight as hard and long as necessary to fulfill their mission. Being in the role of warrior, they have to balance their conflicting impulses with selfish and otherish motive, competition and collaboration, creation and destruction, and loyalty to oneself and to a greater cause. Their act of balancing requires them to take courage. Ethical and transformational leaders being principled worriers like Abraham Lincoln in politics and Warren Buffett in business put combat in perspective as they are committed to overarching purpose rather than to power, self-aggrandizement or running roughshod over opponents, and sacrifice for worthy cause (Bolman and Deal 2006, pp. 53–54). Leaders need to act that not only requires moral awareness but also the willingness to act according to moral principles to challenge status quo for bringing change and transformation (Brown and Trevino 2016). Authentic leaders not only act willingly but also engage their followers with the force of their integrity (Luthans and Avolio 2003). Their act of challenging status quo and bringing transformation requires courage. Individuals exhibiting courage will be more likely to demonstrate acts of team leadership under conditions of risk (Amos and Klimoski 2014). Courage contributes to inner growth, wholeness, self-actualization, and selfrealization. Maslow proposes that growth tendencies need to overcome regressive and backward pulling forces of safety, impulses that cause fear to take chance as man becomes afraid of independence, freedom, and separateness. Every human being has inner drive of which one sets clings to safety and defensiveness out of fear and the other force leads toward wholeness and full functioning of all his capacities (Maslow 1968, p. 46) that require courage to take action: “The difference between the diminished individual, wistfully yearning toward full humanness but never quite daring to make it, versus the unleashed individual, growing well toward his or her destiny, is simply the difference between fear and courage” (Maslow 1998, p. 120). The energizing catalyst for choice of growth over safety is courage that enables the individual to act effectively in the light of danger, fear, and risk (Goud 2005) without being immobilized into fear of uncertainty and unknown. Pursuit of growth needs of self-actualization leads to happiness due to human flourishing resulting from autonomy, freedom, and fulfillment for which courage plays dominating role.

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Concluding Thoughts Organizations carry great responsibility to contribute to the happiness and well-being of different employees in the present environment of complexity, uncertainty, and growing stress. They have to ensure job satisfaction, job involvement, engagement of employees, positive emotions and feelings, thriving at work, flow, supportive learning environment, etc. to bring happiness and well-being. Different authorities are of view that happiness and well-being of people at workplace are the result of respectful and supportive environment, recognition, fair treatment, autonomous and challenging job with matching skills, adopting best workplace practices, and competent leadership. Ethical and spiritual values such as truthfulness and honesty, harmony, trust and credibility, patience and tolerance, authenticity, transparency, interconnectedness, self-awareness, selfless service and self-sacrifice, humility, harmlessness, and meaning in life lead to happiness and well-being of different individuals as well as the organization. Practicing these ethical and spiritual values need courage that involves acting mindfully in the face of danger and associated risk. Transformational leadership with idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration has great potential to enhance the well-being and happiness of employees. On the other hand, negative leadership like abusive supervision, petty tyranny, destructive leadership, etc. causes adverse effects like harassment and bullying, discrimination and injustice, toxic environment, greedy behavior, etc. with bad results for the organization in the long run. Selfish behavior is the cause of such negative leadership and behavior as these leaders confine themselves to body-mind mechanism and consequently ignore the ethical and spiritual aspect. Transformational leadership and its variants like authentic leadership, spiritual leadership, servant leadership, etc. raise the motivation and morality of their followers with their personal examples and transform the organization with higher quality of life that leads to happiness and well-being – the optimum state of human flourishing.

Cross-References ▶ Enhancing Workplace Well-Being Through Understanding the Three Personality Types: Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas According to Samkhya ▶ Fostering Workplace Well-Being Through Servant Leadership ▶ Happiness at Work with Contentment: Enriching Workplace Well-Being Through Ancient Wisdom ▶ Purpose, Meaning, Joy, and Fulfillment at Work

References Adams JS (1965) Inequity in social exchange. Adv Exp Soc Psychol 2:267–299 Adams A (1992) Bullying at work: how to confront and overcome it. Virago, London

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Part III Workplace Well-Being, Spirituality and Secular Ethics

The Languages of Spirituality and Science: Two Fraternal Twins

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Andrea Cherman and Francisco Eduardo Moreira Azeredo

Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Languages of Spirituality and Rationality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Chasm Between Spirituality and Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Chasm Between Spirituality and Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Two Dimensions: A No-Win Dispute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reconciling Two Fraternal Twins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

One prevailing characteristic of the modern and postmodern eras is the steadily growing disconnectedness between spirituality and science. For centuries, these dimensions were naturally considered independent or even antagonistic, in times where spirituality – and their congenital religions – reigned absolute with an unquestionable predominance over science. More recently, as scientific knowledge soared, these two worlds reinforced and deepened their strangeness, creating two very powerful and well-structured knowledge expressed in their respective and distinctive languages. In a similar way, religion and spirituality were torn aside, the former absorbing and taking out the essence of the latter, through a merciless rational process in which religion is being gradually transmuted in an inert body of inflicted rituals and dogmas over increasingly extremist believers. A. Cherman (*) The Polytechnic School, Arizona State University, Mesa, AZ, USA e-mail: [email protected] F. E. M. Azeredo Sangha Maha Muni do Brasil Co-Founder, Brazilian Soto Zen Society, Pirenopolis, GO, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_17

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Realistically, a rupture with this pervasive model is paramount, bringing religions back to their divine nature and embracing true science, that which complements and integrates with spirituality, the true nature of human beings. In fact, spirituality should assume its natural leadership in this process of commingling with the scientific world, leaving behind the tempting secular move, astray from wise traditions, relentlessly and unselfishly taught by the prophets of humankind. And so, like two fraternal twins, spirituality and science must grow and live in harmony, not endangering the weakest twin and, thus, not endangering Nature. The present article explores the positive consequences that a new balance between these two dimensions may bring for the well-being of individuals in the workplace and in society at large. Keywords

Spirituality · Religion · Rationality · Science · Well-being · Integrative knowledge · Language · Buddhism · Mindfulness · Philosophy

Introduction In recent years, there has been growing interest in studying the inclusion of spirituality in the workplace as an essential demand by individuals for well-being and fulfillment of their lives not disassociated from the place they work and from the community they live with. Since the seminal studies that depicted organizations seeking to incorporate spiritual values in their strategic aims (Burack 1999; Jurkiewicz and Giacalone 2004); individuals eager to express their spirituality in the workplace (Hicks 2002; Mitroff and Denton 1999); and the symptomatic inclusion of spirituality in management education (Neal 1997), there has been a profound evolution in this field of research – effectively accepted and applied – especially studies on a deeper sense of workplace community, value-based and purposeful missions, and meaningful work purpose for employees (Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Garg 2017; Vasconcelos 2018), consolidated in the now widespread practices of mindfulness in the workplace (Cherman and Azeredo 2018; Dhiman et al. 2018). It is no coincidence that spirituality attracted the interest of academics and became part of the agenda of professionals, given an increasing pressure felt by individuals in terms of higher performance, a growing demand for performance and innovation, a stressful job environment and workplace burnout, an escalating concern with employees’ mental health, and more recently, loneliness and depression in organizational setting, reinforced by an increasing social inequality, aggravated by a wave of job replacements by technology with the upcoming Fourth Industrial Revolution (i.e., artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation). In the midst of all these profound changes, the premise that presence of spirituality in the workplace is a new positive energy capable of adjusting to and balancing these challenging new times, contributing to a better quality of life at work, job satisfaction (Milliman et al. 2003), ethical behavior (Sheep 2006), and healthy environments (Paloutzian et al.

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2003; Tejeda 2015), seems to be convergent and irrefutable. Again, it is no coincidence that spirituality has strengthened its connections to the workplace and wellbeing (Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Burack 1999, McKee et al. 2011; Pawar 2016; Sheep 2006; Vasconcelos 2018). However, previous studies (Cherman and Azeredo in press) have shown that the rationality dimension, formed by an immeasurable volume of data and information that comprises all rational knowledge, has occupied an enormous space in organizations, as in any other context of human life. Indeed, this rational dimension gave rise to science and all its undeniably valuable products in the field of technology but also to an increasing dependence on these products, displayed in perverse beliefs in materialism and consumerism as substitutes for human values and virtues, closer to the spiritual dimension of human life. This paper argues that incorporating the spirituality dimension in the workplace, or in any other context of human life, necessarily involves a balanced integration with its counterpart, the rationality dimension (Cherman and Azeredo in press), in contrast to the confrontational and antagonistic view that characterizes most studies and debates on the topic. It also argues that both dimensions are extreme and equally profound and essential and inherent in human life and that there is no reason why feelings and rationales should oppose each other, let alone fight one another until the other is exterminated, as if the survival of one depended on the death of the other (Chopra and Mlodinow 2012). It seems evident to those who experience the beauty and grandeur of these human dimensions that the “cold” war between them divides the indivisible, separates intrinsically human dimensions destined for a fraternal and enlightened coexistence, born to be fraternal twins. The death of one dimension is only of interest to the exterminating part; in any situation, it is human nature itself that will end up inert and lifeless since the spirit and soul of all sentient beings exist in the spiritual dimension following a language all its own, infinitely profound, with infinite specificities in the layers of wisdom and awareness (involving virtues, values, sentiments, arts, ecosystem, natural healing, among others), which cannot be explained and understood by the language of rationality and science. It is important to note that the term language, in this paper, is defined as all expressive and symbolic forms of communicating spirituality and rationality. It does not refer to the strict definition of the term in verbal forms only (e.g., text, discourse, narrative, metaphor, and their meanings) but also includes nonverbal forms (e.g., feelings, senses, artifacts and objects, gestures, rituals) since both dimensions encompass an extremely broad system of representations beyond verbal language (Brown 2006; Fudge 2006). The languages of Spirituality and Science are thus vast, profound, and incommensurable, having an intrinsic interdependence capable of bringing human beings closer to a path of harmonious interface, the Middle Path (Hanh 2012). It is a path protected from so much suffering, so many conflicts, and so many perceived imbalances, experienced and aggravated every day in all areas of human relations, not only between human beings but also between them and all sentient beings and Nature, including human nature itself. This article reflects four basic precepts of Integrative Knowledge, formed by spirituality and rationality. First, the illusion that ego emanates from the human mind

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and its mental abilities. “I think, therefore I am” (Descartes 1999); but this mind, in isolation, does not have any intrinsic life. When life is gone, nothing remains of the mind, nor the “ego that thinks it exists.” The mind is the source of human rationality but is as impermanent and ethereal as the ego itself (Hanh 2012). Second, the certainty that Life contains good and evil, light and darkness, good and bad feelings; the pure work of the mind and its infinite judgments of what should be valued and what should be disregarded goes along with the seven deadly sins and the nine virtues of the Buddha, all together forces of Nature (Hanh 2012). The mental theory of human evolution anchors the idea of past and future, while Nature operates through eternity – not through illusions and mental forms (Hanh 2012). Third, the realization that Nature can do everything, Nature holds the essence of God, and Nature is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. The world will go where Nature leads us, not where minds lead us. The mind strives to understand and control Nature, looking through the telescope to see how many billions of galaxies exist in the universe and looking through the microscope to see how many billions of particles exist in a molecule (Gleiser 2014). This eternal balance between the forces of Nature, between energy and matter, for better or for worse, manifests itself in millions of forms, not only in human beings but also in animals, plants, and minerals. Beethoven or Einstein does not enlighten us more than animals and plants, more than roses in a garden, even if the mind believes that they do. . .or do not. This unveils the materialist theory of human evolution, where the understanding of past and future – by the ego and their minds – is lost amidst the plethora of mental forms through which Nature manifests. Nature has provided a mind to every human being, but this mind is unskillful to comprehend the spirituality that transcends it, that encompasses all other manifestations of human existence. Fourth, spirituality exists; Nature is spirituality; Nature is God, not just inseparable from spirituality, but its very manifestation. Spirituality has its own laws, its own language, a very strong, profound, and comprehensive language, common to all sentient beings, and which needs – just like rationality – to be constantly studied, understood, taught, and preserved as a precious human knowledge, throughout life and for all generations.

Languages of Spirituality and Rationality Unless you are intellectually numb, you can’t escape the allure of the quantum, the tantalizing possibility that we are immersed in mystery, forever bound within the shores of the Island of Knowledge. Unless you are intellectually numb, you can’t escape the aweinspiring feeling that the essence of reality is unknowable. (Gleiser 2014, p. 193)

Language is part of a system formed by the development, acquisition, maintenance, and use of complex communication systems and, particularly, the human ability to perform and implement it. As a communication system, it allows individuals to make verbal and symbolic exchanges, stressing the social functions of language to express and manipulate objects, images, and emotions in human contexts; at the same time – in the cultural sub-context – they signal and shape identities

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by differentiating them from one another (Brown 2006). One could evidence that the Enlightenment era abounded with conflicting views of language conception. Rousseau argued that language originated from the expression of emotions and would therefore be closer to the arts, such as music and poetry, while Descartes and Kant, in turn, claimed the opposite, wherein language would serve only as the logical expression of rational thought, to describe the world objectively (Brown 2006). “Just as mathematics education may be understood as progressive initiation into the distinctive language of mathematics and moral education as initiation into the distinctive language of ethics, so spirituality has its own distinctive language into which children need to be initiated if they are to grow spiritually. [. . .] Let alone how to initiate individuals into specifically spiritual discourses” (Halstead 2006, p. 259). The language of rationality that was restricted to the study of the sciences has awakened a phenomenon in which science has begun to appropriate and overlap with rationality, invading all fields of human life. According to Pinker (2018, p. 388), “many intellectuals are enraged by the intrusion of science into the traditional territories of the humanities, such as politics, history, and the arts. Just as reviled is the application of scientific reasoning to the terrain formerly ruled by religion: many writers without a trace of a belief in God maintain that it is unseemly for science to weigh in on the biggest questions. In the major journals of opinion, scientific carpetbaggers are regularly accused of determinism, reductionism, essentialism, positivism, and, worst of all, a crime called scientism.” As a consequence, because everything that is not “science” has gradually been losing credibility, there has been a migratory wave of highly qualified professionals, doctors of pure science and doctor-entrepreneurs of applied science to the secure field of this “all-embracing science,” making the very concept of science so obscure and simultaneously so vastly undefined and blurred that we are now approaching the point of confusing rationality with science itself, making scientists mere philosophers of rationality. In this scenario, the pagan altar widens to include and venerate more gods; as in antiquity, pagan gods proliferate, with different forms and different purposes, but all labeled on the same altar with the title of gods of reason, gods of science, in a godless world with little spirituality. Reigning alone and with its subjects seduced by the enchantments of science or scientism, the language of rationality – centered on the idolatry of the ego and the rational mind, increasingly distant from the soul and spirit – supports the separation between all human beings, creating infinite concepts and ideologies for understanding the reality of Nature and human beings themselves that originated in the very karma and suffering that separates everything, differentiates everything, and individualizes everything, except for ignorance, the cause of all this suffering, which can only be understood through spirituality. Additionally, another aspect that comes to the fore is that rational language cannot exist on its own, does not stand alone, and is not self-sufficient, as the ego is not sufficient to explain all facets of human nature. “Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secret of the Old One. I, at any rate, am convinced that He is not playing at dice,” wrote Einstein (Gleiser 2014, p. 173). This bears a striking resemblance to the understanding of spirituality by a

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master of Buddhist philosophy: “In a nutshell Einstein’s special theory of relativity implies that, while the speed of light is invariable, there is no absolute, privileged frame of reference, and everything, including space and time, is ultimately relative. This is truly a remarkable revelation” (Dalai Lama 2005, p. 60). Space and time are measurements created by rationality and form the foundation – along with the concepts of mass and energy – of many of the major theories of modern physics, but it is impossible to conceal and downplay the fact that these measurements lack a nature of their own (Gleiser 2014), a life of their own. They exist in relation to one another, they complement each other, they are part of the same equation, but they belong to the world and to the language of reason, which are lifeless without the eternal language of spirituality, just as the ego is lifeless after death. As for the language of spirituality, how is it expressed and manifested? It is impossible to measure the distance that separates two hearts, the length of time that love lasts, and the time and space occupied by the striking emotions that one feels in this life. It is impossible to measure the energy that comes from faith and impossible to relate this energy to the mass that constitutes the body. The energy of life comes from the “nutrients” that are consumed, the fresh air that is breathed, the inspiring relationships that are shared, the loving feeling of being part of Nature, and the faith and hope that are nourished from them; but it is difficult to establish an equation that relates these interactions to the ability to understand life and achieve the happiness of supreme enlightenment. It is impossible to envisage the understanding of the way of the Buddha and the prophets, although it is obvious that time, mass, space, and energy are part of the whole “equation” of life. When the sacred texts refer to the energy of Life, it does not come only from what the Six Senses can perceive (the mind is one of the human senses, according to Buddhism), what the rational mind can measure. Only spirituality can find this path, as only it possesses the unique language that unites everyone and makes everyone one with God. This language is the whole embracing dharma, the teachings, where concepts such as consciousness, soul, compassion, love, respectfulness, happiness, and gratitude, among many others are common to all beings and unite them all as one (Hanh 2012; Taherzadeh 1977). This language has been exhaustively described and communicated by the prophets; this language is reflected in the absence of the ego when one truly loves, feels happy, and is with everything around them. Van Gogh’s paintings, Beethoven’s symphonies, holy prayers, Gregorian chants, the practice of Mindfulness, an affectionate smile, and a beautiful flower in a garden are able to return individuals – even if only for a few moments – to this world of spirituality that unites around a language that everyone understands and, more importantly, understands in the same way, for it is felt by the spirit and not processed individually by human minds. It is reflected when the karmas are burnt, when the spirit is enlightened, when birth and death cease, and when it is understood that “when we die, we are born to eternal life,” a life not restricted to space, time, and isolated forms, disassociated from human and sentient beings (Hanh 2012), a life of present moments, of here and now, eternally united on this path to cease suffering, to understand the universe with a sense of Oneness (Hanh 2012), absolutely opposed to the feeling of self-centered, mind-centered, rationality-centered, and suffering immersed destiny.

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Both the rational dimension and the spiritual dimension require great masters, tutors of humankind capable of understanding all existing truths. However, one extremely important difference is that the masters of the spiritual dimension understand eternal and immutable existential truths, which unites everyone in the middle way. Masters of the rational dimension lead us to believe that individuals will always be able to create new, successive, and intertwined truths, along science development, in an evolutionary way, and that these truths will be able to underpin a thorough understanding of ourselves and the universe in which we live. Even survivorship itself (extending lifespan) and the cessation of human suffering are expected from the so-called scientific rationality, which in itself demonstrates the magnitude of this language’s relevance to the current stage of human evolution. In which truth to believe? The eternal truth, or the mutant, ethereal, scientifically discovered truth? Or both, to sow and reap all knowledge that Nature provides?

The Chasm Between Spirituality and Science When Science turned away from Spirit, its mission dramatically changed. Instead of trying to understand the ‘natural order’, so the human beings can live in harmony with that order, modern science embarked on a goal of control and domination of Nature. Meanwhile we are leading lives without a moral context. The modern world has shifted from spiritual aspirations to war for material accumulation. (Lipton 2015, p. 204)

If there was a moment in humankind when the mind was separated from the heart, rationality from spirituality, this moment came with the declaration “I think, therefore I am” (Descartes 1999). Descartes and his Discourse on Method, which gave rise to modern science, not only proposed to fragment the understanding of life but also proposed to classify its parts, based on an omniscient and omnipresent view of rationality, giving it its own life, dissociated from Nature and Spirit, which would gradually become expendable. According to Lipton (2015, p. 206), after Descartes, “spirit and other metaphysical concepts were devalued as ‘unscientific’ because their truths cannot be accessed by the analytical method of science.” In Descartes’s premise “I think, therefore I am” lies a pernicious corollary, “If I do not understand, it does not exist,” eliminating any possibility of a “spiritual order” understood by other means, by other languages, and by other senses. Although science initially sought to explain the natural order for human beings to live in harmony with this order, humankind – by understanding Nature through science – began to desire, experiment, dominate it, and manipulate it in the sense of using it for its own egocentric advantage (Harari 2015; Lipton 2015). “If the spirit/science split needed any more reinforcement, it got it in 1859, when Darwin’s Theory of Evolution made an instant splash. [. . .] While Darwinian theory specifies that the purpose of life’s struggles and survival, it does not specify a means that should be used in securing that end Apparently, ‘anything goes’ in the perceived struggle because the goal is simply survival – by any means” (Lipton 2015, p. 206). Darwin became, like Descartes, one of the pillars of human rationality; Darwin

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himself is a consequence of the Cartesian view of life, where everything can be understood and controlled by the human mind, the physical mind, the same mind that observes and analyzes, although comprising “trillions of similarly thinking amoeba-like cells” (Lipton 2015). “By following the logic of Darwinian evolution, they argued that natural selection must be allowed to weed out unfit individuals and leave on the fittest to survive and reproduce. [. . .] According to the selfish gene theory, natural selection makes people, like other organisms, choose what is good for the reproduction of their genes, even if it is bad for them as individuals” (Harari 2015, pp. 393–394). Thus, according to Darwin’s evolutionary theory, the most fitted-to-survival individuals have survived over the centuries, forming and perfecting the human species, theoretically with an ever-increasing strength to deal with their own social conflicts and in their struggle against the less able (unfitted). The DNA of the fittest would thus defeat the DNA of the unfit. An unending battle would be fought between individuals and between them and Nature, with the sole objective of ensuring survival, disregarding the fact that all DNA is formed by the DNA of parents and ancestors, and all ancestors – needless to say – can be traced back to immemorial and countless amoeba-like cells (Lipton 2015) or to Adam and Eve. “Is not that Darwin denied the existence of God. He simply implied that chance, not Divine Intervention, was responsible for the character of life on Earth” (Lipton 2015, p. xx). The consequence of this nefarious and disputed theory in the present day is that “Neo-Darwinism essentially concluded that those that have more deserve it” (Lipton 2015, p. 206), which is corroborated by Haidt (2012, p. 36), who defines “social Darwinism” – the idea that the richest and most successful nations, races, and individuals are the fittest.” Consequently, those that have not succeeded are just losers; the roots of the extreme social inequality can be easily explained by the social embeddedness of these perverse survival-of-the-fittest theories. Thus, after prescinding from Nature rights, humankind seems to be conforming just to human rights, even considering that the harsh reality prevails where the rights go to the fittest and the leftovers go to the losers. The advance of a widespread scientific rationality undermined the very science that seeks the truth of Nature. According to Einstein, Physics is pure science, the foundation of all the sciences, as it is willing to understand the Nature that exists in its most fundamental laws. Any other field of study, also called science, may be the result of the human rational mind, through a process “considered scientific.” “So many people today—and even professional scientists—seem to me like somebody who has seen thousands of trees but has never seen a forest. A knowledge of the historic and philosophical background gives that type of independence from prejudices of his generation from which most scientists are suffering. This independence created by philosophical insight is—in my opinion—the mark of distinction between a mere artisan or specialist and a real seeker after truth” (Howard 2005, p. 34). Rational science fragments and divides all aspects of life, in the assumption that human beings will be able to explain and reproduce the tiniest of these fragments and then reconstruct all Life (Einstein’s forest) through science and its scientists. According to Lipton (2015, p. 118), “Traditional biomedicine, whose science is

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based on a Newtonian matter-only universe, embraced the Descartes’ mind and body.” “I realized that quantum physics is relevant to biology and that biologists are committing a glaring scientific error by ignoring its laws. Physics, after all, is the foundation of all the sciences, yet we biologists almost universally relay on the outmoded, albeit tidier, Newtonian version of how world works. We stick to the physical world of Newton and ignore the invisible quantum world of Einstein, in which matter is actually made up of energy and there are no absolutes. At the atomic level, matter does not even exist with certainty. All my certitudes about biology and physics were shattered!” (Lipton 2015, p. 86) Another aspect that reinforces the separation between science and spirituality comes from the inherent assumption of scientific rationality that compares and classifies, always from the perspective and under the influence of the mind (and instruments) of those who observe and analyze (Gleiser 2014). But, in the end, what mind is this that scientifically divides, observes, and analyzes Nature? “Trying to explain the Nature of anything not human by relating it to human behavior is called anthropomorphism” (Lipton 2015, p. 5). Lipton (2015), in biology, considers that the simplest eukaryotic cells contain all the biological functions of the human body as a whole, usually compartmentalized and studied separately, such as the nervous system and reproductive system, among others. Human beings are merely multicellular organisms with trillions of amoeba-like cells. Similarly, mental abilities would stem from the formations of billions of cells, making feasible all individual’s attributes – usually shared and studied separately – such as intelligence, intuition, talent, and memory, among many others. This entire set of mental and physical functions undeniably appears to interact and commune with countless other functions of the surrounding Nature, composed by all sentient beings and not just by human beings. In the midst of this complex interrelationship, paradoxically, among so many functions internal and external to the mind, human beings choose some not only to analyze these endless functions but also to analyze and understand the functions of their own minds. This ambition centered in the self, in the self-sufficient mind, which tries to investigate everything, will end up understanding (or misunderstanding) through the bias of one’s own prejudgment, karma, and suffering, all the profound, eternal, and divine functions of Nature internal and external to the mind, including human ignorance itself – the primary cause of their own suffering – which they are willing to investigate and solve. This phenomenon, identified in biology, seems to be contained in a much more comprehensive and powerful ignorance, arising from the absence of spirituality, which would make it possible to deeply understand – on the eukaryotic, quantum, or the universe scale – that everyone is a distinct community of particles whose functions are dictated by and inseparable from Nature, communing around a single language, the language of spirituality. Another interesting example regarding science and spirituality borders comes from medicine. “Placebo is the belief effect. People get better when they believe – falsely – they are being treated with a medicine. Accurate or inaccurate, the perceptions equally impact the behaviors and the bodies, and the healing ability of the body/mind.” Nocebo is the disbelief effect. “When the mind is engaged in negative

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suggestions that can damage health, the negative effects of it are referred to the nocebo effect. [. . .] Troublesome nocebo cases suggest that physicians, parents, and teachers can remove hope by programing you to believe you are powerless” (Lipton 2015, p. 137). In both cases, the amount of rationality or spirituality ingrained in the mind and spirit of patients and doctors seems to make all the difference in the patient’s life. When the doctor predicts, for example, that a patient has 6 months to live, what are their real chances of being cured or of having a longer and healthier life if they do not follow the doctor’s instructions? And if they follow them faithfully, but without faith in spirituality, what difference would it make in their happiness? The ego, which inhabits the rational dimension of knowledge, simply does not know – or if it does know, repudiates – the language of spirituality. Just because when it looks at this language of spirituality it thinks: that if it is not me, it does not exist. “In his lecture at the 2004 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, Nobel-Prize winning University of Cambridge physicist Brian Josephson said that the scientific establishment suffers from ‘pathological disbelief’, a condition described, as ‘I wouldn’t believe it even if it were true’” (Lipton 2015, p. 114). Why don’t individuals believe in the “GODcebo” effect, and why don’t they surrender their remaining 6 months of life to Him? Wouldn’t it be the most effective contribution to whatever treatments they are willing to follow and to the necessary enlightenment to all their sufferings?

The Chasm Between Spirituality and Religion If you think about religion as a set of beliefs about supernatural agents, you’re bound to misunderstand it. You’ll see those beliefs as foolish delusions, perhaps even parasites that exploit our brains for their own benefit. (Haidt 2012, p. 317)

The language of rationality is not only disassociating spirituality from religion but is also fragmenting it into a plethora of dispersed concepts, upon which an equally rational approach and discourse is later imposed. Chopra and Mlodinow (2012, p. 4) “begin by saying that religion isn’t the same as spirituality.” Chopra (2014) argues that “Religion is belief in someone else’s experience. Spirituality is having your own experience,” meaning that the major difference between religion and spirituality is one of believing versus being. “Spirituality is all about knowing and loving yourself directly, believing that you do deserve forgiveness and better things in Life” (Baksa 2011). The Dalai Lama (2005, p. 121), in turn, notes that “In the western languages, one speaks of ‘consciousness’, ‘the mind’, ‘mental phenomena’ and ‘awareness.’” However, it is important to emphasize that spirituality and religion are only two words, which – conceptualized by the minds of individuals – project infinite meanings that will only reflect the magnitude of the incomprehension of Truth and the cause of human suffering, the Second Noble Truth of Buddhism (Hanh 2012). For example, the teachings of Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and Bahá’u’lláh, to cite several of the acknowledged prophets of mankind, have been collected in sacred books, and few doubt that conscious and fervent practitioners of

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these teachings cannot be called religious in good faith or that they lack spirituality because they believe in someone else’s truth. Although none of these prophets practiced “consciousness,” still they would not be devoid of spirituality, nor would they cease to be manifestations of the invisible Essence that governs the life of sentient beings. It is no coincidence that the essence of all these teachings contains the same truths, the same path, the same direction that would lead to understanding our true nature and the cessation of suffering, and the same suffering that disassociates us from one another. “Religion and spirituality should be united, and the end result should be good works to the glory of God” (Matthew 5:16 quoted from Bible 2001). It seems essential to understand the cause of this fraying of religion and spirituality. The Dalai Lama (2005, p. 127) continues, “Many scientists especially those in the discipline of neurobiology assume that consciousness is a special kind of physical process that arises through the structure and dynamics of the brain.” Moreover, “Buddha advises that people should test the truth of what He has said through reasoned examination and personal experiment. [...] Buddhism authority cannot understand without reasoning and experiment” (Dalai Lama 2005, p. 24). Ironically, this simple testimony from an acknowledged contemporary Buddhist master seems to have given the necessary permission for science and rationality – products of the human mind – to take possession of spirituality, for example, in today’s secularized mindfulness movement. However, the fact that human minds driven by their endless sins can distort teachings, and use them to the benefit of their individuality, to the detriment of all the other sentient beings, including the whole of Nature, does not strip such teachings and the religiosity of their earnest practitioners, of the merits and virtues necessary to practice the Eternal Truth contained in the Eightfold Path taught by the Buddha. This same human rationality, deprived of spirituality, and comprehensibly a consistent enemy of the “religious” sinners – who preached hatred in the name of God for centuries – and of their religions, may have contributed to the foundation of the Humanist movement, creating a third pathway, without spirituality and without religion, leaving humankind at the mercy of no-less-sinful human minds. Furthermore, ancient human spirituality has itself become, in the same way, Post-Humanism, a secular movement with more than 27 definitions and multiple branches, with little affinity between them (McCarroll et al. 2005). In this context, the emphasis on spirituality is being associated with subjective experience and profound values and meanings by which people live, incorporating personal growth or transformation, usually in a context separate from organized religious institutions (Griffin 1988; Saucier and Skrzypinska 2006; Sheldrake 2007). The Humanist Movement is particularly powerful in this same context as it aggressively advances on spirituality and human religiosity, in yet another “war of worldviews,” leaving humankind with the sole possibility of becoming beings with multiple rational and atheistic branches. In fact, the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution led by Descartes strongly contributed to the ideas of the Enlightenment movement in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; both movements gave rise to Humanism in 1808 (Cohen 1982). Given the relevance of this dichotomous “war,” stands out Pinker’s view

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(2018, p. 434), a defender of the Enlightenment: “the conviction that the universe is somehow personal, that everything happens for a reason, that meaning is to be found in the happenstances of life [. . .] A ‘spirituality’ that sees cosmic meaning in the whims of fortune is not wise but foolish. The first step toward wisdom is the realization that the laws of universe don’t care about you.” There is no question that the word religiosity has been riddled with dogmatisms and beliefs unfolded from sacred teachings by human minds unable to truly understand them. False practitioners of the truths taught by the prophets should therefore not be called religious, nor should the false truths they preach and practice be called a religion. However, these are fateful and ancient distortions, the work of evil forces, of sinful human minds, profoundly understood by the great prophets, which in no way justifies disregarding the enlightened teachings and dogmas they have handed down to all humankind. In the parable in Matthew, Jesus taught that it was necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff. Matthew (13:24–30, quoted Bible 2001) tells that the kingdom of heaven is like the man who sows good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. “I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18, quoted Bible 2001). Would human beings even have the option to discard the tares of suffering and ignorance and harvest only the wheat of wisdom and eternal life? Would religion be a more arduous, more divine-oriented, and more “irrational” path for understanding life, by shedding light on eternal human suffering and ignorance, and would spirituality be a more objective, more selforiented, and more rational path, with the same hopes of solving the same unhappiness? Would humankind find the compass of eternal happiness in human minds? Would there be a single compass pointing to the magnetic field of Oneness, which unites everyone, or would there be a plethora of compasses, each pointing to a self? Taking a shortcut on the path can lead one in the wrong direction, and the decision to move forward by the “hard way” must be wiser. Once taken, the wrong path may be even harder to turn away from. It seems that only God, Nature, our Inner Nature, knows these answers; meanwhile, let’s move on. “God writes straight with crooked lines (paths)” (Matthew 1:1–16, 18–23, quoted Bible 2001), anyway. Human beings undergo endless cycles of rebirth, trying to find a path to end suffering through their own mental abilities. These same forces are separating religion from spirituality, leading individuals to believe that religion comes from forces or energies outside their physical body and therefore lacks any rational evidence that can be proven in the near future by science, let alone some other language unknown to the ego. However, that does not mean the language of spirituality is less relevant and critical, when in fact is capable of uniting all Life, the souls that accompany all individuals, without any additional mental attribute (such as intelligence, sagacity, and talent, among many others associated with personality and human psychology) that would distinguish and separate one individual from another and from all sentient beings. In fact, the strength of Mindfulness comes from exercising virtues through the language of spirituality. The zazen practice taught by Master Dogen is not solely contained in the rigorous meditation posture so idolized in the West, nor is it solely

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contained in supposed mental control that is practiced during interminable hours of meditation (Cherman and Azeredo 2018). The notion that individuals can repeat postures and mental processes by merely breathing in and breathing out can be misleading and fruitless even to the most devoted practitioner. Equally or more important is the fervent belief and practice of faith, respect, love, compassion, and fellowship, revealed by the third jewel of Buddhism, the sangha (community of practitioners), a Jewel that is often relegated to a third plane of existence or even completely ignored. The development of consciousness through belief in and practice of the most sacred teachings is therefore not related to mental abilities, nor is it the work of isolated individuals, seen separately from one another. There is no sense in attributing mental brilliance to the development of consciousness, the consciousness that comes from understanding, experiencing, and practicing the eternal human virtues without having to resort to any stimulation or mental effort. There is no spirituality without religion, and there is no religion without the Nature of God; these three expressions are a single energy, as in “the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,” only separated by human rational minds. Moreover, human beings are also the result of these divine manifestations of Nature, where the laws governing the language of spirituality, religions, Nature, and God are mysteriously held. At the end of their book, Chopra and Mlodinow (2012, pp. 301–302) conclude: “But spirituality cannot be artificially segregated from the essence of religion,” recognizing that “The world’s great spiritual teachers were Einsteins of consciousness.” The Dalai Lama (2005, p. 122) also recognizes that scientific language can never comprehend the spiritual experience: “The problem of describing the subjective experience of consciousness is complex indeed. For we risk objectivizing what is essentially an internal set of experiences [. . .]. No scientific description of the neural mechanism of color discrimination can make one understand what it feels like to perceive, say, the color red.” And summarizes: “Despite the tremendous success in observing close correlations between parts of the brain and mental states, I do not think current neuroscience has any real explanation of consciousness itself” (Dalai Lama 2005, p. 130). Then, individuals are back to the two main dimensions presented in their lives, the spiritual and the rational ones, the former abiding the religion, together with all that is divine, spiritual, and out of their rational minds, only understandable by an all-together spirit and well represented by the yang/yin symbolism (Lao-Tzu 1996), two faces of the same coin, coexisting in the same reality, the same Nature.

The Two Dimensions: A No-Win Dispute There are two focal points of enormous power within the human being [. . .] but it is also the habitation where in god’s attributes are revealed. [. . .] God has created man in such wise that the two focal points in this being, namely the heart and the mind, should complement each other. (Bahah’u’lah quoted Taherzadeh, pp. 216–217) One must be decisive here: our world ruled completely by science would be Hell on Earth. (Chopra and Mlodinow 2012, p. 303)

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Are the energies that bring us life and the feeling of love, that cause us to love our children, the same energies studied by Physics? Or would it be the same word, with one conceptualization for Physics and another for Spirituality? When one feels love, when this love is returned, do bodies and their minds transmit and capture a quantum of life? Does this energy come from the world of Physics? If it is discovered, in the future, that energies from the world of Physics move when one loves, would Love be this energy? Could Love be created and reproduced in a laboratory? Would Love be more relevant, more fundamental, more real, just because it was acknowledged by an equation from Quantum Physics? If Love is inherent in human spirituality, why don’t individuals create and reproduce it in the laboratory of Life? Why don’t they simply try to love one another, as the sacred commandments preach, to love Nature that loves them at every moment, eternally? Why give credit only to what can be understood and controlled rationally and not to the spiritual energies that constitute Life and that naturally, without any mental effort, comprehend not only Love but all nine virtues? Even if one is fully ignorant of the equations of Physics and Science, it is possible to be wise and dwell in the spiritual world, fully worthy of all these virtues, being this truth – the intrinsic divine nature, the three jewels of all human beings – widely acknowledged by the prophets of humankind. Why do individuals need – or why will they need – science, rationality, to live the inherent virtues? Why do not they experience the virtues simply spiritually? When individuals lack spirituality (yin), precisely because of the asphyxiating super-dominance of rationality (yang), what is the sense in using more rationality to find the natural balance that has been lost, in an unbalanced cycle – perverse and vicious – where spirituality would be doomed to disappear along with human nature itself? The perverse chasm that has been created between these two dimensions – fraternal twins – has negative implications for human beings: the supremacy of the rational pyramid erected on the persistent devaluation of spirituality – a phenomenon that this paper has termed the Einstein syndrome – when the spiritual state of consciousness becomes dominated by the state of reason. Science has gained such supremacy that it has led to the creation of a perverse pyramid of human valuation, based on a scientific scale, in which human value would come from their ability to produce, assimilate, and apply scientific knowledge. Shouldn’t this pyramid be reversed? Shouldn’t the “Einsteins” of spirituality, such as the prophets Buddha, Jesus, Moses, and Muhammad, among others, be at the top of the human pyramid? Shouldn’t human beings be valued for their ability to understand and follow noble truths and human virtues? The insertion of science in the pyramid of human knowledge should ensure the well-being of individuals and ease human suffering, at least when it concerns pure science. Pure science should seek explanations for the phenomena of Nature and allow this understanding to give rise to technological solutions that could ease human suffering, leaving the understanding of and liberation from the causes of suffering to spirituality. “Scientific knowledge, as it stands today, is not complete. Recognizing this fact, and clearly recognizing the limits of scientific knowledge, I believe, is essential. [. . .] Otherwise our conception of the world, including our own existence, will be limited to the facts adduced by science, leading to a deeply reductionist, materialistic, even nihilistic worldview” (Dalai Lama 2005, p. 206).

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The crucial point is that the end of suffering or, in other words, the enlightenment that ends karma (cause-and-effect of suffering) is a nonempirical, non-laboratory, non-scientific phenomenon and therefore beyond the reach of science. The development of human consciousness can in no way be delegated to science, at the risk of science becoming the only form, only path, and only creed for dealing with human suffering, actually contributing to the extinction of the only dimension that brings together all the five spiritual faculties to understand it: spirituality. The solution to diseases of the body and soul, to imbalance in the ecosystem, and to inequality and social conflicts cannot come only from science, artificial intelligence, and the automation of life. It is no coincidence that massive investments in technology are being made precisely in diseases’ symptoms of the body and mind, disregarding the soul. This “scientific approach” has begun to entirely dominate the health industry – not only in the Western world – and the concepts of being healthy, being beautiful, feeling happy, living a meaning life, and even finding a purpose to prolong life for a few more years have being expropriated by applied science. As a result, the parameters dictated by numerous health and beauty (body and mind) standards have begun to be defined by science, incorporating complex and sophisticated tests of adherence to these standards, which will determine the treatment that will be developed, be it medical, surgical, or both. Furthermore, patients no longer have the mental capacity to correctly (and spiritually) interpret how medicine intends – with these interventions in the body and mind – to give them back their health and beauty, given the complexity of the technology and genetics being applied in these treatments. Having surrendered to these new gods of human health, patients are also subject to the damaging nocebo effect, which will inevitably contribute to their true health not being thoroughly restored if they dare to doubt the incomprehensible and unshakable dogmas of these gods of the postmodern era, who do not admit atheists and agnostics of their faith, one faith they impose without any light or compassion for fervent followers of the Truth. It is also no coincidence that the next 15th Dalai Lama will most likely not come from the Western world: first, because since the world began, all the prophets of humankind have come from the Eastern and second, the West greatly exacerbates the aggressive advance of a predominantly rational philosophy, where the Ego God, the God of Material, insists to predominate. In the not-too-distant future, does the West expect a new prophet to be born in a genetic laboratory? Or in a group of scientists practicing mindfulness, no master, no prophet, and no God involved? The chasm between science and spirituality resembles a battle in which, unfortunately, only the suffering of the soul will be able to restore the belief of individuals in their own Nature, in the Nature of God. The exact distance that human beings’ soul may be from the Truth seems to be this: “When science reaches perfection, treatments will be administered with fragrant fruits and plants as well as with other foods. [. . .] foods, fruits and plants that have an agreeable taste and a pleasant smell. The animal’s physician in the mountains and the wilderness is its powers of taste and smell” (Abdu’l-Bahá 2014). The phenomenon of the deification of science – and its technological products, unfolding in the intensification of materialism, individualism, consumerism, and

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nihilism – as a consequence of the most absolute devaluation of spirituality, of the Nature God, thus seems to depict the root cause of the muddled social and environmental situation in which humankind finds itself, where progress is a statistical illusion and the future a growing and fearful uncertainty. It is a profound phenomenon that has been taking the shape of a vortex, a dark hole that gradually absorbs all Life– not only human but that of all sentient beings – leaving behind only the dust of the exhausted and depleted resources of Nature, fully consistent with the perverse view that the progress of humankind has to enfold the robotization of human life, a incontestable pillar of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a revolution that may result in the growing devaluation of life, without any comprehension of root causes of human suffering. Rationally betting that science will win this battle against spirituality without recognizing it as its fraternal twin may mean not the end of suffering but the extinction of humankind itself (Lipton 2015; Pinker 2018).

Reconciling Two Fraternal Twins These realms (spirit and science) were split apart in the days of Descartes centuries ago. However, I truly believe that when spirit and science are reunited will we be afforded the means to create a better world. (Lipton 2015, p. 203) All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man’s life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom. (Einstein 2011, p. 9) All around us, people ache with emptiness and yearning; there is a vacuum to be filled, and it is a spiritual vacuum. [. . .] Let’s science join in the cure, because otherwise, we may wind up with marvels of technology serving empty hearts and abandoned souls. (Chopra and Mlodinow 2012, p. 304)

It is important to recognize that to integrate science and spirituality, it is necessary to revisit this rational contextualization of spirituality, the way it is perceived, considered, and addressed, abandoning the scientific ego, as recommended by the Dalai Lama (2005, p. 38). “The assumption is sometimes made that, as society progresses, science will continually reveal the falsehood of our beliefs – particularly religious beliefs – so that an enlightened secular society can eventually emerge. [...] Such view are effectively philosophical assumptions that reflect their holder’s metaphysical prejudice. Just as we must avoid dogmatism in science, we must ensure that spirituality is free from the same limitations.” The Dalai Lama (2005) denominates theory of two truths: the existence of a rational dimension and a spiritual dimension. “At its root, the philosophical problem confronting physics in the wake of quantum mechanics is whether the very notion of reality – defined in terms of essentially real constituents of matter – is tenable. What the Buddhist philosophy of emptiness can offer is a coherent model of understanding reality that is non-essentialist” (Dalai Lama 2005, p. 69).

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It is a phenomenon of rationality, physics, trying to encompass all the infinite and dynamic relations occurring in the universe at every moment, by analyzing controlled environments, and subatomic miniatures of the universe and, based on this analysis, extrapolating conclusions – random or deterministic – about the behavior of all the particles in the universe (Gleiser 2014; Harari 2015; Lipton 2015). If these scientists and their rational experiments are erroneous or even just distorted from the truth, all humankind may be led to relinquish their inherent ability to live human spirituality: the ability to comprehend consciously the interrelationship between the different aspects of the universe – that cannot be understood by specifically analyzing laboratory experiments – of explaining and comprehending all the energies that constantly interact between the body, mind, spirit, and mother Nature. There is an enormous risk of not only condemning humankind to no longer being able to spiritually comprehend the full depth of Life and its relations with Nature but, even worse, turning individuals into lifeless sub-particles, slaves of insufficient and limited rationality. However, there is no need to relinquish the rationality and knowledge that comes from science (Lipton 2015), and indeed, science can expand immeasurably and take on an absolutely infinite comprehensiveness, if it is considered within the spiritual abilities that can actually connect these tiny laboratory sub-worlds, these analyses, with all the movement of the energy of Life. Reconnecting the rational and the spiritual worlds will result in a new integrating and powerful integrative force not limited to the world of one of its parts (Cherman and Azeredo 2018), a seamless integration between the body (and mind) and spirit (and Nature) and between rationality and spirituality. Interestingly, the latest advances in quantum physics have cast doubt on the mathematical precision and determinism with which science observed Nature – where rigorous cause-and-effect mathematical models depict what was being observed – since discoveries attribute the movement and mutation of infinite particles and particularities of the atomic universe to random behavior (Dalai Lama 2005; Gleiser 2014; Lipton 2015), which might be perceived as chaotic by those who do not have a spiritual comprehension or as divine balance by those who possess one. With the evolution of science, the Earth ceased to be flat, and ceased to be the center of the universe, and Newton’s theories began to be observed according to the theories of quantum mechanics, at the molecular level and at the macro level of the large particles in the universe of astrophysics. However, it is important to emphasize that this unprecedented scientific evolution is attracting and shaping a myriad of other movements being considered equally scientific, and one could question, based on Einstein, how much of true science is ingrained in this “evolution.” Biology, considered as a science that seeks to understand all forms and mutations of life, develops from pure science. However, even more specific is epigenetics, which studies the heritable phenotype changes that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence, i.e., the biological phenomena influenced by the environment. Lipton (2015) argues that it has already become a scientific truth that the relationship of human beings with each other, and their relationship with the environment (all the

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surrounding Nature), underpins genetic evolution, clarifying the perception that from the moment of conception, individuals certainly carry genetic patterns and models from their parents but that these same patterns are also mutable and influenced by external factors that are presented throughout life. Lipton (2015, p. 138) instructs: “Teachers like Buddha and Jesus have been telling us the same story for millennia. Now science is pointing in the same direction. It is not our genes but our beliefs that control our lives. . . Oh ye of little belief!” For better or worse, these external factors – from the environment, from Nature – may intensify preexisting subconscious patterns (called karma in Buddhism) but can also elucidate these same patterns, gradually burning the karmas and giving a glimpse of a concerted evolutionary movement between these genes and with everything around them, more enlightened, harmonious, loving, and compassionate movement. Then, let us be careful about our environment, our inner Nature. It is all about spirituality, Oh ye of little belief! The Western recognition of the relevance of the mindfulness movement can be considered part of the effort to integrate these two truths (science and spirituality), being emphasized by the Dalai Lama (2005, p. 160) that “training in some of these techniques of mental discipline will have to become an integral part of training of the cognitive scientist if science is serious about gaining access to the full range of methods necessary for a comprehensive study of consciousness.” Cherman and Azeredo (2018, p. 224) address the ten borderlines of Mindfulness, in particular the third borderline: “Mindfulness is not just a method that can be individualized, understood, embodied, and implemented by individuals, centered on themselves, their ego, and their own mental abilities.” Still, the fact that it is a method is really one of the very important characteristics of Mindfulness; and so, the “full range of methods” is just only one of the borderlines, from where comes our integrated and enlightened consciousness. For these authors, Integrative Knowledge, the framework that unites the rational dimension and the spiritual dimension (Cherman and Azeredo in press), is a balanced composition of the full range of all borderlines, whereas consciousness is the divine state of Mindfulness. Thus, if one wants to comprehend and live consciousness, one should give his/her own self to Mindfulness, the ultimate state of spirituality, prophesized by all God manifestations. In this sense, the word knowledge takes on an infinite broad meaning, seeking to preserve all knowledge, all philosophies, all traditions, and all sacred texts so hard-won by humankind throughout its ephemeral existence. Similarly, the word knowledge also contains all the achievements of human minds in the attempt to understand rational laws, which can explain natural phenomena, and bring reliefs for the equally ephemeral existence of human suffering. Science should not attempt to exist in isolation from spirituality, its twin, its fraternal manifestation, for the simple fact that science, when it explains Nature, is not Nature; without science, Nature will still be there; without human beings, Nature will still be there. However, without spirituality, there will be no human beings left, there will be no sentient beings left, and all will be lost: the Life and the energy that unite all sentient beings, in this deep feeling of being alive, full of virtues, particles immersed in a single body (and mind), in an eternal life full of meaning. Therefore, without spirituality, there is no

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consciousness, without consciousness there is no Mindfulness, without Mindfulness there is no Life to experience, without Life there is no Nature, and without Nature there is not even a reason to exist because all sentient beings are Nature and are inseparable from it. The dimensions of rationality and spirituality carry within them the seed of their fraternal twin nature, just as the yin-yang of Tao has yin in yang and yang in yin (Lao-Tzu 1996). This is because the language of rationality points to spirituality and vice versa; they are absolutely legitimate and true forms of human expression, containing both strong and positive energies that point to the opposite side, in an effort to keep them integrated and inseparable, as Nature created them. It follows, from the discussions and views in this paper, that these dimensions can be incorporated in a natural and well-balanced manner into an Integrative Knowledge Model; in fact a new assessment that may grant necessary connectedness to these dimensions, enabling them to be studied, assimilated, and integrated in an evolutionary way, creates a sturdier foundation for human development (Cherman and Azeredo in press) (Fig. 1). The Integrative Knowledge Model is aligned with the relevance that both spirituality/religion and rationality/science have for human knowledge as a whole. The model also recognizes that the science-driven individuals, at every moment, should be aware of the influence of their discoveries and practical applications for spiritual grounding, just as the spirituality-driven, at every moment, should be equally aware of the alleviation science can bring to human suffering. In both dimensions, the “Einsteins,” gifts from Nature, are few and poorly understood, and there are almost no examples of human beings who can proclaim themselves masters in these two dimensions, in a clear sign that they will never be self-sufficient and that they must coexist respectfully. Gleiser (2014, p. xxii) reflects on the two dimensions, “As the island of Knowledge grows, so do the shores of our ignorance –the boundary between the known and the unknown. Learning more about the world doesn’t lead to a point closer to a final destination but to more questions and mysteries.”

Fig. 1 The Integrative Knowledge Model (Cherman and Azeredo in press) and the yin-yang Life view (Lao-Tzu 1996)

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It thus seems quite evident that these two dimensions have very complex, profound languages that cannot be fully understood by those who do not have the intelligence and talent (rationality) and grace and merits (spirituality) to dedicate a lifetime to deepening their respective knowledge. It also seems evident that the immense majority of the followers of these masters of humankind have become easy prey for false or erroneous interpretations, misleading overlaps, meaningless antagonisms, and absolutely questionable knowledge. If this is just a fate of humankind, if this is just a reflection of human ignorance, the main obstacle to enlightenment, we have returned to the First Noble Truth – suffering is an innate characteristic of existence with each rebirth – and Buddha would be undeniably very correct in his millenary teachings.

Conclusion Surviving of the most loving is the only ethic that will ensure not only a healthy personal life, but also a healthy planet. (Lipton 2015, p. 220) In such a world society, science and religion, the two most potent forces in human life, will be reconciled, will cooperate, and will harmoniously develop. (Bahá’u’lláh, quoted Effendi 1993, pp. 203–204)

There is a risk, however unmeasurable, that humankind has strayed far from a correct path that goes toward the well-being of its citizens, in all societies, recognizing and respecting all expressions of Nature. In the present day, what seems to predominate is a cruel and insane competition for products, goods, and services, manufactured using an ever-increasing range of resources that are graciously provided by Nature, without a minimum counterpart of gratitude. Even more serious, the waste from these resources is poured back into Nature in such a degraded and vile way that it further deteriorates the existing natural resources, contributing to their rapid scarcity and draining away with it the precious Earth’s biodiversity. From these standpoints – in a process that would hardly be considered evolutionary, better represented not by the Darwinian slogan survival of the fittest but by survival of the greediest – is being formed a Dantesque view of humankind, where very few are able to consume irresponsible everything their minds might covet and where an overwhelming majority consumes resignedly only what is necessary to survive or simply does not have access to these minimal resources, enduring the most absolute misery. How can humankind be on the correct path if all the great prophets never preached that greed and consumerism, attachment to worldly goods, enabled and reinforced by applied science, would come to enlighten and lead to the cessation of human suffering? How can we be on a correct path if human beings turn their backs on Nature, on God, persistently disrespecting the ecumenical first two commandments: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37–40, quoted Bible 2001). And remember, all the rest is commentary.

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It is undeniable that the language of rationality has had a very significant boost since the philosophical roots planted by Descartes. It is also absolutely true that with the power of human rationality, it is being possible to discover incredible secrets hidden in all potential knowledge available to humankind, a knowledge that we have come to call generically science – and its followers scientists, rather than philosophers – and that there is no reason for this distinctive knowledge not to be studied, interpreted methodologically, and then applied to improve the well-being of the individual and society. But, in the same way, it is undeniable that not all pure and applied science should be set in the same category of “science,” precisely because of all the evil and destructive effects that it may have on the physical and mental health of individuals and the immaculate balance of Nature. It is also absolutely true that this language of rationality has been developing at the expense of the slow obsolescence of the language of spirituality, with the great cost (and risk) of this misdirection, this human encroachment on life, falling heavily upon humankind destiny. The spirit and the human soul, the spirit and the soul of all sentient beings, the common breath of Life attributed to them by Nature, are part of a spiritual dimension that has a language all its own, infinitely profound, with infinite specificities, inserted in a different kind of knowledge, one that cannot be explained, experienced, and provided by rationality. The central point seems to be that Nature itself is a very complex compound, extremely and subtly balanced between spirituality and science. Gleiser (2010, p. 20) declares, “Creation, in all its splendor and misery, in all the beauty and ugliness of its myriad forms, is how God manifests His presence in time. Creation is God in time.” However, as human beings disassociate themselves from spirituality, they deprive themselves of a precious and vital dimension of Nature where everything is part of a spirit of Oneness, a harmony that cannot be captured and understood by only one of these two dimensions. Persisting on this astray path, crossed by a monocular vision, one may experience a disordered growth where “science god” preaches the extermination of the Nature God, of human spirituality, with the same sympathy for the devil of those who exterminated their adversaries in the name of God, of all time. The true Nature watches astonished and bewildered the loss and the perdition of its prodigal son, as in the parable of the Good Samaritan or as in the metaphor of Adam and Eve, in which “Adam is the spirit of Adam and Eve His (God) self; the tree is the material world and serpent is attachment to it. This attachment, which is sin, has been transmitted to the descendants of Adam, [. . .] for it has deprived men of recognizing their essential spirituality and attaining to exalted stations. Through the breaths of holiness, Christ rescued soul from this attachment and delivered them from the sin” (Abdu’l-Baha 2014, pp. 140–141). This article has respectfully coined the term Einstein syndrome to conceptualize the nefarious phenomenon of the super-dominance of rationality over spirituality, forming a vicious and perverse vortex of spiritual energies, the effect of which is far greater than the mere stagnation of knowledge but so powerful as to be able to lead humankind dangerously in the wrong direction, far removed from the Middle Path (Hanh 2012) and, therefore, very far from the Right Understanding and from the enlightened human virtues. This vortex of rationality overpowers undeniably logical and brilliant minds, embodying in them the mentality of “Einsteins of two dimensions” – and all

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they do in the name of the purest, most exact and innocent science – super-dominating them, transfiguring them, and making them believe that they can lead humankind as if they were prophets and gods, cursing and defaming their opponents, without even being chosen by Nature as the true “Einsteins” of human spirituality. Even if they were chosen, they are far away from devoting themselves to studying and developing spirituality with the same incomparable talent and herculean effort that they have devoted to studying and developing their rationality. Indeed, in Nature we have witnessed a battle between David and Goliath, between Good and Evil, which has plagued human existence, biblically, since time immemorial. “Gould (2002) argued that individuals and cultures should cultivate both a life of the spirit and a life of rational inquiry in order to experience the fullness of being human” (Lipton 2015, p. 220). The erroneous creed in a dual dimension world creates implacable opposites: on the one hand the spirit and on the other hand the body and its mind and on the one hand the ego of each individual and on the other hand the inner self that shelters everyone. Steeped in divisiveness, in duality, in a multitude of individualistic and materialistic views that divide and separate everything and everyone in infinite puzzle pieces, humankind thus loses its way. “Every human being in this day potentially contains within himself all the powers and attributes that are to be found in the physical creation. The counterpart of the heavens, the mountain, the valley, the tree, the fruit, the river and the sea may be found to exist in every soul. They appear as divine virtues in the believers, and as satanic vices in the deniers” (Bahah’u’llah quoted Taherzadeh 1977, p. 254). There are no easy shortcuts on the arduous Path to cessation the suffering of sentient beings (Hanh 2012): a unique, true, and eternal foundational source of wellbeing. It is no coincidence that one of the eightfold paths is the Right Effort. There are no simplistic divisions for understanding the indivisibility of Nature, the indivisibility of these twins, conceived to be fraternal: the human spirit and the human mind. The persistent and true effort to achieve this state of well-being, this happiness, this harmony with all Nature, this state of enlightenment, is contained on the path of true Mindfulness in all its ten borderlines, a path that unites everything, where all forces converge, a path on which duality is dissolved in the feeling and presence of Oneness, Nature, and God. Therefore, inescapably, as rationality expands, the power of spirituality will counterbalance, and karmas will fade, a principle of yin-yang taught by the Tao (Lao-Tzu 1996). Humankind’s destination thus seems to inexorably be the Middle Path, where good and evil, light and darkness, will travel side by side, forever and ever inseparable. The dark side of the moon seems to be another very creative illusion of the mind.

Cross-References ▶ Sustainable Happiness, Well-Being, and Mindfulness in the Workplace ▶ Wellbeing and Spirituality: Insights from the World’s Wisdom Traditions

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Lipton BH (2015) The biology of belief: unleashing the power of consciousness, matter & miracles. 10th anniversary edition. Hay House, California McCarroll P, O’Connor TSJ, Meakes E (2005) Assessing plurality in spirituality definitions. In: Meier et al (eds) Spirituality and health: multidisciplinary explorations. Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, pp 44–59 McKee MC, Driscoll C, Kelloway EK, Kelley E (2011) Exploring linkages among transformational leadership, workplace spirituality and well-being in health care workers. J Manag Spiritual Relig 8(3):233–255 Milliman J, Czaplewski AJ, Ferguson J (2003) Workplace spirituality and employee work attitudes: an exploratory empirical assessment. J Organ Chang Manag 16(4):426–447 Mitroff II, Denton EA (1999) A study of spirituality in the workplace. Sloan Manag Rev 40 (4):83–84 Neal J (1997) Spirituality in management education: a guide to resources. J Manag Educ 21 (1):121–139 Paloutzian RF, Emmons RA, Keortge SG (2003) Spiritual well-being, spiritual intelligence, and healthy workplace policy. In: Giacalone R, Jurkiewicz CL (eds) Handbook of workplace spirituality and organizational performance, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, pp 123–136 Pawar B (2016) Workplace spirituality and employee well-being: an empirical examination. Empl Relat 38(6):975–994 Pinker S (2018) Enlightenment now: the case for reason, science, humanism and progress. Viking Penguin Random House, New York Saucier G, Skrzypinska K (2006) Spiritual but not religious? Evidence for two independent dispositions. J Pers 74(5):1257–1292 Sheep ML (2006) Nurturing the whole person: The ethics of workplace spirituality in a society of organizations. J Bus Ethics 66(4):357–375 Sheldrake P (2007) A brief history of spirituality. Wiley-Blackwell, Malden Taherzadeh A (1977) The revelations of Bahá’u’lláh, vol 2. George Ronald Publisher, Oxford Tejeda M (2015) Exploring the supportive effects of spiritual well-being on job satisfaction given adverse work conditions. J Bus Ethics 131(1):173–181 The Holy Bible (2001) The English standard version. Crossway Bibles Vasconcelos AF (2018) Workplace spirituality: empirical evidence revisited. Manag Res Rev 41(7):789–821

Meaningful Work and Human Flourishing: Communication Lessons from the Judeo-Christian Tradition

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Contents Introduction: Depression and Gift – The Catholic Worker Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . People of the Book: Hebrew Scriptures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Genesis 1–3: Paradigm of Human Labor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Genesis 4 and 11: Human Cooperation and Futility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mosaic Law: Work as a Means of Self-Provision and Dignity for the Poor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wisdom and Anti-wisdom: Work, Dignity, Generosity, and Futility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New Testament and Early Christian Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hebrew Bible’s Teachings on Work Presumed and Reinforced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Transformation: Reversal of Babel and Futility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Early Rabbinic Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patristic Contributions: Augustine of Hippo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Early Life and Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monk, Priest, and Bishop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Protestantism and “Vocation” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Luther on Vocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Neo-Calvinism and Sphere Sovereignty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Modern Papal Teaching: Work and Relationality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion: Communication Lessons from the Judeo-Christian Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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J. P. Radwan (*) Institute for Communication and Religion, College of Communication and the Arts, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ, USA e-mail: [email protected] B. D. Giffone Center for Faith and Human Flourishing, LCC International University, Klaip_eda, Lithuania Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_18

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Abstract

Judeo-Christian origin narratives connect work with communication to begin all creation and to begin humanity. God speaks the universe into existence and breathes His image to life, giving dominion to name and replenish and fill the earth. In this world-view, communication drives relationships; it is divine creative power at work advancing both personal and sociocultural history. From this ancient idea a broad wisdom tradition has grown for millennia that continues to offer a profound resource for understanding workplace well-being. This chapter details select Hebrew, Christian, Rabbinic, Augustinian, Protestant, and modern Catholic texts to show how work is relational and that dignifying work can generate meaning and peace. Workers join a divine dynamic of giving and receiving, flourishing as we commune with God and neighbor. Lessons drawn from key authors across the tradition outline the Judeo-Christian work ethic and describe communicative work that is both instrumentally effective and morally good. A conclusion on the ontology of “gift” rounds out the chronology and summarizes spiritual implications for workplace well-being. Keywords

Management spirituality · Organizational communication · Workplace wellbeing · Judeo-Christian scriptures · Augustine

Introduction: Depression and Gift – The Catholic Worker Movement Workplace well-being is complex because it operates simultaneously across all dimensions of our being: social, physical, emotional, career, intellectual, environmental, and spiritual (Center for Disease Control n.d.). One of the best ways to approach the psychosocial complexity and profound human depth within meaningful work is to start at the bottom. How do people respond when work itself appears impossible? In the 1930s workplace, well-being hit a modern low point worldwide. The 1929 stock market crashes in London and New York precipitated a global depression and widespread misery that dragged on for over a decade. Entire economic sectors stalled, international trade was cut by half, and unemployment in the United States climbed as high as 25%. Socially and psychologically, an initial wave of suicides was followed by mobs caught up in a series of banking panics that drove the entire finance industry to the point of collapse. Systems that had roared with prosperity now sat in ruin, and uncertainty and fear were the order of the day. In rural areas the dust bowl wave of drought and wind storms decimated agricultural communities, and in urban areas shantytowns and Hoovervilles quickly grew and spread as the jobless homeless shared their suffering. Here, at the bottom of a global trough of despair, Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day founded the Catholic Worker, a newspaper and a movement. (See www. catholicworker.org for a complete history of the movement.)

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Maurin and Day’s core idea was that Judeo-Christian teaching on work has modern relevance and enormous potential to transform destitution and misery (Day 1963). Euro-American cultures had religious roots, but by the 1930s the industrial revolution and globalized capitalism had pushed spirituality so far from the workplace that this idea was radical, preposterous, and, despite desperate times, enormously successful. In 1932 Maurin sought out freelance labor journalist Dorothy Day, and out of voluntary poverty they launched a newspaper for clarification of thought, houses of hospitality to shelter and feed the downtrodden, and communitarian farms that still continue to provide both work and food for thousands. As a “troubadour of God” Peter Maurin traveled and spoke widely, organized retreats and roundtable discussions, and regularly published dozens of “Easy Essays.” His writing style was simple and poetic, distilling theological principles into clear and balanced verse. Eschewing ornaments and figures, he made rhythmic form and spiritual message primary. These qualities worked very well in public performance, and Maurin often encouraged a call-and-response chant with his audience. One of his central themes was that modern commodification of labor prevented human flourishing. If our time and energy and work exist only to be bought and sold, then we greatly devalue human freedom and creativity. This point was especially apparent in the Great depression, when millions of able workers were quickly rendered economically worthless and left with no apparent opportunity to produce or earn. Maurin’s perspective on modern workers in despair was ancient and biblical: the economic system of any particular era is irrelevant because all work is divinized when understood and practiced as service and gift, loving God and neighbor through immediate relational effort. In one of his most famous Easy Essays, “Three Ways to Make a Living,” he explains how: 1. Mirabeau says: “There are only three ways to make a living: Stealing, begging, working.” 2. Stealing is against the law of God and against the law of men. 3. Begging is against the law of men, but not against the law of God. 4. Working is neither against the law of God nor against the law of men. 5. But they say that there is no work to do. 6. There is plenty of work to do, but no wages. 7. But people do not need to work for wages. 8. They can offer their services as a gift. (Maurin n.d.)

The Catholic Worker movement shows how spiritual wellness is not a distinct category of experience. Instead it is part of an integral dynamic that provides

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meaning, purpose, and motivation and integrates all dimensions of work into a full life (World Health Organization 2007). Maurin and Day’s communitarian spirituality of work is a twentieth-century iteration of a very old and very powerful religious ideal. The book of Genesis opens with God working on a gift, speaking the universe and order into being, and then creating humanity in His image to do the same. This ancient concept, that speech is creative power at work and history advances via communication, offers a profound resource for understanding workplace well-being. In this chapter select Hebrew, Christian, early Rabbinic, Augustinian, and Protestant texts are detailed to show how all work is relational and that dignifying work generates meaning and peace. Workers join a divine dynamic of giving and receiving, flourishing as we commune with one another and with God. Lessons drawn from key authors across the tradition outline the Judeo-Christian work ethic and describe communicative work that is both instrumentally effective and morally good. A conclusion on the ontology of “gift” rounds out the chronology and summarizes spiritual implications for workplace well-being.

People of the Book: Hebrew Scriptures Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. (Exodus 20:9–10a) (Translations from the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament are the authors’ own, unless otherwise indicated) What does a person gain by all the toil with which he toils under the sun? (Ecclesiastes 1:3)

Active participation in developing shared organizational narratives is a vital source of workplace well-being (Gustomo et al. 2019). With religions, this same story-telling principle operates on a global scale across millennia; social cohesion and community are created and sustained via shared narratives and rituals. Stories, told and re-told for generations, constitute the community and set archetypal patterns for life. From a communication perspective, peoples are made via discourse, and this is especially true for scriptural traditions. An ancient oral tradition gradually became fixed in writing and canonized as the revealed word of God, and revering this one text for millennia, Jews and then Christians became “peoples of the book.” The foundational text of Judeo-Christian traditions is the Hebrew Bible, called the Tanakh by Jews and the Old Testament by Christians. The Hebrew Bible is not one text, but a collection of works that were composed, performed, compiled, and edited over centuries by many authors, tradents, and scribes. Its constituent “books” span a wide range of genres, including etiological narrative/myth, historiographical narrative, didactic fiction, poetry, song, proverb, sermon, legal code/record, census, duty roster, and apocalypse. The Hebrew Bible is archetypal and diverse, offering a holistic perspective of the purpose of human labor and what makes work meaningful. This section surveys the most significant texts from the foundational narratives, the Mosaic laws, and the wisdom tradition. The Hebrew Bible grounds the meaning of human work and

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communication in our identity as the earthly images or representations of Yahweh, the one creator God. The Hebrew Bible also contains a significant critique of human work – its aims and its effectiveness – in a less-than-ideal world.

Genesis 1–3: Paradigm of Human Labor The first book of the Hebrew Bible, commonly referred to in English by its Greek name, “Genesis” (Heb. Bereshith, “In the Beginning”) is also the first in a five-part sub-collection traditionally associated with the most significant prophet of Judaism: Moses. This sub-collection is called variously the “Pentateuch” (Gr. “Five Scrolls”) by scholars, “The Law” by Christians, and “Torah” (Heb. “Instruction”) by Jews. While the greater portion of the book of Genesis is devoted to the journeys of the patriarch Abraham and his descendants to the fourth generation, the first 11 chapters of Genesis are comprised of stylized etiological narratives variously described as primeval history, prehistory, or myth. These narratives reveal the ancient Israelite understandings of the nature of their lone deity; the origins of the world, plants, animals, heavenly bodies, and human beings; the Genesis of sin, death, suffering, futility, and violence; a great flood; and the introduction of other significant human experiences such as marriage, clothing, farming, eating of meat, music, iron-working, etc. While these texts bear many similarities in worldview and content to other myths of the ancient Levant, the significant divergences from those myths reveal the unique character of Israelite religion, philosophy, and human self-understanding. The early chapters of Genesis are foundational, offering several paradigmatic texts for understanding human labor. Two different stories of the creation of the world and human beings are found in Genesis 1:1–2:3 and 2:4–25. These stories, while diverging in certain details, provide complementary messages about the purpose of human existence. Human beings, male and female together, are the pinnacle of the created order, bearing a unique responsibility to serve as representative image of the deity to the rest of the creation (Gen 1:26–28; 2:15, 18–22). This includes the so-called cultural mandate: the human responsibility from the deity, Yahweh, to cultivate, work, re-create, make beautiful, and care for the creation – and also to reproduce/procreate. God’s creative act of bringing order out of chaos is accomplished via speech, a special gift of his nature that he shares with humans. After creation, God continues to share himself with human beings through speech: verbal commands (1:28–30; 2:16–17) and simple enjoyment of fellowship (3:8). Unlike the gods worshipped by other nations, the Creator God needed only speech – not war, sex with another god, or hard labor. Yet “he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done” (2:2), thereby giving humans a gift: celebratory rest. Humans are commanded to continue God’s creative activity, even in a created world that is said to be “very good” (implying that it could be even better). Work in community is therefore a natural part of human existence. Human labor, both the cultivation of the world and procreation, is only said to become onerous, difficult, and potentially isolating as a punishment for human sin and rebellion (3:17–19).

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Genesis 4 and 11: Human Cooperation and Futility In Genesis 4 the primeval stories make brief reference to the division of human labor into specialized professions, including farmers (Gen 4:2), pastoralists/shepherds (4:2, 20), iron-workers (4:22), musicians (4:21), vintners (9:20), and hunters (10:9). These professions are presented within the narrative of human sin, futility, hatred, and violence spinning out of control, culminating in the Great Flood that represents the near de-creation of humanity, animals, and plants (Gen 6–9). Yet the division of human labor and the introduction of technologies that ease the burden of human existence are not themselves a source of concern. The power of human ingenuity and cooperation is highlighted in the postdiluvian “Tower of Babel/Babylon” story (Gen 11:1–9). This narrative is considered to be primarily an etiology of the diversity of human languages and people groups and secondarily a polemic against the perennial ancient antagonists of the Jewish people: the Babylonians. But the narrative also makes a powerful statement about the potential of human labor and cooperation. Humans communicate and collaborate to build a tower, with the stated goal of establishing themselves as a unified polity (“lest we be scattered over the face of the earth”; 11:4b). The divine council – Yahweh and the lesser divine beings – recognize the power of human cooperation and take the radical step of confusing the workers’ languages. This divine pushback, which appears somewhat capricious to a modern reader, underscores (1) that human beings made in the deity’s image (Gen 1:26–27) are powerful when working together toward a common end (“nothing that they plan to do will be impossible for them!” 11:6b) and (2) that such power must be directed toward meaningful ends that are in accordance with the divine will.

Mosaic Law: Work as a Means of Self-Provision and Dignity for the Poor The “Law of Moses” (named for the authoritative figure at the head of the tradition) is actually several distinct legislative sections of the Pentateuch, embedded within the narrative of Israel’s origin that spans the departure from enslavement in Egypt (Exod 1–14) to the final preparations to enter the land of Canaan (Deuteronomy 31–34). These laws represent the aspiration and intention that Yahweh’s people would constitute a just society (Deut 4:5–8). Justice in the Law of Moses includes access to work capable of providing for oneself and one’s family and also a means of subsistence for those who are incapable of work or unconnected to farmable land. The narrative structure of the Pentateuch anticipates Israel’s transition from a band of pastoral nomads to an agricultural society. Many laws are thus predicated on the ownership of land – or connection to a male landowner – as the primary means of subsistence. In this conceptual framework, several legal texts in particular have served as the basis for Judeo-Christian conceptions of work and human flourishing. Anyone who is physically capable of work for subsistence is obliged to work, rather than receiving a direct handout. On the other side of coin, anyone who is

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capable of work has a right to access subsistence work. This may be either through connection to a landowning male (Exod 21:5–6; Deut 15:16–17) or through the “secondary yield” of the land. Workers must be paid the same day as their work – employers must not withhold wages (Leviticus 19:13; Deut 24:15). Landowners are forbidden from reaping up to the edges of their fields and must not send their workers through a second time to pick up the harvest dropped by the reapers – the edges and the gleanings are reserved for the unsupported widow, the orphan, and the foreigner, i.e., those without legal connection to the land (Lev 19:9–10; 23:22; Deut 24:19–21). Moreover, a portion of the tithes paid to the religious leadership of Israel, the Levites, is designated as support for widows/orphans/foreigners (Deut 14:29; 16:11–14; 26:12). Economic arrangements that could endanger the right to access subsistence work or permanently enslave have sunset provisions or are forbidden altogether. No lender may accept basic tools of vocation as surety for a loan, as this could endanger the right of the borrower to support himself (Deut 24:6). Israelite debt slaves are freed after 7 years of service (Exod 21:2) or in a society-wide seventh year (Deut 15:9, 12–15). (In another version of this tradition, debts are also forgiven in the seventh year: Deut 15:1.) Every 50th year – the so-called “Jubilee” year – land reverts to the families of ancestral owners (Lev 25:8–55); this ensures that no individual or clan can monopolize the means of production (cf. Isaiah 5:8–10). Finally, complete rest from work is a required part of the weekly, annual, and generational cycle of work – for all members of the society: free persons and slaves, male and female, citizen and foreigner, and even animals (Exod 20:9–10) and the land itself (Lev 25:1–7). Enshrined in the Decalogue (“Ten Commandments”), weekly Sabbath rest is grounded in the example of Yahweh who rested on the seventh day after creating the world (Exod 20:11) and also in the recollection of Israel’s bitter existence as a permanent slave underclass in Egypt (Deut 5:15). Work is forbidden during certain annual festivals (Lev 23:3, 7, 21, etc.). Every 7 years, the land receives a rest from intentional cultivation (Exod 23:10–11; Lev 25:1–7). Every 50th year, the Jubilee is also a year of rest for the land (Lev 25:11–12). These detailed regulations and customs are for the stated purpose of structuring a harmonious, flourishing society, in which individuals and family units experience productive work and restful enjoyment in the land given to them by Yahweh, their deity (Exod 20:12; Deut 6:2; 30:18).

Wisdom and Anti-wisdom: Work, Dignity, Generosity, and Futility The biblical wisdom tradition is associated with the ancient figure of Solomon, the son of Israel’s revered King David. According to the book of Kings, Solomon possessed great wisdom and presided over a period of unparalleled peace, prosperity, building, and expansion in Israel in the tenth century BCE. Solomon is remembered as the builder of the great Jerusalem temple (1 Kings 5–8), who accomplished other great building projects using conscripted labor (5:13–18; 9:15). Solomon is also described as a prolific lover of many wives and concubines, including women who

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worshipped deities other than Yahweh (11:1–13) – thus leaving a mixed legacy in the assessment of the biblical authors. Contemporary scholars date the final forms of the books associated with Solomon – either portions or in their entirety – to the periods of Persian or even Greek hegemony (sixth century BCE onward) on linguistic grounds, meaning that the national trauma of the Babylonian exile (loss of land, king, and independence) informs these writings. Nevertheless, the narratives of Solomon’s early successes and later failures have formed the interpretive context of the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes (or Qoheleth), and the Song of Songs (or Canticles) for Jewish and Christian readers. Proverbs are a collection of longer teachings and short sayings, presented as wisdom for a crown prince given by his father (ostensibly, Solomon) and his mother (1:8; 23:22) but also applicable more broadly as wisdom for people living in all stations. The basic principle is that obedience to Yahweh and attentiveness to wisdom will result in prosperity and long life for the practitioner (3:1–2). Regarding the value and meaning work, the Proverbs extoll the virtue of industry (e.g., 24:33–34; 26:15; 31:13); trade and cooperation (e.g., 31:14, 16, 24) as a means to survival and prosperity; and generosity as a moral imperative for the one who prospers (14:21, 31; 31:15, 20): A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you suddenly, and scarcity like an armed man. (24:33–34) The sluggard buries his hand in the dish, but is too weary to bring it to his mouth. (26:15)

Yet wealth is not to be gained at the expense of family relationships, friendships, and one’s moral integrity: Better is a dish of vegetables in the presence of love, than a fattened ox served with hatred. (15:17) Better is a poor man who walks in integrity, than he who has twisted lips and is a fool. (19:1)

While the book of Proverbs is appropriately called “wisdom,” Ecclesiastes (Heb. Qoheleth) might be more aptly termed “anti-wisdom.” The speaker of a series of musings or discourses, who calls himself Qoheleth (Heb. “Teacher”/“one who speaks to an assembly”), is intent on showing the inadequacy of traditional wisdom teaching to lead to satisfying life in all cases. Qoheleth describes a great many aspects of human existence “under the sun” (i.e., without consideration of a differentiated afterlife of reward or punishment) and calls them hebel, literally, “breath”/ “vapor,” variously translated as “vanity,” “futility,” “meaningless,” “ephemeral,” or “absurd” (Fox 1999). While the wisdom of Proverbs promises that right/wise living will lead to reward, Qoheleth critiques wisdom by questioning that line of causation. Many of Qoheleth’s critiques of how “wisdom” works in real life relate to the value and results of human work. Someone who labors to amass a fortune must leave it to someone else who might squander it (Eccl 2:18–21). Excessive focus on one’s work can lead to lack of sleep or enjoyment of life (2:22–24). Though we long to be

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remembered after our earthly days, nothing humans endeavor to build lasts forever (3:9). If God is sovereign and has determined from the beginning what will come to pass, then there is no use working hard to better one’s lot in life (3:14–15). Labor is difficult, so much so that the stillborn child is better off than the living (4:1–2). Human effort is wasted in “keeping up with the Joneses,” the pursuit of relative rather than absolute gain (4:4). There is little point in laboring alone or laboring without friends or family with whom to share the rewards; and workaholism isolates the individual (4:7–8). Human greed is insatiable, with wealth comes only the desire for more, and worries about how to maintain the wealth one has (5:10–12). A person who works to provide a legacy for her children never stops to enjoy life with her children (6:3–4), or she is unable to leave that legacy to her children – a stranger takes it all (6:1–2). Wisdom that serves and saves the community often goes unrewarded and unremembered (9:13–18). In the end, all that we work for returns to the dust from which it came (12:7). So I hated life, for all the work which had been done under the sun was awful to me—for all is futile (hebel), trying to shepherd the wind. (2:17)

Within Qoheleth’s anxieties about the futility and ephemerality of human existence and effort, there are places of agreement with Proverbs – though such teachings are presented from a place of pessimism and uncertainty. At the moment of death, good reputation matters more than wealth (Eccl 7:1–4). Industry and generosity are commended, even though “return on investment” is uncertain (11:1–4). The observational pessimism of Qoheleth balances the idealism of the wisdom tradition and the Mosaic Law. If the “core testimonies” to the nature of Yahweh, human existence, the world, and work are represented in Genesis 1–2, the Mosaic Law, and the book of Proverbs, then the “counter-testimony” of Genesis 4 and 11 and the book of Ecclesiastes cross-examines that testimony by highlighting the shortcomings of human effort in a less-than-ideal world (Brueggemann 2005).

New Testament and Early Christian Teaching For we know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor together up to the present— and not only so, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the [Holy] Spirit, we also groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:22–23) I [Jesus] do not only ask on behalf of these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, in order that the world may believe that You sent me. (John 17:20–21)

The New Testament is roughly one-third the length of the Hebrew Bible and is comprised of 27 individual books: 4 narrative accounts of the life of Jesus (Gospels), a narrative of the travels and activities of Jesus’s earliest followers (Acts of the

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Apostles), 21 letters from the earliest leaders in the movement sent to individuals and local congregations in the first century CE, and a work of the Jewish apocalyptic genre. The books exhibit a range of concerns, including (1) the identity, teachings, miraculous deeds, death, and resurrection of Jesus; (2) the development of early Christian doctrine and its application in the local congregations around the Roman empire; (3) the continuity of the Jesus-following community with ancient Israel as the true covenant people of Yahweh; (4) the relationship between Jewish and non-Jewish followers of Jesus; and (5) the community surviving, spreading, and flourishing in the face of opposition from Jewish leaders and the Roman imperial government. Within these concerns, the meaning and conduct of human work plays several roles. Much of the New Testament’s teachings on meaningful work echo the basic conclusions of the Hebrew Bible. Work features prominently in many of the parables of Jesus. Jesus himself and many of his closest disciples (later called “apostles” by the church) were working-class tradespeople (carpenter, fisherman, tent-maker) – though some early supporters of Jesus and the Jesus movement were wealthy elites (Luke 8:3; Philippians 4:22). The innovation of the New Testament is to place the futility of human labor and the fragility of human cooperation within a metanarrative of cosmic redemption. This has the effect of rendering human efforts (individual and cooperative) within earthly existence meaningful in the future age of resurrection. Subsequent Christian teaching on meaningful work – points of agreement and also debate – consists of working out the relationship between human effort in present earthly life and in the age to come.

Hebrew Bible’s Teachings on Work Presumed and Reinforced As noted, Jesus and many of his disciples were working-class tradesmen; Jesus is described in the Gospels as speaking quite often to a wide audience including many poor, working-class people (but also religious and political leaders and government employees such as soldiers and tax collectors). The economic context of firstcentury-CE Palestine – which included subsistence farming but also more complex arrangements such as serfdom, merchant trade, specialized trade, and professions – forms the backdrop of Jesus’s and the apostles’ teaching. A quick glance over lists of Jesus’s parables recorded in the Gospels reveals that more than half involve work, and several more are concerned with money, trade, or a store of value. Some of the best-known parables, such as The Parable(s) of the Talents/Minas (Matthew 25:14–30; Luke 19:12–27) and The Parable of the Tenants (Mark 12:1–11) presume the Hebrew Bible’s teaching about the virtue of diligence. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches against materialism (Matt 6:19–21) and in favor of generosity (6:2–4). The letters associated with Paul the Apostle likewise stress the value of work in order to provide for oneself and for the poor (Ephesians 4:28). If someone is able to work and chooses not to, that person “should not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10–12). Those who are truly disabled or destitute should be provided for by the community,

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conceived of as an extended family, without resentment or displays of favoritism (Acts 4:32–35; 6:1–7; 1 Timothy 5). Paul is described as having worked as a tentmaker in certain cities during his missionary journeys (Acts 18:2–3), even though he claims the right as an apostle to receive his salary from the tithes of the congregations (1 Corinthians 9:1–18). Regarding a balance of work and rest, the Gospels present Jesus on several occasions as recovering the deeper meaning of the Sabbath, which had allegedly been obscured by the strict overenforcement of religious leaders. Jesus performs several miraculous healings on the Sabbath (Matt 12:9–14//Mark 3:1–6; Luke 13:10–17; 14:2–6; John 5:9–11), stressing the life-giving and life-restoring purpose of rest: “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do evil; to save a life, or to kill?” (Mark 3:4).

Transformation: Reversal of Babel and Futility The New Testament also includes stories and teachings that build upon and transform the Hebrew Bible’s teachings about human identity, the relationship between humans and God, communication, and the purpose of human efforts. The Gospel According to John begins: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and apart from him nothing would exist which has come into being. (John 1:1–3)

This remarkable passage teaches that within the one Creator God of Israel, there exists (past, present, and future) a plurality of essence: “the Word” existed with God but was also God. Combining this passage with other New Testament teachings, the early Christian movement discerned that the one God exists eternally in three coequal persons: the Father, the Son (here called “the Word”), and the Holy Spirit. This divine plurality (“Trinity,” a unity of three) is highly significant for Christian understandings of communication and human identity. The three Persons of the Triune God are constantly and perfectly in communion, satisfaction, and enjoyment with one another; none of them is self-centered, but each one relishes the glory of the other two. God is satisfied within Himself and does not need other beings – He could be described as “introverted,” turned toward himself. Yet each Person wishes for free moral beings to acknowledge and enjoy the other Persons of the Trinity – and so God created humanity. Humans would find their true purpose in reflecting the image of God and enjoying communion with Him. The communal and extraverted nature of God manifests itself in the New Testament’s presentation of the missio Dei, the mission of God. Because the first human beings chose to reflect their own glory rather than enjoying the glory of God through devoted obedience, all their descendants were trapped in a cycle of sin and self-orientation. So the second Person of the Trinity – the Son – miraculously took on human nature, in order to redeem sinful humanity: “And the Word became flesh, and

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dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory – glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus of Nazareth is Yahweh incarnate (mysteriously fully human and fully divine); he lived a morally perfect life; died a cruel, undeserved, vicarious death; but he was vindicated and glorified upon his resurrection from the dead (Rom 1:3–4). God’s other-oriented project of redemption participates in human suffering and validates human labor. On a certain level, Jesus’s undeserved death appears to vindicate Qoheleth’s criticism of divine justice: a hardworking, honest, righteous person is killed unjustly – while the wicked live on. Yet Jesus’s vindication through resurrection transforms the rewards for his labor and righteousness by fully realizing them through the community of faith in this age (described as his spiritual “brothers and sisters,” Rom 8:29; Hebrews 2:10; 2 Corinthians 6:18; Galatians 3:26; 4:5–6) and renewed heavens and earth in the age to come (glory, Phil 2:9–11; Heb 12:2; eternal benevolent kingdom, Revelation 11:15). The implications for the rest of humanity are significant. Human labors find their truest significance and reach their fullest potential when connected to the advancement of Jesus’s kingdom. After Jesus’s resurrection and ascension into the heavens, Acts 2 describes the establishment of the church (i.e., the community of Jesusfollowers) through the giving of the Holy Spirit to 120 disciples at the Jewish festival of Shavuot, Pentecost. The disciples are miraculously enabled to speak languages unknown to them, the everyday languages of the Diaspora Jewish pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem for the feast. The Apostle Peter speaks to these pilgrims, and thousands are said to have believed in Jesus as the Messiah. The Pentecost event represents in limited measure the reversal of the “Tower of Babel/Babylon” story (Genesis 11:1–9; see above). The diversity of human languages, which was intentionally formed as a barrier to human cooperation against God, is miraculously overcome so that the disciples can “testify of the mighty works of God” (Acts 2:11b) – in particular, the good news concerning the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah (2:14–36). The Pentecost event signals the beginning of this collaborative project that gradually incorporates people of all languages and ethnic backgrounds (Acts 10:45–11:1; Gal 3:28; Rev 5:9; 7:9). Human work is therefore reoriented toward advancing the glory of God, as revealed in the person of Jesus. Yet the opportunity for productive work is construed as a gracious gift of God, and the eternal rewards far exceed the labor investment. This is demonstrated in Jesus’s Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matt 20:1–16). In this parable, God is represented by a vineyard owner hiring daylaborers. The workers show up at the vineyard at various times throughout the day requesting work; yet at the end of the day, the owner inexplicably pays all workers the standard daily wage, i.e., the same for those who worked 5–6 pm as for those who worked 6 am–6 pm (to the chagrin of the latter!). The parable stresses striving for the right purpose – the Kingdom of God – rather than the length or sheer amount of striving relative to others. The correct cause (the lasting Kingdom of God) is more important than the absolute value of the labor given. Jesus’s resurrection has implications for the natural world and human labors within it. In accordance with the curse of Genesis 3:17–19, Qoheleth observed that

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work “under the sun” does not always yield the result – even work in accordance with the Law and wisdom. The Apostle Paul acknowledges this “corruption,” “anxiety,” and “futility” in the created world and places the blame on human sin (Rom 8:18–23). The promise of resurrection is not only redemption for human souls and bodies but also for the rest of the creation: land, plants, and animals – which will themselves be able to enjoy a healthy cycle of productive work and rest (Rev 22:1–5). The Hebrew Bible speaks little of an afterlife; Qoheleth’s critique of wisdom is focused on life “under the sun,” that is, the present human existence. By adding the dimension of resurrection/recreation, the New Testament thereby further dignifies and rewards human labor in the present earthly existence in service to Jesus’s eternal kingdom, given that believers can be assured of connection between present labor and lasting reward. Conceptions of work, vocation, collaborative human capacity, reward, and justice have diverged in Christian history, as we will see below. These variations are based on varying understandings of (1) human beings’ present service to Jesus’s eternal kingdom; (2) the relationship of present labor and future reward; and (3) the nature of the eternal kingdom.

Early Rabbinic Tradition When R. Judah went to the bet midrash he would carry a pitcher on his shoulder, declaring, ‘Great is labor for it honors the person who does it.’ (Nedarim 49b)

Even though the use of the term rabbi (“great one”) continues from ancient Jewish communities even to the present day, the body of tradition referred to by scholars as “Rabbinic Judaism” is preserved in two collections that were labeled Talmud (Heb. “study”/“learning”) dating to formative period in Judaism. An earlier collection of Oral Torah, called Mishnah, was the result of a century-and-a-half of study and collection by the tannaim and was redacted into its received form by R. Judah the Prince around 200 CE. Both the Babylonian Talmud (also Bavli) and the Jerusalem/Palestinian Talmud (also Yerushalmi) contain within them the Mishnah, and additional material called Gemara. Both collections evolved in the period between 200 and 500 CE (Schiffman 1991). These, along with other rabbinic writings and commentaries on the Tanakh, constitute “Rabbinic tradition.” Like the New Testament, Rabbinic Judaism is substantially based on the Hebrew Bible but is shaped by subsequent formative events and ideas. Rabbinic Judaism’s formative circumstances include the evolution of Diaspora Judaism in the Second Temple period (c. 500 BCE–70 CE); the parting of the ways with Christianity; and several unsuccessful revolts against the Romans in 66–73, 115–117, and 132–135 CE (Schiffman 1991). The destruction of the First Temple (587 BCE) and the Babylonian exile required Jewish communities to seek portable understandings of divine presence with them (other than a central shrine in Jerusalem) and also portable means of communion with God (other than animal sacrifice): worship, prayer, and the reading of sacred

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scripture. The notions of private prayer (Daniel 6:10) and the omnipresence of God wherever his people go (Ezekiel 11:16) were nascent in the Hebrew Bible, developed in the Second Temple period, but reached full flowering in the Rabbinic period after the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE). How was it that God could be present with his people, even though his temple was destroyed and the Holy of Holies desecrated? Verbal communion with God – prayer, Torah study (including the Oral Torah), and Sabbath gathering for worship – thus took on new significance over against physical displays of God’s presence that Jews read about in the Tanakh (glory cloud, fire, ark of the covenant, tabernacle, temple, etc.). The covenant relationship between God and his people is of paramount importance in Jewish tradition. Within this understanding, work, Torah study, and rest each have the potential to bring the faithful into closer relationship with God through a balance of the transcendent and the immanent. Work is dignifying and an act of obedience to God; it brings allows a human to be a co-laborer with God in the world; it keeps one from idleness and temptation; and it provides for independence and free time to study Torah. Scholars (who read, study, debate, and teach Torah all day) are no more dignified than those who work in other professions: “Those engaged in work are not required to stand before a scholar while they are engaged in their tasks” (Kiddushin 33a; see Rabinowitz 2007). Moreover, Jewish tradition reinforces the notion of Sabbath rest as an inalienable human right. This is not only for the sake of physical rest but also for the enjoyment of life and community: Many of the provisions in the Mishnah and the Gemara were designed not only to prevent engaging in a gainful occupation on the Sabbath, but to limit physical activity of a noneconomic character, like travelling or carrying. Other provisions of rabbinic law had the goal of socializing the day and expanding the opportunities for enjoying the leisure that it brought in its wake. (Gordis 1982)

Despite all the sufferings of the Jewish people in Diaspora life, the Sabbath “transformed each poverty-stricken inhabitant of the ghetto into Israel, the prince of God” (Gordis 1982).

Patristic Contributions: Augustine of Hippo My mind was free at last from the gnawing need to seek advancement and riches, to welter in filth and scratch my itching lust. Childlike, I chattered away to you, my glory, my wealth, my salvation, and my Lord and God. (Augustine 1998; Conf. IX-1)

Beginning around 100 CE, the Patristic period follows the Apostolic age in Judeo-Christian history. As Christianity spread the movement encountered a range of alternate traditions, and as it reached from the fringe toward the center of the Roman Empire it required leaders, recognized today as the Fathers of the Church, who could relate Jesus’ teaching to international worldviews. In contrast with the long Hebrew tradition protecting and dignifying manual work, Rome had associated

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work with subjugation and slavery from the beginning. As a dominant culture of conquerors, the Roman economy depended on slaves to perform almost all types of jobs, from manual labor through domestic service to specialized functions like accounting, education, and medicine. Opposed to servile drudgery, many Roman elites aspired to otium cum dignitate, a gracious, civilized, free, and cultivated idleness providing ample time for philosophical study, discussion, writing, art, and religion. Leaders brought education to bear on civic life via the vita activa, a patriotic political, legal, or military career dedicated to ensuring Rome’s health and power. Politically Rome had learned from the Greeks and enjoyed hundreds of successful years as a democratic republic, so public discourse and debate were held in the highest regard. Even after transitioning to an Empire in 70 BCE, rhetoric and public address remained essential skills for Roman elites working to govern and administer a vast network of imperial provinces covering Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Hippo Regius in present-day Algeria was a Roman provincial port city, and its most famous son Augustine (354–430 CE) developed a synthesis between GrecoRoman philosophy and Christianity that sustained the religion for over a thousand years and still remains highly influential today. A Christian convert who never visited the Holy Land, and a Roman citizen who spent only a few years in Italy, Augustine of Hippo is considered one of the greatest Church fathers. He was a master rhetorician and one of the most well-read men of his time, the synthesizer of antiquity, and among his many important books, the Confessions stands out as the first autobiography in Western literature, providing unparalleled insight into Christianity’s encounter with Rome. A public prayer written in his mature 40s looking back on a long life of sin only recently turned from Manichean heresy and toward God, Bishop Augustine’s highly personal reflections on his professional career illustrate the interdependence of work, fulfillment, communication, meaning, and religion as Rome was falling and Christianity was entering the Middle Ages. There are two phases of his working life, academic and ecclesial. As an academic Augustine was a successful but dissatisfied professor, and with the ecclesial phase, he left Manicheanism for contemplative monasticism but ultimately found fulfillment when he dedicated himself to serving God and his community as priest and then Bishop of Hippo Regius. Studying his critique of work in each phase yields important lessons on purpose, truth, meaning, and human flourishing.

Early Life and Work As a child Augustine received the best education available in Roman North Africa. He excelled at literature, writing, and competitive speech and went on to make his living teaching rhetoric. A liberal arts education was the path to gaining an influential voice within the Roman Empire, so eloquent professors like Augustine were in high demand. Late imperial culture was intensely litigious, and winning lawsuits required strategic argumentation, not ethics, but even at his lowest Augustine did have some basic moral standards.

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During these years I was teaching the art of rhetoric, selling talkative skills apt to sway others because greed swayed me. Yet I preferred to have good pupils, or such as passed for good . . . and without any trickery on my part I taught them the tricks of the trade, never such as would secure the condemnation of the innocent, though sometimes such as were calculated to get the guilty acquitted. (Conf. IV-2)

Here Augustine is a shady law teacher, mostly. His students learn discursive tricks to get criminals acquitted, but not innocents convicted. The object is victory, not law or truth or justice, but he draws the line at persecution. Looking back after conversion, he sees how the hypocrisy built into sin demonstrates virtue’s validity. “And you saw from afar, O God, how I was losing my foothold on slippery ground, but how amid the smoke a spark of integrity still guttered in me; for though I taught students who loved worthless things and sought falsehood, in which pursuits I bore them company, I did try to teach them honestly” (Conf. IV-1). A corrupt yet honest teacher of lies knows that his teaching is evil and does it anyway, and Augustine did it well. Any criminal’s standards prove that humans innately understand divine moral law, without any need for ethical instruction, “for does any thief tolerate being robbed by another thief, even if he is rich and the other is driven by want?” (Conf. II-4). After conversion insights like this help Augustine explain how sin becomes its own punishment. The sinner deliberately chooses wrong, and while that wrong appears to provide a temporary advantage, as it is repeated, it develops into a self-destructive behavior pattern. “The truth is that disordered lust springs from a perverted will; when lust is pandered to a habit is formed; when habit is not checked, it hardens into compulsion” (Conf. VIII-5). God does not have to reach out and punish wrongdoers, because the moral universe is already set up to guarantee that the righteous flourish while sinners damn themselves. At 29 years old, Augustine decided to move to the center of it all, Rome. There were two major factors driving this decision, professional and spiritual. Professionally, Augustine was fed up with trying to teach unruly students. At Carthage a gang of “Wreckers” enjoyed dominance in his elite school that sanctioned a tradition of hazing. “With boorishness that defies belief they commit many acts of violence which would attract legal penalties if custom did not seem to plead in their defense . . .” (Conf. V-8). Everyone promised that Rome had disciplined students, plus better pay and greater prestige. Spiritually, young Augustine practiced Manicheanism for 9 years, a faith he later renounced as heresy. For years he tried reconciling Mani’s myths with experience, philosophy, and logic, and he always came up with more questions than answers. His Manichean friends in Carthage could not answer the questions either, but they promised their Bishop Faustus would return before long and satisfy everyone’s concerns. When years later Faustus finally did return, he impressed but did not satisfy Augustine. He was handsome, pleasant, enthusiastic, eloquent, and glib, but he was not knowledgeable. He was wise enough not to engage questions he knew he could not answer, but ultimately he asserted religious authority without any spiritual substance. He simply bade followers believe, and many did ardently believe because his bidding was articulate, affable, smooth, and polished. A professional persuader,

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Augustine saw right through Faustus’ preaching because rhetoric and truth are distinct dimensions of discourse. Faustus’ visit drove home the lesson that “nothing should be regarded as true because it is eloquently stated, nor false because the words sound clumsy. On the other hand, it is not true for being expressed in uncouth language either, nor false because expressed in splendid words” (Conf. V-6). Frustrated both professionally and spiritually, Augustine sailed for Rome. Though he was no longer a true believer, Augustine half-heartedly continued to associate with Manicheans in Rome because he had no hope that other religions had anything better to offer. He fell ill immediately upon arrival, and they gave him a place to stay and recover and assisted with employment. It turned out that students in Rome were indeed much more disciplined than in Carthage, and they were also greedier. Instead of hazing one another, they would diligently take the entire course of study and then conspire together to disappear en masse when the teacher’s bill came due. Professionally stymied again, when the city of Milan requested that Rome send a Master of Rhetoric Augustine won the position and departed. Milan was extremely transformative for Augustine – the people and ideas he encountered there enabled him to integrate his life and turn toward God. The famous Bishop Ambrose met him with kindness and concern, and while Augustine still despised religious content, he attended sermons to assess Ambrose’s reputation for eloquence. Where Bishop Faustus preached Manichean whimsy, Ambrose had both an engaging style and real content, a genuine message of salvation delivered out of love for his listeners. Over time Augustine began to appreciate this message despite himself. “As I opened my heart to appreciate how skillfully he spoke, the recognition that he was speaking truth crept in at the same time, though only by slow degrees” (Conf. V-14). Central among Ambrose’s ideas were spiritual (as opposed to material) reality and figurative (as opposed to literal) interpretations of the Bible, and he preached wisdom with sincerity and consistency. Intellectual honesty and genuine spiritual help from a religion were exactly what Augustine thought was impossible and also exactly what he needed, so he left Manicheanism and became a catechumen to learn more about Catholicism. As he began to read the Bible with a more open mind, he saw that passages he had formerly judged as literal absurdities expressed in a low style were more likely to be profound mysteries. “In plain words and very humble modes of speech it offered itself to everyone, yet stretched the understanding of those who were not shallow-minded” (Conf. VI-8). As Augustine gained more certainty in the faith he had previously judged, his friends and contacts in Milan assisted him. For all of his wide reading and secular education, he had never heard of a monastery. Learned men had discovered a new and better way of life! Eschewing cities with all of their empty plays and circuses, vicious gladiatorial games, lying cults, avaricious markets, lethal politics, and contentious courts, they founded rural communities devoted wholly to study and God. One day an important courtier named Ponticianus visited and shared the story of his friends’ conversion in the Emperor’s garden at Trier. They had been reflecting

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on their stressful jobs serving the emperor and contrasting it with St. Anthony and his humble monks who retired from society to devote their lives to God. The questions that drove them to quit their high-profile positions were the same questions plaguing Augustine, and they drove him toward a crisis that sparked conversion. Tell me: where do we hope all of our efforts are going to get us? What are we looking for? In whose cause are we striving? Does life at court promise us anything better than promotion to being Friends of the Emperor? And once we are, will that not be a precarious position, fraught with perils? Will it not mean negotiating a hazard, only to end in greater danger still? And how long would it take us to get there. Whereas I can become a friend of God here and now if I want to. (Conf. VIII-15)

A public life seeking fame and influence is never secure, it is a cut-throat race of ingratiation and power plays, and this was especially true in the declining Roman Empire. The story of the court officials who turned their back on politics to sell all they had and become monks hit Augustine hard. He was acutely conscious of his own divided will. He could see the path he wanted to be on, but he could not get himself to give up his lusty compulsions, especially his sexual desires and proud career as a professional talker. Soon after Ponticianus left, he ran into the garden, tearing his hair and weeping. A vision of Lady Continence, chaste yet fertile through God’s love, reminded him that divine grace is always present, and when he still wept at his inability to do what he knew was right, God sent him a sign. He heard a neighbor child singing a strange song, “Pick it up and read,” over and over again so he picked up the letters of St. Paul and put his finger on a random passage, a passage that directly addressed his personal challenges – “Not in dissipation and drunkenness, nor in debauchery and lewdness, nor in arguing and jealousy; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh or the gratification of your desires” (Conf. VIII-29). This was the final aid Augustine needed, and to his great relief, he joyfully converted on the spot. Augustine’s conversion did not mark the immediate end of his teaching career. He knew that God would not want him to continue teaching, “so that young boys who were devoting thoughts not to your law, not to your peace, but to lying follies and legal battles, should no longer buy from my mouth the weapons for their frenzy” (Conf. IX-2). However, as Milan’s Master of Rhetoric he was in the public eye and quitting abruptly, only 20 days before the holiday break, would have upset many parents and caused a scene so he decided to wait. But what true convert would wait to quit an evil job? Augustine’s account of this questionable choice is remarkable for its brevity. Formerly a professional arguer with more words and angles and justifications than anyone, he was now a man of God, and rather than defend himself with proud presumption he chose humble confession. It may be that someone among your servants, my brethren in the faith, will judge that I sinned in the matter by allowing myself to remain even for an hour in a professional chair of lying once my heart was fully intent on your service. I will not argue. But have you not pardoned this sin, most merciful Lord, along with all the rest of my hideous, dismal sins, in the water of baptism, and forgiven me? (Conf. IX-3)

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Monk, Priest, and Bishop In 388 Augustine’s company returned to his hometown of Thagaste and founded a secluded monastic community focused on prayer and studying the Bible. When he visited Hippo in 391, the orthodox Christian community there was in the minority, oppressed, and challenged by a range of heretical sects including Augustine’s old friends the Manicheans. At Mass Bishop Valerius explained their desperate need for help, the community implored Augustine, and he was immediately ordained a priest. He continued to work as a preacher and apologist through throughout the entire second half of his life, explaining how logical errors and Biblical misinterpretations yielded dangerous heresies. His rhetorical skills were thus urgently needed, not for his own pride and advancement but for God and the health of the congregation. In Hippo Augustine had finally found his true priestly calling as a public communicator and caring leader, and he threw himself into the work. In addition to refuting Mani, Augustine is responsible for the Church’s rejection of Donatist division and Pelagian individualism. All three were major religious movements with many dedicated followers, and defeating them with argumentation and councils, as opposed to military might, points toward Augustine’s faith in God’s truth and light. Augustinian spirituality focuses on Jesus as the Word made flesh. God is the Word, divine truth and pure reason, and he shared Himself with humanity in the person of His Son for our salvation. At best merely human claims can never rise above level of right opinions, but human reason devoted to God begins to share in His divine power. Eternal truths are not made, they are discovered and revealed in the light of faith and sharing them leavens our persuasive efforts and brings everyone closer to God. Augustine’s dedication as a priest led to his appointment as Bishop in 396, and he served Hippo and the Church in this role until his death in 430. It was hard work. In addition to the stress of facing many heretics, and in addition to daily liturgical duties celebrating Mass and the sacraments, plus a regular stream of pastoral tasks counselling and comforting a large flock, the Roman Empire was finally crumbling. In 410 the Goths sacked Rome, and over the next several decades thousands of refugees fled south, sharing stories of widespread torture, rape, and bloodshed that had been unimaginable in mighty Rome for centuries. Aiding this rising tide of shattered humanity was an extreme challenge, especially for a scholar like Augustine. His conversion began seeking the peace of monastic seclusion, a Christianized Roman otium cum dignitate, leisure with dignity, yet Augustine recognized that scholarly retreat was not what God was asking of him. His new career was difficult, even more challenging than rising to be a famous law professor, but it was immensely more fulfilling because instead of futile attempts to elevate himself via lies and lust he served the community with truth and love. In 429 the Vandals finished destroying Southern Europe and advanced through Spain to Africa. They wasted the countryside and laid siege to Hippo; a few months later Augustine fell ill and died with the Psalms on his lips. When Hippo was taken much of the city burned, but not Augustine’s extensive library. Hundreds of his theological works survived. Most notably On Christian Doctrine provided expert

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instructions on Biblical interpretation and preaching, and City of God explained the relationship between the Church and society and shared a vision of God’s kingdom to come. If Augustine had succeeded in his youthful goal of fame as a lawyer or rhetorician, history might have remembered him with a paragraph in a Roman history textbook. In turning from himself and devoting his life to God, he grew into a renowned Father of the Church providing centuries of spiritual guidance and inspiration for both the faithful and Western culture as a whole.

Protestantism and “Vocation” All our work in the field, in the garden, in the city, in the home, in struggle, in government— to what does it all amount before God except child’s play, by means of which God is pleased to give his gifts in the field, at home, and everywhere? These are the masks of our Lord God, behind which he wants to be hidden and to do all things. . ..God bestows all that is good on us, but you must stretch out your hands and lay hold of the horns of the bull, i.e., you must work and lend yourself as a means and a mask to God. (Luther 1532, quoted in Wingren 1957)

One of the many innovations of the Protestant Reformers was to promote new understanding of “vocation” distinct from that of the medieval Roman Catholic Church. This doctrine of vocation, originally articulated by Martin Luther, an Augustinian, and then adopted in the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition and other streams of the Reformation, continues to play a significant role in Protestant theological understandings of work, meaningful labor, the fine arts, government, economics, and the church. (While the terms “Reformers” and “Reformation” refer to Protestantism in the broadest sense, including Luther and Lutheranism, “Reformed” refers specifically to the Calvinist stream within Protestantism.)

Luther on Vocation “Vocation,” from the Latin vocatio (“calling”), was reserved in medieval Roman Catholicism for religious orders: a priest, a monk, or a nun would be said to have a “vocation” or calling from God. By contrast, Martin Luther (1483–1546) sought to recover a broader biblical notion of “calling” that applied to all Christians regardless of station. A key text for Luther was 1 Corinthians 7:17: “. . .Let each of you lead the life that the Lord has assigned, to which God called you.” In this context, God’s “calling” relates to the believers’ widely varying situations and backgrounds: ethnicity (Jew or non-Jew), social position (slave or free), and family status. For Luther, each individual Christian is called to exercise his or her gifts in the various spheres of life, and thereby to do the work of God: For Luther, vocation, like justification, is a function of God’s grace. In vocation, God providentially works through human beings to care for his creation and to distribute his gifts. . ..According to Luther, vocation is a ‘mask of God.’ God is milking the cows through

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the vocation of the milkmaid. God is hidden in vocation. We see the milkmaid or farmer or doctor or pastor or artist. However, looming behind this human mask, God is genuinely present and active in what they do for us. (Veith 2011)

This teaching emphasizes the dignity of all professions; God is equally pleased to see his grace extended to the world through honest, purposive, cooperative human labor – irrespective of the economic value of such labor as reckoned by human measures. A business owner whose work provides economic benefit to many other individuals may be faithful in his or her vocation – but so also are the faithful painter, stay-at-home parent, minister, garbage collector, and civil servant. In addition to extending the notion of “vocation” to all – not just religious orders –Luther taught that each Christian had multiple vocations existing within different “estates” or spheres: (1) the church; (2) the household, understood broadly as oikonomia to including family relationships and economic activity; (3) the state and civil society; and (4) the “common order of Christian love,” or “the realm where people of different vocations interact informally” (Veith 2011). One individual might thus enjoy the vocations of father, husband, brother, son, deacon, carpenter, and civil magistrate, with responsibilities accompanying all. Most significantly for subsequent Protestant understandings of meaningful work, Luther placed all these estates were on equal footing with one another, rather than a vocation within a supposedly higher estate (the church) necessarily excluding vocation in the other estates. Veith (2011) explains: To enter into. . .spiritual offices required taking a vow of celibacy (thereby rejecting marriage and parenthood), poverty (thereby rejecting full participation in the economic life of the workplace), and obedience (which involved substituting the authority of the church for that of the state). Luther countered medieval Catholicism by affirming the very kinds of life that the clerical vows renounced—marriage, parenthood, economic activity, secular citizenship—as being true vocations from God. . . .What this meant in practice is that the spiritual disciplines moved out of the monastery and into secular life. Celibacy became faithfulness in marriage. Poverty became thrift and hard work. Obedience became submission to the law. Most importantly, prayer, meditation, and worship—while still central to every Christian’s vocation in the church—also moved into the family and the workplace.

Luther had been a monk in the Augustinian tradition but in time came to embody his own new understanding of multiple vocations in various estates. He married a former nun and so became a husband and father; in addition to his position as a professor of theology, he became a minister, an author, a political activist, a Bible translator, and even a composer of music and hymns.

Neo-Calvinism and Sphere Sovereignty Luther sought to reform the institutional church by placing it on par with other societal institutions that exist under divine authority, which was mediated solely through the Bible rather than through the institution of the Roman Church. Other streams of the Protestant Reformation – which rejected the centralized authority of

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Rome above all spheres of life – adopted, nuanced, and elaborated Luther’s understanding of vocation. One of the most influential Protestant streams is the Reformed tradition, stemming from the work of French-Swiss lawyer and theologian John Calvin (1509–1564). Reformed thought took root in Switzerland, the Netherlands, certain German states, Scotland (“Presbyterianism”), and the Church of England to an extent. Anglicanism, the worldwide communion of churches associated with the Church of England, contains elements of tradition that may be seen as a sixteenthcentury compromise between Roman Catholic and Protestant factions. Nevertheless, inasmuch as the Anglican Communion does not accept the supreme authority of the Bishop of Rome (i.e., the Pope), it is often designated “Protestant.” While sharing much in common with Lutheranism, Reformed theology has made several unique contributions to Christian understandings of meaningful work, labor, and flourishing. Whereas Lutheran theology is characterized by a law/gospel antithesis which understands the God’s moral law as a standard of perfection that shows humans our depravity and drives us to seek God’s forgiveness, Reformed theology adds an additional positive dimension of God’s law as a way of life for humans who are redeemed and forgiven by God. While humans are born in a state of spiritual deadness and guilt, the grace of God and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit transform human hearts so that we are finally able to live in accordance with God’s law. Reformed theology therefore has a positive view of the Old Testament as containing God’s law for ancient Israel and for Christian communities. Some Reformed denominations thus enforce strict Sabbatarianism, the application of the Sabbath principle to Sunday as a day of rest and worship. One of the modern giants of Reformed thought, Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920), made significant contributions in theology, politics, communication, and higher education. The son of a Dutch minister, Kuyper was classically trained and became a parish minister in the Dutch Reformed Church upon receiving his doctorate in theology from Leiden. Originally a modernist theologian, as Kuyper became a more orthodox Calvinist he developed a concern about the centralization of the church and its close ties with the Dutch state. The separation of church and state was for Kuyper essential to the health of both institutions and for a flourishing society. Kuyper is most famous for his statement of belief in Christ’s sovereignty over all spheres of life: “. . .There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human life of which Christ, Who is Sovereign of all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” (Bratt 2013). Yet even as Kuyper led an exodus from the state church and established a new Reformed denomination (Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland, “Reformed Churches in the Netherlands”), this was not for him an exodus from public life, but a call to vocations within different spheres. In addition to his service as a Christian minister, Kuyper founded a newspaper, a university (the Free University of Amsterdam), and a political party. As a politician, Kuyper advocated the establishment of private schools and social institutions as a way of sustaining a pluralistic Dutch state in the face of competing factions (Orthodox Calvinist, Modernist Calvinist, Roman Catholic, secular). Kuyper became a member of parliament and served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1901–1905) and was an advocate for a moderately regulated free market with a social safety net. The Christian Democrat movement in Europe traces its roots to Kuyper’s thought and activism (Bratt 2013).

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Modern Papal Teaching: Work and Relationality In May 1891 Pope Leo XIII released the Church’s first modern social encyclical, Rerum Novarum: On Capital and Labor. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century industrialized production and factories had destroyed the guild system and in its place rampant capitalism had created a mass labor market, including a child labor market, characterized by subsistence wages, perilous working conditions, and few sources of aid. Systemic abuse of the working class was the exigence, and Leo XIII explains that inequality and crimes against the poor are grave injustices crying for a response. He teaches that relations between capital and labor must be governed by reciprocity because neither can operate without the other. Where workers must honor contracts and shun riots and violence, employers must strive to create a workplace that ensures human dignity. The following duties bind the wealthy owner and the employer: not to look upon their work people as their bondsmen, but to respect in every man his dignity as a person ennobled by Christian character. . .. working for gain is creditable, not shameful, to a man, since it enables him to earn an honorable livelihood; but to misuse men as though they were things in the pursuit of gain, or to value them solely for their physical powers that is truly shameful and inhuman. Again justice demands that, in dealing with the working man, religion and the good of his soul must be kept in mind. Hence, the employer is bound to see that the worker has time for his religious duties; that he be not exposed to corrupting influences and dangerous occasions; and that he be not led away to neglect his home and family, or to squander his earnings. Furthermore, the employer must never tax his work people beyond their strength, or employ them in work unsuited to their sex and age. His great and principal duty is to give every one what is just. (Leo XIII 1891, 20)

A just workplace enables well-being and flourishing, and in Leo XIII’s iteration of ancient Judeo-Christian values this means starting with the divine dignity of all persons and promoting their equitable, mutual, and harmonious relationships with both God and neighbor, including neighbors who are also bosses and employees, clients and customers, and suppliers and competitors. Following Leo XIII’s lead, modern papal teaching has consistently addressed social justice issues, especially economic and labor issues. By the late twentieth century there was growing recognition that work and capital-labor relationships are inextricably situated within larger ecological systems. Beginning in the 1970s with Paul VI, popes linked environmental justice with economic justice to provide a more holistic understanding of human work. For the twenty-first century, Pope Francis made this theme a focal point with his 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’ – On Care for our Common Home.” If we reflect on the proper relationship between human beings and the world around us, we see the need for a correct understanding of work; if we talk about the relationship between human beings and things, the question arises as to the meaning and purpose of all human activity. This has to do not only with manual or agricultural labour but with any activity involving a modification of existing reality, from producing a social report to the design of a technological development. Underlying every form of work is a concept of the relationship which we can and must have with what is other than ourselves. (125)

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Here relationality, self in relation to other, is identified as the fundamental zone of moral action. The Judeo-Christian tradition recognizes three fundamental relationships: with God, with neighbors, and with nature. In Laudato Si’ Pope Francis reinforces a familial theme for all three relationships and devotes most of his attention to human treatment of nature, our “sister,” and “mother.” Harms to Mother Earth like pollution, deforestation, climate change, and environmental degradation are serious consequences of misguided ideologies that elevate self over all others, including nature and God. For human others in particular, abusing nature not only deprives neighbors of jobs or clean water and air, future generations are also consistently ignored as short-sighted greed exploits natural resources for immediate use value. When nature is viewed solely as a source of profit and gain, this has serious consequences for society. This vision of “might is right” has engendered immense inequality, injustice and acts of violence against the majority of humanity, since resources end up in the hands of the first comer or the most powerful: the winner takes all. Completely at odds with this model are the ideals of harmony, justice, fraternity and peace as proposed by Jesus. (82)

Francis’ vision of creation is integral, recognizing and prioritizing interdependent relationality. Modern individualism, utilitarianism, and capitalism have brought the world to the brink of environmental crisis, and Christian teachings on reciprocity and love are offered as alternative and divine principles of sustainable well-being. Humans can flourish only with, not against, nature and God and one another, so values like brotherhood and justice are needed to balance disparate interests and enable unity and peace.

Conclusion: Communication Lessons from the Judeo-Christian Tradition Structures of social inequality today dwarf the excess of early twentieth-century baronies, and the Occupy, Living Wage, and Basic Income Guarantee movements indicate that both overarching economic issues and bottom-level subsistence are problems that did not disappear with the Great Depression. Technology continues to replace workers, and new challenges like global warming and a polluted ecosphere point to a coming crisis of work. Just as grave physical workplace health hazards demanded OSHA legislation in the twentieth century, today’s “toxic” work patterns are a prime cause of America’s continuous health care crisis that must be addressed (Pfeffer 2018). Workplace well-being today is complex, dynamic, and seriously challenged. To meet challenges and face suffering, the Judeo-Christian wisdom tradition consistently offers a message of hope. Service, cooperation, communication, and work are powerful sources of shared meaning, and well-being and growth can be achieved via just relationships with God, others, and nature. Organizations striving

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to create meaningful workplaces can look to each phase of Judeo-Christian history for key links between work and human flourishing. The Hebrew tradition begins with human work imaging divine creative power. God’s speech lets the universe be, and He gives Eden to Adam to dress and keep, blessing and instructing and empowering him to name. The first question casts doubt into Edenic communication, and despite transgression and excuses, God does not remove humanity’s creative and generative power, He only makes work much more difficult. Incarnating the Word adds a personal level of divine gift. In the Hebrew Bible, God gives creation and grace and the Law, and in the New Testament, He gives Himself, joining society to teach and heal and die for human salvation. Paul wrote and travelled widely to communicate the ethic of love for both God and neighbor throughout the ancient Mediterranean, passing the tradition on to Church Fathers like Augustine for the work of relating Greco-Roman philosophy to Judeo-Christian revelation. Just as the Rabbinic tradition continues to develop and adapt Biblical teaching for evolving contexts, the synthesis Augustine achieved has continued to inspire and sustain the Church for centuries. Luther and the Protestant Reformation expanded the notion of vocatio, “calling,” and today modern papal teaching brings ideas from across all these millennia of Judeo-Christian tradition to bear on ecological conditions and industrialized capitalism. All language use creates a relational dimension that is divine (Weaver 1970). Across thousands of years, an ontology and ethic of “gift” drive the Judeo-Christian approach to communication and work. Relational dynamics that drain social systems for personal gain inevitably self-defeat because energy diminishes as it is held and controlled. As we come to appreciate that self is constituted in engaging the other we direct time and attention outward into our social ties, and in response to this gift inter-personal energy can grow and bear fruit. In concrete workplace terms this means that assembly, our fundamental need and natural right to join together in common cause, is an especially key exercise of human dignity. Work is always advanced together, under God, so our communication and relationships are the path to well-being and transcendence. To dignify work, recognize and use its power to image God. Together, our words and actions create and sustain human worlds, like families and businesses and cities and societies and even ecosystems. To ground all of these interactions the Judeo-Christian tradition points to the relational nature of being. Mutuality and love are more than strong feelings or ethical ideas; they are also divine principles of just integral organization that can foster meaning and inspire peace.

Cross-References ▶ Fostering Workplace Well-Being Through Servant Leadership ▶ Renewing the Soul: A Workplace Wellness Strategy Grounded in Redemption ▶ Western Wisdom Traditions and Workplace Spirituality

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References Augustine (1998) The confessions (trans: Boulding M). Random House, New York Bratt JD (2013) Abraham Kuyper: modern Calvinist, Christian democrat. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids Brueggemann W (2005) Theology of the old testament: testimony, dispute, advocacy. Fortress Press, Minneapolis Center for Disease Control (n.d.) Workplace health program definition and description. https://www.cdc. gov/workplacehealthpromotion/pdf/Workplace-Health-Program-Definition-and-Description.pdf Day D (1963) Loaves and fishes. Orbis Books, Maryknoll Fox MV (1999) A time to tear down and a time to build up: a rereading of Ecclesiastes. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids Francis (2015) Laudato Si’ – on care for our common home. http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/ en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html Gordis R (1982) The Sabbath – cornerstone and capstone of Jewish life. Judaism 31(1):6–11 Gustomo A, Febriansyah H, Ginting H, Santoso IM (2019) Understanding narrative effects. J Work Learn 31(2):166–191 Leo XIII (1891) Rerum Novarum – on capital and labor. http://w2.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/ encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html Maurin P (n.d.) Three ways to make a living. https://www.catholicworker.org/petermaurin/easyessays.html#%3Cstrong%3EThree%20Ways%20To%20Make%20A%20Living%3C/strong%3E Pfeffer J (2018) Dying for a paycheck: how modern management harms employee health and company performance. Harper Business, New York Rabinowitz LI (2007) Labor – in the Talmud. In: Skolnik F (editor-in-chief) Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol XII, 2nd edn. Thomson Gale, Detroit, pp 409–410 Schiffman LH (1991) From text to tradition: a history of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism. Ktav Publishing House, Hoboken Veith GE Jr (2011) Vocation: the theology of the Christian life. J Mark Moral 14(1):119–131 Weaver R (1970) Language is sermonic. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge Wingren G (1957) Luther on vocation (trans: Rasmussen CC). Wipf & Stock, Eugene World Health Organization (2007) What is health and wellness. http://www1.paho.org/English/AD/ dpc/nc/7-dimensions-wellness.pdf

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wisdom Traditions in the Hebrew Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Psalms: Humility and Darkness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Job: Relationship and Darkness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wisdom Traditions in Greek Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Plato: Struggle and Darkness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aristotle: Happiness and Darkness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wisdom Traditions in Early Christianity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gregory of Nyssa: Spirit and Darkness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pseudo-Dionysius: Ambiguity and Darkness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

There exists great depth and insight in the resources provided by the wisdom traditions in the Judeo-Christian West, from writings in the books of Psalms and Job in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Greek philosophical work of Plato and Aristotle, and early Christian insights from the Greek monastic traditions, especially Pseudo-Dionysius and Gregory of Nyssa. Very often this spirituality plays with the dichotomy of light and dark, hope and despair, enlightenment and ignorance, leaning toward the former and away from the latter. But also very often within modern workplaces, light is distant and darkness seems all around, whether due to D. J. Cremer (*) Woodbury University, Burbank, CA, USA e-mail: [email protected] P. A. Cremer Saint Elizabeth School, Altadena, CA, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_19

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toxic office politics or poor, if not malignant, leadership. How to endure, even to use the experience of darkness to do more than survive but to find ways to thrive in these contexts, is also explored within these traditions, often in surprising and insightful ways.

Introduction The spirituality of the workplace often focuses on ethical decision-making, effective ethical leadership, and informing planning with values such as sustainability, creativity, inclusion, and maintaining work/life balance (Giacalone and Jurkiewicz 2010; Hicks 2003; Marques et al. 2009). It calls attention to the inner life of people engaged in the common tasks of an organization, seeing in this a source of power and interconnectedness that is not only of value to an organization but valuable in itself (Ewest 2018; Lambert 2009; Neal 2013). Creating trust, empowering employees, developing individual talents, and establishing common purpose are some of the known outcomes of attention to workplace spirituality. Its values are often couched in terms of individual and organizational productivity, harmony, and efficiency when workplace spirituality is properly cultivated and developed. Overall, workplace spirituality is seen as a means to acquiring meaning and purpose in one’s work life as well as within a larger organizational structure, a classic win-win proposition for leaders of organizations who invest in developing workplace spirituality. These are all incredibly worthy aspirations and goals, and their effectiveness is increasingly documented by ongoing research, but it leaves open a question: what is a person to do when the workplace lacks such attention, when leadership is either unable or unwilling to develop workplace spirituality, or, in even more serious scenarios, the workplace is detrimental, difficult, and dangerous to one’s emotional and spiritual health and leadership is ineffective, if not malignant (Kellerman 2004; Price 2006)? How can the discipline of workplace spirituality respond in ways that assist individuals tied to toxic organizations, unable to extract themselves immediately due to family or other obligations or a lack of equivalent alternative employment in one’s industry or profession? How can this spirituality help mid-level managers and leaders sustain themselves as well as properly care for those who report to them and those who are their lateral relations? More specifically, what can the ancient Western wisdom traditions provide that would serve as a resource of ideas and practices that would assist such individuals in their situations? The wisdom traditions of the Judeo-Christian West, from the poetic writings in the books of Psalms and Job in the Hebrew Bible to the Greek philosophical work of Plato and Aristotle and through the early Christian insights of Greek writers such as Gregory of Nyssa and Pseudo-Dionysus, have long grappled with the questions of struggle, despair, and powerlessness, offering remedies in terms of faith, knowledge, perspective, and perseverance. They openly deal with the existence of darkness in a world that we believe ought to be filled with light, providing intellectual insight and spiritual sustenance for those who find themselves imprisoned, fettered, and under assault.

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Wisdom Traditions in the Hebrew Bible The wisdom tradition in the Hebrew Scriptures is primarily contained in the third section of the Hebrew Bible, the “Ketuvim” or “Writings.” Two of the first three books, Psalms and Job, are written poetically, collecting and expressing deep and long traditions of wisdom spirituality. They provide an ancient resource for dealing with the struggles of life, the injustice of suffering, and the betrayals of friends, as well as encouragement toward perseverance, ethical action, and trust in the (perhaps) inevitable triumph of justice. The book of Psalms, traditionally dated around 1000 BCE and ascribed to King David, himself a compromised (to say the least) leader, is a collection of poetry and songs originally used in Jewish worship and liturgical settings and still used in public and private prayer by Jews and Christians. The book of Job is an ancient text (its finished form dates to around the seventh century BCE, but it has elements that are as much as 800 years older) that is a compilation of different sources and, like a few other biblical works, a series of poetic dialogues framed by a prose story.

Psalms: Humility and Darkness The book of Psalms contains songs of praise, adoration, and rejoicing, but many of the psalms are songs of lament, beginning with a description of a desperate situation, a determination to continue to do the right thing despite the obstacles ahead, and prayers for deliverance from enemies. They exude confidence in the goodness of the Lord, despite the wickedness of humanity, and rely on that faith to find solace, to be able to “lie down and sleep in peace” (Psalm 4:8; New Revised Standard Version). There is an overwhelming awareness in the psalms that the world is filled with corruption and that the poor suffer at the hands of the wicked. Rather than see the world the way many of us moderns do, a world that is fundamentally just but interrupted by injustice and evil, the psalms take for granted that the world is always a place of injustice, that the wicked rule far more often than the just, and they call out to God for redress and salvation, as Psalm 10 dramatically does: 1

Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? 2 In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor—let them be caught in the schemes they have devised. 3 For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart, those greedy for gain curse and renounce the LORD. 4 In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, “God will not seek it out”; all their thoughts are, “There is no God.” 5 Their ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of their sight; as for their foes, they scoff at them. 6 They think in their heart, “We shall not be moved; throughout all generations we shall not meet adversity.” 7 Their mouths are filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under their tongues are mischief and iniquity. 8 They sit in ambush in the villages; in hiding places they murder the innocent. Their eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;

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9 they lurk in secret like a lion in its covert; they lurk that they may seize the poor; they seize the poor and drag them off in their net. 10 They stoop, they crouch, and the helpless fall by their might. 11 They think in their heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.” 12 Rise up, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand; do not forget the oppressed. 13 Why do the wicked renounce God, and say in their hearts, “You will not call us to account”? 14 But you do see! Indeed, you note trouble and grief, that you may take it into your hands; the helpless commit themselves to you; you have been the helper of the orphan. 15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoers; seek out their wickedness until you find none. 16 The LORD is king forever and ever; the nations shall perish from his land. 17 O LORD, you will hear the desire of the meek; you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear 18 to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed, so that those from earth may strike terror no more.

The thus often psalms see a world of suffering, a world that is even today experienced by far too many people across the world, most visibly in those who suffer from poverty, violence, and disease but also in the hidden suffering of many others whose pain is hidden amidst social wealth and position, and they see the cause of this in corrupt and powerful people, people with no sense of justice, no sense of accountability. It does not take much imagination to see how many people today find themselves facing the same problems in their workplace, serving under leaders who are similarly disposed (Price 2006). The psalms also recognize that that one’s own hands may not be entirely innocent and that self-reflection, confession, repentance, and conversion are necessary. This was especially true of David, who sent Uriah to die in battle so he could have Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba. David was confronted by the prophet Nathan with his crime and immediately repented of his sin (2 Samuel 11:1–12:13). This recognition and repentance is most evidently expressed in Psalm 51: 1

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. 5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. 6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

There is a need for self-reflection and critique, qualities in bad leadership that are often wanting; the challenge is for followers to both embody these values so that they do not replicate the bad behavior and use self-reflection to deal effectively with the consequences of this kind of leadership (Kellerman 2004).

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Throughout the psalms, there is an acknowledgment that at times the forces of evil and darkness seem to be prevailing despite one’s best efforts, that the wicked have the upper hand, and that hope is fading. There is recognition that one may have even played a part in this darkness. At these times, the psalmist calls on the Lord to bolster one’s commitment to doing the right thing, following the right path, holding to one’s values and ethics, despite the challenges and forces that surround one. They recall past times of strength, of support, and of working with others toward good ends and hold on to those memories in the trust that such days will return once again. This sense of trust in the face of darkness is seen most memorably in the 23rd psalm: 1

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.

Not only do the psalms recognize these realties and express these hopes, they also reveal a more nuanced sense of the experience of darkness itself. Even in the dark, even if one tries to hide in the darkness, darkness does not hide one from the Lord. This sense of being seen even in the darkness, of finding oneself always in the presence of the Lord, fits what is told of the life of David and is clearly expressed in Psalm 139: Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.

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In fact, the psalms see in darkness the place of the Lord, the place where the Lord can be found. Darkness is not the same as hopelessness. Echoing the scenes at the foot of Mount Sinai in Exodus, Psalm 18 notes that: 6

In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. 7 Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry. 8 Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him. 9 He bowed the heavens, and came down; thick darkness was under his feet. 10 He rode on a cherub, and flew; he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind. 11 He made darkness his covering around him, his canopy thick clouds dark with water. 12 Out of the brightness before him there broke through his clouds hailstones and coals of fire.

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Even more so, the psalms look to darkness as the place the Lord dwells, the very place where the Lord reveals the Lord’s power, as in Psalm 97: 1

The LORD is king! Let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! 2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. 3 Fire goes before him, and consumes his adversaries on every side. 4 His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. 5 The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.

Ultimately, darkness is not a place to be feared, not only because in the darkness one can still find the Lord, but because the night itself is the revelation of the Lord, as in psalm 8: When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; 4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

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All this imagery helps one to see the darkness differently, to see in it the revelation of deeper truths and realities, to find within the darkness itself the source of life, light, and hope. This is not to suggest that all the pain and suffering that the darkness represents disappears in some naïve optimism and faith, but that they coexist within the darkness. The psalms express a deep sense of humility, patience, weariness, frustration, inwardness, and trust. They look at the world in a clear-eyed manner, seeing the evil and oppression that exists and yet seeking to find ways not only to survive but to remain committed to one’s ethical values, to one trust in the ultimate power of goodness, and to even find the value of darkness itself in what it reveals about the world in which we live. As the life of David, an unexpected leader who more than once gave into the darkness and suffered from it, relates, even these moments of darkness reveal the possibility of change and redemption. The more obvious insights of the book of Psalms are to recognize the reality of the darkness, the injustice and suffering that is very real in the world, and the direct responsibility of people who perpetrate and sustain it. The Psalms see that no one is absolved from this darkness and all are obligated to search within to see how their own actions have contributed to it. But the psalms also reveal that even in the darkness, there exist sources of strength and consolation, that the world is not simply divided into light and dark, but that being in the darkness can show one the depths of one’s own resolve, one’s own hope, and the support of others that are revealed in moments of darkness.

Job: Relationship and Darkness The text opens with Job, a happy, prosperous, God-fearing man, being tested by Satan, the accuser, who wants to show God that even the best human being will lose faith if afflicted enough. God allows Satan free reign on Job to test him, telling Satan

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only to stop short of killing him. Subsequently, Job loses his children, his property, and his health; Job’s wife rejects him. His reaction is a classic statement of equanimity in the face of unexplained suffering: Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped. He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. . . Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?.” (Job 1:20–21; 2:10b)

Yet Job does not hold on to this equanimity for long. It is too difficult to maintain such balance in the face of such loss. He curses the day he was born: Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, or light shine on it. Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds settle upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. That night—let thick darkness seize it! let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. Yes, let that night be barren; let no joyful noise be heard in it. (Job 3:4–7)

He seeks to rob the darkness of all benefit, all joy, all life, implicitly recognizing that more often than not, the darkness, specifically the joy of a birth in the middle of the night, contains value. Here, he wants to strip the darkness of anything redeeming, as he seeks to strip his own existence of anything valuable. Job, like the psalms, does not shy away from the reality of despair. Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, soon arrive to commiserate, which they do in silence for a week. Then they begin to speak, each given in turn and each responded to by Job. His friends offer a defense of God, testimonies to the way God governs the universe. Well-meaning and encouraging, if also a bit rude and chiding, they try to explain what is happening and offer solutions, all of which are based to one degree or another on the thesis that God rewards the just and punishes the wicked and therefore he must have done something to deserve his fate. Not unlike many people in the modern workplace, when they see a co-worker suffering under what they perceive to be unfair criticism and even threat to their position, they seek to advise and correct what they see as prideful behavior and get the one who suffers to change and conform to their expectations. To end his suffering, they repeatedly insist; all Job has to do is admit his wrongs, a solution which Job, unsurprisingly, vehemently rejects. Eliphaz begins by arguing that God condemns the evil and saves the just, establishing proper relationships to righteousness in the world. Job simply needs to repent and accept God’s reproof. Job offers his own counter-testimony, seeing that God is indeed punishing him and yet seeing nothing in himself to reprove; he is suffering, like so many in life who toil and labor for little in return, and he will not cease complaining. He simply asks to be left alone to die. Do not human beings have a hard service on earth, and are not their days like the days of a laborer?

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Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like laborers who look for their wages, so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. (Job 7:1–3)

There is not even solace in the darkness of sleep: When I say, “My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,” then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I would choose strangling and death rather than this body. (Job 7:13–15)

It goes pretty much the same with his other friends. Sounding like many wellintentioned people even to this day, Bildad argues that God will restore him if he is just; Job simply needs to be patient, since the past shows the justice of God in the long run. Job acknowledges God’s power and Job’s own insignificance and yet still suffers in innocence. God destroys both the wicked and the blameless in catastrophes; there is no reason that this happens; it just does. So, Job asks, “Why not just get it over with?” His despair is complete. Zophar in turn argues that God knows the deep truth, that there must have been something in Job’s actions that created this outcome, and that Job must be guilty of something. If he puts it aside, God will save him and the truly wicked will be punished. Job redoubles his own argument, noting that not only his innocence but his afflictions now make him a laughingstock, increasing his suffering. God assaults even the strong and the wise, and Job wants only to deal with God directly, since God gives no hope to mortals who all are doomed to wither away. Like most people, Job wants to directly face and confront the source of his suffering, whom he blames for all his misfortune, in the hope that a direct confrontation will give him some answers. Anyone who has been unjustly accused, laid off, harassed, or subjected to discrimination in the workplace can certainly see Job’s point and in in this story feel that their own suffering has been seen and heard long ago. Like many experiences today, Job’s friends, well-meaning and trying to help, are unrelenting in trying to get Job to see the world their way. In two more sets of testimonies and counter-testimonies, Job is attacked for criticizing God and reassured that the wicked will rejoice only for a short time and they will suffer in their turn, or at least their children will. Job’s responses have contemporary echoes: I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all. Have windy words no limit? Or what provokes you that you keep on talking? I also could talk as you do, if you were in my place; I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you. I could encourage you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain. (Job 16:2–5)

God has worn Job out and broken him, and his righteous friends are no help. All that is left is despair, to suggest, as Job does, that he “say to the Pit, ‘you are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘my mother’” (Job 17:14). For Job, the wicked and their children prosper, they ignore God without consequence, the just and their children suffer without explanation, and his friends’ words are empty.

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What Job finally does is to rise from his despair to question the justice and mercy of God and call God to account in a trial that Job himself will conduct. Job is not passive; he expresses rage, confusion, and sorrow. He demands an accounting from the Lord. God eventually does arrive, in the darkness of the whirlwind, and questions Job instead, asking Job who he thinks he is to question God. Where was Job when the world was made, when the stones, the seas, the deep, the light, and the darkness were formed? Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb?— when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors, and said, “Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped”? (Job 38:4–11)

The questions go on and on about nature, knowledge, and power and about what right Job has to question the one who made and controls all. Job will not answer and God challenges him again: Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his. . .? Look at Behemoth, which I made just as I made you; it eats grass like an ox. Its strength is in its loins, and its power in the muscles of its belly. . . Can one take it with hooks or pierce its nose with a snare. . .? Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook, or press down its tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in its nose, or pierce its jaw with a hook? (Job 40:8–9, 15–16, 24; 41:1–2)

In the end, Job’s response is one of quiet, albeit indirect, submission: I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes. (Job 42:5–6)

But that is not the Lord’s final word; God admonishes Job’s friends as well, who “have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has” (Job 42:7). If one were to think, as Job’s friends argued, that Job’s hubris and pride in challenging God were the causes of his suffering (as if one could be punished initially for how one in the future would respond to injustice; the logic of one’s well-intentioned friends can often be rather convoluted), God’s response at least clears up that line of argument. Paradoxically, Job was well within his rights to question God, even if God challenged him as to his particular standing to do so. Job’s friends are ordered to make sacrifices, during which “my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly,” and if the initial lesson was not clear enough, for a second time God tells Job’s friends, “you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done” (Job 42:8).

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The resolution is thus ambivalent on many levels. Job acknowledges the suzerainty of God, but never explicitly agrees with God’s argument, which is really posed in the form of a counter-question. The original question and its interrogative response still hang in the air. Nevertheless, Job is in many ways restored at the conclusion of the story. His extended family returns, offering sympathy and gifts; his flocks are increased substantially; he is given seven sons and three daughters again and lives a long and full life. Yet after his repentance in “dust and ashes,” Job never speaks again. The reader has no idea how Job sees this end, this restoration of his fortunes. The original challenge to God’s justice and God’s question in return to Job, who are you to judge me, still stand unanswered on either side. Aside from assumptions made by generations of readers, there is no evidence, no word from Job, that this is a satisfactory resolution. Yet even if this final resolution is not to be found, much like in life since the time of Job, the story provides some worthwhile points for meditation and reflection, especially when one is suffering. We are beings who seek meaning, often in the world of work and productivity (Giacalone and Jurkiewicz 2010). When that productivity is stripped away, when our usefulness is no longer apparent, we struggle to find any meaning at all, and this struggle to find meaning makes the suffering even more unbearable. There is usually no definitive answer to “why.” There is also little solace in the well-meaning advice of friends who think that can help answer the unanswerable (and a warning not to be like them when others are in darkness). Like the psalms, Job recognizes that there is malice and intentional evil in the world and that natural calamities are often not the worst evil but that human-manufactured ones often are. Finding meaning for suffering through holding human sinfulness responsible does not work, if it ever really did, and Job strenuously rejects this. If anything, what is affirmed is ongoing relationship with, acceptance of, and trust in others. Throughout his suffering, his sense of injustice, and his anger toward both God and his friends, Job never rejects these relationships; he criticizes, argues, and battles, but never breaks the bonds of friendship, either with his three well-meaning companions or with God. Holding on to meaning through this quiet affirmation of relationship may still be possible, but the level of suffering in the world threatens to overwhelm this response; Job may be happy, but we do not really know. Perhaps happiness is not the point; maintaining relationships, listening and supporting each other through it all, and accepting the uncertainty of our situation may be the only point one can hold on to.

Wisdom Traditions in Greek Philosophy A few centuries later, in the fourth century BCE, the development of Greek philosophy raised similar ethical questions about suffering and justice, about the light and darkness. For Plato, the distinction was clear and absolute: darkness was ignorance, light was wisdom, and there was little nuance to the difference. Suffering, injustice, and ignorance went hand in hand, as did happiness, justice, and knowledge. The point is to overcome the darkness through the pursuit of wisdom and thus enter into

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the light. It is this stark distinction that still dominates much of Western thought and our organizational cultures. In contrast, Aristotle saw a subtler relationship, where the significance of chance and the role of fate in one’s life outcomes are accepted and internal courage and the development of individual character regardless of the vicissitudes of life is advocated. The point for Aristotle here is to achieve harmony, balance, and the development of one’s virtues, all coming together as orienting one’s character on the good. Much of the work on workplace spirituality, especially those that focuses on leadership, often reflects this Aristotelian perspective on value and virtue (Marques et al. 2009). Together, Plato and Aristotle provide a challenging perspective concerning how individuals ought to contend with varying workplace pressures and develop spiritual strategies for dealing with workplace struggles.

Plato: Struggle and Darkness Plato’s thought is best known for his theory of the forms, the argument that ultimate reality is constituted by absolute, unchangeable ideas and that the things of this world are only reflections of these timeless ideals. To understand this theory, Plato used several allegories throughout his writing, the most visually memorable of which is the allegory of the cave in the Republic. The climax of the work, the allegory of the cave describes the ascent of the individual from captivity and darkness toward the light of the sun as the symbol of the good, the beautiful, and the true. The sun, as the highest and the brightest, the source of light and life, has already been introduced earlier in the Republic as an allegory for the good, the source of knowledge and truth. In the light of the sun, one can see reality for what it truly is, as everything is properly illuminated and revealed. Plato reiterates and expands upon this allegory, using the sun once again as that which “provides the seasons and the courses of the years and presides over all things in the visible region, and is in some sort the cause of all these things that they had seen” (Plato 1991, 516b10; citations by Stephanus number). The good, as the sun, is that which governs, makes possible, and illuminates, all that is, all being, all beauty, all knowledge, all truth. Before enlightenment, clarity, and reality, however, comes darkness, shadow, and illusion. The narrator of this tale is Socrates, Plato’s mentor, the man whom Plato centered his work on, defending his person and promoting his teachings. The allegory of the cave begins by Socrates imagining: Men dwelling in a sort of subterranean cavern with a long entrance open to the light on its entire width. Conceive them as having their legs and necks fettered from childhood, so that they remain in the same spot, able to look forward only, and prevented by the fetters from turning their heads. Picture further the light from a fire burning higher up and at a distance behind them, and between the fire and the prisoners and above them a road along which a low wall has been built, as the exhibitors of puppet shows have partitions before the men themselves, above which they show the puppets. (Plato 1991, 514a–b)

All they can see are the shadows cast on the wall in front of them by the fire as other people carry various objects over their heads, the people carrying the objects

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screened from view and only what they carry casting shadows on the opposite wall for the captives to see. All they can discuss are words about the shadows they can see, the only reality they know, a situation Plato likens to the lives of most people, trapped in a world of illusion, capable of talking about and knowing only shadows. Socrates then imagines one individual being freed (he does not say how or who does this) and set on a path upward toward the light: Compelled to stand up suddenly, and turn his head around and walk and to lift up his eyes to the light, and in doing all this felt pain and, because of the dazzle and glitter of the light, was unable to discern the objects whose shadows he formerly saw, what do you suppose would be his answer if someone told him that what he had seen before was all a cheat and an illusion, but that now, being nearer to reality and turned toward more real things, he saw more truly? And if also one should point out to him each of the passing objects and constrain him by questions to say what it is, do you not think that he would be at a loss and that he would regard what he formerly saw as more real than the things now pointed out to him? (Plato 1991, 515c–d)

He is compelled to turn (again, by someone or some force unknown) and sees the light coming from the entrance to the cave. Imagine his deepening confusion as he is pushed to climb further upward: Up the ascent which is rough and steep, and not let him go before he had drawn him out into the light of the sun, do you not think that he would find it painful to be so haled along, and would chafe at it, and when he came out into the light, that his eyes would be filled with its beams so that he would not be able to see even one of the things that we call real? (Plato 1991, 515e–516a)

Enlightenment then for Plato is a struggle, a painful process done only under compulsion, filled with resistance and the need for direction, often forcible, so that the one to be enlightened finally sees, first shadows and reflections and then things as they really are in the light of the true sun. It is not a coincidence that in the contemporary workplace, one often finds oneself compelled to learn new ideas, techniques, and information, all under the umbrella of further development (read as enlightenment). The unnamed individuals in Plato’s allegory, the ones whom both free and compel the ascent of another, are much like the unseen decision-makers who create these requirements. Moreover, there is a trap in this ascent; the one who has been enlightened has no real desire to “occupy themselves with the affairs of men, but their souls feel the ever upward urge and the yearning for that sojourn above” (Plato 1991, 517c–d). Continuous ascent is the default here for those who have been enlightened, and the influence of Platonic thought in Western culture can be clearly seen in that very often workplace expectations for a career path in leadership ought to be the same, a neverending climb from shadow to light, from subservience to power. Such leaders come to see themselves as the exception and as people for whom exceptions to the rules become the norm of their behavior (Price 2006). Those who descend to “the petty miseries of men” are potentially seen as “ridiculous” (Plato 1991, 517d), so illogical and unnatural it would be to return to the darkness of the cave, and must be

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constrained to return to the mundane affairs of the world in order to benefit the whole and must be made to make a personal sacrifice for the betterment of others. Yet these same people are needed to return to the shadows if more of their compatriots are to be liberated, a paradoxical situation to say the least. The inherent elitism, sense of sacrifice, and personal empowerment such perspectives create must be understood clearly if one is to deal with them successfully in others and especially in preventing oneself in falling prey to them as a leader. Plato’s influence is not to be underestimated, both for good and for ill. His own adaptations and elaborations of Socrates’ teachings pushed him toward a clearer and strikingly definitive way of constructing his views of enlightenment, education, progress, and leadership. They are filled with images of darkness, ignorance, compulsion, and sacrifice and have marked the way Western culture has generally understood and often implemented these ideas. The challenge they represent for those struggling with difficult, if not toxic, workplaces is, one, that oppressive values and practices in the workplace often find their source and defense in these ancient ideas, and two, they mark out paths to be avoided for those who do not want to replicate these tendencies (Kellerman 2004). They present stark either/or choices, based on a highly rational and elitist worldview, and those struggling to develop their own workplace spirituality must be aware of the contexts and challenges the influence of Platonic values continue to represent.

Aristotle: Happiness and Darkness In contrast to Plato, for Aristotle the goal of human life is happiness, not enlightenment, pleasure, honor, or even emotional satisfaction. Aristotle, a student of Plato, sought to balance what he thought were the more extreme arguments of his mentor. For Aristotle, the goal of life is the fulfillment of human potential, the accomplishment of which people were born to do. In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle argues that happiness is itself a spiritual activity, the balanced development, and intentional cultivation of virtue in whatever circumstance one finds oneself: Now many events happen by chance, and events differing in importance; small pieces of good fortune or of its opposite clearly do not weigh down the scales of life one way or the other, but a multitude of great events if they turn out well will make life happier (for not only are they themselves such as to add beauty to life, but the way a man deals with them may be noble and good), while if they turn out ill they crush and maim happiness; for they both bring pain with them and hinder many activities. Yet even in these nobility shines through, when a man bears with resignation many great misfortunes, not through insensibility to pain but through nobility and greatness of soul. (Aristotle 2009, 1:10; citations by book and section number)

The question for Aristotle is thus to become what one chooses, even in the direst of circumstances. Unlike Plato, it is not about achieving a given standard, climbing a difficult and challenging slope toward enlightenment, and debating whether or not one will return to compel others toward the light. External results are not the point for

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Aristotle. As long as one acts in line with virtue, even if the consequences of that act are for naught, one would still be deemed as happy, as one has done what is right despite the circumstances. Aristotle’s perspective can thus offer much consolation in difficult times. Simply put, Aristotle argues that happiness is the same as “that at which all things aim” (Aristotle 2009, 1:1). He takes it as an obvious fact that all human efforts strive for some aim or end and that particular aim or end we then consider to be good, or else we would not strive or aim for it. He also claims that there are distinctions between different aims or ends, some being very specific and oriented in collaboration with other aims or ends to a larger and more significant end. Thus from the beginning, he admits that some ends are also means to other ends and that therefore there must be a cumulative, final end toward which all these other ends tend toward. That end as well he calls the good, or happiness, but it is only an abstract label so far, a synonym for the final end or aim. So he then considers what this final end might be and looks at three common variants that people seem to be drawn to: pleasure, honor, and wealth. The first he dismisses as only relevant to those who prefer “a life suitable to beasts” (Aristotle 2009, 1:5), while the second is shown not worthy of being a final end because it is too dependent upon the opinions of others. Neither can be a final end, as they are both circumstantial and more means than ends in themselves. Wealth is quickly dispensed with as most clearly and primarily a means rather than an end as well. None of these, pleasure, honor, or wealth, can be an end in themselves, and thus cannot define happiness. What remains is to describe more fully what a truly final end would be, one that is not a means to another, even more final end. To say that “happiness is something final and self-sufficient, and is the end of action,” as Aristotle defines it, is still a rather week definition, as he admits, and is more like “a platitude” (Aristotle 2009, 1:7). He recognizes that people choose such goals as “honor, pleasure, reason and every virtue” and that they are chosen “for themselves (for if nothing resulted from them we would still choose each of them) but we choose them also for the sake of happiness” (Aristotle 2009, 1:7). These goals and these virtues are both ends as well as means to the final end, the good, or happiness. To flesh this out, so to speak, Aristotle has to consider what happiness must be as a final, self-sufficient end for human beings, for that is after all the point of the inquiry. It is human beings who ask and desire an answer to this question, so what happiness is for human beings is the real question at hand. It is not an abstract question in the least, for it is a question for real and concrete human beings, a question of utmost significance for them. This leads Aristotle to observe that all things and creatures have by their nature inherent functions, which have an aim or end, which make them the object or creature that they are. For humans, the final end, happiness, must be the fulfilment of that natural function; moreover, it must be unique, the function that distinguishes human beings from all other objects and creatures. This is then the rub; what exactly is the chief function and end of human being? What does it mean to live a “good life” characterized by “good action” (Aristotle 2009, 1:8)? If the point is to make good choices despite the circumstances, Aristotle relates that there are many and varied

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opinions, all of which are in some way considered virtues: developing philosophic or practical wisdom, winning at competitions, learning and training, achieving prosperity, etc. These virtues as activities, actions of the soul, are “what gives life character” (Aristotle 2009, 1:10), and the complete possession and exercise of these virtues is what makes a complete life, a good life, a happy life. Happiness then is also, in addition to being a self-sufficient final end, “an activity of the soul in accordance with perfect virtue” (Aristotle 2009, 1:13). Aside from the opinions accepted above, however, precisely what is virtue for Aristotle? He distinguishes between “two kinds. . . some of the virtues are intellectual and others moral,” corresponding to the rational and irrational elements of the human soul and including as intellectual virtues “philosophic wisdom and understanding and practical wisdom” and as moral virtues “liberality and temperance” (Aristotle 2009, 1:13). Moreover, he also argues that virtues are choices, exercises of the soul, and states of the soul’s character: By states of character the things in virtue of which we stand well or badly with reference to the passions, e.g. with reference to anger we stand badly if we feel it violently or too weakly, and well if we feel it moderately; and similarly with reference to the other passions. Now neither the virtues nor the vices are passions, because we are not called good or bad on the ground of our passions, but are so called on the ground of our virtues and our vices, and because we are neither praised nor blamed for our passions (for the man who feels fear or anger is not praised, nor is the man who simply feels anger blamed, but the man who feels it in a certain way), but for our virtues and our vices we are praised or blamed. . .. For these reasons also they are not faculties; for we are neither called good nor bad, nor praised nor blamed, for the simple capacity of feeling the passions; again, we have the faculties by nature, but we are not made good or bad by nature; we have spoken of this before. If, then, the virtues are neither passions nor faculties, all that remains is that they should be states of character. (Aristotle 2009, 2:5)

Like with the argument concerning happiness above, Aristotle is clarifying his concepts by arguing for more precise synonyms, the list of which then draws a clearer picture of what he is trying to describe and analyze. As states of character, virtues are specific, measurable, divisible, and continuous, so Aristotle argues. They can therefore vary in terms of amount, capable of being too little or too small. As actions of the soul, they are also subjects of learning and training, execution, and choice, and practical wisdom demonstrates in these areas the extremes of “excess and defect,” of doing too much or too little, are to be avoided (Aristotle 2009, 2:6). The moral virtues are thus best characterized by “aiming at the intermediate. . . [exercising] them at the right times, with reference to the right objects, towards the right people, with the right motive, and in the right way” (Aristotle 2009, 2:6). As Aristotle sums it up, virtue is “a state of character concerned with choice, lying in a mean. . . determined by a rational principle [as] the man of practical wisdom would determine it” (Aristotle 2009, 2:6). It is from these initial arguments that the Western tradition derives its understanding of human happiness as tied to human choices, choices rooted in the exercise of virtues and the development of character. These values are said to be independent of particular circumstances, available to all human beings, part of what makes human

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beings what they are. As such, they provide a guide for decisions in difficult times, a possible path through the darkness when vision fails. Aristotle, unlike Plato, does not rely on external factors such as the journey toward light, the upward ascent, compulsion, and obligation. Aristotle shows how what is within the grasp of any individual, no matter the situation, is the power to choose one’s final ends, one’s ultimate goal. The task is to realize that such values as pleasure, honor, and wealth are not the final goal of human life; at best they are means to that end, and at worst they are both deprivations or excesses that drive people to bad choices. This detachment from achieving the highest material markers of success and concentrating on one’s own values and character, on being true to oneself, is an important insight in times of organizational and workplace strife. In getting through the darkness, what matters as a final end is the development of one’s character, the exercise of choice toward moderation, a practical application of decisions taking into account all the variables at hand at the time (Price 2006). If one can accomplish that, no matter the result, even in the most difficult circumstances, one can be said to have done the good, and to be happy, regardless of the specific outcome.

Wisdom Traditions in Early Christianity Several centuries after Plato and Aristotle, the dominant philosophical tradition in early Christianity was Neoplatonism, a synthesis of ancient Hebrew traditions, Greek philosophy, and Christian spirituality. Christian writers, especially those writing in the Greek church, were well-versed in all three areas, creating unique perspectives on spiritual struggles in the late Roman Empire. Gregory of Nyssa, a bishop and theologian in the fourth century CE, argued that God’s nature, God’s essence, was unknowable, just as the Platonic forms existed in an ultimately unknowable time and space beyond space and time. The consequence was that human beings dealt with not really knowing, at best experiencing a kind of luminous darkness, when it came to the divine, and although making the effort to ascend to ever-greater heights of understanding, the goal is never to be reached. The writer known as Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (an Athenian judge), who lived in the late fifth and early sixth centuries CE, portrayed himself as one of the Apostle Paul’s converts in the book of Acts, a misunderstanding that was often suspected but went unproven until the nineteenth century. Pseudo-Dionysius, developed a negative, or apophatic, theology, where every effort to name the divine, from the titles of God in scripture to various natural analogies, was all shown to be inadequate, unable ultimately to contain the unknowable. The path to enlightenment thus went through, rather than away from, the darkness of unknowing, in many ways a reversal of Platonic imagery.

Gregory of Nyssa: Spirit and Darkness Part of the effort to reclaim the encounter with darkness as spiritual practice in Christianity begins with recovering the depth of the tradition, starting with scripture.

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Early Christian mystics would note how in Genesis the creation begins with a primordial time before time, when all that was darkness and a howling wind, and the Spirit was hovering over the abyss, over the waters. In the beginning, there was nothing but God and the darkness. It lies in the oldest spiritualties that the light cannot exist without darkness and that from the darkness comes the light. They exist not in an opposition where the one threatens to obliterate the other but in a creative tension, a necessary and fruitful connection. This linkage between the darkness and the light exists in other ways in scripture. In Exodus, the darkness is a time of pestilence, plague, and death; it also is a place of discovery and awe, where Moses found the presence of the divine, the God “who made darkness his hiding place” as Gregory noted in his Life of Moses, citing Psalm 17:12. (Gregory of Nyssa 1961, 164; citations by paragraph number). Gregory lived in Cappadocia, a high dry land in the northwest of what is now Turkey, and one can see the influence of his land in his writing. His meditation on Moses reads the encounter on Sinai through the lens of John’s gospel, specifically the claim that “no one has ever seen God” (John 1:18). During Moses’ encounter with God after receiving the ten commandments, “the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was” (Exodus 20:21). Gregory sees in this an ascent not unlike the one Plato recounts in the allegory of the cave, but instead of an ascent toward the sun, Moses’ is an ascent into darkness, into the presence of divine majesty: First, he leaves behind the base of the mountain and is separated from all those too weak for the ascent. Then as he rises higher in his ascent. . . he slips into the inner sanctuary of divine knowledge. And he does not remain there. . . for truly this is the limit that someone reaches who is elevated through such secrets. (Gregory of Nyssa 1961, 167)

Moses descends the mountain, not because he is compelled to do so but because he has reached the limit of what is possible. Gregory is reflecting on a later story, when Moses asks to see God and receives only a partial answer: Moses said to the Lord, “See, you have said to me, ‘Bring up this people’; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth.” The Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “Show me your glory, I pray.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord’ and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” And the Lord continued, “See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.” (Exodus 33:12–23)

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There are limits to human insight, even for the greatest among us, according to Gregory. The ultimate truths, represented by the face of God, cannot be known, even when the climb is successfully made. This ascent, which Gregory refers to as purification, reaches its conclusion not in the light of the sun but in darkness, in “the unknown and the unseen” (Gregory of Nyssa 1961, 169). For even if one has made the ascent toward the light and returns saying they know the truth and can say what it is, Gregory argues in his On Virginity that person is a liar: For we have not learned the proper words to express this beauty. Nor is there any example of what we are looking for in the created world; even to try to explain it by comparison would be impossible. Who, for example, would compare the sun to a little spark, the endless expanse of the sea with a tiny drop? And that tiny drop, that little spark, bear the same relationship to the ocean and the sun as any beautiful thing which men admire bears to the beauty that we contemplate in that supreme Good which surpasses all things. . . anyone who attempts to portray that ineffable Light in language is truly a liar; not because of any abhorrence of the truth, but merely because of the infirmity of his explanation (Gregory of Nyssa 1961, 10; citations by chapter).

How often is one confronted with those who claim to have the answers, to have solved the problems, to have seen the light, so to speak? Gregory, who as a bishop the last 20 years of his life probably had several such experiences, cautions against such hubris, such claims, knowing that language is always figurative, expressive, and relational, not absolute. There is a lesson here in humility, in having a healthy suspicion toward those who make such claims. Just as the experience of the luminous darkness leads Gregory to counsel against listening to those who claim an ability to express absolute truth, it also leads him to a profound meditation on the value of silence. He begins with the verse “a time to tear and a time to mend; a time to be silent and a time to speak” (Ecclesiastes 3:7), noting that silence precedes speech just as tearing necessitates mending. Echoing Aristotle, he discusses in his Commentary on Ecclesiastes how each human faculty has its own: Natural operation, and cannot shift to that of a neighboring sense. . . So too no created being can go out of itself by rational contemplation. Whatever it sees, it must see itself; and even if it thinks it is seeing beyond itself, it does not in fact possess a nature which can achieve this. (Gregory of Nyssa 1961, 7th homily)

The limits on human knowing must be accepted before one speaks; a certain humility in speech must then be practiced. As Immanuel Kant would argue centuries later, one can know a thing’s effects; one cannot know a thing’s essence. Much of the writing on workplace spirituality does not address the idea of limits, of how little we know or can know, and of how this limit ought to affect our values. Humility rarely shows up in the index; the book of essays edited by Marques et al. (2009) is one exception. In our workplaces, on the one hand, much time is spent trying to divine the internal motivations of others, trying to delve into the why of someone else’s actions. For Gregory, those ideas are beyond reach, just as the

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divine is unknowable. It is best to keep silent about them. What can be known, on the other hand, are the effects, the actions, and their consequences of what another chooses to do. These can be seen with the human faculties, of this one can speak “of those things of which we can make progress in virtue” (Gregory of Nyssa 1961, 7th homily).

Pseudo-Dionysius: Ambiguity and Darkness The early Christian mystical tradition has a profound connection with darkness as a path of reflection and a place of stillness, both of which ironically lead toward enlightenment and activity but also back once again toward prayer and quiet. Very little is known of the life of Pseudo-Dionysius (simply Dionysius hereafter), save that he was writing under a pseudonym and probably lived in or around Antioch in Syria, one of the ancient centers of early Christianity. He built on the work of Gregory, and as much as the latter focused on how Moses ascended the mountain of the Lord, to see the glory of God wrapped in cloud and lit by lightning, he called in his Divine Names on seekers to journey to the place beyond naming, where dwells “the nameless beyond all names” (Pseudo-Dionysius 1980, 1:6; citations by chapter and section). In his Mystical Theology, Dionysius saw that in entering into suspension and isolation, disorientation and in-betweenness, attraction and invitation, one can ascend into “the mystical summits more unknown and beyond light. . . [where the] mysteries of theology lie hidden in the darkness beyond light” (Pseudo-Dionysius 1980, 1:1). The themes of ascent into darkness, the journey toward the unnamable God, and the emphasis on silence are all present from Gregory, but Dionysius takes them in a new and radical direction. He begins the Divine Names by recalling the limits to human knowledge about the divine. Often writing in verse, he recounts the ways that mystics have refused to name God, that: The indefiniteness beyond being lies beyond beings. The unity beyond intellect lies beyond intellect. The one beyond thought is unintelligible to all thinking The good beyond logos [words, language]:. . . non-intelligible intellect. . . non-rationality non-intelligibility non-nameability be-ing according to no-being cause of being to all; but in itself: non-being. (Pseudo-Dionysius 1980, 1:1)

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Yet there exists also an exhaustive catalog of all the ways humanity has referred to the divine: It alone is the cause, source, being and life of all A recalling and resurrecting. . . A renewing and re-formation. . . A sacred foundation. . . A security against falling. . . A guiding hand which is stretched out. . . An illumination. . . simplicity. . .unity. . . To speak simply: It is the life of all that lives. . . The source and cause of every life. . .. (Pseudo-Dionysius 1980, 1:3)

Both of these litanies are affirmed as true, as the teachings of the wise over the centuries, and yet they cannot ultimately be reconciled. The limits of language, of reason, are reached, and one is thrown back on analogies, which is what these lists ultimately are. So now begins the hard work, for Dionysius, the work beyond intellect, the work “beyond our intellection of the divine ideas. . . [where] it is not possible to conceive, to speak, or in any way to contemplate. . . For if all knowledge is of beings and has its limits in beings, then that beyond every being is apart from every knowledge” (Pseudo-Dionysius 1980, 1:4). What is left is a conundrum, although Dionysius clearly comes down more on the side of the first litany above, the one where the divine cannot truly be named at all. What then is to be done? Like Gregory, the divine cannot be named in itself, yet the effects of the divine, that which the divine causes to bring into being, can be seen and named. What is left, for Dionysius, is his Mystical Theology, the resort to the image of darkness, the ineffable and unseen that lies at the source of all: There the simple, absolved, and unchanged mysteries of theology lie hidden in the darkness beyond light of the hidden mystical silence. . . Think not that affirmations and denials are opposed but rather that, long before, is that—which is itself beyond all position and denial— beyond privation. (Pseudo-Dionysius 1980, 1:1–2)

Dionysius seeks to get beyond the dualistic oppositions that most thought is caught within. He refers again to the example of Moses, separated, apart, hidden in the darkness of the mountain with God, and yet not able to see God at all (just his back as it passed him by). The divine is both there and not there, for Moses has entered into “the really mystical darkness of unknowing” (Pseudo-Dionysius 1980,

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1:3). It is not ignorance of which Dionysius speaks, not unknowing as knowing nothing, but he speaks of unknowing as the experience of shutting “out every knowing apprehension. . . [and] be-ing entirely of that beyond all—of nothing, neither himself or another” (Pseudo-Dionysius 1980, 1:3). Dionysius’ mystical method is to move from affirmation to denial in order to show that both are in themselves incomplete, that they dissolve into “the darkness beyond being which is hidden by all the light in beings” (Pseudo-Dionysius 1980, 2) can obscure what one knows even more deeply and especially obscure what (or, even better, that) one does not know. His negative way leads to even greater insights, especially concerning one’s needed humility, that no matter how much one knows, what is unknown is greater still, and this is constitutive of the human condition. In our workplaces, the result of these meditations leads to a certain caution, a deferral of final judgments, and an awareness that all are in a similar place between knowing and unknowing. Even in the experience of darkness, of struggle, and of conflict, there is also light to be seen, learning to be done, and patience to be applied. Dionysius’ reflections help one see that there is a kind of unknowing that is all about presence, about not demanding answers and resolution but simply being with one another. In times of crisis, that can be the greatest gift anyone can offer.

Summary Much of the Western spiritual tradition is an exercise in reclaiming the experience of darkness as a spiritual practice, one that seeks not to replace the light with the dark but initially to restore a long-lost balance between the two and eventually move beyond the illusion of duality that this metaphor of light and dark brings. Seeing their complementarity, their essential dependency upon each other, and their paradoxical relationship in both life and death is essential for so many of the reasons discussed above. Such a practice would embrace the transitions between darkness and daylight and dwell in the twilight between day and night. In many ways, the analogies of twilight and daybreak, gloaming and dawning, perhaps fit this tradition best: not one of decline and failing light, or of revelation and rising suns, but rather a time between light and dark in which to remain, to see that world is both shadow and light and that neither can exist without the other. As many would observe, this too is just an imperfect image, one that ultimately falls short of the reality we experience and intuit. They finally break down when one presses them too much, and thus the resolution reached by Dionysius is that what is truly real lies beyond knowing and unknowing, in the luminous darkness that surrounds them both. As such, these analogies can help redirect one’s thoughts away from either/or thinking, false dualistic choices that can paralyze, and bring one closer to the experience of both/and, the flexible response to specific situations in their multiplicity and complexity. The psalms can help deal with the paradox that real suffering exists and yet there is hope in the darkness, a hope that one must contemplate and cultivate with trusting others and holding to one’s values. Job’s plight and its seeming resolution, not in understanding and clarity but in ongoing relationship

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and repentance (literally, a turning of one’s heart toward another), redirects one toward a fuller picture of life than one’s immediate struggles and suffering. Plato’s analogy of the cave shows how the paradigms of an upward ascent out of darkness and illusion into the light and knowledge that must be compelled have influenced our perceptions of this dualism, revealing the roots of this kind of thinking so it can better be dealt with. Aristotle’s response to this dualism, his insistence that what matters is balance and moderation in pursuit of happiness as human fulfillment, can reorient one toward a holistic appreciation of one’s entire life, even in times of severe stress and affliction. Gregory makes one aware that final answers are simply unavailable, that the quest for the complete answer to “why” is often the source of one’s suffering, where sometimes the best response is perseverance and silence. Lastly, Dionysius brings one closer to the humble recognition that while one can learn, one also does not know, and there is a deeper truth that lies behind the interminable struggle to replace the latter with the former. For a society and a workplace culture fixated on progress, profit, and performance, remembering the place of darkness in one’s spirituality, that it is both ever-present and nothing to be feared and that there are responses one can make without succumbing to the pressure, can be liberating. A spirituality such as these writers present, one that encounters the darkness honestly and clearly, one that is familiar with distance and understands the intimate connection between beginnings and endings, can be invaluable in dealing with workplace struggles. It is a spiritual practice that leads toward a place where the divine speaks and the abyss is silent, or vice versa, where the shrouded mountain beckons and the divine remains unseen, where one both finds death and discovers life. It is so much more than applicable just to situations that arise in the workplace, although it is definitely that. In this spirituality is a renewal of one’s very self, an overcoming of the one-sided prejudice against darkness in all its manifestations that cripple imaginations, culture, and lives. Modern workplaces, like much of modern culture, struggle with times and representations of darkness. It would rather go on working than stop and recognize the destructiveness and pain that lies within. A spirituality that takes darkness seriously liberates one to work in a way that brings each one closer to the spirit that dwells in the shadows of the mountain.

Cross-References ▶ A Humanistic Perspective for Management Research: Protecting Dignity and Promoting Well-Being ▶ Impact of Workplace Bullying on Employees’ Mental Health and Self-Worth ▶ Toxic Leadership: Managing Its Poisonous Effects on Employees and Organizational Outcomes

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References Aristotle (2009) The Nicomachean ethics (trans: Ross D). Oxford University Press, Oxford Ewest T (ed) (2018) Faith & work: Christian perspectives, research and insights into the movement. IAP-Information Age Publishing, Charlotte Giacalone RA, Jurkiewicz CL (eds) (2010) Handbook of workplace spirituality and organizational performance, 3rd edn. Routledge, New York Gregory of Nyssa (1961) From glory to glory: texts from Gregory of Nyssa’s mystical writings (trans: Daniélou J; ed: Herbert Musurillo). Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York Hicks D (2003) Religion and the workplace: pluralism, spirituality, leadership. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Kellerman B (2004) Bad leadership: what it is, how it happens, why it matters. Harvard Business School, Boston Lambert L (2009) Spirituality, Inc.: religion and the American workplace. New York University Press, New York Marques J, Dhiman S, King R (eds) (2009) The workplace and spirituality: new perspectives on research and practice. Skylight Paths, Woodstock Neal J (ed) (2013) Handbook of faith and spirituality in the workplace: emerging research and practice. Springer, New York Plato (1991) The Republic. (trans: Jowett B). Vintage Classics, New York Price T (2006) Understanding ethical failures in leadership. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (1980) The divine names and mystical theology (trans: Jones JD). Marquette University Press, Milwaukee

Spiritual Values for Utilizing HR in Organizations: Evidence from Indigenous Knowledge of Organizational Management in Sri Lanka

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Yashoda Bandara, Kumudinie Dissanayake, Rohana Ulluwishewa, and Anura Uthumange

Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Values in the Context of Organizational Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Some Reflections on Spiritual Values and Indigenous Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spirituality and Spiritual Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Materialistic Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spiritual Values in Indigenous Societies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Examining Organizational Knowledge Through Structures and Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Research Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Structure of Administration in Ancient Sri Lanka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Introduction to Ancient System of Administration in Sri Lanka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Structures and Functions of Ancient Public Administration in Sri Lanka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Indigenous Values of Managing People in Sri Lanka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Development of Values for Managing People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Broader Categories of Indigenous Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spiritual Values for Utilizing HR in Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Insights from Indigenous Knowledge of Management to Modern Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Y. Bandara (*) Department of Business Management, Faculty of Management Studies, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka e-mail: [email protected] K. Dissanayake Department of Management and Organization Studies, Faculty of Management and Finance, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka e-mail: [email protected] R. Ulluwishewa · A. Uthumange Center for Spirituality in Sustainable Business Management, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Gangodawila, Sri Lanka e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_20

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Abstract

The role of values in shaping the behavior of individuals and organizations has been widely discussed in literature relating to impact of individual and organizational values in managing organizations and their human resource components. The growing interest on spirituality in the workplace has extended its attention over value systems, addressing a profound and in-depth dimension of human cognition. Representing an important source of tacit knowledge, values associated with indigenous knowledge systems which are embedded in sociocultural contexts provide an interesting background to explore the role of spirituality in utilizing people’s efforts for achieving collective outcomes. Sri Lanka is a South Asian country which still continues to lag behind as a developing country. The country’s public administrative organization is frequently criticized for its ineffectiveness created by poor performances and negative values of the employees hurdling the process of development. Thus, the aim of the present chapter is to explore the values prevailed in ancient public administrative organization of Sri Lanka with special attention on the spirituality of these values. In order to achieve this aim, a qualitative inquiry is carried out in an exploratory approach. Secondary data including archival documents, research publications, books, and journal articles were the main source of data, where these data were gathered on structures and functions of the ancient social organization which completely overlaid the public administrative organization and analyzed by coding and categorizing for deriving the themes. Accordingly, five key values, i.e., collectivism, mindfulness, balance of power, simplicity and cooperativeness, and morality and righteousness, were identified underlying the task, authority, and resource-related management practices of the ancient organization. Finally, the discussion brings some insights of potential strategies which can be revitalized in modern context to ensure optimum utilization of human resource in organizations with the use of indigenous values of managing people and the spirituality of such values. Keywords

Human resources (HR) · Indigenous knowledge · Organizational management · Spiritual values · Sri Lanka

Introduction The differences of individual value orientations and the need to consider these variances in management endeavors, especially in HRM, have been continuously stressed in relevant literature throughout the recent past (e.g., Hall 1960; Kluckhohn and Strodbeck 1961; Rokech 1973; Hofstede 1980; Schwartz 1999; Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997; House et al. 2004). It has been argued that though there is a common agreement on “what” has to be done in the scope of HRM, the question “how” these functions should be carried

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out needs unique answers according to the contextual differences (Tayeb 2000). Yet, many developing countries tend to rely on and uncritically transfer Western or other outside concepts which are based on different ideologies and value systems for managing their organizations. This ground has been criticized as a cause of organizational inefficiency and ineffectiveness (Kanungo and Jaegar 1993) upon the resultant incompatibilities. Sri Lanka too is suffering from lack of organizational effectiveness where both public and private organizations experience adverse consequences of this negative condition. Deterioration of certain values from the systems has been identified as one key reason underlying the ineffectiveness of country’s public administrative context (Somasundaram 1997; Warnapala 2013). In this backdrop, the need to have a careful examination of the country’s unique cultural values has been stressed as a possible initiating point to halt the destructive proceedings in the social organization (Weeramantry 2005). Sri Lanka is a country with a recorded history of more than 2500 years. Chronicles (e.g., Mahavamsa and Dipavamsa) and inscriptional evidences indicate the rich principles and practices of people management entrenched in the history of Sri Lankan civilization. Only some of these ancient concepts are alive at present, which has come into operation in the form of customs and rituals. Although there can be possibilities of utilizing the tacit knowledge and understanding associated with the traditional management practices for better outcomes in the present organizations, no extensive efforts have been taken yet to explore and analyze such knowledge in the contemporary context. Brohier (1973) points out that there can never be any truly sympathetic appreciation of traditional Sri Lankan ideas without a correct sense of attunement and acquaintance with the inner mind and the soul of the indigenous people of the country. Hence, it is clear that an in-depth examination of indigenous aspects of knowledge would open wide avenues to identify the unique tacit knowledge embedded in the country’s sociocultural context relating to management of people and organizations. Irrespective of the arousing attention on value-based management in the contemporary world, the attention paid on this particular aspect in Sri Lanka is very poor. In this scenario, it is needless to say that any examination or evaluation of indigenous wisdom in this regard is still absent in the field. There are hardly any scholarly attempts to examine the values embedded in indigenous organizational management knowledge or to draw insights as to what lessons can be learned from indigenous values of organizational management in order to enhance the sustainability of organizations in a spiritual perspective. Despite the growing attention on the workplace spirituality as a tool for development and sustainability, it has been hardly taken into consideration in Sri Lankan management research arena. In fact, the above ground makes it worthwhile to examine the nature of spiritual values that prevailed in Sri Lankan indigenous organizations and evaluate the effectiveness of such values in the contemporary context. On this ground, a problem arises as to what extrinsic and intrinsic values are embedded in Sri Lankan indigenous organizational management practices. Thus, the present chapter aims to fill the above knowledge gap by examining the spirituality of values embedded in the indigenous knowledge of organizational

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management in Sri Lanka. First, the chapter introduces the key practices prevailed in ancient Sri Lanka relating to management of organizations, and then it discusses the values embedded in those management practices. Next, an examination of the reflections of spiritual values in Sri Lankan indigenous values of managing organizations is presented while focusing attention on how these values have contributed to sustainability. Finally, the chapter summarizes the lessons the contemporary world can learn from the spiritual values shared in the Sri Lankan indigenous systems, to utilize the human resource in organizations.

Values in the Context of Organizational Management Values are commonly defined as explicit or implicit conceptions of the desirable, which influences the selection from among available modes, means, and ends of action (Kluckhohn 1951), or enduring beliefs that a specific mode of conduct or endstate of existence is personally or socially preferable over an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence (Rockeach 1973). Thus, representing an ontological domain which influences human desires, preferences, and interactions (Kluckhohn 1951; Rockeach 1973; Haque 2011), guide the behavior (Schwartz 1994), and shape the perceptions (Heintzman 2007), values are identified as a kind of expression of human cognition remaining in its unconscious domain (Haque 2011). Values held by individuals act as a basic determinant of their behavior (Williams 1968; Hall 1960; Kluckhohn and Strodbeck 1961; Rokech 1973, 2008; Hofstede 1980; Schwartz 1999; Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner 1997; House et al. 2004) by influencing the attitudes (Homer and Kahle 1988; Adler 2008), perceptions (Feather 2003; Bao et al. 2012), decisions (Argandoña 2003; Barrett 2013), thoughts, feeling and emotions (Barrett 2013), identity (Hitlin 2003; Mazur 2010), and motivation (Kasser 2002; Meyer et al. 2004) of people. Accordingly, the impact of values has been extensively identified as an important factor to be considered within the context of organizations and their management (Hofstede 1980, 2001; Nisbett 2003; Triandis et al. 1988; Schwartz 1999; Trompenaars and HampdenTurner 1997). Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997) explain organizations and their structures in terms of mental models held by real people, apart from the objective realities associated with them. Thus, as a cognitive expression and behavior determinant, values play a vital role in managing organizations. Beyond the continued discussion of impact of values in managing organizations, recently the role of human values in enhancing growth and sustainability of organizations has been receiving scholarly attention in a spiritual point of view (Kolodinsky et al. 2008). Apart from the available classifications, the distinction of intrinsic and extrinsic values (Ulluwishewa 2016) provides a fresh approach to look into the concept with novel insights in this regard. Accordingly, intrinsic values which originate from within an individual and therefore commonly shared by all human beings regardless of their cultural, racial, or other personal differences are distinguished from extrinsic values which the individuals learn from external sources such as the society, culture, education, media, etc. and therefore

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can be different from context to context. The human psychosocial functioning in organizations has been identified as an artifact determined by environmental and personal factors (Wood and Bandura 1989), whereby the intrinsic values which represent the person and the extrinsic values which represent the environment influence each other reciprocally. Value differences at both personal and environmental levels have been subjected to scholarly discussion throughout the time as significant considerations relating to individual and organizational behavior. Notably, differences have been observed within each of these levels, resulting in diverse people, groups, and organizations with distinctive values and behaviors. Most importantly, being a cognitive element, values play a vital role in controlling one’s mind and thus act as a means of mindfulness. Similarly, the role of values in the sphere of spirituality bears an equal importance. In the absence of specific definitions, both the terms, spirituality and mindfulness, have been viewed in different approaches. For instance, Cherman and Azeredo (2018) view that the term mindfulness can be applied for both original age-old, canonical practices based on spirituality aa well as for the religious traditions and secularized techniques devised as means for controlling the mind, developed in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, etc. Thus, it is clear that the discussion of values in organizational contexts has been extended to new frontiers like spirituality and mindfulness which address more sensitive dimensions of the concept.

Some Reflections on Spiritual Values and Indigenous Values Spirituality and Spiritual Values The English word “Spirit,” when translated to Sinhalese (the language that a majority of the population of Sri Lanka speak), is known as Adhyɑthmɑya, and the term Adhyɑthmɑya originates from Sanskrit roots wherein most Sinhala words are borrowed. It thereby is a combination of two Sanskrit words Ãdhi and Ãthma. Ãdhi refers to noble, great, or highest and Ãthma refers to an individual. Therefore, Adhyɑthmɑya makes reference to the highest state that an individual can attain. According to the teachings of most great religions, this highest state is already deep within us; it is our inner reality, our fundamental nature. American neuroscientists Hanson and Mendius (2009) state that: It’s a remarkable fact that people who have gone the very deepest into the mind—the sages and saints of every religious tradition—all say essentially the same thing: your fundamental nature is pure, conscious, peaceful, radiant, loving, and wise, and it is joined in mysterious ways with the ultimate understanding of reality, by whatever name we give that. Although your true nature may be hidden momentarily by stress and worry, anger and unfulfilled longings, it still continues to exist. (p. 15)

The fact that the highest state exists within is expressed in different religions in different words: “Buddha Within,” “God Within,” “Krishna Within,” “Jesus

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Within,” and “the Kingdom of Heaven Within.” This is a state of mind which has no boundaries of “I” versus “Others” but instead is filled with “universal love.” All religions acknowledge that we are potentially capable of experiencing the highest state within and become kind, compassionate, peaceful, wise, and happy human beings. This view is confirmed by modern science. According to recent discoveries in neuroscience, universal love of the highest state is hardwired in our brain and expresses itself as an inner urge to connect with others and act for the well-being of others. Cozolino (2006), an American psychologist and social neuroscientist, explains that just as neurons connect and communicate with each other, our brains strive to connect with one another. He perceives the human brain as a social organ. According to Lieberman (2013), an American social neuroscientist, our need to connect with other people is wired in our brain, and it is even more fundamental than our need for food and shelter. Further, based on recent discoveries in neuroscience, Pfaff (2007), an American neuroscientist, states that the human brain is hardwired to act according to the Golden Rule – one should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself. The same author, in his recent book, Altruistic Brain: How We Are Naturally Good (Pfaff 2015), demonstrates that human beings are hardwired to behave altruistically. According to him, spontaneous kindness is our default behavior. Spirituality refers to the state of being one with the highest state. This is also called Enlightenment. Thus, universal love is a property of the highest state or the Spirit within us. Therefore, we naturally value love which comes from deep within – from the Spirit that is within all human beings. Hence, universal love and the other values based on it such as compassion, kindness, sharing, generosity, honesty, truthfulness, and nonviolence can be called spiritual values. Since all human beings value them irrespective of their worldly differences, they can also be called basic human values. They all arise from deep within. Hence, it is sensible to call them intrinsic values as well.

Materialistic Values Despite universal love being intrinsic to us all, most of us, the ordinary human beings, hardly demonstrate spiritual values in our ordinary day-to-day life within family, society, and workplaces. Instead of valuing universal love and love-based higher qualities, most of us value and therefore seek money, material possessions, power over others, social status, reputation, respect, and fame. These materialistic values dominate our thoughts, speech, and actions and determine most of the choices that we make in our ordinary life. To understand how materialistic values overpower spiritual values and take control over thoughts and actions, we need to understand how cravings and attachments develop within us. When we experience the external world through our senses, we recognize some experiences as pleasurable, some as unpleasurable, and the rest as neutral. For the experiences which we find highly pleasurable, we tend to develop a strong desire or craving. We keep such experiences in our memory which in turn motivate us to seek the same experiences repeatedly.

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The actual enjoyment of a pleasurable experience and seeking such an experience are two different processes, neurologically, that involve two different neural processes and neurochemicals. Referring to the difference between these two processes, Marwa Azab, an American neuroscientist, states that: Whereas the “want” [seeking] system is activated in pursuing a rewarding stimulus, the “like” [enjoyment] system is activated in the actual experience of the reward. The feel-good chemicals here are opiates (have analgesic effects) and not dopamine. While dopamine is released in anticipation of a pleasurable event, opiates are released when actually experiencing the pleasure. So, dopamine is what compels you to drive at midnight to get your favorite ice cream, and opiates are involved in the intense pleasure you experience while eating it. Dopamine leads to seeking behaviors, to pursue at any expense and makes the chase feel good. Opiates produce a stagnant state of pleasant calmness and quiescence and also feels good. (Azab 2017)

Our craving for pleasurable experiences, keeping such experiences in our memory and seeking them again in anticipation of a “good time” in the future, makes us attached to such experiences. Our attachment to a pleasurable experience makes us averse to its opposite. Then, our attachment to pleasure and aversion to pain make us pleasure-seekers and pain avoiders, and so, seeking pleasure and avoiding pain become the ultimate goal of almost everything that we do in our ordinary life. As a result, quite naturally, we give a high value to pleasure-giving material objects and events. Consequently, extrinsic materialistic values disempower the intrinsic spiritual values and gain control over our behavior.

Spiritual Values in Indigenous Societies In most indigenous communities, there is a set of natural, social, cultural, and institutional settings which encourage spiritual values and discourage materialist values. Activities of each indigenous community are confined to its own territory. Owing to their isolation from the rest of the world, they also find it hard to obtain the support of any external parties. Therefore, quite naturally, people in indigenous societies have to depend on each other for their very survival. In such a situation, there is no space for self-centered behavior. Selfish, greed, and exploitative practices are not possible. On the other hand, it encourages spiritual values such as generosity, cooperation, sharing, giving, and helping others. They become absolutely vital for survival. They play a role as a form of insurance against the prevailing insecurity and uncertainty. Furthermore, each indigenous community has to depend exclusively on the resources available within the territory. Therefore, a caring and loving relationship with their natural resources and sustainable use of natural resources become essential for their survival. Thus, there is no room for greedy and exploitative practices. Most natural resources are treated as common property, and therefore, there is only a little room for individuals to possess and accumulate material wealth. The absence of private ownership discourages greed and encourages sharing. In some indigenous

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societies, the caste system determines an individuals’ social and economic role. In such societies, the caste determines what individuals do for living, where they live, how they dress, and in some cases, even what they eat. One’s social status is fixed at the birth itself. Thus once more, ones’ greed for higher social status is made impossible.

Examining Organizational Knowledge Through Structures and Functions Structural functional theory provides a strong background to analyze a society focusing attention on different institutions prevailing there and the functions performed by each. Society has been commonly viewed in this perspective as a stable arrangement of interrelated and interdependent parts which move together with where the social bonds are held together by shared values of people (Durkheim 1893). According to Durkheim (1893), in a social analysis, attention needs to be paid on the social facts like laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, and rituals which govern the social life, beyond the control of individuals. Parsons (1951) explains society as a system of interconnected social structures where the roles played by each of these structures contribute to the smooth functioning of the society. Accordingly, the generally agreed means for accomplishing ends such as the shared values and norms were acknowledged as functions which ensure the operation of a given society. This indicates that an explanation of a society’s structures and functions provides a clear assessment of the society concerned. Tacit organizational knowledge incorporates the knowledge tied to intuition, unarticulated mindsets, or implicit rules of thumb (Nonaka and Von Krogh 2009) associated with these structures and functions and is found in actions, procedures, routines, ideas, and emotions (Nonaka et al. 1996). Being a cognitive component, values embedded in organizational structures and functions represent a significant part of organizational knowledge. Thus, a study of structures and functions of the social organization offers a strong background to analyze its tacit values relating to managing people.

Research Method For studying the values of managing people prevailed in ancient social organization, the present study takes an exploratory approach with a qualitative inquiry. As an analysis of social organization is possible with information on its structures and functions (Parsons 1951), data were collected on such aspects of the social organization, from secondary sources including research-based publications such as books and journal articles which are extensively quoted and well recognized in the field of social sciences. Qualitative data gathered from the above sources were analyzed using document analysis methods including coding, memoing, and categorizing. Data on structures and functions of ancient social organizations were coded and categorized primarily to identify practices of managing people under three

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types of practices relating to allocation of work, execution of authority, and distribution of resources (Bandara and Dissanayake 2017). Values embedded in those practices were derived then by coding and categorizing appropriately in the second stage. Accordingly, five major themes were generated upon 38 codes, which indicate the indigenous values of managing people in Sri Lankan social organization.

Structure of Administration in Ancient Sri Lanka Introduction to Ancient System of Administration in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka is a South Asian island country located in Indian Ocean. Having a recorded history of more than 2500 years, the country is well-known for its advanced civilizations that existed during the ancient era. Historical records bear evidences to the existence of a well-developed social structure in Sri Lanka during ancient era where the entire range of social and economic relationships were maintained within the scope of public administration, which was based on traditional Sinhalese monarchical system (Dewaraja 1995). Hence, to identify the values upheld in the traditional organizational management efforts, it needs a careful examination of indigenous social organization as there were no private firms in ancient era where the entire society was functioned as one integrated system of public administration. The ancient native public administrative organization of the country was territorially organized with a functional division at the bottom of the administrative ladder (Dewaraja 1995), decentralizing powers accordingly. The administrative system was highly authoritarian with the supremacy of traditional conventions, customs, and shared values of the society which kept the boundaries of the system so strong and rigid. Theoretically, the King had absolute powers (D’Oyly 1929; Coomaraswamy 1908; Percival 1805), but in practice, his powers were largely determined by custom or law and therefore is not legally unlimited (Jennings 1952), where the King had to follow the fundamental principles of justice and equity (dharma) and custom and etiquette (sirith virith) as established by the policies (Paranavithana 1959). Land tenure was the key to the social economy of the Kandyans (Coomaraswamy 1908), creating feudalistic features in the structure. Yet, the land tenure gave rise to an obligatory communal service system which was mutually beneficial every party. Hired labor was considered derogatory both to the employer and the employee (Dewaraja 1985). The relationship existed among the heads and the subordinate people were not mainly based on material returns, and it was a sort of leader-member relationship with closer emotional and psychological ties (Bandara and Dissanayake 2017). Upon the above structural and functional attributes of the Sri Lankan indigenous public administrative organization, certain insights can be drawn in relation to its institutalization of human resource. Thus, three main structures have been identified that have been designed to handle work, authority, and resources of the social organization. Accordingly, indigenous organizational management can be seen as

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a function of task-related practices, leader /supervisor-related practices, and reward-related practices (Bandara and Dissanayake 2017). The following section briefly explains each of these elements with specific systems or mechanisms associated with them and the role they played in managing the overall organization.

Structures and Functions of Ancient Public Administration in Sri Lanka Arrangement of Work: Task-Related Practices Arrangement of work was mainly done through three systems, i.e., the caste system, Rajakariya system, and communal work system. The caste system divided the population into a set of hierarchical occupational groups. Caste system in Sri Lanka is seen as the vocational and service aspect of the social organization (Ryan 1953) and as the dynamic force driving the cogwheels of the administrative machinery (Dewaraja 1995). It has been further identified as the foundation of whole social and economic organizational mechanism in the Kandyan Kingdom (Dewaraja 1995). Being bounded by strict conventional rules, each group had to perform a unique hereditary service, for which they held the sole task ownership. Every member of the social organization had a unique role to play in this system, and each role formed an important part within the whole. Coomaraswamy (1908) views that “the different parts of the social organism were fitted and dovetailed together; there was a place for every man, and no man could be spared.” As such, the caste system gave rise to occupational niches specialized in different occupations which produced different services required for the functioning of the social organization. However, these occupational groups had certain rights, privileges, as well as restrictions in their social and economic operations which were imposed by the conventional laws. Caste consisted of a complete system of life and work, in which every man knew his place, had regular work, and rarely exchanged it for another (Mendis 1952). In consequence, the organization has got a clearly visible stratified (Pakeman 1970) and differentiated (Rogers 2004) structure on the basis of the caste system. The specific conditions determined the identity of each occupational group with exclusive social and economic capacities. Accordingly, the caste system functioned as a self-contained autonomous social order of the people and as an official order of the society which was protected, controlled, and stabilized by the government (Dewaraja 1995). Hence, the caste structure prevailed in the context was viewed as a system of labor specialization providing the various services needed for the state and society where each caste was economically privileged in the sense that it alone had the right to supply a particular kind of labor (Dewaraja 1995). Performances of every group were integrated to ensure the smooth functioning of the society. Rajakariya system is a mechanism which combined land tenure and caste services for state and public service. It was a compulsory requirement that members of the social organization should engage in public services, military services, and

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services due to the state authorities imposed by the government during a prescribed period of time (Silva 1981; Mendis 1952). As noted by Silva (1981), the key feature of the Rajakariya system was the performance of gratuitous services on public works such as construction of roads, bridges, and tanks. Communal work system was used to maintain the common resources like land and irrigation systems at village levels. Every member of the village was given a specific portion of the overall maintenance, renovation, or expansion tasks, proportionately to the extent of land they owned or possessed. Having departmentalized functionally and territorially, the system of work allocation yielded specialization through division of labor. With the rigid conventional boundaries over occupational groups, each group had a high degree of task identity and task significance which lead them to have a monopolistic right regarding the designated services they provided. Resultant high bargaining power of every occupational group created a balanced autonomy in the system making task interdependence essential. In this context, jobs require only a limited variety of skills and were less complex with a small number of tasks. Rajakari system made them obligatory for the public service, incorporating all the occupational groups into the system. Members of the social organization were further moved toward collective responsibility and accountability through the communal work system.

Execution of Authority: Supervisor-/Leader-Related Practices Authority was executed in ancient society through two major governance structures. Basically, there existed a formal administrative structure consisted of the King and subordinate officers where the King had an absolute power theoretically, which was counterbalanced by the supremacy of conventional laws (Jennings 1952; Amarasinghe 1999). In this formal and central government mechanism, powers were delegated to subordinate authorities at both territorial and functional divisions of the organization. In addition, the community-based governance mechanisms based on conventional and traditional moral rules delegated the authority beyond the formal structures where natural leaders and the members could make decisions in a participatory approach. For instance, there were institutions called Rata Sabha and Gam Sabha which were designated to resolve disputes at caste and village levels, respectively. Gam Sabha or village council was an institution which voluntarily endeavors to manage people and their affairs by resolving the conflicts and issues among them. It was an assembly of villagers headed by the natural leaders which had jurisdiction over both administrative and judicial matters. According to Hayley (1923), Gam Sabha had both civil and criminal jurisdiction in questions of boundaries, petty debts, and petty offenses. This institution has been identified as one of the earliest governance entities (Hayley 1923) which practiced arbitration as the decision-making mode (Marshal 1839). Variga Sabha was another similar institution but in contrast to the Gam Sabha which had jurisdiction over the territory of a village. Variga Sabha has been noted as a formalized caste body which performed judicial functions relevant to caste

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customs for preserving the caste integrity and for purifying the atmosphere (Ryan 1953). Hence, it can be considered as a caste court which was used to settle caste-related issues within the boundaries of castes. The mechanism followed here was settling the matter by a tribunal consisting of respectable persons of that particular caste. In both Gam Sabhas and Variga Sabhas, there were panels of natural leaders who heard the cases and made the judgments in accordance with the conventional laws. These informal groups and natural leaders were acknowledged by the formal structure. In the absence of written laws and regulations, the entire system of authority execution was based on conventional values which were voluntarily accepted and strongly shared by the members. As a whole, leaders were expected to act in a paternal, caring style where the parties trusted each other mutually. At the top level of the organization, the King was expected to lead a virtuous and righteous life (Geiger 1960; Ariyapala 1956), so that they become qualified in every way to exercise the moral authority to dispense justice (Amarasinghe 1999).

Deployment of Resources: Reward-Related Practices Basically, two types of natural resources, i.e., land and water, made up the resource pool of the ancient public administrative organization, where farming was the principal occupation of the people. Lands were considered as belonging to the King, and they were released for public use through Royal grants of feudalistic nature (Pieris 1956). As per the prevailed conventional laws, the King granted large extents of lands though Royal charters to the wealthy and powerful persons of superior castes who pleased the King with their acts of loyalty, with competencies, or with valuable gifts. Once granted such lands were known as Nindagam (fiefdom), and it was divided into small villages occupied by people belonging to different castes. Nindagam were bound to serve the sovereign in war time and in public works in addition to the regular state services its members had to perform (Pieris 1956). This arrangement gave rise to small republic kind of self-sufficient communities. Commonly, possession rights of lands were attached to performance of services (Bertolacci 1817; Ryan 1953; Pieris 1956). Possession rights of lands were given to occupational groups with the responsibility of performing the hereditary services appropriately. They collectively had the possession rights and performance responsibilities. Lands were mainly used for agriculture and inhabitation purposes. Agriculture was the caste-free occupation and all the members of the social organization involved in farming, irrespective of different occupational groups to which they belong. However, the common plots of lands given to occupation-based communities were divided among its members where they had to cultivate the granted areas. Farming was tightly linked with the water supplied through irrigation schemes, where every village had a source of water either from a man-made tank reservoirs (Wewa) or rivers (Ganga) or canals (Ela). Tennakoon (1974) observes the common

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Tank Bund Settlement Zone 1 = Tank

Zone 2 = “Old Fields”

Zone 3 = “Field Blocks”

Zone 4 = Parklands Zone 5 = Forest Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of a typical traditional dry zone village. (Source: Shakthivadivel et al., Natural Resources Management Study of North Central Province, Sri Lanka, Main Report, May 1996, International Irrigation Management Institute, Pelawatta, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka)

structure of a traditional village with a tank reservoir with five broad zones (Fig. 1). Among them, the tank was regarded as the “nerve center” or the most important part of the village economy. Zones 2 and 3 are farming lands. Zone 2 is known as Purana wela (old fields) which are much closer to both the tank and the settlement than the farming lands of Zone 3. Old fields were possible to water even if the water level is fairly low, and most importantly every member of the village gets a plot of land from this zone. Conversely, Zone 3 could be irrigated only when the water level in the tank was high, and only a few individuals owned these lands. Zones 4 and 5 had been left without any specific purpose and covered mostly with the small woodlands and forests, but the use of these areas was largely important for ensuring the support of natural environment for the survival of organizational members. There was a traditional method of dividing lands among the members which formed an easy and effective mechanism for obtaining their services in both occupational and communal scopes. Accordingly, one single plot of land was called a “pangu” (a single share of land) and defined as the smallest piece of land within the village paddy farming land which was used as a measurement to determine the size of other lands. Every member got one or few of these “pangus,” and by having a share of land, they became “pangukarayo” (shareholders). It was seen as an impartial method to distribute lands (Karunananda 2006) as the shareholders were held responsible to perform the occupational or communal service in proportionate to the extent of lands they possess. Thus, every shareholder had to contribute to the maintenance or expansion work of the irrigation infrastructure based on their portion of lands.

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The conventional laws guided division of land into shares and allocation of these plots among the village members. For instance, seniority of the villagers in terms of occupancy in the village and the capability of irrigating the lands were of primary consideration in determining the land rights. Determining the boundaries of each plot was done in a technical approach. Though personally rights of possession were upheld through the pangu system, it never underestimated the collective rights. For instance, “when the water storage of the tank is not sufficient to irrigate all the paddy fields part of the land proportionate to the supply of water available is selected and divided among all pangukarayo (shareholders) in proportion to the extent each owns” (Ievers 1899). This was known as “Bethma” method, and it was later recognized by the formal irrigation laws enacted during the colonial period. In addition to paddy cultivation, chena cultivation was also done, especially in the dry zone. Lands were found for chena cultivation by clearing the jungle land which were commonly owned by all the inhabitants of the village. All grounds from which water was drained out to the tank or fields were considered to be the chena lands of that village (Karunananda 2006). Two key methods used to arrange the chena cultivation land by dividing it among the members clearly reflect the communal approach taken in this regard. In one method, the village shareholders would select a suitable piece of land and, taking a large tree as the center point (mulkete), tie a creeper of one or two cubits’ length to this tree and trace a small circle around it marking the entire area of the “hena” (Pieris 1956). The land is divided around the “mulkete” where after clearing, burning, and marking the boundary lines, the whole “hena” resembles a wheel with the spokes dividing the “pangu.” The other method of allocating lands for chena cultivation is called “iravilla” where lands were arranged in squares (Pieris 1956). The first method was used when a large extent of land is available for chena cultivation, while the second method was used when the available land was small. Cultivation, especially paddy farming, was tightly linked with the water supplied through irrigation schemes. Massive irrigation schemes as well as simple and small irrigation arrangements had been constructed for serving this purpose. The beginnings of the Sri Lankan indigenous hydraulic systems have been traced back to the eras of ancient Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa civilizations which were inforce till about the end of the twelfth century (Dissanayake 1992). One of the exclusive features of this system is “Ellanga,” the cascade-based irrigation system. A cascade of tanks is made up of four to ten individual small tanks, with each tank having its own micro-catchment, but where all of the tanks are situated within a single meso-catchment basin (Panabokke 2009). According to Madduma Bandara (1985), a cascade is a connected series of tanks that are organized within the micro-catchments of the dry zone landscape, for storing, conveying, and utilizing water from an ephemeral rivulet. The cascade concept is seen as an age-old concept which had been the linking thread of irrigation development and management throughout the irrigation history of this country (Tennakoon 1974) by interweaving the village affairs and entities hydrologically

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Main axis of cascade Macro-catchment boundary

em eso -c a

rchme nt

T

Micro-catchment area T T T

ey

all

ev

Sid

ed boun da tersh Wa ry

of t h

T

Main valley

T

Small tank wewa

Flow

River/ stream Paddy

Fig. 2 Schematic representation of a cascade. (Source: Adopted from Panabokke 2009)

as well as socioeconomically. Figure 2 shows a schematic representation of a cascade-based irrigation system. Thus, it is clear that both the resources, lands and water, were considered as having a collective ownership and therefore managed with collective decisions where members were collectively responsible and accountable for the maintenance and development. Their obligation to share the overall responsibilities and to participate in decision-making relating to resource utilization gave the members a feeling of ownership and entrepreneurship. At the same time, the usage of these resources was highly environmental friendly. These long-term oriented arrangements ensured sustainability of the system with a high reliability of organizational inputs supply.

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Indigenous Values of Managing People in Sri Lanka Development of Values for Managing People The above discussion on structures and functions of ancient Sri Lankan public administrative organization clearly reveals the indigenous knowledge of managing organizations in three main aspects. Lying beneath the visible structures and functions was one of the most powerful cognitive elements associated with the indigenous knowledge, i.e., values of managing people. Since there were no written laws, rules, or regulations, the entire management effort was based on conventional guidelines. However, these conventional guidelines were well established in the system and were unquestionably accepted by the members. In the traditional public administrative organization, the implied social contracts remained uninterrupted with the customary performances continued over generations and the obligations served for centuries. In this context, the members were accustomed to respect and follow these guidelines while using them as a framework to shape their thoughts, perceptions, decisions, and finally behaviors. Thus, being an expression of members’ cognition, these conventional laws were embedded in the society in the form of values, which were strongly shared by the members. A systematic closer look on the structural and functional features of the system offers a wide background to discover the values embedded in the ancient Sri Lankan social and administrative organization. Accordingly, the values which provided the invisible framework for managing the organizations and their people can be classified into five broad categories as collectivism, mindfulness, balance of powers, simplicity and cooperation, and morality and righteousness.

Broader Categories of Indigenous Values Collectivism Collectivism was valued over individualism where members who were organized as occupational groups engaged in their duties in collective efforts. Responsibilities of performing the designated tasks were collectively shared by the members where they were collectively accountable for the performances. As viewed by Brohier (1973), performing a particular task was the “everybody’s business” in an occupational group. The occupational groups were highly cohesive with the unique identity given to each. Hence, every group has certain interdependencies on other groups where they trusted and respected each other. They had to fulfill mutual service obligations for yielding benefits mutually. As the members consciously acknowledged their role in the overall functioning of the organization, they willingly volunteered in expressing extra-role behaviors. Democracy was upheld in governance efforts by delegating powers and making consensus-based decisions.

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Mindfulness Most importantly, the members unquestionably accept the values of the tradition, where the conscious recognition of the members of their occupational rights and social capacities made them mindful. Voluntary acceptance of members ensured intact functioning of the rigid orders of task-related, supervisor-related, and rewardrelated practices which in turn guaranteed the conformity to tradition and loyalty of members toward the organization and their duties. Religious philosophies have been viewed as playing an important role in developing this mindset. People used to believe that man’s earthly life is a necessary consequence of his former deeds or Kamma which is an immutable law standing at the very core of Buddhist philosophy (Ryan 1953). These conscious recognition obligatory performances were carried out as formalities for which every member had to contribute according to the scope of the services assigned to their occupational group. This contribution was given by the members of specific occupational groups with a clear understanding and acceptance of the duties which have been assigned to them. Individual members had a conscious recognition of their own social statuses, and this mindset had become a strong value which was used as a tool for ensuring mindfulness. Coomaraswamy (1903) refers this condition to “spiritual feudalism,” whereby the traditional systems make a peasant in all his poverty, one of the aristocrats of humanity. Because of this mindfulness, members had maintained a high degree of self-discipline, beyond the conservative boundaries and formal controls. Balance of Powers Balance of powers was another implicit value underlying the structures and functions of the social organization relating to its management. High powers and authorities were given to certain individuals and occupational groups according to their respective positions in the social hierarchy, but the occupational monopoly and resultant bargaining power convinced the groups or individuals with less powers to recompense the restrictions associated with the social grading system. Consequently, the interactions between occupational groups were benevolent and compassionate, despite of the formality and order and the power distance between social ranks. Similarly, the despotic powers given to the King and the autocratic powers vested with the formal authorities were counterbalanced by enforcing the superiority of conventional laws and empowering natural leaders, informal institutions, and work groups. This delegation of power established a decision-making mechanism in a participatory approach while ensuring democracy. Simplicity and Cooperation The lifestyles of the members were so simple, with less amount of needs they had compared to modern-day society and with the organizational structure which made simple arrangements for managing the functions. Arrangements of work allocation, execution of authority, and resource deployment were not so complex and gave rise to simple task-related, leadership-related, and resource-related management practices, based on a collective approach. As a result, the members were not

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competitive but cooperative while maintaining mutually supportive and trusted relationships. At the same time, the rigidity of conventions suppresses the passions and ambitions of the members from realizing beyond the traditional boundaries. Low task and skill variety attributed with their occupation further allowed them to work in a relaxed mood. The members of the indigenous social organization valued non-violence over fierceness where they extended this approach toward the natural environment too. Environment and its constituents including trees and animals were regarded as living beings and parts of the human life, whereby excessive usage or harmful exploitation was not allowed by the conventions. The deal between social organization and the environment was a benevolent and compassionate one.

Morality and Righteousness In addition to the above-discussed values, morality and righteousness were valued in the functioning of the system and the behaviors of the members. For instance, underlying values of the caste system were viewed as honor, pride, and noblesse oblige (Coomaraswamy 1907), and the influence of traditional systems was noted as almost moral (Davy 1821). Honesty, trustworthiness, and peacefulness were valued as moral characteristics that should be possessed by an individual, where humanity and nobleness of acts were expected from every member in their normal behavior. Especially, a King was expected to have a virtuous and righteous character which enables him to be morally authoritative to dispense justice against offenders (Amarasinghe 2009; Jennings 1952). As such the tacit knowledge of management embedded in indigenous organizational management practices reveal a number of values that were underlying and driving the systems for optimum utilization of human resource.

Spiritual Values for Utilizing HR in Organizations It is clear that the indigenous system of organizational management prevailed in Sri Lanka was entirely a value-based system. The unwritten laws enforced through customs and traditions created a strong system of shared values relating to functioning of the social organization, while the conventional mechanisms and natural leaders steered the members to stay within the traditional boundaries. Being developed throughout ages, the conventional guidelines had become important values of the social organization. Members were well aware about these values, and they were strongly guided by these values in performing organizational functions. With an uninterrupted operationalization of generations, the members strongly adhered to the values of the system. The powerful organizational culture where most of the members share the values of the system was one of the main grounds which ensured proper utilization of HR in the indigenous management system. The culture consisted of certain values which contributed largely to assure sustainability of the system. Values were not artificially articulated or implanted but engendered on their own grounds and therefore not strange to them in any way.

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These values were constructively aligned with the prevailed common religious teachings and did not conflict with them. For instance, the core ideologies of Buddhism did not reject the roots of the established order of social hierarchy and instead provided a justifiable ground for it. Collectivistic approach was beneficial in many ways for smooth functioning of the organization which was structured in a systems approach. Functionally and geographically departmentalized occupational groups were there to perform the functions of the organization. Having specific identities, monopolistic occupational powers, and considerable autonomy to make decisions on their own matters, these groups were highly cohesive and continued to perform as parts of the system. At the same time, balance of power was valued and practiced strategically while keeping the social order and circumventing excessive authoritarianism concurrently. Since members mindfully accepted the duties assigned to them and performed the relevant tasks with a sense of shared responsibility and accountability, their performances were effective and hardly disturbed organizational processes. On the other hand, this conscious recognition prevents them for being dissatisfied within the authoritarian restrictions of the traditional system. Simplicity and cooperation, as a key value, further enhanced the sustainability in the same way. As a result of collectivistic and systems approaches of the organizational management, members had no need to compete with the others, and instead they had to mutually trust and support each other. Similarly, the morality and righteousness lead the members to shape their personal characters in a way which does not harm other members or the organization as a whole. These values embedded in each aspect of the organization formed a strong institutalization where the organization had its own life and identity apart from the individuals. Upon this ground, the organization had a very powerful culture with well-accepted values which provided a main ground for effective HR utilization. On the other hand, uniqueness of this institutalization is its incorporation of all members and occupational groups as parts and parcels to constitute its whole. As a whole, the strong integration of organizational units including occupational groups and formal and informal institutions ensured the smooth functioning of the organization in a clear systems view. In this setting, every group and every individual had to perform a specific duty for which they had a kind of ownership. Having a strong sense of shared responsibility and accountability upon the inherent occupational rights and collectivistic performances, members honored and respect their duties while providing the services to complete the system’s functioning. Thus, the key strategies used for utilizing human resource in indigenous social organization can be identified twofold, in relation to structure and culture of the organization. First, the structure of the organization that had been done in a systems approach ensured the efficient contribution of every member. Second, the powerful organizational culture with strongly shared values guaranteed effectiveness of performances. These two elements, structure and culture, were well-aligned with each other so that the outcomes assured long-run survival and sustainability of the system.

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Insights from Indigenous Knowledge of Management to Modern Organizations Upon the above discussion of indigenous values of organizational management and their spirituality, this section discusses the lessons that can be learned by the present-day organizations for ensuring their sustainability and development. The lessons the indigenous knowledge of management offers for effective utilization of HR in modern organizations can be identified in few different perspectives. Though it is neither possible nor useful to re-establish all the attributes of indigenous organizations in the contemporary context, there can be certain understandings that can be brought effectively to the modern time for effective utilization of HR in organizations. Especially, the organizations in a particular society may gain substantial benefits from the tacit knowledge embedded in its indigenous management practices. On the other hand, despite the ancient practices and systems which have been elapsed and outdated in the modern times, the mindsets and values underlying them may be still living in the cognitive spheres, influencing the individuals in making decisions and determining their behaviors even unknowingly. At the same time, there are certain strategies which can be reutilized in the present context upon their appropriateness in shaping people’s minds and behaviors. Considering all these aspects, few important insights can be drawn on the lessons that can be revitalized in the contemporary organizations. First, as the previous discussion clearly indicates, the alignment of structure and culture at the level of organization created a well-harmonized compatibility between behavior and values at the level of individuals. Coherence of structure and culture has been identified as an effective strategy to enhance organizational performance in modern management thoughts. Proper organizational alignment has been viewed as a source of individual and collective efficiency and effectiveness while supporting the process of human resource development (Sender 1997). Second, development of a value-based management system might be another ground which facilitates effective utilization of human resources within an organization. Many organizations in the contemporary world consider values as an effective tool to shape the behaviors of employees. Being a primary drive of human behavior, values are capable of being an influential determinant of an individual’s behavior. If organizations identify its core values and the values held by its members concurrently, there is a substantial possibility of developing strategies to make person-organization fit in terms of values. When individuals find a place with compatible values, they get an encouraging atmosphere to behave according to their own values. This would lead them toward high involvement and commitment in organizational work. At the same time, the growing scholarly interest on spirituality in the workplace indicates a new paradigm of management (Karakas 2010) where spiritual dimensions including simplicity, meaning self-expression and interconnectedness (Marques et al. 2007) at the workplace, are highly concerned. Further, the positive impact of promoting spirituality for better performances has been widely recognized.

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Hence, in identification of prevalent values, their spirituality dimensions would enable a particular organization to seek potential opportunities for effectively utilizing its human resource through values and spirituality. Especially, in a context where deterioration of values has been viewed as a main reason for organizational inefficiency and ineffectiveness, like in Sri Lankan public administrative organization (Warnapala 2013; Somasundaram 1997), such an effort is worthwhile to be exerted. It has been well accepted that an organization cannot completely ignore the values intended by its members or the values embedded in the context (Dowling and Pfeffer 1975; Zucker 1987). Values prevail in organizations either explicitly as codified (Busch 2008) or implicitly as unarticulated but embedded (Nonaka 1994; Nonaka et al. 1996; Nonaka and Von Krogh 2009). Indigenous knowledge is generally found in traditions and practices, contributing largely to form distinctive intuitions, mindsets, and implicit rules of thumb. Being a cognitive component, values too form a part of this knowledge base. Hence, this body of indigenous knowledge including the values represents the tacit aspect of organizational knowledge, which is not formally articulated and declared. Positive impacts of utilizing tacit embedded knowledge for organizational sustainability and competitiveness have been discussed widely in management literature. According to Nonaka (1994), tacit knowledge of an organization affects the overall organizational knowledge and performances when such knowledge is made explicit and articulated. Further as Tsoukas (2005) suggests, organizations may find new knowledge through tacit knowledge when prevailing practices are modified by new ways through social interaction. As knowledge management plays a vital role as a mediator in the relationship between culture, structure, and organizational effectiveness (Zheng et al. 2010), appropriately revitalizing the indigenous values of managing people embedded in indigenous knowledge of organizational management would further enhance the potential benefits of managing such knowledge within an organization.

Concluding Remarks Social organization of ancient Sri Lanka had a vast array of management practices and comprehensive systems to manage people and other resources of the organization. Institutalization of ancient social organization was mainly based on three dimensions, i.e., allocation of work, execution of authority, and distribution of resources. These structures gave rise to certain task-related, authority-related, and resource-related practices of management. Caste system, Rajakari system, and communal work system ensured performance of occupational tasks and services of the social organization through traditional hereditary and conventional methods of performing duties. Both formal central government headed by the King and the informal institutions consisted of certain organizational members and natural leaders together maintained a dual and balanced authority. Natural resources created common resource pools for the functionally and territorially departmentalized occupational groups. However, they were collectively responsible for most

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of the maintenance and expansion works of the lands and irrigation schemes. In the absence of formally written laws, rules, and regulations, the entire system functioned based on the conventional guidelines. The indigenous social organization had embedded a strong set of values which were immensely shared by the members. These implicit values ensured the sustainability by establishing a collectivistic mentality among the members while enabling them to be mindful about their role within the overall system. Balance of powers was valued, and related practices promoted equilibrium between occupational monopolies and hierarchical statuses. Simplicity of systems and cooperation among the members were manifested as important values where individuals’ morality and righteousness were also regarded as values underlying the functioning of the system. The organizational management approach of indigenous social organization indicates certain insights which can be considered in managing HR in modern organizations. Accordingly, strong alignment of structure and culture of the organization in a systems view, utilization of values and spiritual dimensions, and incorporation of tacit organizational knowledge have been identified as significant indications for strategies of utilizing HR in matching contexts.

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Some Reflections on Achieving Happiness at the Workplace Through Practical Buddhism

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Rohana Ulluwishewa, Anura Uthumange, Ranisha Weerakoon, and Denzil Perera

Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spirituality and Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discovering the Meaning of Spirit and Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Happiness from Spiritual Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pleasure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Practical Buddhism and Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Buddhist Approach to Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Four Noble Truths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vipassana: A Technique to Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Middle Path, Spiritual Growth, and Workplace Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Middle Path and Workplace Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spiritual Growth, Universal Love, and Workplace Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

Work is considered a way to earn money for living and is generally perceived to be a stressful and unhappy experience. This study points out that happiness, in contrast to pleasure, is a property of the Spirit. The Spirit, while remaining within each and every one of us as our ultimate source of life, fills the whole universe and functions as an inseparable single entity. Therefore, at the level of Spirit, we are not separate individuals but are integral parts of the Universe, and our perceived R. Ulluwishewa (*) · A. Uthumange · R. Weerakoon Center for Spirituality in Sustainable Business Management, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Gangodawila, Sri Lanka e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] D. Perera Hayleys Applitek at Hayleys Aventura, Colombo, Sri Lanka e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_21

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separateness in the material world is an illusion. Evidence suggests that we are designed in such a way that if we align ourselves with the Spirit and live selflessly as integral parts of the whole, we experience happiness. On the other hand, if we perceive ourselves as separate entities and live selfishly, we suffer. Spirituality involves aligning ourselves with oneness of the Spirit. Performing work as a spiritual practice enables employees to align themselves with the Spirit and experience happiness. Spirituality therefore is the missing link between work and happiness. All religions can be considered as different pathways to achieve this goal. This study focusses on Buddhism and points out that the Middle Path, which captures the essence of Buddhism, both provides a practical guide to make work a spiritual activity and experience happiness at work. Vipassana, the mindtraining technique proposed by the Buddha, is a technique that can be practiced while working. Keywords

Spirituality · Quantum physics · Neuroplasticity · Happiness · Pleasure · Workplace · Buddhism · Middle path · Vipassana

Introduction Work generally refers to any mental or physical activity being performed to achieve a purpose or result. Work includes paid work as well as the unpaid work performed within familial settings. The workplace, therefore, for many of us, is a combination of a series of thoughts, actions, and deeds that we bring together in order to earn money, which we thereafter utilize to “buy” happiness. Thus, considering this pattern and perception of our workplaces that we have woven around us, we commit ourselves to sacrificing the happiness and peace of our present and obligingly undergo stress, anxiety, depression, and an overall sense of suffering at work with the grand expectation of finding happiness after work. Thereby, while at work, we eagerly look forward to getting out of work so that we could enjoy the happiness and freedom that await us; and so this exhausting cycle of earning money to buy happiness continues. There is a general belief that stress and unhappiness at work are normal. For most of us, happiness is not something that we find while at work, but after work, when we are free from the burden of work and the stress that it generates. We direct our hardearned freedom and money on various pleasurable activities which make us happy. Therefore, when looking at this reality, we cannot but argue that most employers seem to have failed in keeping their employees happy during their working hours and that they have fallen back in terms of creating nurturing work environs which foster happiness. Employers therefore seem to be blind to the potential significance of keeping the employees happy since their major concern is and has been profit generation. However, it is now evident that stress, depression, and unhappiness among employees can adversely affect their work

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performance, commitment to work, work satisfaction, productivity, and organizational citizenship behavior, which would ultimately affect the drive towards profit generation of the organization. Happy employees are less inclined to leave their jobs, they are better at satisfying customers, they take initiative in creating nurturing work environs which boosts productivity, and they act in ways that are safer and healthier (Olsson et al. 2013; Neshatdust et al. 2009). Most developed industrial societies today showcase how economic growth has failed in increasing happiness. This can be largely attributed to being a result of the growing social disconnectedness seen among the modern urban society (Layard 2005; Frey 2008). As society becomes richer and urbanized, individuals become busier and find it hard to maintain healthy relationships with others in the family as well as in the society. Nevertheless, in spite of our busy daily schedules, we somehow spend a substantial portion of our daily lives at workplaces. Therefore, adopting appropriate strategies to promote happiness at work is certainly a wise way to promote happiness within the modern society. As a result, workplace happiness has received a great deal of attention from many scholars since recent. This study is an attempt to highlight the significance of spirituality as a source of workplace happiness with special reference to practical Buddhism.

Spirituality and Happiness Discovering the Meaning of Spirit and Spirituality The English word “spirit” has derived from the Latin word spiritus, which means breath or that which gives life or vitality to a system (Zohar and Marshall 2005). All beings, including ourselves, are living systems. If spirit is that which gives life or if it is the source of life of all living systems, what we call spirit must be deathless – and this brings us to question if there is such a deathless entity within us. In order to find out whether there is, we can look into our body with the help of a powerful microscope. Once we do, we will discover that energy which fills each atom of our body. According to physicists, energy cannot be destroyed and is deathless. Therefore, we can conclude that spirit is the energy which fills each and every atom of our body. According to quantum physics, this same energy fills the Universe, and the Universe is a mass field of energy. Renowned theoretical physicist, Bohn (1980), Bohn and Hiley (1993), speaks of how the universe, in spite of its vastness, is a “single undivided whole” which functions as an inseparable and indivisible single field of energy. This view that the Universe is conscious, which has so far been a philosophical concept, is now supported by prominent scientists. A bestselling author and speaker, Elgin (2009), in his book The Living Universe, brings together a substantial volume of evidence from cosmology, biology, and physics to show that the Universe is not dead, but, rather, uniquely alive. Referring to the consciousness of electrons, he quotes theoretical physicist, Freeman Dyson, as saying:

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Matter in quantum mechanics is not an inert substance but an active agent, constantly making choices between alternative possibilities. It appears that mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent inherent in every electron. (p. 43)

He believes that it is reasonable to have faith in the existence of a “mental component of the Universe” and uses scientific evidence to show how consciousness is present in molecules that consist of no more than a few simple proteins. Lanza (2009), a prominent American scientist, in his theory of “Biocentrism,” says that the Universe is fine-tuned for life and that life creates the Universe, not the other way around. This conscious and living universe is widely known as “Universal Consciousness.” It is also referred to by many other names, such as Ultimate Reality, Ultimate Truth, Higher Self, Spiritual Self, and Infinite Self; and this is what is called God in most religions. Haisch, a German-born American astrophysicist, states in his book The God Theory (2009) that consciousness is not a mere epiphenomenon of the brain but that it is our connection to God, the source of all consciousness. Ultimately it is consciousness which creates matter and not vice versa. The Universal Consciousness (God), while remaining as an indivisible and inseparable single entity at the quantum level, manifests itself at the material level in separate forms, e.g., rocks, soils, plants, animals, and human beings, creating the material world. Thus, conscious energy manifests itself as matter. As a result, even though we perceive ourselves as separate individuals at the material level, we are intricately interconnected at the quantum level and remain as inseparable parts of that single undivided whole – the Universal Consciousness. Our perceived separateness therefore is an illusion. In the words of Lanza (2019): The mass of accumulating evidence calls our individual separateness into question. Space and time aren’t the walls we think. Experiments suggest the distinction between past and future-and between here and there-are an illusion.

This Universal Consciousness, while manifesting itself as our physical self that is separate from each other and from the environment, remains deep within us as Spirit, giving life to the physical self. Therefore, at the level of spirit, we are not separate individuals but One, whereas at the material level, we are separate individuals who are vastly different to each other. Recent discoveries in neuroscience declare that our inseparability, interconnectedness, or oneness at the level of spirit is hardwired in our brain in the form of an inner urge which prompts us to connect with others and serve others. Just as neurons connect and communicate with each other, our brains strive to connect with one another, says American psychologist and social neuroscientist, Cozolino (2006). He further considers the brain as a social organ. American social neuroscientist, Lieberman (2013), on the other hand points out that our need to connect with other people is wired in our brain, and it is even more fundamental than our need for food and shelter. He argues questioning why people, if they were solely motivated by self-interest, corporate with each other knowing very well that they would earn less that way? He believes that people are even more motivated

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by something beyond self-interest: the drive for social connection. In addition to being self-interested, we are also interested in the welfare of others. Pfaff (2007), based on recent discoveries in neuroscience, mentions that the human brain is hardwired to act according to the golden rule – one should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself – which represents commonsense ethics and is the ultimate, all-encompassing principle for moral behavior. He explains how specific neural circuits in our brain trigger us to perceive our actions towards another as if they were to happen to us, prompting us to treat others as we wish to be treated ourselves. In his recent book, The Altruistic Brain: How We Are Naturally Good, Pfaff (2015) demonstrates that human beings are hardwired to behave altruistically in the first instance and that unprompted, spontaneous kindness is our default behavior; such behavior thereby comes naturally, irrespective of religious or cultural determinants. This view is further supported by the discovery of what neuroscientists call “mirror neurons,” which are a unique set of neurons which enable us to experience others’ pain and be empathetic (Rizzolatt and Crighero 2004). The mirror neurons instantly project into the other person’s shoes and enable us to experience that person’s feelings. They represent a basic biological mechanism inherent in all individuals, and it is the biological foundation of the previously mentioned golden rule.

Happiness from Spiritual Perspective The force which comes from our innermost core that prompts us to connect with others, serve others, be empathetic towards others, and act for their well-being, altruistically, is love. Post (2003), a Professor of Bioethics and Family Medicine and President of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love in the USA, calls this “Unlimited Love.” In his book Unlimited Love: Altruism, Compassion and Service, he defines love as: The essence of love is to affectively affirm as well as to unselfishly delight in the well-being of others, and to engage in acts of care and service on their behalf; unlimited love extends to all others without exception, in an enduring and constant way. Widely considered the highest form of virtue, unlimited love often demands a creative presence underlying and integral to all of reality: participation in unlimited love constitutes the fullest experience of spirituality. Unlimited love may result in new relationships, and deep community may emerge around helping behavior, but this is secondary. Even if connections and relations do not emerge, love endures. (p. vii)

This is the purest form of love which is unselfish, unconditional, and unlimited. It does not expect anything in return: love for the sake of love. It is different from what we identify as love in our ordinary life since what we experience then are most often expressions and different versions of that pure, self-sacrificial love. For example, the love of a mother towards her child may be affection, while the love that exists between a wife and a husband may perhaps be infatuation, love that exists

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among friends and relations can also be affection, while love towards material objects may actually be desire. This same love that we speak of, therefore, manifests itself in various forms such as acceptance, forgiveness, compassion, kindness, tolerance, generosity, sharing, empathy, selfless service, etc. The foundation of love is not our feelings or emotions towards others, but our inner interconnectedness or oneness with others at the quantum level. It is the very nature of humanness and is natural to us. In this study, this is called Universal Love. The Universal Consciousness as mentioned before is the ultimate reality of all living systems and organisms. It therefore is the alpha and omega which has nothing that supersedes its presence. As a result, it has no fear or competition and has only love to offer all of its parts since “I am because we are.” Universal Love therefore is the highest quality of the Universal Consciousness. If we are driven by Universal Love, our innermost core, there would not be negativities in our thoughts, words, or actions in terms of hatred, anger, envy, jealousy, fear, or greed. Where there is love that great, there is peace, bliss, joy, and contentment which ultimately leads to happiness that is greater, since such a strong force would not leave any space for negative thoughts or emotions. Thus, happiness is the other side of the coin of love. This is the sense of happiness that we all have deep within us. Hanson and Mendius (2009), American neuroscientists, state that: It’s a remarkable fact that people who have gone the very deepest into the mind—the sages and saints of every religious tradition—all say essentially the same thing: your fundamental nature is pure, conscious, peaceful, radiant, loving, and wise, and it is joined in mysterious ways with the ultimate understanding of reality, by whatever name we give that. Although your true nature may be hidden momentarily by stress and worry, anger and unfulfilled longings, it still continues to exist. (p. 15)

Taylor (2006), an American neuroscientist, believes this is the natural state of the right hemisphere of the brain. She wrote: As such, this [happiness] circuitry is constantly running and is always available for me to tap into. My anger circuit, on the other hand, does not always run, but can be triggered when I experience some sort of threat. As soon as the physiological response has passed out of my bloodstream, I can resume my joy. (p. 182)

Layard (2005), an economist, called it “unaroused happiness” as opposed to pleasure, which will later be discussed in this chapter as “aroused happiness.” Positive psychologists and neuroscientists refer to this state of unaroused happiness as eudaimonic well-being, while they refer to aroused happiness as hedonic wellbeing. However, very little is known about its neural basis. Lewis et al. (2014) have found that eudaimonic well-being was positively associated with the right insular cortex gray matter volume. This association was also reflected in three of the subscales of eudaimonia: personal growth, positive relations, and purpose in life.

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Hernandez, Suero, Barros, Gonzalz-Mora, and Rubia (2016) have discovered in their study that the gray matter volume was larger in meditators in relation to that of nonmeditators. This study revealed the effectiveness of yoga meditation in increasing the gray matter volume in the brain and thereby enhancing eudaimonic well-being. Dierendonck and Mohan (2006) highlighted the beneficial effects of spirituality on eudaimonic well-being and proposed spirituality as an element of eudaimonic wellbeing. This view is supported by Joshanloo (2011). Studies have also shown the significance of spirituality as a significant predictor of the eudaimonic well-being. These evidences suggest that unlike hedonic well-being, eudaimonic well-being is not a product of pleasure-generating neurotransmitters. We experience it when our mind is devoid of negativities and is extraordinarily calm, quiet, pure, peaceful, and tranquil and is guided by the Universal Love which then guides us to act according to the sense of oneness hardwired in our brain. In other words, we can experience this form of happiness when we are in unity with the Spirit, when we are spiritual. Therefore, it is sensible to call this form of happiness “Spiritual Happiness.”

Pleasure If our thoughts and actions were driven by the Universal Love within us, we would perceive others as ourselves, feel their pain within us as our own, rejoice in their success and happiness as our own, and behave not as self-centered individuals but as integral parts of the whole. This however is not our ordinary behavior. In our day-today lives, we behave as self-centered individuals. We perceive others as our competitors, we rejoice in their failures, and we feel unhappy when they rejoice in their moments of success. In order to understand why our thoughts and actions are not driven by the Universal Love that is deep-seated within, we need to understand the phenomena termed “neuroplasticity” which is a recent breakthrough of modern neuroscience. When we experience the external world through our senses, categories of neurons in certain regions of the brain become active or “fire” together in response to these experiences. The neurons that fire together wire together to form neural circuits. Some such circuits dissolve and disappear within a few seconds of the experience. However, if a certain experience is repeated frequently, its neural connections become stronger, and the neural circuits stay longer. Others that dissolve are fast forgotten. This is the process that we identify as memory. As our beliefs, ideas, values, and perceptions change, so do the patterns of the neural networks – some old neural circuits disappear, and new ones appear. Neuroplasticity refers to the capacity of the brain to change itself when it interacts with the external world through the senses. When we experience the external world through our senses, we recognize some experiences as pleasurable and some others as painful. Neuroplasticity allows the brain to record pleasurable experiences as “likes” and the painful ones as “dislikes.” The brain records these by forming new neural circuits. They remain in our memory.

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These neural circuits are temporary forms or “soft-wired” (Merzenich 2013) and are dissolved as time passes. So, our likes and dislikes change over time. Thus, our behavior is guided, not by the hardwired Universal Love, but by the soft-wired likes and dislikes. For instance, when we meet a person whom we perceive as a “good” friend, the neural circuits holding the perception instantly activate the pleasure centers which constitute the neurons which emit pleasure-producing neurochemicals. Reacting to the pleasure-producing neurochemicals being surged into the body through the nervous system, we positively react to the person. On the other hand, if the perception is a negative one, the neural circuit does the opposite. It activates the neurons which produce negative emotions. Then we react negatively. The cognitive process constantly taking place in our brain when we experience the external world can be summarized as follows: 1. Awareness: When our senses experience an object, a noise, a smell, a taste, or a touch, a group of neurons or neural circuits in the brain connected to the relevant sense organ fire, and we experience a feeling of awareness. 2. Recognition: Then the neural circuit recognizes the person, the object, or the situation according to its existing pool of perceptions soft-wired in the brain. Thereby, the brain recognizes it as positive, negative, or neutral; good, bad, or neutral; or pleasurable, painful, or neutral. 3. Sensation: Depending on the perception, the neural circuit activates either pleasure-generating neurons or pain-generating neurons. Then our body is overwhelmed by the sensation of either pleasure or pain. 4. Reaction: These pleasure or pain sensations, in turn, activate the relevant motor neurons which prompt us to react to the sensation. These reactions, most often, are interactions with the external world, and this process continues to be repeated as shown on the diagram below: Awareness

Reaction

Recognition

Sensation

This whole process constantly runs through our brain without our conscious awareness. Thus, in ordinary life our behavior is regulated by the perceptions (likes and dislikes) that are soft-wired in our brain, not by the hardwired Universal Love. If our behavior were regulated by the Universal Love, the world we live in would have been a happier place. This is the root cause for the unhappiness of humanity which we have and continue to witness throughout ages. The founders of all great religions have addressed this issue and taught us what we should do if we are to be driven by Universal Love and experience spiritual happiness. The next section discusses how the Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, has addressed this issue.

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Practical Buddhism and Happiness Buddhist Approach to Happiness Buddhism is not a religion but a way of life leading to happiness. A person of any religion can practice this and find peace and happiness without changing his/her religion. In this study, the term “Practical Buddhism” refers to the Buddha’s teachings that the first author has practically understood through contemplation, rational thinking, and observation of his own body, mind, and sensations. It also refers to the Buddha’s teachings that are practical at workplaces and are effective in enhancing happiness, work performance, work satisfaction, commitment to work, and profit. These are the Buddha’s teachings that can be practiced at the workplace without conflicting with the interests of employers. For instance, to practice practical Buddhism in workplaces, employees do not require specific time slots or specific spaces; therefore, it does not compromise the limited time and space available. They can simply practice these teaching while working. Furthermore, these teachings can be practiced by all employees regardless of their beliefs and doctrines and therefore are practical for the multi-faith, diverse workplaces that we see in modern society. A clear understanding of the Buddhist doctrine of Cause and Effect helps to understand the concept of happiness in Buddhism. Every phenomenon in the material world is an outcome or an effect of a cause. If there is anything that is not an effect of a cause and therefore is independent of the material world, that would be a property of Spirit. As already pointed out with the help of scientific evidence, love, peace, and happiness are properties of Spirit which is our inner reality. Hence, they are intrinsic to all human beings. Just as the fragrance of a rose is inherent to the flower, peace, love, and happiness are inherent to human beings. Neither are they dependent on the material world nor are they an effect of any cause. On the other hand, all that is dependent upon the material world are effects of certain causes. The pleasure we experience through our senses are dependent upon the material world. They require stimuli generated by the external world in order to activate pleasureproducing neural circuits. Any pleasurable experience, therefore, is an effect of a cause. Effects arise from a cause and are dependent on the cause. Thus, as long as the cause remains, the effect remains. When the cause is removed, the effect ceases to exist. Therefore, the pleasure-seeking and pain-avoiding life fails to provide a lasting sense of happiness, but instead, it is full of disappointments, frustrations, stress, and suffering. When attained Enlightenment, the Buddha saw the suffering underlying human existence, the cause of suffering and the way to remove the cause and thereby attain lasting happiness. In the first sermon which he gave after his enlightenment known as Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta in Pali, translated to English as Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion (Harvey 2007), he outlined the essence of his newly gained insight via four facts. Through the first fact, similar to an approach of a physician, he diagnosed the problem as suffering (dukkha), and in the second fact, he identified the cause of suffering as craving (thanha). The third fact is the realization that once the cause (craving) is dissolved, the effect (suffering) ceases and paves way to attaining

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lasting happiness (Nirvana). The fourth fact is the prescription to the end of suffering. This was what he identified as the Middle Path; the way to release one’s self from suffering and attain Nirvana. These four facts are known as the Four Noble Truths. “Noble” herein refers not to the truths themselves but to those who understand them. Spiritually “noble” or wise people with insight on the nature of reality understands the truth behind these four facts. Other ordinary people are unlikely to find the truth in these four facts since they are enmeshed within the boundaries of the reality they perceive through just their senses. As a result, they continue to suffer. According to the Buddha, the realization of these Four Noble Truths is a must to end suffering and attain lasting happiness. This section intends to explain the Four Noble Truths in rational and scientific terms so that it would be perceptible for the ordinary you and I.

Four Noble Truths The first noble truth, dukkha in Pali, is often translated as suffering which is more aligned towards one’s mental suffering rather than physical suffering. It is also translated as anguish, pain, stress, and dissatisfaction in general. The Buddha perceived our lives as a struggle. We are often struggling to locate and hold onto those that we like and avoid those that we dislike. Thus, this struggle leaves a little or almost no room for lasting happiness. What we experience when we obtain that which we like, as already discussed, is not happiness but pleasure which is an effect of a cause: in other words, an outcome of a chemical reaction taking place in the brain. Pleasure is a transient state, and so, it fails to provide positive feelings that last. Secondly, unlike happiness which is intrinsic to us and therefore freely available within, pleasure is dependent on external factors; we have to do something we like or get something we like if we are to activate pleasure-generating neurons in our brain; and this requires money, material possessions, and power. Nevertheless, what we do to earn them are most often not on our most-liked list of things to do, and doing things that we dislike causes negative feelings. This applies to our jobs as well; and so, working often causes stress. In our struggle to earn money, acquire material possessions and power, achieve higher social status, recognition, reputation, respect and so on, we often conflict with others. This generates negative feelings such as anger, hatred, and jealousy. Sadly, the volume of pleasure that we experience after having suffered so much does not last very long. It is not worth to sacrifice so much for pleasure. Hence, our pleasure-seeking life is unsatisfactory. However, while our expectation to obtain what we like causes anxiety, obtaining them also causes excitement. Both this anxiety and excitement disturb our inner peace and cause suffering at a subtle level. A careful observation of our sensations reveals that we experience pleasure and suffering simultaneously at two different levels. While we experience pleasure at the surface, we experience suffering at a subtle level. Even in a situation where all our physical needs are fulfilled, we often still feel an emptiness within us which cannot be filled by pleasure derived from the material world. Nevertheless, our mind is so preoccupied in seeking pleasure and avoiding

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pain that most of us fail to comprehend this sense of emptiness and dissatisfaction. We occasionally notice suffering at the surface level, but it is hard to comprehend suffering at subtle levels. Only a few of us who have trained our mind to observe our thoughts and sensations can comprehend the true nature of our pleasure-seeking life as suffering. The second noble truth – the cause of dissatisfaction. This can be understood under two lines of thought: (1) our mistaken perception that we are a separate, independent, and solid “I”/Self and (2) our craving for pleasure and its resulting attachment to pleasurable experiences. Experiments undertaken by certain neuroscientists have shown how our attachment to pleasure enslaves us in constantly seeking pleasure and as a result causing suffering to both ourselves and all around us. In an experiment with rats, metal electrodes which stimulate their pleasure centers were implanted into their brain. It has been found that once they learn how to operate it by pressing the lever they will do so in preference to eating and drinking, eventually dying from exhaustion. If a rat is given the choice between stimulating pleasure and eating, it will choose stimulation to the point of exhaustion (Pleasure Centers 2015). Experiments with human beings have found similar results. Robert Heath, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology at Tulane University in New Orleans, has done similar experiments with human beings. In one of his experiments, he wired up the pleasure center of a man. During a 3-h session, the man, code-named B-19, electrically self-stimulated his pleasure centers some 1500 times. During these sessions, B-19 stimulated himself to a point where he was experiencing an almost overwhelming euphoria and elation and had to be disconnected, despite his vigorous protests. (Moan and Heath 1972)

In another experiment, a stimulating electrode was implanted into the brain of a 48-year-old woman. It has been reported that when she discovered it could produce erotic sensations, she started to compulsively self-stimulate (Mindhacks 2015). Thus, the real issue is not enjoying pleasure, but craving for pleasure and its resulting attachment. Once we are attached to a pleasurable object/experience, we become averse to its opposite. Then unbeknownst to us, our thoughts are pulled by either attachments or by aversions. In our effort to obtain that which we are attached to and avoid the averse, consciously or unconsciously we tend to hurt others and act unethically and immorally. We tend to ignore our duties, responsibilities, and commitments, commit crimes, and develop habits that are harmful to ourselves. Furthermore, once we are attached, we find it extremely hard to live in the present moment. Pleasure centers are activated not just by physical experience but also by reminiscing pleasurable experiences of the past and that which we may experience in the future. Whenever our mind is idle and finds the present moment boring, we tend to draw a pleasurable event from the past or create one for the future and ruminate on it. Once this becomes a habit, it prevents us from experiencing the joy of spiritual happiness created in this very present moment. A careful observation of one’s thoughts reveals that any present moment is inherently peaceful and therefore happy. This natural state of happiness of the present

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moment is destroyed by sensations that arise as reactions to attachments and aversions. However, most of us cannot comprehend the truth of this fact because we are conditioned to find reasons for our problems by just looking at the external world from a surface level rather than delving into the deep so as to discover the root cause. Therefore, it is only a few wise individuals who understands this reality and finds the true cause of their suffering. The third noble truth is that, as the doctrine of cause and effect says, suffering comes to end when the root cause is dissolved. As already discussed, peace, love, and happiness are intrinsic to all human beings. They are not effects of any cause. They are properties of Spirit, which is the reality deep within us. What prevents us from experiencing it is our false perception of separateness and our craving for pleasure. Therefore, its removal clears the path to peace, love, and happiness. Then, our thoughts, words, and actions would be driven, not by the false perception of separateness, the sense of I/Self, and craving, but by Universal Love. This new pattern of behavior enhances not only the quality of our relationships but also the quality of our health, both physical and mental. In the new form of relationships, the “I” versus “other” dichotomy is not present; therefore, individuals are not interested in working just for their own betterment but also and more importantly contribute towards the betterment of the society as a whole. Their purpose of life aligns with that of the universe. Thereby all individuals focus on enhancing the total happiness of the entire society. Hence, we treat others as we would like others to treat us, and we seek happiness for all. Instead of competing, we share our resources with others and cooperate with them. We enjoy giving more than taking and accumulating. Research evidence reveals that such people are healthier and happier and that they live longer (Post 2007). However, similar to the first two noble truths, only a few wise ones are able to comprehend the truth of this. Referring to the Third Noble Truth, Ven. S. Dhammika (2019) states that: The Third Noble Truth is that suffering can be overcome and happiness attained. This is perhaps the most important of the Four Noble Truths because in it the Buddha reassures us that true happiness and contentment are possible. When we give up useless craving and learn to live each day at a time, enjoying without restlessly wanting the experiences that life offers us, patiently enduring the problems that life involves, without fear, hatred and anger, then we become happy and free. Then, and then only, do we begin to live fully. Because we are no longer obsessed with satisfying our own selfish wants, we find that we have so much time to help others fulfil their needs. This state is called Nirvana. We are free from psychological suffering.

The forth noble truth is the Buddha’s prescription to end suffering. To end suffering, its cause has to be removed. The cause of suffering is craving. Therefore, to end suffering, craving should be dissolved. When we develop an attachment to a pleasurable experience that we crave for, we simultaneously develop an aversion to its opposite which may be a painful experience. Most often, our ordinary worldly life is a fluctuation between these two extremes: seeking pleasurable experiences and avoiding painful experiences. We hardly occupy the Middle; and this is how our minds have been conditioned, or in terms of neuroscience, that is the way our brain is

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soft-wired. We think, speak, and act from the extremes. Our thoughts, speech, and actions are driven by attachments and aversions which cause suffering. The state of mind between these two extremes is called the Middle. The Middle is free from the influence of the two extremes, and thus neither does it seek pleasure nor does it avoid pain. Where there is no seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, there is neither an “I” nor an “Other.” Hence there is no “I versus Other” dichotomy. What is in the Middle is a sense of Oneness which results in peace, love, and bliss. If we are to experience the peace, love, and bliss of the Middle, we should establish ourselves in the Middle. To establish ourselves in the Middle, we should eliminate the extremes, or in neuroscientific terms, we should rewire our brains in such a way that attachments and aversions are dissolved. Once the two extremes are dissolved, there won’t be any space called “Middle,” but emptiness and openness. Accordingly, establishing ourselves in the “Middle” refers to merging with the emptiness of the Universal Consciousness. Then, we live in peace. In the absence of the two extremes which constantly pull our thoughts towards them, we effortlessly live at peace and become mindfulness, and peace and mindfulness become a “normal” state of mind. Recent discoveries in neuroscience have revealed that it is possible for us to rewire our brain and change our behavior permanently if we are adamant in our pursuit to do so (Arden 2010; Newberg and Waldman 2015; Hanson and Mendius 2009; Begley 2007). The pathway to establish ourselves in the Middle permanently is the Noble Eightfold Path. It introduces eight techniques to rewire the brain. These techniques are designed to (1) gain wisdom, (2) inculcate universal love, and (3) dissolve the two extremes – attachments and aversions. Thereby these eight techniques are divided into three groups: (1) wisdom (panna), (2) moral conduct (sila), and (3) mental discipline (samadhi). (a) Wisdom (panna): In our ordinary life, we both view and judge the external world and ourselves through the lenses of the two extremes mentioned above; we do so through the “color glass” of “I versus Others” and attached versus averse. Hence, our worldview is partial, limited, judgmental, and distorted, and we fail to see things as they really are. Our thoughts are conditioned by this distorted view. The conditioned view makes us ignorant. We fail to capture the accuracy of the Four Noble Truths. For instance, we see impermanence as permanence and then suffer when they come to end. The strategy prescribed hereby to shield one’s self from ignorance and gain wisdom is to train the mind to view and think from the Middle: (1) Right View (Samma Ditti) and (2) Right Thoughts (Samma Sankappa). (b) Moral conduct (sila): In ordinary situations where our thoughts and actions are driven by the two extremes, our conduct is often immoral. Our thoughts are often biased towards us; hence, we act to bring happiness to ourselves even at the expense of the happiness of others. Thereby, the resultant immoral conduct causes suffering to both ourselves and others. The strategy to change our conduct which is prescribed herein proposes that we train our minds or rewire our brains to not do anything that is deemed immoral. According to neuroscience, the

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repetition of any action contributes towards the construction of new neural connections, which result in creating new habits. On the other hand, refraining from pursuing any existing habit results in the dissolution of the neural circuits of that habit. Therefore, by abstaining immoral habitual acts, we dissolve the neural basis of those habits. Thus, we rewire our brain positively. The strategies prescribed are (3) Right Speech (Samma Vacha), abstention from telling lies, backbiting, harsh language, and gossip; (4) Right Action (Samma Kammantha), abstention from destroying life, stealing, dishonest dealings, and sexual misconduct; and (5) Right Livelihood (Samma Ajiva), abstention from making one’s living through an occupation that brings harm to others. (c) Mental discipline (samadhi): As long as the two extremes remain on either side, it is extremely hard for us to establish ourselves in the Middle and live mindfully, since we are constantly pulled outwardly towards either side by attachments and aversions. Hence, dissolving the two extremes is a must. The techniques prescribed here help in dissolving the neural circuits of attachments and aversions by (6) Right Effort: making an effort to prevent the extreme states of mind from arising, curbing the breeding ground wherein such extremes are nurtured, developing an atmosphere which encourages the Middle to take control at all times and encourage and provide space for the behaviors aligning with the Middle to continue and develop further. (7) Right Mindfulness and (8) Right Concentration. All these strategies are captured through Vipassana, which will be discussed next.

Vipassana: A Technique to Happiness The Buddha realized the truth of these four facts – the Four Noble Truths – through himself, by observing his own body, thoughts, and sensations. With the realization of the truth, he attained a state of lasting happiness. Therefore, if we are to attain that same state of lasting happiness, we should also realize the truth of these four facts through ourselves, by observing our body (kayanupassana), thoughts (chittanapassana), sensations (vedananupassana), and mental factors/categories (dhammanupassana). The Buddha has provided a technique to doing so. It is Vipassana meditation. Unlike other forms of conventional meditation, Vipassana can be practiced while living our ordinary life, among family, society, and in the workplace. In the workplace, one can practice Vipassana while working, while talking to co-workers, while attending to meetings, while travelling to and from work, etc. Employees of any religion can practice it while staying true to their own religion and thereby reduce stress and enhance happiness. Furthermore, as discussed later in this chapter, Vipassana enhances employee work performance, efficiency, productivity, and work satisfaction; and it is a passage which opens doors to acquire multiple intelligences that would help an individual in maintaining one’s success. The insight gained by practicing Vipassana enhances positive inner qualities such as love, compassion, integrity, honesty, tolerance, and sharing which also eventually promotes the quality of relationships.

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The Pali term Vipassana means insight into the nature of reality. Vipassana meditation involves an observation of one’s own body (kaya), thoughts (citta), and sensations (vedana) in addition to mental objects or mental factors/categories (dhamma). Another word for this process of self-observation is mindfulness; mindfulness of body, thoughts, and sensations. In this exercise, one becomes an impartial outsider within one’s self and passively observes what is going on within. The insight (panna) gained by practicing Vipassana enables us to see the true nature of our pleasure-seeking life, the (1) impermanence (anicca) of all that we do and all that which happens to us, the (2) suffering or unsatisfactoriness (dukkha) inherent to our pleasure-seeking life, and (3) the absence of an individual or I/Self within the person who experiences pleasure (anatta). Therefore there is no experiencer, but rather a mere process of experiencing. We are not the thoughts and emotions that come and go, but the entity which is observing the movement/change. Thereby, while the entire world becomes a stage, and while all the men and women take up their roles and play them throughout their lives, a practitioner of Vipassana would be able to sit back, watch, and enjoy the drama unfold without becoming an active character who is caught up in the drama itself – one would not be immersed in the experience so as to believe the experience to be one’s self but would rather be aware of engaging in that process of experiencing it, would let it pass, and thereafter move on with life. As a result, we see the reality of our pleasure-seeking life and its inability to give us any form of lasting happiness. Then, we realize that it is not worth to stay attached to pleasure-objects. With this realization, we spontaneously let go of our attachments. Thus, the attachment to pleasurable experiences leads to the realization of its consequences which in turn leads to letting go. When this happens, the neural circuits of attachments and aversions dissolve by themselves. Once the two extremes are dissolved, we establish ourselves in the Middle, permanently, and enjoy a life free from suffering. For some individuals, this realization is sudden, whereas for others it is a long journey of inner transformation. Nevertheless we are all at different stages in our journey of this realization. To sum up, the foundation of Buddhism is the Law of Cause and Effect. Every effect in the material realm has a cause. Once the cause is removed, the effect ceases to exist. Suffering is an effect of a cause, which is craving. Craving causes attachments and aversions which cause greed and fear. Once craving is removed, suffering has no more breeding ground to spread and take over our lives. On the other hand, happiness is a property of Spirit and hence is a spiritual phenomenon. We experience it when we grow spiritually. It is not an effect of any cause, and hence not a conditioned phenomenon. It is freely available within us. We experience it when our mind is calm, peaceful, tranquil, and emptied of negative thoughts and emotions. A mind of such a state is naturally filled with love, which enhances the quality of relationships and leads to happiness. Our state of happiness in any given moment is an outcome of a mixture of both happiness and pleasure. The problem with pleasure is that we keep our past pleasure experiences in our memory and seek opportunities to experience them again and again, causing craving and negative thoughts. They not only prevent us from experiencing spiritual happiness but also cause suffering. If we are to live happily, we should learn to enjoy pleasure without getting attached, so that

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we could experience both pleasure and spiritual happiness simultaneously. Realization of the Four Noble Truths enables to do so. Matthieu Ricard, a French scientist-turned-Buddhist monk, states that: Although intrinsically different from happiness, pleasure is not its enemy. It all depends on how the pleasure is experienced. If it is tainted with grasping and impleads inner freedom giving rise to avidity and dependence, it is an obstacle to happiness. On the other hand, if it is experienced in the present moment, in a state of inner peace and freedom, pleasure adorns happiness without overshadowing it. (Matthieu Ricard 2018)

Middle Path, Spiritual Growth, and Workplace Happiness Middle Path and Workplace Happiness If the happiness of a workplace is to increase, each and every employee should act in a manner that enhances not just their own happiness but also the total sum of happiness of the organization. No employee should seek happiness at the expense of the happiness of others. In others words, employees should follow the golden rule – one should treat others as one wants others to treat one’s self. This can happen only if one thinks and acts from the Middle where there is no “I versus Other” dichotomy. If a motivation to act originates from the Middle, the action delivers happiness to all, and this is called total happiness. On the other hand, if the motivation originates from the extremes, the action aims at only the happiness of the actor. In the former, the motive is not an effect of a cause, and therefore the reason for the motive is not discernible, whereas in the latter, the motivation is an effect of a cause – it is a result of either seeking pleasure or avoiding pain, which would be an outcome of a past experience of pleasure or pain. Practicing Vipassana while working enables employees to identify how and where their motives originate and act accordingly, so as to stay true to the middle while enhancing their total happiness. Our ordinary state of mind is reactionary. We react to our thoughts and sensations. As long as we are in the reactionary mode, we keep on moving from one extreme to the other and find it impossible to station ourselves in the middle. Most workplaces in our modern society condition the minds of their employees to act, not from the middle, but from the two extremes. Most business organizations motivate their employees by promoting attributes of the extremes, such as greed, fear, and competition rather than the attributes of the Middle such as love, sharing, and cooperation. Not surprisingly, this feeds pessimistic characteristics such as pain, sorrow, jealousy, hatred, anger, and stress within the minds of employees. Practicing Vipassana involves an observation of one’s own thoughts and sensations without reacting. When one starts doing this, one separates oneself from one’s thoughts and sensations, and becomes a neutral observer, then one enters into the Middle. However, one is constantly disturbed by the influence of the two extremes, since, as long as they remain active, they constantly pull one’s thoughts from the middle. Once the two

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extremes are dissolved, there won’t be any force to pull our thoughts away from the Middle. Then we stay in the Middle quite effortlessly and become motivated by the attributes of the Middle which mainly is love and act for the well-being and happiness of all. Effectiveness of Vipassana in achieving employee happiness as well as work performance has been proved by scientific evidence. Gopalakrishna (2006), with the help of empirical evidence, points out how the Vipassana meditation improves personal, interpersonal, as well as professional effectiveness of both managers and employees. The results of the study conclusively proved that after practicing Vipassana meditation, all negative attributes such as stress, greed, anger, frustration, hatred, prejudice, revenge, arrogance, and ego had substantially reduced, and all positive variables such as compassion, forgiveness, humility, equanimity, loving kindness, generosity, and tolerance had increased to a great extent. The reduction of negative qualities and the consequent increases in positive qualities had increased personal effectiveness. To understand its interpersonal effectiveness, ten variables were studied: two negative, being conflicts and jealousy, and eight positive, being domestic happiness, patience with others, trust in others, communication with others, team spirit, sympathetic joy, accommodating others’ views, and coordination. The result proved a sharp reduction in negative qualities and a high increase in the development of positive qualities. Professional effectiveness on the other hand depends on the positive development of individual qualities, leading to harmonious interpersonal relations such as job satisfaction, productivity, sense of responsibility, self-motivation, commitment to work, performance at work and concentration. The results suggest that practicing Vipassana significantly improved all these qualities. However, an ordinary person finds it extremely difficult to look within and observe thoughts and sensations. We are not used to observing our own thoughts and sensations but are champions in blindly reacting to them. However, the internationally renowned Vipassana teacher S.N. Goenka (2019) mentions that regular practice makes this somewhat of an easy exercise to follow through. The more one practices this technique, the quicker one can come out of negativities. Gradually the mind becomes freed of defilements; it becomes pure. A pure mind is always full of love, detached love for all others; full of compassion for the failings and sufferings of others; full of joy at their success and happiness; full of equanimity in the face of any situation. When one reaches this stage, then the entire pattern of one’s life starts changing. It is no longer possible for one to do anything vocally or physically that will disturb the peace and happiness of others. Instead, the balanced mind not only becomes peaceful, it helps others to become peaceful also. The atmosphere surrounding such a person will become permeated with peace, harmony and real happiness, which also starts affecting others.

Spiritual Growth, Universal Love, and Workplace Happiness Spiritual growth refers to our growing capacity to experience the qualities of the spirit such as peace, love, and bliss. Spiritual qualities can also be understood as the qualities of a pure mind, a mind emptied of defilements. In our ordinary life

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where we crave for pleasure and avoid pain, the defilements that arise are allowed to be soft-wired in the brain: (1) craving/attachments for sensual pleasures (raga), (2) aversion to sensual pains (dwesha), and (3) the illusionary perception of “I”/Self (moha). These are general qualities of our worldly life. While spiritual qualities arise from the sense of oneness in the Middle, the worldly qualities arise from the sense of separateness in the extremes. While the former is permanent, internal in origin, and a part of our true identity, the latter is transient, external in origin, and a part of our false identity. While the former enhances our physical and mental well-being, the latter decreases them. While the former makes us less self-centered and improves our relationships, the latter makes us more self-centered and makes the quality of our relationships poor. Worldly qualities prevent us from experiencing spiritual qualities. They remain within us and take control of our thoughts until such time wherein the extremes are dissolved and we establish ourselves in the Middle which happens to be the source of happiness. Enhancing happiness at the workplace therefore requires spiritual growth within individual employees. For some, spiritual growth is a sudden change, whereas for some it is a time-consuming process of inner transformation. We all occupy different levels of spiritual growth – some perhaps may have attained higher levels, while others may remain at the lower rungs. Those who are at higher levels exhibit spiritual qualities and are perceived by others as those who are kind, compassionate, and generous people. Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, in his book Give and Take (2014) has identified three categories of employees who exhibit qualities of different levels of spiritual growth: 1. Takers who are self-focused. They are inclined to put their own interests ahead of others’ needs. They try to gain as much as possible from their interaction while contributing as little as they can in return. 2. Matchers are those who like to preserve an equal balance of giving and taking; they look for equilibrium. Therefore, their mindset resonates to an attitude as follows: “if you take from me, I will take from you. If you give me, I will give to you.” 3. Givers are those who are other-focused. They show a tendency to support others with no strings attached. They ask themselves, “How can I add value to this person? What can I contribute?” Among these three categories of employees, the givers seem to occupy a higher level of spiritual growth. According to the author, the givers have strong and healthy relationships and are happier than the takers and matchers. However, all givers are not successful at work. The givers who are not successful usually over sacrifice and do not recognize vicious people for who they are. Therefore, they are taken for granted and are used by others. The giving of those who succeed leads to quality relationships, which benefit them in the long run. Nevertheless, regardless of their level of success, all givers are happier.

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Amy Wrzesniewski (1997), an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at Yale University, has identified three categories of employees according to their orientation towards their work: (1) job oriented, (2) career oriented, and (3) calling oriented. The employees who are job oriented tend to view their work as a means to an end. Their main concern is the salary. They seek happiness outside of the workplace. They are unlikely to have a strong connection to the workplace. On the other hand, the employees with career orientation are more interested in their ability to move upwards in their career, obtaining increasingly higher statuses and more power. They are more ambitious. The employees with a calling orientation perceive their work as a form of self-expression and personal fulfillment. They see purpose and want to contribute to the good of society as a whole. They are more satisfied with work and are happier. Though the authors have not concluded so, those employees with calling orientation seem to have been motivated by their spiritual qualities, whereas the others seem to be motivated by worldly qualities. Imre Ungvari-Zrinyi (2014), an Associate Professor of Applied Ethics at the “Babes-Bolyai” University Cluj, Romania, considers spirituality to be the kind of motivation and broader, meaning-seeking perspective that, wherever it may come from, gives people motivation and concern that is far beyond their nearest material interests. One can be motivated by greed and fear, the attributes of the two extremes, or by love, the key attribute of the Middle. In ordinary circumstances, it is greed and fear that motivate most employees. When working to accomplish a given task, an employee is often motivated by the greed for material rewards that he/she may receive once the task is accomplished successfully and/or by the fear of losing the expected reward or of losing the good image she has developed. Both greed and fear originate from the two extremes – attachment and aversion. Once the two extremes are dissolved, one is motivated by Universal Love: the key attribute of the Middle is the natural desire to serve others, to alleviate their suffering, and to make them happy; this then becomes motivation to act. When the factors which motivate employees are shifted from greed and fear to love, work becomes a selfless service, and employees find work to be more meaningful. Evidence suggests that once greed and fear are replaced by love, employees work harder and become happier. Adam Grant has devoted a substantial portion of his academic career to research on what motivates employees in different settings. He says that employees who know how their work has a meaningful, positive impact on others are not just happier than those who don’t, but that they are also vastly more productive. He has found that engineers, salespeople, managers, customer service representatives, doctors, nurses, medical technicians, security guards, police officers, and firefighters who can directly see their impact on others achieve higher job performance. He states that: Some of my recent research on a Fortune 500 company suggests that, if you’ve got employees where the primary purpose of their job is not to help people, where there’s no clearly defined group of end users, we can think about corporate philanthropy as a substitute. One option is to give people the chance to take responsibility for personally meaningful, important community service that can be sponsored by the company [so that they think], ‘I make a difference by being here.’ (Grant 2019)

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These evidences suggest that love arising from the sense of connectedness of the Middle is more powerful as a motivator than the greed and fear that arise from the extremes. As already seen, love is a property of Spirit, and not an effect of any external course. Hence, when motivated by love, we do not need any reason to act for the well-being of others. Once attachments, aversions, and the illusionary “I” which prevent us from being driven by love are dissolved, we are solely motivated by love and we then act selflessly. The function of cells, the basic building blocks of our physical body, can be used as an analogy to explain this. The human body is composed of trillions of cells, all with their own specialized function. According to cell biologists, cells can live independently for a while if they are separated from the body. Biologically, cells are not very different from us. They possess almost everything that we possess as human beings. According to Bruce Lipton, an American cell biologist, a cell is a microcosm of the human body (Lipton 2019). However, there is a psychological difference. Unlike our behavior, the behavior of cells does not exhibit any signs of having a sense of “I,” craving, and aversion. Hence, cells have no interest other than performing their duty as one. Cells group together according to their specialty to form tissues, which in turn group together to form organs, such as the heart, brain, lungs, etc. Each organ selflessly performs their duty for the well-being of the body, and its only exception would be that which we identify as cancer cells. In organizations and workplaces, individual employees are the basic entities, similar to the cells of an organism. Employees group together according to their specialized knowledge and skills to form various departments, which in turn builds the organization. Therefore, similar to the cells of an organism, employees perform their duties selflessly for the benefit of the organization if only they have no sense of “I,” attachments, and aversions or, in other words, if they are spiritually grown. Otherwise, they would be motivated by greed and fear and act selfishly for their own benefit rather than for the benefit of the organization – they act like cancerous cells. Bruce Lipton (2019) expresses it beautifully: If a cell doesn’t listen to the community’s voice, then the cell is not part of the community. Cancer cells have withdrawn from the community. They’re still in there but they’re not listening to the voice of the community. They’re doing their own thing. Why would some cells get out of the community? and the answer is why people are homeless? Why are people out of work, or why are people out of work or why are people suffering? If their community is not supporting them at some point the cells recognize at some point “My God what do I want to be in this for?” So there’s a point that cancer starts to recognize as a result of breakdown of the community.

Summary and Conclusion Happiness, from a spiritual perspective, is a property of Spirit, which is also known as the Universal Consciousness (God), and this Spirit fills the entire universe. In spite of its vastness, it functions as an indivisible, inseparable, formless single entity. It is conscious, aware, and living. The Spirit, while remaining as an inseparable single entity in the quantum realm, manifests itself as many separate disconnected forms in the material realm, creating the material world where we live in. Though we perceive

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ourselves as separate individuals, deep within us, at the quantum level, we are connected to each other and to the natural environment. So, deep within us, we are One. The Oneness of the Spirit expresses itself through us as love, peace, and happiness. These spiritual qualities are intrinsic to all human beings. It seems that the Universe is designed in such a way that if we perceive ourselves as integral parts of the whole and act unselfishly, we experience peace and happiness; on the other hand, if we perceive ourselves as separate individuals and act selfishly, we suffer both together and individually. Despite being connected in the most intrinsic of ways possible, we experience the material world through our senses and thus perceive ourselves as individuals separated from others and the environment. This perception of separateness, craving, and attachments are soft-wired in our brain, and so we are quick to act selfishly. This is the primary reasoning behind all suffering that is apparent today. Nonetheless, it should be noted that the illusionary perception of separateness is necessary when we live in the material world. We should live as separate individuals knowing the truth – that our perception of separateness is an illusion and that we truly are parts of one big intricately connected system. Spirituality is about realizing this truth. All religions can be identified as different pathways to achieve this goal. However, there are nonreligious science-based pathways too. This chapter discussed how the Buddha’s teachings could contribute to enhance workplace happiness. The essence of Buddhism is the Four Noble Truths. According to the Buddha, it is our ignorance or, in other words, our failure to realize the Four Noble Truths which prevents us from experiencing happiness. Once we realize the Four Noble Truths, our misinterpreted perception of separateness is dissolved, and we gain access to happiness that is hidden within. The Practical Buddhism discussed herein refers to the Buddha’s teachings that are practical in workplace and are beneficial to all employees regardless of their religious affiliations. As already seen, the Noble Eightfold Path is meant to train our mind to establish itself in the Middle wherein the “I versus other” dichotomy does not exist. As a result, there is peace, love, and bliss, and so, we think, act, and work from the Middle. When occupying this Middle stance, we are motivated, not by greed and fear, but by love, and this is highly beneficial for corporates, employees, employers, customers, and the whole society. Organizations can adopt a two-way strategy to achieve this goal: (1) encourage and enable employees to bring out their spiritual qualities from within and (2) create an environment and culture within the organizations that is conducive to employees’ spiritual growth. The former may include organizing study circles, discussions, training programs, workshops, and talks on spiritual practices in workplaces and encouraging employees to attend such activities that take place outside. The latter requires organizations to replace existing policies, rules, and regulations which promote competition, divisions, greed, fear, backbiting, and selfishness among employees with those which would foster cooperation, unity, sharing, generosity, and unselfishness. It is also necessary to adopt measures to protect spiritually matured employees such as “givers” and encourage such behaviors. Prioritizing givers at instances of promotions would encourage such behavior.

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Spirituality experienced by following Practical Buddhism therefore seems to be a hands-on approach to generating happiness at the workplace. This is a critical need today, since most of us dedicate most of our time to our workplaces and to our jobs. Therefore, we need a revolution which could convert this grueling and draining process of working to earn and earning to be happy to one where our work is meaningful and helps us grow spiritually so as to enjoy constant happiness both in and out of the work setup. This study provides a clear understanding of its trajectory from the perspective provided by the Buddha; it elaborated on how we have lost our happiness and how we could bring that back in full force to our lives as employees and our organizations as employers. The more we train our minds to watch our thoughts and sensations so as to act and not react, we gradually let go of the selfcentered “I/Myself” perception and embrace the energy of the selfless “I am because we are” perception. This nurtures employees who see the bigger picture and their contribution towards it; it creates outstanding workplaces that are abundant, innovative, and creative, as well as organizations that multiply profits, take care of their employees, and love the planet which provides it a home. This study reveals that spirituality is indeed the missing link between work and happiness.

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Enhancing Workplace Well-Being Through Understanding the Three Personality Types: Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas According to Samkhya

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Problem of Treating Employees as Resource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Samkhya and the Theory of Gunas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Triguna and the Nature of Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A New Perspective on Management at Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Management Is “Ethical Action” Done by “People” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To Achieve a State of Joy and Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Producers and Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ethical Issues at Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dealing with Dilemma at the Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Role of an Individual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Advantages of Being Ethical at Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Questionnaire to Identify Your Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas Guna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Method of Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

Well-being may have been the subject of discussions in developed countries since long; the issue is catching up in developing countries. More companies in India are now looking at physical, emotional, and financial well-being. This chapter deals well-being at the workplace with focus on the role of an individual – as an employee and also as a distinct personality with various positive and negative attributes. S. Modh (*) Vivekananda Education Society’s Institute of Management, Mumbai, India e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_22

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This chapter uses the ancient text of Samkhya as the basis for understanding the true nature of an individual and the influence of this true nature on proclivity to gain knowledge, power, wealth, or skills at the workplace. When the true nature is aligned with the basic personality, there is less stress, and there is joy and happiness not only at the workplace but at home and also in various formal and informal relationships. This also enables an individual to better handle the ethical issues and dilemma at workplace making it more efficient and effective.

Introduction In the forthcoming era where automation or artificial intelligence will remove our jobs or our businesses, we have to come to terms with new realities. There are threats such as cybercrime and total reliance on mobile and the Internet making us more and more physically inactive. Workplace well-being may have been the subject of discussions in developed countries since long; the issue is catching up in developing countries. More companies in India are now looking at physical, emotional, and financial well-being. Willis Towers Watson (2019) conducted an India health and well-being study and found that employers are most concerned about their employees’ lack of physical activity (62%) and stress (55%). They also found that one in four employers recognizes the role of “family” toward employee well-being. There is an increasing need on resilience and well-being at workplace as an important strategy to help people experience joy and happiness in their lives. Employees’ well-being has a direct impact on the levels of absenteeism, productivity, and efficiency. Employees feel good at a workplace where you trust the people you work with; you enjoy working with them and are satisfied with what you actually do. If they feel valued at the workplace, they are likely to go beyond the call of their duty and feel part of the success or failure of the company. A lack of such feeling results in workplace problems, such as stress, conflict, alcohol, and mental health disorders. As Debi O’Donovan and Phil Hayne (2018) state, it is about realizing the value of the huge wealth of experience that can be tapped when people are able to reach their full potential. Healthy, happy workers lead to healthy, wealthy, happy organizations. In 2011, the OECD Statistics and Data Directorate developed a framework for measuring well-being. This framework identified 11 dimensions as being essential to people’s lives. These dimensions range from health status and education and skills to the quality of the local environment, personal security, and subjective well-being (how they feel about their lives), as well as more material dimensions such as income and wealth, housing, etc. (OECD 2018). Well-being has been broadly defined as the totality of one’s emotional experiences and subjective evaluations of one’s work and life circumstances (Diener 1984). Given the amount of time employees spent at work and the financial and emotional consequences of employment, work has a significant impact on individuals’ overall well-being. One key aspect of well-being that affects work is stress.

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A survey conducted by the American Psychological Association (APA) shows that 60% of Americans consider work as a very or somewhat significant source of stress (American Psychological Association 2015). According to this survey, work contributes to stress more than family issues or health. Most people spend a significant amount of their time performing a job at a workplace away from their families. In India most of the young workers/managers work for more than 10 h a day in metro cities. Research indicates that excessive work demands and negative workplace experiences spill over into family life, adding substantial stress to the lives of all family members and decreasing family well-being (Bianchi et al. 2005; Hammer et al. 2005; Kelly et al. 2008; Korabik et al. 2008; Kossek and Lambert 2005; Major et al. 2002). Further, work-to-life conflict is negatively related to experienced marital satisfaction, family satisfaction, and life satisfaction (Allen et al. 2000). To reduce workplace-related stress, organizations are adopting wellness programs at an increasing rate as workplace wellness intervention can lead to positive outcomes (RAND Corporation 2013).

The Problem of Treating Employees as Resource Most organizations go on and on about customer satisfaction but talk very little about employee satisfaction. Only happy employees make for happy customers and bring the customer closer to the organization. The future of any organization depends on its people. Most organizations manage people using the carrot-and-stick policy, when you use a carrot on one side and stick on the other, what do you imagine in the middle? A donkey? Our so-called human resource processes have made donkeys out of employees. Employees should be looked at as an investment and not a burden on expenditure. Somehow, due to priorities in the day to day functioning of any organization, top decision-makers do not give their people the attention and care they deserve. Ironically, it may be true that those very problems stem largely from people. If proper orientation and perspective to care culture exists, the health of several organizations will change dramatically for the better. For any organization, main asset is people. One should believe in providing customer satisfaction by having a pleasant relationship with employees, who create wealth, who create products for customers, and who use and operate the equipment, processes, and systems. At every point, one should ask question: Is this going to make life better for our employees? How do we create wealth for our employees? How do we ensure that they have a roof over their heads? How can their spouses and children be happier tomorrow than today? Are we doing anything that discriminates certain employees? One crucial concept that is very important for well-being at workplace is that of internal customer. Every organization needs to service its internal customers at the same level it seeks to do to its external customers. Hence the organization needs to service every link that constitutes each process in its value chain. Manufacturing becomes the internal customer for finance when the latter is required to service its

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budgeting requirements. Manufacturing is administration’s internal customer when the latter has to service the support needs of the manufacturing process. Every step may be defined as a transaction between an internal customer and internal supplier, setting up a chain which, ultimately, culminates in the external customer (Modh 1999). Internal customer service concept may be crystallized in the organization over a period of time. This enables every employee to focus on his or her immediate customer, rather than the end user alone, so that the finer details are not missed in the attempt to get the big picture right. The focus in this method is on meeting customer needs through an internal backward integration process so that each link in the chain is strengthened and existing conflicts resolved. Problems can be solved by reexamining each transaction and intensifying the customer-client relationship in each case to ensure that the step receives extra attraction. This could be possible because the chain makes it a point to provide the infrastructure, ensuring that equipment cannot be blamed. Nevertheless, if something goes wrong, it can only be because the system is not delivering. Members from various functions and across hierarchies should be put together as a team to listen to internal customers and solve each other’s problems. The new Internal Customer Service paradigm has to focus on employees in such a way that it brooks no functional and hierarchical barriers. Key points in this concept are: • Redefine every employee as a customer for everyone else in the organization. • Treat the owners of every stage in the workflow as customers of the previous stage. • Create several chains of internal customers, leading up to the external customer. • Use internal customer satisfaction as a gauge for measuring effectiveness. • Evaluate every employee on his/her success in servicing his/her internal customers. • Ensure that every employee realize the importance of this concept. Personnel department may be termed as Internal Customer Service Department (ICSD) in this new perspective. ICSD should treat employees as customers, using research to ascertain and verify their needs. This data can be used to design appraisal, compensation, and other rewards, with special emphasis on providing unexpected benefits as well as to improve working conditions. Employee lifelines should be clearly mapped out, with checks exercised at each stage of an employee’s progress through the organization. Once you accept the principle that organization’s employees are your customers, ICSD has to practice well-defined processes at every stage: recruitment, reinforcement, rewards, recognition, and sometimes resignation. Once the ICSD is satisfied that their parameters have been communicated to its customers – the employees – it may set about satisfying them identifying their needs and catering to them. Acting as a facilitator, it should interact with other departments to mold the skills of each individual to specific departments and teams.

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The goal is to ensure as high a degree of fit as possible between an employee’s natural abilities and mind set and his or her assignment. For this the ICSD should keep dossiers on all employees. These can be used to redeploy the manpower in the organization whenever necessary. Each employee should be given clear guidelines, such as to do things right the first time, satisfy both internal and external customers, don’t go back on commitments, and make commitments carefully. These could be the operating guidelines, after they have the freedom to work the way they want to. The organization also needs to reorganize its internal dynamics to be sensitive to the same sort of feeling and aspiration that its own employees have. It needs to extend the personal touch to every employee to facilitate the unhindered emotional transmission that adds value to every transaction. The policy on rewards should be to create and strengthen the sense of joint ownership of the organization’s fortunes, creating partners in progress rather than just people on the payroll. And the method is to reward systems, choosing the most effective ones, and implementing them. One of the common methods may be to create a comfort zone at all levels for employees. For example, one requirement which most of the employees have is housing. Organization should design a system that enables employees to fulfil this ambition. The organization has to be very family sensitive because employees work better when they are happy with their families. Other unasked for benefit which can be evolved are: • Transit flats for married employees who have to travel a lot. • Transport facilities to protect employee from the nerve-wracking peak-period public transport system. • A flexible working hours – from the traditional 10–5 to a flexible 8–6 keeping constant working hours daily – to make allowances for his/her personal needs. • Eating facilities. • Recreation facilities. Internal Customer Service Department’s goal is not only to set new standards of monetary compensation but also to provide small-unexpected benefits that are designed to communicate to employees their real value in the organization. Even the small things make a world of difference. To achieve this goal, the ICSD should carefully monitor working conditions and employee’s work habits, using observation, informal listening, and, of course, employee surveys at regular intervals. The process of tackling resignation, voluntary retirement, and retirement should be well defined, with involved understanding, counseling, negotiations, resolutions, and report. Thus, when an employee leaves the organization, the ICS department should analyze the reason why the move has been made. Direct interaction with the employee should follow, with a problem-solving mechanism being used to iron out the issues of mutual concern. At the same time, the individual’s needs and abilities should be assessed systematically. And the wisdom gleaned from the process of managing an employee’s life

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cycle should be used to improve employee care levels. Like technology, human needs also keep changing. So, ICSD’s ability to quickly adapt to new work environment and employee’s needs will prove to be crucial. The ICSD function is strongly linked to the customer – focus programs. This is because the success of customer focus depends largely on employee involvement in all processes aimed at ensuring customer satisfaction, both internal and external. In the new scheme of things, the ICS department should be treated as a line function and not a staff function that is directed from organizational headquarters. The concept of Internal Customer Service Department would fulfil the following objectives: • • • • • • •

To increase the level of interpersonal trust among people To increase openness of communication To increase employee’s level of satisfaction and commitment To increase cooperation and collaboration among employees To confront problems instead of avoiding them To effectively manage conflicts To increase organization’s self-renewal capabilities

All these steps require an understanding of the true nature of employees. There are various methods used for assessing employee behavior and their personality types. One method which is rooted in the ancient knowledge of India has gone largely unnoticed which is based on the Samkhya philosophy.

Samkhya and the Theory of Gunas Indian thought system, specifically theory of gunas, can help in understanding how people respond to their environment including the workplace. The theory of gunas is founded on the psycho-philosophical system of the Samkhya school which distinguishes between the physical and mental reality (Larson 1983). Samkhya system postulates, and the Vedantic school almost wholly accepts that every phenomenon, every atom, every human being, and his/her actions are a play of prakriti (e.g., primordial nature, not the physical). The dynamism of prakriti is due to the continuous lure of the three gunas, namely, sattva (balanced), rajas (passionate), and tamas (resistance to change/inertia). These gunas are variously called attributes or constituents or elements or qualities, or principles, which underlie every empirical phenomenon (Innes-Brown and Chatterjee 1999; Suneetha and Srikrishna 2009). Each human being, at any point in time, represents an amalgam of these three attributes in certain proportions. He/she may have the predominance of one of them or the other at different times. These three gunas can be explained by some similar meaning words as well as by describing the qualities, nature of knowledge, work, and the agent in these classifications.

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Sattva or Balanced • Quality: Purity, serenity, poise, calmness, discrimination, transparency, compassion, clarity, goodness, altruism, dispassion, contentment, etc., or in sum balanced • Nature of Knowledge: Believes in oneness of everything • Work: Action, which is rightly regulated, done without any desire of fruit for himself/herself • Agent: Free from attachment and egoism, full of a fixed impersonal resolution, and a calm rectitude of zeal, unelated, or undepressed by success or failure Rajas or Passionate • Quality: Love of fame, passion, lust strife, impatience, jealousy, pride, display of power, etc., or in sum passionate • Nature of Knowledge: Seeing multiplicity of things only in their separation and variety • Work: Action performed under the dominion of desire, with an egoistic sense of own personality, done with inordinate effort • Agent: Eagerly attached to work, passionately desirous of fruit, impure, often violent, cruel, and brutal in the means used, full of joy and grief in success or failure Tamas or Inertia (Resistance to Change) • Quality: Anger, greed, ignorance, stupidity, offering resistance, inertia, forgetfulness, confusion, darkness, brutality, etc., or in sum resistance to change • Nature of Knowledge: Small and narrow way of looking at things, which has no eye for the real nature of the world • Work: Action undertaken from delusion, in mechanical obedience to instincts, without regarding the strength or capacity, or its consequences, involving a waste of efforts or injury to others • Agent: Works with a mechanical mind are stupid, obstinate, cunning, insolent, lazy, and procrastinating Just as each individual at different times could be impelled by the three gunas mutually interacting in varying proportions, so could different individuals possess the distinctive predominance of any of the gunas in their respective basic makeup. Someone could be relatively more sattwic, another could be essentially rajasic, and a third could be predominantly tamasic. Again, the same person is likely to be more sattwic in the morning, more rajasic during the day, and more tamasic at night. Behavioral traits like empathy, team spirit, and openness in communication, essential ingredients for teamwork, can flower only in a sattwic or sattwo-rajasic personality. Any workplace consists of having all the three types of attributes with one dominant at a particular time and varying degree of other two types dormant in the personality. Nobody is pure sattwic or rajasic or tamasic. For a workplace to be harmonious, besides considering technical and other skills and experience, it has to be ensured that organizational members have a good proportion of the dominant

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balanced or balanced/passionate personalities also. Without such members, any workplace mostly comprising passionate or uninterested members is bound to be explosive, wasteful, and ineffective in making decisions and implementing them. Balanced or balanced/passionate members will be required as shock absorbers and perspective providers. The kind of values which can make a workplace enduring and constructive stems mostly from the balanced quality in human nature. Mere passionate quality without the temperance of sattva cannot build good organizations nor sustain them for long. The history of the rise and fall in any walk of human life could invariably be traced to the rise and fall of sattva or sattwo-rajasic guna. When we look around us, we also find employees who may have very narrow perspectives, who indulge in actions beyond their capacities, or those who are insolent and procrastinating. They are at the workplace because of their technical skills and domain expertise. They are every inch tamasic. There is a need to carry them along as well because the workplace needs them too. The people heading internal customer services, i.e., human resource development, corporate planning, finance, research and development, and other staff functions, should be more perspective oriented, more balanced, patient, and more tolerant. Hence, the head of such departments ought to be dominated by the sattva guna. In manufacturing and marketing functions, leaders should have rajas guna to be more dominant, though tempered by sufficiently strong sattwic guna. Generally, when it comes to bigger causes, say, for example, making some sacrifice for national interest, most of us tend to lapse into tamas unless goaded by patriotic or nationalist feelings. But when it comes to purely self-centered goals, the same tamasic people tend to become rajasic. How do we identify people with balanced nature? Is there any method to judge reactions of people in different situations? The question is: Can we find out for each individual what his or her underlying guna composition is? This is a challenge we will have to face and find solutions. But one thing is clear. Conventional methods will not help. The training programs will have to be designed to make individuals aware of their dominant gunas. When they are aware of their dominant nature and tendencies, they will have to be shown the path of selfdevelopment so that employees can rise to the occasion and at least do not stall the functioning of the workplace.

Triguna and the Nature of Work Indian philosophy spells out four types of work that an individual performs based on their nature of work and the quality (guna) of mind. Traditionally they are classified as Brahmin (knowledge oriented), Kshatriya (power oriented), Vaishya (wealth oriented), and Shudra (skills oriented). This structure can be used to evolve a relationship between an individual’s guna composition and his or her nature of work. Based on the interaction of quality and action, I have developed an outline

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Table 1 Satish Modh’s action-quality framework Quality/ guna

Sattva Rajas Tamas

Nature of action Knowledge Noble use of knowledge Knowledge in action Accumulation of knowledge

Power Noble use of power Power in action Accumulation of power

Wealth Noble use of wealth Wealth in action Accumulation of wealth

Skills Noble use of skills Skills in action Accumulation of skills

of an action-quality framework. This framework relates three gunas (sattva, rajas, and tamas) to the four types of work (Modh 2015). Knowledge, power, wealth, and skills play an important role in the structure of the society and creation of surplus wealth through economic activity. There is an increasing role of knowledge and technology in economic growth. Knowledge, as embodied in human beings (as “human capital”) and in technology, has always been central to economic development. Lundvall and Johnson, in their research paper “The Learning Economy” published in 1994, describe the way in which knowledge contributes to economic development, promoting innovations. They introduced the distinction between know-what, know-why, know-how, and know-who that has proven to be useful in understanding knowledge creation and learning (Table 1). Knowledge accumulation refers to the process of information seeking and assimilation, which is generally the “know-what” and ‘know-why” components of knowledge. Accumulation of experience and skills in action refers to the “know-how,” i.e., skills or the capability to do something. Marketing managers judging market prospects for a new product/service or a personnel manager involved in selection and training of staff have to use their know-how. The same is true for the skilled worker in software, automobile, aviation, or any other industry. Know-how refers to the accumulation of knowledge and skills developed and kept within the border of a firm. Employment in the knowledge-based economy is characterized by increasing demand for more highly skilled workers. Know-who involves information about who knows what and who knows how to do what. It involves the formation of special social relationships which make it possible to get access to experts and use their knowledge efficiently. Know-who plays an important role in power structure in the society and its decision-making process. Power is the ability to influence and control others’ lives. The need for power manifests itself in the realization of one’s physical strength, reasoning capacities, maturity, and wisdom. This need is generally associated with a worthy cause – such as the good of the family, organization, society, or the country. Higher level of management, bureaucracy, and politics is likely to attract the power-oriented person. Money gives us the ability to possess what others have. Money is the basis of most exchanges in today’s society. Wealth is not the same thing as money. The main difference between capitalism and socialism is in the creation and distribution of wealth. In capitalistic society everyone works for creation of his own wealth,

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whereas in socialism everyone works for creation of wealth which is distributed evenly to everyone. Capitalism works on the presumption that competition brings out the best in people. Gunas express the qualities of our thoughts and feelings and lead us to good, bad, or indifferent actions. By identifying the nature of work that we are doing and relating it to the gunas, we would be able to identify the motives of our life. The action-quality framework would help us in identifying the nature of work in accordance with our true nature. The gap between the nature of vocation and one’s true nature is an indication of stress in the occupation. This gap is the source of agitations and dilemma in our mind. It is important to note that one belonging to a particular work group in Krishna’s action-quality framework should not look down with contempt upon others. We must understand that each one of us acts on the basis of our past tendencies and serves the society as best as we can. What is needed is that each one of us should try to minimize the gap between our true self and the nature of our work with a spirit of learning, for our own evolution and sense of fulfilment. The productivity potential that is dormant in any profession can be invoked by bridging this gap. This will be useful for our self-development and also to gain the highest good for the society. John Huddleston (1989), in his book The Search for a Just Society, talks about creating a just society, which gives freedom to all its citizens and encourages them to achieve their full potential – physical, mental, and spiritual. An ideal social system gives equal opportunities to all its members to develop their persona. We can attain the highest perfection by devotion to our work. We can enjoy our workplace by finding a work in accordance with our true nature – through performance of our natural duty. We should know that our natural work – even if looks inferior – is better than superior unnatural work of others. This attitude to work will remove lots of stress at the workplace.

A New Perspective on Management at Workplace Ethics at workplace is another issue which greatly influences the well-being at workplace. Even when we know about the true nature of people at work, there are motivations and desires which make the workplace disagreeable. In Aristotelian approach to ethics (Mckeon 1941), the individual is seen being embedded in a community, and the ultimate importance for one is happiness, and happiness is sole measure of success, both individually and collectively. But we can see that this is not being met within the current framework of management thinking. There is little affection between individuals as customers and individuals as part of business organizations and between business communities and nonbusiness communities. Mary Parker Follet defined management as the art of getting things done through people. This definition categorizes two sets of people. One set of people are in commanding position and there is another set which is being directed. This definition has created two groups within employees of an organization – managers and

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workers. The implicit assumption is that there is a dominant group of people who are dominating other group to increase productivity by use of technology and other resources to meet the needs of customers to earn profit. Even customers are manipulated psychologically, through advertisements and promotion schemes to sell products and services. A more elaborate definition of management by George B Terry describes management as a process consisting of planning, organizing, actuating, and controlling, performed to determine and accomplish the objectives by the use of people and resources (Modh 2017). Managers responsible for the day-to-day operation of a firm follow certain rules for survival and success within the company. These rules are used to guide their relationships at work with superiors, subordinates, and peers – as well as those with whom they have contact within or outside the organization. The corporation, its culture, and its bureaucracy determine these rules. These rules can be called descriptive ethics in the sense that they do not offer rules that should be obeyed in business (as is the case in prescriptive ethics). These rules are contextual and situational moral guidelines that managers derive from their own personal set of moral beliefs. Organizational bureaucracy shapes the moral consciousness of managers. Consequently, the world of work can be seen as a realm where everyday morality has no place except to serve the interests of public relations. Therefore, in the current perspective, the subject of management ethics remains only as ethical code published as part of top management’s commitment to ethical practices or only for public consumption. No one really is responsible for individual conduct within the organization and the responsibilities of management for ethical behavior. The issues of managerial mischief and moral issues in management do not get its legitimate importance. Ethical management thought looks at the concept of management differently. I have defined management as “a series of ethical actions done by people, using technology and resources, to achieve a state of joy and happiness in the minds of both, producers and customers.” Figure 1 below shows the difference more clearly (Modh 2017).

Management Is “Ethical Action” Done by “People” In the new definition of management, there are some clear guidelines for people managing an organization. The first is the emphasis on ethical action. The word “ethical action’ comes from “theory of Karma” from the ancient Indian text Mimamsa. The word Mimamsa means “investigation, inquiry, or discussion.” It represents one of the schools of thoughts within Hindu philosophy. “Theory of Karma” is guided by Mimamsa philosophy. “Karma” means “deeds,” “act,” or “work.” Mimamsa is one of the schools of thoughts within Hinduism which gives importance to “theory of Karma.” This theory states that good actions produce good fruit; evil actions produce evil fruits. Every individual seems necessary to be guided by karma

550 Fig. 1 Current management thought versus ethical management

S. Modh

Current Management Thought People (Dominating Group Producers)

People (Producers and Customers)

People Technology

Ethical Action

Resource

Technology & Resources

(Dominated Group Customers)

JOY

Ethical Management Thought

yoga which holds that “when duty is performed in a spirit of dedication it becomes the cause of emancipation.” Morality, fair play, ethics, and justice are the basis of karma yoga (Adhikary 2007). This is the evidence that why both Western and Eastern world have given so much importance to fair play. Mimamsa deals with the concept of free will, agency, and selfhood. Here, the concept of “free will” is taken in the South Asian context and not in the Western context. However, although the definition and the semantic of “free will” are historically loaded, one can more easily determine the set of questions or scenarios to arrive at not a precise synonym, but a functional equivalent of this term in India. These sets of questions or scenarios are: 1. The problem of the agent’s causation: how does the process of volition lead to an action? 2. Moral responsibility vs. determinism 3. One’s psychological experience of freedom Unlike Western philosophers, Mimamsa philosophers do not question the degree of freedom of the decisions one experiences as free. They do not, e.g., argue for the fact that our experience of freedom might just be an epiphenomenon accompanying the process of undertaking an action or that our experience of freedom might be in fact a fake, since our decisions are completely determined by who we are, something which is a priori determined by facts we cannot interfere with, such as genes and early education (Strawson 1998). The fact that decisions are experienced as free is enough for Mimaṃsa philosophers to treat them accordingly. Within this framework (which basically takes our intuitions about freedom at face value), one could also just speak of “will,” since from the point of view of the way a single action is caused, nothing changes if the general laws of the universe allow freedom or not – one would nonetheless believe he has freely decided to do something. What is the implication of this philosophy for understanding ethics at workplace? This theory says that all people in the organization, whether employees or employers, have a “free will” to act. They will act according to their “eligibility”

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and “capability” for the role they have in the organization. But they “ought” to act within the framework of karma yoga and act to earn merit. All their actions “ought” to be for the welfare of the society.

Using Technology According to Webster dictionary (Merriam-Webster 2013), technology is the application of knowledge to the practical aims of human life or to changing and manipulating the human environment. Technology includes the use of materials, tools, techniques, and sources of power to make life easier or more pleasant and work more productive. Whereas science is concerned with how and why things happen, technology focuses on making things happen. Technology began to influence human endeavor as soon as people began using tools. It accelerated with the industrial revolution and the substitution of machines for animal and human labor. Innovations in technology started to rise in the nineteenth century. If you come to think about it, these inventions are rather simple, but their impact on business caused it to transform to what it is today. Globalization has accelerated the change of technology. Every day various new technological innovations are being created. The pace of change occurs so rapidly many people are always playing catch up. Technology is now the forefront of the modern world creating new jobs, innovations, and networking sites to allow individuals to connect globally. The use of technology in business has taken a sudden but remarkable upsurge. In the old times, business took a slow pace. Thanks to the information technology, we have much faster business transactions today. Earlier everything was done with the help of some mechanical tools and the bare hands, whereas now we have very advanced machines and computers which make it possible to do business in large volumes with excellent quality. Technology is always evolving as it continues to grow for business use. Technology today is used in business everywhere, easily bringing the world and all of its knowledge to seekers as fast as the click of a mouse. Technology gives owner/operators ample opportunity at their convenience to investigate the competition and ensure that they possess the products consumers’ desire. In comparison to decades ago, modernized technology is responsible for the enhanced improved performances a company has to offer its clientele (Taylor 2013). Advantages are businesses run smoother, operate with maximum advantages, and make better use of time and money.

Using Resources Penrose (1959) considered the firm as a “pool of resources.” Penrose’s thesis is that a firm is essentially a pool of resources, the use of which is organized in an administrative framework. In a sense, the final products being produced by a firm at any given time represent one of several ways in which the firm could be using its

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resources, an incident in the development of its basic potentialities. The continual change in the productive services and knowledge within a firm and the continual change in external circumstances present the firm with a continually changing productive opportunity set. A business survives on the ability to manage critical resources within the organization and to procure such resources from the external environment. This is called “resources dependence theory” where the limits of the firm are determined by the resource importance, the discretion over resource allocation and use, and the extent of control over the resource (Casciaro and Piskorski 2005; Pfeffer and Salancik 1978). The basic argument of resource dependence theory can be summarized as follows: • • • • • • • •

Organizations depend on resources. These resources ultimately originate from an organization’s environment. The environment, to a considerable extent, contains other organizations. The resources one organization needs are thus often in the hand of other organizations. Resources are a basis of power. Legally independent organizations can therefore depend on each other. Power and resource dependence are directly linked Power is thus relational, situational, and potentially mutual.

The bundle of resources a firm possesses at a point in time limits the potential services that a firm is able to produce. A firm may expand its bundle of physical, human, and organizational resources over time, and the productive opportunity set of the firm will accordingly change. However, at least in the short run, available resources place a boundary on the opportunities a firm can seize (Penrose 1959).

To Achieve a State of Joy and Happiness There is a lot of discussion about happiness at work and how it can change an organization. There is even a “science to happiness.” There is a difference between happiness and joy because it is often misinterpreted or misunderstood. According to the dictionary (Merriam-Webster 2013), joy is: • The emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying, keen pleasure, elation • A source or cause of keen pleasure or delight, something or someone greatly valued or appreciated And happiness is: • The quality or state of being happy • Good fortune, pleasure, contentment, joy

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They sound very similar but there are some distinct differences. Joy comes from within, an inner sense of peace, as well as enthusiasm, excitement, passion and optimism, long lasting, an attitude of the heart – a state of being. Finding joy is a longer-lasting state of being and not dependent on the external circumstances. It comes from within and therefore is a deeper and more authentic way of living. Happiness is external, being happy with the situation, circumstances, more temporary in nature – a positive emotion. We feel good when we have set goals and have accomplished them. Whether people choose to focus on happiness or joy, it will benefit both – producers of goods and services and customers. This will result in excellence in management and delighted customers.

Producers and Customers Thanks to recent advances in information technology, customers today are contributing to organizational processes in ways that would not have been possible 10 years ago (Humphreys and Grayson 2008). For example, at Threadless.com, customers can not only vote for the clothing designs that they would like to see produced but also submit their own designs for voting (Walker 2007). Similarly, at National Instruments, a company that makes measurement software and sensors, nearly half of the company’s research and development activity is done by an online community of customers (Seybold 2007). Another example is Proctor & Gamble’s “Vocal point” program, an online community of product enthusiasts who are rewarded with coupons and samples in return for talking about products with their friends. The program has more than 500,000 members and is being used by other companies such as WD-40 and the Discovery Channel to promote their products (Neff 2006). The consumer-producer relationship has traditionally been conceived of as an exchange relationship in which each party trades one kind of value for another (Bagozzi 1975). Humphreys and Grayson (2008) focused on the exchange relationship between an end user (such as a person buying coffee beans for home use) and the organization from which this end user buys a product or service (such as a supermarket or coffee shop). Before an end user buys something, a series of transformations are usually applied to it to make the product or service usable to the end user and to therefore enhance its value. To make a cup of coffee, for example, someone must grow and harvest the coffee beans, roast and grind them, transport and package them, offer them for retail sale, and finally brew the cup of coffee. These are all steps in what Michael Porter (1985) calls the “value chain,” the series of transformations required to make a product for an end user. By conventional practice, the organization (or set of organizations) that grows, harvests, roasts, and sometimes grinds the beans is labelled the “producer,” whereas the person who brews the coffee in order to drink it is labelled the “consumer.” But importantly, both producer and consumer work to create the value in the cup of coffee. The creation of value does not necessarily distinguish these two roles.

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Humphreys and Grayson (2008) assert that the practice of engaging consumers in the production process can make the boundary porous between producer and consumer. When there is joy and happiness in the minds of both producers and consumers – the all-inclusive management process is completed. This will bring real well-being at workplace.

Ethical Issues at Workplace Ethical issues bring lots of stress at the workplace. Management theorists and academicians doing work in this area have directed their concerns to individuals in the corporate workplace. Questions about the rights, responsibilities, and ethical decision-making of managers and employees attract attention of these ethicists. Here, theories about the relationship between the individual and the organization are offered, as explanations about people in business do not always do what is legally or morally right. Such theoretical works have recommended areas of organizational development and changes in the structures with an eye to understand what kind of conduct is most ethical among those who manage others on the job. The issue to be debated is the differences between personal morality and business morality (Shaw and Barry 1989). How are the ethical problems facing an individual at work different from those faced elsewhere? Many of the difficult moral decisions faced at the workplace are raised by issues that are not peculiar to work but are to do with one’s treatment of other people and vice versa. As an example, problems raised by the protection of confidential information and the circumstances under which it may or should be disclosed are not peculiar to business ethics, nor or they generated solely by role conflict. They arise in all circumstances, both public and private. The duty to tell the truth is always qualified by the need to ask whether the person you are telling it is entitled to know it. Those who engage in gossip walk a thin line between passing on what, justifiably, is in the public domain and what one may know but ought not to disclose. Many numbers of ethical issues might be present at the workplace (Donaldson 1989). A short list of such moral issues would include: • • • • • • • • •

Recognizing the problem of conflicts of interest and how to avoid them Deciding if a business gift is just a gift or more of a bribe Attaining fairness in employee performance appraisals Reaching a decision to initiate disciplinary action against an employee Executing an order to take action against staff Managing a problem employee Taking reports about wrong doing on the job Safeguarding confidential information Recognizing and balancing the legitimate interests of customers, employees, suppliers, owners, and the society in which they all live

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How can managers cope with the ethical dilemmas that they face at work? Are there any useful guidelines that can be offered to them? The answer to these questions is not straightforward. Every role in an organization carries some expectations. Coping with the differences between formal and informal expectations is a skill, which adults acquire to varying degrees of competence through their experience. However, life is made more difficult by several roles one plays at any given time. Social and organizational influences have a significant influence on individual’s behavior at work and, consequently, on ethical behavior.

Dealing with Dilemma at the Workplace We follow our own moral convictions in our personal life and follow the prevailing morality of our particular organization at the workplace. What is right in the organization is not what is right in our home or in our temple. What is right in the organization is what my boss wants from me. That is what morality is about in the business organizations. But, it is also true that an individual who works in or for an organization is in a position, which is complicated by factors that do not apply to a person acting in his or her private capacity. We acquire new powers and responsibilities, which are not ours at all, but flow from the position we fill or the function we perform. In a private capacity, it is accepted that we owe a special degree of consideration to those closest to us. We should look after them and help them whenever we can to the best of our ability. But, should the personal manager of a large company show special consideration to friends and relatives? Should the purchasing manager give lucrative contract to a cousin who is in the right line of business but in some financial difficulties? What is laudable for a private person becomes suspect once that person is acting in trust for a third party, the organization. When managers fail to put their psychological house in order, the dilemmas mount. Management philosophies with new catch phrases are unable to explain these dilemmas in organizations. But, they succeed in diluting the values upheld by the individuals by providing them with rational exit routes. The overwhelming recurrence of such situations is at the root of most of the frustrations, heartbreaks, and tensions in the organizations.

The Role of an Individual There is a perception that ethics is abstract and universalistic and it has little concern for human relationships and alliances in social settings. In fact, the normlessness of human behavior in the society and organization today is an offshoot of the competitive individuality cult that has percolated into our pattern of training and upbringing. For the subject of ethics, the individual is the smallest denominator of a group, a team or an organization. It is the unit, which comes first, the group or the

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organization only follows. If the basic unit, the individual, is helped to set out on the right track for development, then group or organization will be automatic beneficiaries. The larger the number of such individuals, the more the beneficent effects. This promise casts the burden of change on each individual and limits the opportunity for him to avoid change process by resorting to the alibis of environmental constraints, peer pressures, and organizational factors. Each individual has the responsibility of leading the change process or contributes to it depending on his status within the group, or organization. There are few themes, which discuss the role of an individual in an organizational setting.

Utilitarian Paradigm The neoclassical paradigm is a utilitarian (hedonistic and self-centered), rationalist, and individualist ethical theory. The individual agent at the center of the theory is a selfish, rational, and utility-maximizer, who acts independently and noncooperatively and whose behavior is strictly motivated by narrow self-interest. Economic man is a totally unemotional and calculating human being, supposedly immoral/unethical and markedly antisocial and his view of other individuals are a mirror image of his own. A Moral Agent People are moral agents. In other words, their actions are governed by rules, explicit or implicit, that can be subjected to ethical appraisal. We may praise them for being courageous, charitable, just, sensitive, or magnanimous, or we may condemn their foolishness, envy, or deviousness. We may neither praise nor blame but wonder whether they were not fully responsible for what they did. We may imagine that they were perhaps coerced or pressured or maybe they just did not know what they were doing. Organizations are made up of people and these people are moral agents. They may not be moral agents of the kind human beings are. But organizations have sufficient structural complexity to be agents, whom it makes sense, to be called to account for their actions and the consequences of those actions. An organization is, by definition, organized; it is not just a group of people. This implies that it has structure, which enables it to make collective decisions and act on those decisions. If a body can take decisions and implement them, then it has to be responsible for those decisions and their consequences. It may not be possible for such organizations to be held responsible in the way people can be, but they can be responsible in a way appropriate to organizations. We all have rights, duties, responsibilities, powers, interests, etc., which accrue to us as people within a society. We have the right to vote, to apply for a passport. We have a duty to care toward our dependent children and elderly relatives. We have ties of affection and obligation that bind us to friends and acquaintances. We might belong to clubs, building societies and so on. All of these contribute to defining us as moral individuals surrounded by a network of reciprocal relationships with others to whom we owe and from whom we expect loyalty, respect, esteem, friendship, duty, and obligation on different scales and to a greater and lesser extent.

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The Conscientious Employee Conscience is the knowledge enjoyed for differentiating the good from the evil, which often forms a moral standard in us and, whenever it can, warns the mind against its sensuousness and animalism. What are the practical limits of moral imagination and vision at our workplace? Is there a collective or institutional ethic, beyond the ethics of the individual? At what level of effort or commitment can we discharge our ethical responsibilities? Another role of an individual in an organization is that of the “conscientious employee” (CE). This issue brings together many different questions on both the personal and organizational levels. Individual managers must, often, wrestle with their conscience over their responsibility to point out an ethical error of a colleague or their organization. People who witness illegalities and unethical practices in the workplace have a positive obligation to report them. If greed is the main motivator in the surge in white-collar crimes, pressure to perform also plays a part. Many individuals and companies feel much more competitive pressure these days. In any event, some of the worst ethical violation results from the absence of conscientious employees rather than the presence of individual culprits. The basic professional and individual responsibilities of a citizen place a higher priority on his responsibility to the society than to an illegal or negligent or unjust organizational policy or activity. Though individuals in organizations need not feel absolutely obliged in every case to raise the alarm, they should be vigilant to the happenings around them. Administrators, managers, and all other employees have an overriding duty to public safety that must supersede loyalties to their immediate masters and the organizations. Each is willing to do his bit just so long as it is not too inconvenient. When it becomes a bother, everyone just passes the buck to someone else. When no one in an organization is willing to assume ultimate responsibility, someone has to stand up and blow the whistle (Nader et al. 1972). The difficulty rests in the judgment to be exercised by the individual and its implementation. A number of questions need to be asked to overcome any doubts before blowing the whistle. The answers to the following questions are unique for every situation and for every individual: • • • • • •

Is my knowledge of the matter complete and accurate? What are the objectionable practices? What public interest is being harmed? How far should I go within the organization with my concerns? Is it justified for me to approach outside agencies? How should I speak out – anonymously, overtly, by resigning or in any other way? • How will others perceive my action? • What is expected to be achieved by opening up?

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Even after the decision to make a voluntary report of wrongdoing is reached, the individual must make further crucial decisions. • How is the ethical issue to be raised? • Should it be reported anonymously? • Should the report be made internally or does one go to the proper legal authorities or even the media? • What protections, if any, are available? The last point about protection to the whistle-blower has assumed a greater significance after the murder of Satyendra Dubey, deputy general manager in the Centre’s National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in Bihar. His letter to the Prime Minister details how the absence of proper systems and procedures and the lack of scrutiny have vitiated the process of awarding the contract to the best companies. That he paid with his life for bringing the corruption scandal to the Prime Minister’s attention only underlines the urgent need to protect whistle-blowers (Hindu 2003).

Professional Ethics Managers are professionals like doctors or engineers. The first responsibility of a professional was spelled out, 2500 years ago, in the Hippocratic Oath of the Greek Physician – primum non nocere – not knowingly to do harm. Professionals should try to do good for their client. They promise that they will not do harm knowingly. Professional ethics are moral rules-in-use that guides professionals’ behavior at work. These are shaped by: • Up and downs in profession due to upheavals • Intense rivalries at workplace • Emotional crisis due to continuous failures in spite of hard work Gellerman (1986) argues that there are four major rationales used by professional managers to justify unethical behavior. These are: • A belief that the activity is within reasonable ethical and legal limits – that it is not really illegal or immoral • A belief that the activity is in the individual’s or corporation’s best interests so that the individual would, somehow, be expected to undertake that activity • A belief that the activity is safe because it will never be found out or publicized • A belief that the activity helps the company and the company will condone it and even protect the person who engages in it

Advantages of Being Ethical at Workplace Campbell and Tawadey (1992) perceive the benefits of a company having a sense of mission. They say that people are more motivated and work more intelligently if

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they believe in what they are doing and trust the organization they are working for. Other significant benefits include clarity of strategy, better decision-making, clearer communication, and greater ease in delegation with lower costs of supervision. Following are the advantages of being ethical: • • • • • • •

Employee commitment and loyalty Less likelihood of theft or fraud in the company Better working atmosphere Greater customer care Customer loyalty Repeat customers Recommendations of firm’s product/services by word-of-mouth publicity

A Questionnaire to Identify Your Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas Guna We have seen that the personality of an individual plays an important role in being full of happiness and joy is very important. Though there are various tools to understand one’s personality, I have developed a questionnaire to understand the basic guna framework of a person. This questionnaire has been used by more than 30,000 people on the website www.trigunayoga.com. I reproduce here the basic questionnaire and a simplistic understanding of personality based on triguna concept for easy reference. The three gunas function at different levels within each one of us. Knowledge of the composition of these three gunas (together, triguna) will make you aware of your true nature. Your answers to these questions will help you to identify strong points in your personality and some of your weak areas. Intuitively, you already know them. A reaffirmation of them may go a long way in making a clear choice about your future course of actions. There is no right or wrong answer. Do not mark the answer with a view to reflect what you want to be; just fill in about what you are. Sr. Statement No. Part – A 1 You jump out of bed each morning looking forward to what awaits you in your day. 2 You love to take part in outdoor sports or field and track events. 3 If you don’t like the food served, you express your feelings without any hesitation. 4 You don’t take much time to decide what you want.

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Unsure

Agree

Strongly agree

(continued)

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You are willing to take big risks to achieve what you want. 6 You are more concerned about making progress than making peace. 7 You find it difficult to forgive people and carry grudges for a long time. 8 Sometimes you tend to talk too much and then regret this later. 9 You find it very difficult to sit calmly and meditate. 10 You do not worry about work life balance. Your work is what you breathe, live and eat for. Part – B 11 Even if you sleep for only a few of hours, you feel fresh when you wake up. 12 You prefer simple food over spicy, fatty foods. 13 You strive for well-being of others and contribute generously to the social cause. 14 You feel everything can be settled by debate and dialogue. 15 You do not like using vulgar and abusive language. 16 You enjoy reading classic, serious, and thought provoking books. 17 You do not react to gossip or loose talk involving you. 18 You are very regular in your yoga and meditation practices. 19 You are not fearful of losing anything in life, be it people or things. 20 Even when people mistreat, harm, and betray you, you forgive them easily. Part – C 21 When you wake up in the morning, you feel lazy and want to remain in bed. 22 Your life is a colorful blur – attending work, staying late, and partying. (continued)

20 23

24

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26 27 28

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You take decisions at the very last moment because either you are too busy or too lazy. You enjoy watching TV, surfing the Internet, or just relax in your free time. You always overanalyze and reprimand yourself for not living up to your own ideals. You often get upset when things don’t work out for you. You believe in luck and destiny. You always wait for favorable conditions before you begin any work. You are constantly worried about the outcome of your actions. You always have a ready explanation for things which do not go your way.

Method of Evaluation Give 10 marks – if response is “Strongly Agree and Agree.” Give 5 marks – if response is “Undecided.” Give zero mark – if response is “Strongly Disagree and Disagree.” Total of Part A score is your rajas guna score, Part B score is your sattva guna score, and Part C score is your tamas guna score.

Summary In this chapter first we discussed the importance of well-being at the workplace based on various surveys and OECD data. As most of our waking time is spent at the workplace, it is important that key decision-makers give importance to this very important aspect. Most of the time recruitment is based on the domain skills requirement, and employees are rewarded based on the results they deliver. In practice relationships – whether formal or informal – at the workplace cannot be ignored. These relationships are based on the experiences of dealing with each other and are results of such interactions. The basic personality of the employee and his/her true nature plays an important role in development of these relations. This also decides the workplace well-being at the subjective level.

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The concept of sattva, rajas, and tamas guna based on the Samkhya philosophy is used to underrate the “true nature” and “the nature of the work” a particular dominant guna person is more comfortable with. The chapter also discusses a new perspective on management based on the true nature of a person leading to a new definition of management based on ethical actions. If the workplace is ethical and people know how to deal with moral issues at workplace, employees will experience the joy and happiness while contributing to the success of their organizations.

Cross-References ▶ A Humanistic Perspective for Management Research: Protecting Dignity and Promoting Well-Being ▶ Diverse Personalities, Egos, Roles, and Relations: Toward Workplace Wellbeing ▶ Having an Ethical Mindset Might Enhance Workplace Well-Being ▶ Organizational Spiritual Maturity (OSM): The Root of Workplace Well-Being ▶ Positive Psychological Well-Being at Work: The Role of Eudaimonia ▶ Purpose, Meaning, and Well-Being at Work ▶ Wellbeing and Spirituality: Insights from the World’s Wisdom Traditions ▶ Well-Being at Workplace: A Perspective from Traditions of Yoga and Ayurveda ▶ Yoga Sutras and Well-Being

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Wellness: How Did We Get Here? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What Wellness Became . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wellness Reimagined: A Starting Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Talent Management and Wellness: The Challenge to Find and Keep Good People . . . . . . . The Myth of the Perfect Hire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Connection Between Wellness and Talent Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wellness and the Ethics of Talent Development: What Is the Manager’s Role – Beyond Cholesterol Screenings? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wellness and a Manager’s Commitment to Employee Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Must Aberrant Behavior Lead to Termination? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Wellness: Best Practices and What Is Missing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparing the Best of the “Best Practices” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Considering Redemption as a Part of a Workplace Wellness Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . When Leaving Failure Behind Is Better than Staying to Clean Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Wellness Grounded in Redemption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Workplace Wellness programs offer employees healthy benefits without the need to sacrifice family time. Employers seek lower healthcare costs and improved productivity from healthy employee habits. Most Wellness programs seem to focus on physical health and screenings while not considering the challenges employees face through workplace stress and even project failure. The author J. J. Bucci (*) Business, Leadership and Management Department, College of Arts and Sciences, Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_23

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provides support for a comprehensive Workplace Wellness program grounded in Redemption. Such a program considers the challenge of talent acquisition; the manager’s moral responsibility for employee development; how limiting employee Wellness programs can cause them to be ineffective; and the need for Wellness programs to be more than attempts at social redemption through physical fitness. A blueprint for Workplace Wellness programs grounded in Redemption is offered at the end of the chapter.

Introduction Workplace Wellness programs are becoming more and more commonplace in organizations. According to Christensen and Hagerman (2017), Workplace Wellness programs have spread to more than 78% of workplaces as of 2016 (Christiansen and Hagerman 2017). Employee Wellness programs are defined by the National Wellness Institute as programs through which employees become more aware of and make choices toward a “more successful existence” (Lauritsen 2011). This definition sounds much more comprehensive than focusing exclusively on the workplace. Several definitions of Workplace Wellness, or Wellness in general, were found to contain similar thoughts in defining the scope of the subject. Wellness in 1998 was defined as “a composite of physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, occupational, and social health; health promotion is the means to achieve wellness” (Reardon 1998). This definition by Reardon matched a similar definition found in a simply developed document obtained from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), a US-based federal agency charged with health promotion and disease prevention and control (CDC n.d.). The CDC issued a simple three-page document in which it expressed the definition and description of Workplace Health programs (CDC n.d.). This is important, since the document concisely frames the US federal government’s efforts to promote healthy policies in the workplace, in order to advocate for the health and safety of all employees. The CDC definition of Wellness is similar to that of Reardon, defining Wellness as “as a dynamic process of learning new life skills and becoming aware of and making conscious choices toward a more balanced and healthy lifestyle. . .” (CDC n.d.). The CDC definition is linked to content drawn from the World Health Organization (PAHO 2008). Specifically, the definition used by the World Health Organization articulated a much broader Wellness philosophy, which considered Wellness across seven dimensions utilizing the “SPECIES” model (PAHO 2008). This model considers social, physical, emotional, career, intellectual, environmental, and spiritual Wellness. This “SPECIES” model as used by the WHO was not found to be distinctive of itself but traces itself back to writings of Dr. Bill Hettler, cofounder of the National Wellness Institute (Green 2016). Here we come full circle from the initial definition.

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Hettler wrote of Wellness programs in 1976 (Green 2016) and initially considered six dimensions of health: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, occupational, and social. Subsequent to this, researchers have added an environmental wellness component, rounding out the list to seven dimensions of Wellness (Green 2016). A number of websites were found that highlighted the SPECIES model of Wellness, including several significant major university websites describing Wellness and the seven dimensions (Grand Rapids Community College 2018; Chobdee 2014; and others). Several health promotion websites take the six dimensions, now turned to seven, and add an eighth dimension. The University of Missouri-Kansas City website highlighted eight dimensions of Wellness – adding “cultural” Wellness as the eighth dimension (UMKC 2018). The US Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS) added a different eighth dimension – financial Wellness (US DHHS 2017). While the focus of the current chapter is on a specific stream of research related to Workplace Wellness, it seemed important from the beginning of this chapter, in developing the foundation of this research, to consider from where we have arrived at this place considering the scope and impact of Workplace Wellness. The author assumes that within this compilation of research on Workplace Well-being, other definitions of Wellness will be given that align with each researcher’s conclusions. The intention here is to simply unpack a definition of Wellness as a starting point for the current research.

Workplace Wellness: How Did We Get Here? As noted above, the origins of Wellness were viewed as holistic, and in Rucker’s analysis below, it appears that the origins of Workplace Wellness were viewed as more than simply screening for elevated blood pressure and cholesterol. According to Rucker (2016), Wellness was not fully developed as a focus in organizations until the introduction of Employee Assistance Programs, roughly the 1950s (Rucker 2016). Rucker suggested that companies began to consider Wellness interventions as they became aware of employees with life controlling problem, such as alcoholism, but also to address mental health concerns (Rucker 2016). The emergence of more fully developed Wellness programs was not evident in workplaces until the 1970s (Rucker 2016). Rucker here posits an oft-stated conclusion: the impetus for such programs was cost containment (Reardon 1998, cited by Rucker 2016). In this instance, the move was initiated as a shift in costs from government to private employers was taking place. This will be an often-pronounced motivation behind the promulgation of Workplace Wellness programs: cost savings (Christiansen and Hagerman 2017; Rossi 2015; and others). The work by Hettler noted earlier, regardless of the added dimensions, seems to envision a more holistic approach to the subject of Wellness (Green 2016). Author Green in her brief article quotes experts who suggest that Wellness is meant to

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consider “the whole person, and not simply the parts” (Green 2016). This approach does mirror the earliest definition of Wellness taken from the World Health Organization, which wrote of health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO 1948). What we need to determine is which definition of Wellness will be the starting point. This is important, because even with the six core dimensions as initially envisioned by Hettler, the focus of Workplace Wellness programs appears to be more on the physical, social, and mental or intellectual aspects of Wellness and not a holistic set of Wellness dimensions. De La Torre and Goetzel (2016) reviewed the results of an extensive research project on Workplace Wellness programs which was commissioned by their firms and later highlighted in a Harvard Business Review article (De La Torre and Goetzel 2016). The report, entitled Evidence to Practice: Workplace Wellness that Works (IHPS 2015), documented trends in Wellness programs which in some cases led to successful events and some to failed programs. Best practice initiatives highlighted in the report include programs to address physical activity, nutrition and weight management, tobacco cessation, stress management, preventive screenings for cholesterol blood pressure and sugar, sleep support, social connectedness, and alcohol management. We can see here again that the trend is more toward the physical and social aspects as earlier mentioned. This frame appears to be narrowed from both Rucker’s research on the origins of Wellness (Rucker 2016) and Hettler’s definition (Green 2016).

What Wellness Became Muriel Gillick (1984) wrote an interesting article about the promotion of health and its relationship to a moral life (Gillick 1984). Gillick noted how a resurgence of interest in personal habits and exercise to reduce sickness grew out the practice of cardiac rehabilitation (Gillick 1984). Physicians, seeing a need for their patients to live healthier lives, adapted exercise from competitive sports and military exercises, and promoted the idea of preventative practices to reduce heart attacks. Exercise became, according to Gillick (1984), a “prophylaxis,” or more of a preventative social movement, once seized upon by the general public (Gillick 1984). Researchers who studied the burgeoning fitness movement confirmed that preventative exercise and then correct nutrition did offer some benefit. Gillick noted that as exercise and fitness became more popular, beyond the reinforcement by the medical community of better health, exercise was perceived as a means to personal and social redemption (Gillick 1984). The proof that exercise and healthy living did lead to prevention of disease and to cardiac rehabilitation reinforced this notion (Gillick 1984). It may have been this influence which has skewed Wellness programs away from a whole person “complete person” program to more of one focused on those attributes of Wellness related to physical health attributes. Thus far in this chapter, what we are seeing here are two streams of thought that appear distinctive and yet relate to each other. The first stream highlights the

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growth of Wellness as a philosophy, developed from a whole person consideration (Green 2016). The origins of Wellness did not limit its scope but instead envisioned individuals as whole systems. This is even evidenced in the origins of Workplace Wellness programs, starting with Employee Assistance Programs, which were altruistically designed to restore and redeem good employees with emotional and psychological problems to be able to contribute to their workplace. The other stream here is Gillick’s research, observing the nascent trend in fitness which would become the core of Workplace Wellness programs – good health and productivity through fitness and exercise – which points to efforts through Wellness to find a type of social redemption. Here is a profound yet fundamentally flawed notion: that perfecting one’s health through exercise and upright living could restore one’s soul or at least provide some strengthening of self-identity (Gillick 1984). Even researcher Gillick believed that people exaggerated the benefits of exercise (Stein 1989).

Wellness Reimagined: A Starting Point What seems apparent in a consideration of the growth in Workplace Wellness programs is how these two distinct thoughts have remained separate. Part of the reason for this, as noted by Gillick, is that Wellness in the form of exercise was seen as a path to social redemption – but not in terms of addressing aberrant behavior outside of fitness – or as a means of wholeness for one’s inner self (Gillick 1984). Gillick noted in an interview on the fitness movement (Stein 1989) that this fitness “craze” of the 1980s mirrored earlier movements from as far back as the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which maintained that eating well and leading a healthy life offered the potential to solve both personal and societal ills (Stein 1989). Stein noted Gillick’s reticence that this might be the case, along with the lack of evidence that broad social change might actually happen (Stein 1989). Certainly there appears to be a similar belief at the core of the current wave of Workplace Wellness programs, that environmental change is a by-product of a Workplace Wellness program (Jones et al. 2018). Miller (2015) cited Gillick in his history of Wellness and wrote this: “In a society that was undergoing increasing secularization, the new gospel of Wellness served as a sort of secular path to personal salvation” (Miller 2015; citing Gillick 1984). The evidence from the “Best Practices” research (IHPS 2015) appears to confirm that Workplace Wellness has now been framed as an opportunity for busy employees to improve their health without sacrificing family time or free time (Hayzlett 2018). And if such an effort also results in improved productivity and reduced healthcare costs, you have then found a new triple bottom-line impact that is hard not to love (Hayzlett 2018). Yet in considering the whole person approach to Wellness, have these new Workplace Wellness program designs fallen into the trap defined by Gillick (1984), where instead of using physical fitness to find a type of social redemption, it is now the Workplace Wellness program – focused more on physical health – which is designed to

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offer corporate redemption? Should the average company Wellness program consider a complete approach to Wellness, or simply address those things that are in the best interest of the firm in terms of reduced healthcare costs? Data surrounding surveys of employers and their Wellness programs most often noted that the reason for instituting such programs is improvement of employee health, which affects overall expenditures on healthcare (Pronk 2014). And companies see a link from healthy employees to reduced absenteeism and greater levels of productivity. Businesses are not purely selfless, and any kind of strategy within business, in order to be effective, requires an investment of time and resources – there is a cost to all this good stuff. From the corporate initiative of Workplace Wellness, we narrow the frame to that of the individual manager and his/her role in supporting employee Workplace Wellness: does the manager have an obligation beyond the corporate Health and Wellness programs to support employee Wellness, as it relates to not only performance maximization but also employee development? These activities might be perceived as distinctive from Workplace Wellness, as the two streams of Wellness reasoning mentioned earlier. What about the issue of dealing with stress: Wellness programs are known to address stress reduction (IHPS 2015). Would this mean that a Workplace Wellness program is prepared to assist employees dealing with the stress from an intolerant supervisor or guilt from project failure? If an employee Wellness program is limited in its scope as to what it offers, should it be stated as a limited Wellness program? Is the company even obligated to consider the whole person or simply the health and fitness of the person who works those 8 hours a day? There is an opportunity to return Workplace Wellness programs to their core, to a consideration of the whole person, and how the peak performance of each individual can be negatively affected by many factors, including physical performance but also sleep deprivation, headaches, and mental and emotional factors (Hayzlett 2018). But a well-conceived whole person Workplace Wellness program, or better yet, a strategy for Workplace “Well-Being” according to some research, can provide an individual the potential to achieve optimal functioning (Bennett et al. 2017). From this perspective, these researchers believe that employee well-being and organizational success are intricately interwoven (Bennett et al. 2017). There is a need to move Wellness programs past where they have landed, with a narrow focus on physical fitness and health screening. The evidence is that these narrow types of programs are not effective and are not producing the expected results (Begley 2016). What might a Workplace Wellness program grounded in personal redemption look like? In order to link the formerly mentioned two stream of Wellness research and to build a case for a revival of Wellness programs that actually do offer a modest opportunity for career and personal redemption, the remainder of this chapter will focus on four presuppositions of Workplace Wellness: 1. The first is the need for organizations to recruit and retain talented individuals, and the important role that Wellness plays to support talent management.

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2. The second will consider the manager’s role in talent development and the ethics of the manager’s effort in the development of the individual employee, and whether this should be related to workplace performance only. 3. The third presupposition considers the reality that Workplace Wellness programs have been and can be ineffective, but with the right focus, they can have a significant impact in the lives of employees. 4. The fourth presupposition will consider current best practices in Workplace Wellness and possible approaches that are not being utilized. Then finally, the author will recommend an approach to Workplace Wellness which brings together the ideas expressed by Gillick and Hettler and offers an approach to Wellness as Redemption, considering the whole person and giving them the opportunity to be fully whole and restored to fully effective productivity both at work and in life.

Talent Management and Wellness: The Challenge to Find and Keep Good People McKinsey and Company’s Global Institute (MGI) published a research report on future talent needs for its client companies after the global recession of the late 2000s (Manyika et al. 2012). In this report the authors noted that in 2011, when the US unemployment rate exceeded 9%, an internal McKinsey survey of 2,000 US companies found that 30% of the respondents still had positions open for more than 6 months that they could not fill (Manyika et al. 2012). How much more challenging then is talent acquisition in the current landscape of low unemployment? According to Josh Bersin (2013a) an expert for the Deloitte Talent Acquisition team, the average amount of money spent by companies to recruit talent in 2012 was $3,325 per employee. This means that our mistakes in hiring can be costly. Bersin cited data to suggest that it took 55 days on average to find the person the company believed was the right fit (Bersin 2013a). Bersin’s data also suggested that the challenge in all of this is that not only are the acquisition costs going up and with this the time-to-hire; but ironically the turnover rate for new hires is also increasing (Bersin 2013a).

The Myth of the Perfect Hire Most of the focus in Talent Acquisition has to do with better assessment, stronger branding by the company to attract the best employees, maintaining candidate pools, a good referral program, improved relationships with hiring managers, and strong social media promotion (Bersin 2013a). Ultimately the goal is finding the best people who stick with the organization for a long time. Bersin’s techniques are all focused on improving the acquisition of talent to reduce turnover. The thinking here goes: if we hire better, we’ll keep them longer.

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There is a significant disconnect in thinking that talent acquisition involves drawing from a normal distribution curve (Blanchard et al. 1985). Recruiting, training, and retaining “winners” are all three demonstrated to be critical competencies necessary in organizations but are rarely a significant focus (Sullivan 2002). This is not simply a function of the Human Resources department. Ultimately, managers must live with their own efforts at developing and retaining a competent workforce (Yukl 2002). In the new reality of Talent Management and lower unemployment, managers are carefully evaluating their approach to hiring. Popular techniques for acquiring the best talent are drawn from tools that consultants have used for years, found in books such as Top Grading (Smart 2012) and Who: The A Method for Hiring (Smart and Street 2008). Research can identify that different individuals from different backgrounds under enormous pressure in the same workplace can act in different ways. This seems like common sense. What researchers cannot determine are the environmental or situational triggers for the aberrant behavior (Hayes 2008). If hiring were from the normal distribution curve, then it would be easier for managers to hire employees without these different traits to avoid the potential for this behavior. But these are often not behaviors that are represented or assessed in a traditional interview process. In the McKinsey report, Help wanted: The future of work in advanced economies, it states that young people in particular often begin their careers with an inconsistent history of employment and are not fully prepared to take their place in the workforce without some rigorous support (Manyika et al. 2012). At what age is it expected that workers reach maturity? Lazear (1998) writes accurately that despite all of the best techniques and tools at their disposal, the quality of a new hire is not known with certainty at the time they are employed (Lazear 1998). Lazear actually proposes a model based on the risk of hiring employees and integrates the cost of firing and other factors to allow organizations to gauge their risk tolerance in talent acquisition (Lazear 1998). Most organizations can ill afford to hedge their bets, with the cost for replacing a contributing employee estimated by some studies ranging from thousands of dollars to as high as twice an employee’s annual salary (Bersin 2013b). In a detailed report on workplace dishonesty, researcher Hayes (2008) highlighted the results of survey data which suggest that as much as employees can be a company’s greatest asset, they can also demonstrate counterproductive behaviors (Hayes 2008). While some of the data describes destructive deviant behaviors such as theft or damage to merchandise, some aberrant behavior is simply selfishness or counterproductive reactions to peers or workplace pressure (Hayes 2008). According to Hayes (2008), the range of aberrant employee behavior covers the spectrum from unintentional behavior like tardiness or absences or errors in detail collection; up through and including sabotage and destruction of property (Hayes 2008). In between, employees may act out their stress through immaturity or inappropriate workplace behaviors, whether due to the lack of coaching on how to proceed in working with customers and peers or simply due to a poor self-image and a lack of positive role models on how to process stress.

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Hayes (2008) further delineates that there are two major causes of every workplace behavior: one has to do with self-management of personal issues on the part of the employee, while the other originates from situational or environmental factors (Hayes 2008). Personality traits of employees and limited self-control are part of the personal issues which can factor into the causes of aberrant behavior. Employees as people can demonstrate selfishness, greed, and self-centeredness, due to a lack of maturity or a perception of injustice. There may also be a perception that the behavior will not be recognized or noticed or that there will not be sanctions associated with the actions (Hayes 2008). Employees may believe they have been left out or have been abused and then act impulsively (Hayes 2008). So the questions on the recruitment and management of talent may need to be rephrased: the question may not be, “how can we hire better” using assessments and better interviewing techniques? A better question might be “what is our risk tolerance in talent acquisition?” (Lazear 1998). As an organization, are we committed to helping this investment in future talent to be successful in the long run? This question suggests that organizations not only need to be intentional and strategic in their talent acquisition, but they need to provide greater support for these talented people as they pursue the obstacle course that leads toward corporate success. Most current Workplace Wellness programs encourage employees to make positive choices that lead to healthier and more productive lives – and this includes working lives. But what if the path to success has some failure and careerstretching potholes along the road – what then? It was noted above that some of the causes of aberrant employee behavior are latent, and not all employee behavior is a response to activities that occur during the normal 8-hour day. Are we still committed to an employee’s success if, due to a poor self-image or a lack of coaching, they fail or screw up along the way? With all of the money companies spend to acquire their talent, and with the high cost of turnover, has the timeline for success also been considered when the goal of acquiring and developing “winners” doesn’t quickly materialize?

The Connection Between Wellness and Talent Management Lauritsen (2011) takes a unique approach in describing how Talent Management as defined by the American Society for Training and Development links to Workplace Wellness and the aforementioned definition by the National Wellness Institute (Lauritsen 2011). Talent Management, as per Lauritsen (2011), is what organizations do to get the most out of their investment in “human capital,” through building culture and capability so that the best employees would be acquired, developed, and positioned, in order to drive results that meet their organizational goals (Lauritsen 2011). So here, according to Lauritsen, a “more successful existence” as per his earlier definition translates to employees deploying their talents to help their organizations achieve their goals – and make a profit.

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This unique linkage made by Lauritsen (2011) of these two themes of Talent Management and Workplace Wellness is prescient, considering the current need for organizations to maximize talent in a period of low unemployment. There are certainly some challenges to the Talent Management strategy of the average organization. Perhaps the most significant challenge is the most obvious: unless your organization is leading the market in terms of salary package, or offering perks at the level of Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For (Nusca 2018), your organization is left to work with the talent that is available to you. This may be where a well-conceived Workplace Wellness program grounded not only in physical health screenings but also mindful of career and personal redemption can achieve its ultimate objectives. According to Rossi (2015), business outcomes from what she calls “comprehensive Wellness programs” include lower absenteeism, greater job satisfaction, higher work productivity, and retention. Rossi suggests that while most companies “do something” with promoting health and wellness, a very few offer comprehensive programs, where linkage to Employee Assistance Programs and other support systems make it easier for employees to get the support they need (Rossi 2015). In these workplaces, the author writes that employees know that they are cared about, and this results in the employees’ determination to be healthy at work – which translates to better health outcomes, improved cost containment, and more engaged and productive employees (Rossi 2015).

Wellness and the Ethics of Talent Development: What Is the Manager’s Role – Beyond Cholesterol Screenings? What exactly is a manager’s responsibility to an employee, new or experienced, in the evaluation of performance requirements for a particular job leading to a decision whether to keep or terminate the employee? This idea builds on the well-established management principles of performance management and employment-at-will. Is there a linkage here to how Workplace Wellness can support improved performance? Is a manager morally obligated to go beyond making clear the requirements for the position in terms of employee performance, in order to give the employee an opportunity to become successful in carrying out the requirements of the job prior to a decision to dismiss the employee? As previously discussed, talent acquisition is costly and not simply a function of posting employments ads and drawing from a normal distribution curve (Blanchard et al. 1985). In terms of economic considerations, the decision must include the costs of hiring new workers to replace the terminated worker, and the possibilities of wrongful discharge lawsuits, even in the case of probationary employees (McCall 2003; Meyerowitz 1985). Investing in human capital has been shown in several other economic studies to be an important factor in business and economic growth (Bentolila and Bertola 1990). These same authors find in their study that firing costs affect the firm’s overall personnel decisions in preventing firing so much more than hiring costs and that the cost of

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firing has the potential to increase average employment (Bentolila and Bertola 1990), so therefore employee value needs to be enhanced. Are employers required to remain committed to employees who are not performing up to the established standards? Employment-at-will means that any employee, in lieu of a signed contractual agreement, is subject to dismissal at any time. Legislative efforts and court rulings demonstrate a trend toward placing more restrictions on employment-at-will in the form of governmental, social, and legal expectations (Nimnicht et al. 2003; Lanza and Warren 2005). These actions seek to defend assumed employees’ rights while constricting the manager’s absolute right to terminate without cause (McCall 2003). The question remains as to the extent of the manager’s moral responsibility once job requirements have been communicated, prior to the evaluation as to whether the employee remains with the firm or is dismissed. From examining popular management literature, core beliefs about leadership were identified which offer insight about the leadership role and responsibilities in developing their people: • People can and want to develop. Leadership is a partnership (Blanchard et al. 1985; George 2003; Bass and Avolio 1994). • A leader’s role: getting the right people in the right seats on the bus. Seeking to produce results through people in a self-effacing way (Collins 2001). • Leaders and followers should begin with the end in mind, be proactive, develop self-mastery, think win-win (Covey 1989). • Feedback (from subordinates and supervisors) is the breakfast of champions (Blanchard et al. 1985; Conger and Kanungo 1988). • Managers’ decision-making is flawed and biased, and they need strategies for overcoming their biases (Banaji et al. 2003). Most managers narrowly use only one style of leadership, while employees require adjusting to the different tasks to which they are assigned (Blanchard et al. 1985). In order to maximize performance, flexibility in directing and coaching is required. • There is a redemptive opportunity when addressing performance issues with individuals that can add benefit to the person and help the organization as performance improves (Banks and Stevens 1997). What is the perception by employees of the manager’s role? The manager’s role is perceived to be one with a “sacred responsibility” toward their employee, to competently manage and train their people for success (Banks and Stevens 1997). It is the manager’s role and greatest challenge to achieve optimum performance from all his/her people (Furnham 2002). From the spectrum of research on management theory, there is clear evidence that people development is a significant responsibility ascribed to managers. What should this look like? Multiple leadership systems and theories either explicitly or implicitly imply that a manager’s role includes providing support for their subordinates in terms of additional personal time, coaching, encouragement, etc. and these on a consistent basis beyond the initial period of employee orientation (Maxwell 2003; Day and

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Halpin 2001; Collins 2001; Bass and Avolio 1994). These would imply an extension of the communication between manager and subordinate beyond the provision of job requirements and the traditional job description: this would also include an agreedupon level of performance, as well as some kind of ongoing relationship of support. Since this evidence is overwhelmingly in support of the manager’s responsibility and organizational efficacy in investing in the development of employees, it is therefore essential that managers commit to providing additional support to their employees, with the goal of fully developing the costly and hard to acquire talent toward optimal performance, utilizing all the resources available to them (Bennett et al. 2017).

Wellness and a Manager’s Commitment to Employee Development Wellness has to do with more than physical activity and calorie counting. Wellness has to do with relationships. One of the challenges to relationships on the job is the impact of significant change occurring in the workplace. Experts on EAP programs (Richard et al. 2009) suggested in their analysis of EAP programs that employees, being asked to do more with less, more easily feel the weight of corporate performance (Richard et al. 2009). The pressures of corporate mergers and failed businesses and frequent staff reductions create tension in the workplace, and some organization offer Wellness programs with activities such as stress reduction techniques, to help support people through the change process. Here both the Wellness initiatives providing stress reduction and the support of a supervisor and change management training could help alleviate some of the tension and allow for greater productivity to occur during these events. Yet it is also during these times that the immediate supervisor is often so distracted, working to maintain current initiatives, that they generally cannot or may not provide needed support to guide employees through these events (Richard et al. 2009). Authors Richard et al. (2009) also point out that a new generation of workers have more of a healthy feeling of self-worth separate from their work (Richard et al. 2009). This new generation is willing to sacrifice time at work to pursue things outside the office. This may be perceived as noncommittal, and these employees may face a manager’s ire or be passed over for promotion as a result (Richard et al. 2009). How does a Wellness program grounded in physical activity and cholesterol screening alone work to integrate these “work-life balance” employees into the whole work commitment culture which is so prominent with baby boomers and most previous generations up until today? Sometimes it’s just as simple as offering these “comprehensive” Workplace Wellness activities and services, as previously mentioned, and promoting their availability (Azzone et al. 2009). One study found that employees who worked in businesses where employers promoted the availability of Employee Assistance Programs, and where there were activities integrated in the employee workday related to employee assistance, were more likely to utilize the services than

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employees within organizations which did not promote the services and where no support activities were conducted (Azzone et al. 2009). If Wellness focuses itself strictly on fitness and blood pressure and dieting, then the message as Gillick (1984) suggested is that physical fitness is what’s most important. But in a workplace where Wellness represents the whole person, consideration should be given to alternative types of Wellness or the multilayers expression of Wellness as was highlighted by Hettler’s six dimensions (Green 2016). If an active promotion of a variety of supportive benefits is made, the data suggests that employees will utilize them (Azzone et al. 2009). Who knows who may be carrying something from the stressful work environment which may be addressed and rectified through the simple promotion of something other than calorie counting and cholesterol screening?

Must Aberrant Behavior Lead to Termination? Managers need to utilize clear unbiased processes and objective information when making critical decisions, especially termination decisions, due to the potential liability for lawsuits where the termination is deemed wrongful. But the focus should not be on the decision-making method or the cautious results of the decision alone. The weight of managerial decision-making should include consideration of whether the manager fulfilled his/her role in the administration of their managerial responsibility to their employee and to what extent morality defines this role (Badaracco 1992). Epstein qualifies aberrant workplace behavior as common, sometimes being caused by stress, or the behavior could be based on the employee’s psychological condition (Epstein 2016). Oftentimes people under stress react in different ways. What provision is made in the workplace for these demonstrations of aberrant behavior? The natural response to this, according to Epstein, is that employers would take disciplinary action possibly leading to termination and in pursuing this process seek to avoid discrimination (Epstein 2016). Epstein seems to suggest that if employers use the aberrant behavior as cause to refer employees to a mental health professional, there may be a higher burden of proof in defending their actions (Epstein 2016). Perhaps if an automatic propensity toward discipline for termination was removed from the equation, then other resources would be available to an employer seeking to protect their employee and other workers. Does compassion need to be reined in by concern for legal precedent? This again gets to the heart of the question as to the manager’s ethical responsibility to their workers. It is interesting that in their discussion of drug testing, Richard et al. (2009) determined that an Employee Assistance Program be set up as a last chance agreement (Richard et al. 2009). Employees should be advised in this scenario that the use of the EAP represents a last chance and not a guarantee that employment will be maintained. The authors summarize that in this scenario, the EAP will not provide protection against discipline and that failure to improve work performance or continued drug use after drug treatment may result in termination. Yet why in this

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case do the authors envision the EAP as simply a “get out of jail free” card and not a serious effort to redeem the employee from the demonstration of aberrant behavior? Failure in life and work is inevitable, but it does not have to be the end. Does the availability and support provided by the EAP program account for this? There is documentation to support that when employees have utilized an Employee Assistance Program to fulfill the requirements of a last chance agreement or suspension, at times they have been effectively reinstated with the organization to the same and sometimes improved performance (Bucci 2016). Epstein and other employment law specialists suggest that behavior on the job needs to be managed as it is demonstrated, and not for the underlying cause behind the action (Epstein 2016). Since managers are not psychologists, this makes perfect and legal sense. There is certainly no reason for speculation about causes of behavior. But offering the opportunity for employees to consider the alternative of an Employee Assistance Program as a part of a whole person Workplace Wellness program – as compared to employment-at-will termination – would at least position the Workplace Wellness program as one designed to offer whole person restoration and healing and perhaps salvage an employee who may be dealing with influences within or outside of work which are affecting their performance.

Workplace Wellness: Best Practices and What Is Missing? Where would the research start to determine how extensive a Workplace Wellness program needs to be? In evaluating Workplace Wellness, there might be benefit from a review of the original intentions behind Wellness initiatives. By considering the original dimensions as envisioned by Hettler (Green 2016), might Workplace Wellness programs move beyond health and fitness alone to consider providing support for recovery from toxic work environments, demanding expectations, and project failure? According to one recent study (Jones et al. 2018), the 2010 Affordable Care Act encouraged businesses to implement Wellness programs by allowing them to incentivize employees’ participation, offering them up to 30% of the total cost of health insurance coverage. So far this has allowed Wellness industry revenue to triple since the passage of the ACA (Jones et al. 2018). According to employer survey data collected by the CDC (Pronk 2014), the most often noted reasons stated by employers for offering such Wellness programs does indeed focus on improving employee health. Yet there are also other perceived benefits such as reduction of healthcare costs through preventative screenings and proactive assessments. Ultimately the return on the investment in these Wellness programs comes through increasing productivity and reduction of absenteeism (Hayzlett 2018). Christensen and Hagerman (2017) suggested that a “Best in Class” wellness program needs to start with and manage data collection, as the cost-benefit of a wellness initiative needs to be justified. They suggest considering metrics such as employee retention, work quality, productivity, and other employee and safety metrics. These types of metrics suggest that the effectiveness a “Best in Class”

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Workplace Wellness program keeps employees safe and keeps them happy (Christiansen and Hagerman 2017), but it should also be delivering bottom-line results. Are the current configurations of Workplace Wellness programs comprehensive in supporting “bottom-line” results (Rossi 2015)? Where does a Wellness program consider people who fail in project management and the stress of goal achievement or buckle under the relentless pressure of supervisors forced to do more with less? Christensen and Hagerman (2017) suggested that “Best in Class” program do include the whole person. Yet it seems in most program descriptions highlighted in their report that only the nutritional and relational aspect of Wellness is considered. Where do “Best in Class” Wellness programs address the educational and emotional part of employees’ work lives? Wellness should not only benefit employees in living healthier and eating healthier but also provide opportunities for reflection and support when people fail to achieve their own or their corporation’s expectations. Here is where whole person programs could provide available tools and resources that do not include terminating employees out of the business, but instead support these highly recruited and talented employees in recovering from mistakes they make while working in the business. Not only are employees overweight, drinking too much, and chainsmokers, but being human they will make mistakes, fail to achieve goals, let down teammates, and need correction to which they may not respond well. How does the Workplace Wellness program address these issues? According to Rossi (2015), a viable corporate Wellness program would look to offer programs that provide healthy outcomes such as smoking cessation, weight loss, cholesterol management, and personal health and safety practices (Rossi 2015). It would make sense that a business would want to invest in these types of initiatives to improve their employees’ well-being, but this is not simply altruistic. These companies are looking for lower absenteeism in business, with higher job satisfaction, better productivity, and decreased absenteeism (Hayzlett 2018). The Wellness benefits attract talent (Bersin 2013b), but the payoff has to be that healthy and happy employees are more productive and meet corporate objectives. Ann Weiss, in the book Health at Work, wrote about how individual responsibility for health morphed into a new morality (Weiss 1991). Here Weiss built on Gillick’s research, noting that if people are obese or sick or smoking or exhibiting some aberrant behavior that was outside of the norms for healthy living, then they were being judged for this. This is where Gillick’s notion (1984) of pursuing fitness as a means of social redemption finds its support, and this seems to have influenced the makeup of many Workplace Wellness programs. As previously noted, Gillick wrote that in the 1970s exercise began to grow in importance not just for health purposes. The appeal of living with healthy habits became a means to personal and social redemption. Weiss continued to elaborate on this construct, describing research from a survey conducted 1987 that 46% of Americans determined that good health was their greatest single source of happiness. Weiss then asks the question, about when health through physical fitness became our most important value (Weiss 1991)?

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It may be that the core problem with Wellness programs is the philosophy behind the perception of fitness and health Wellness as offering a type of workplace Redemption – similar to the phenomenon observed by Gillick in the fitness “craze” (Stein 1989). Building on the work of Weiss and Gillick (1984), corporate Wellness has become a value, but one tied to a financial bottom line. Yet the best of these programs focus narrowly on a portion of the Wellness spectrum as defined earlier by Hettler (Green 2016; IHPS 2015). It may be here that there must be a reassessment of the definition of Wellness for the modern Corporation. From what has been documented thus far, there will be distinctive visions for Wellness based on the egalitarian view or the cost-benefit. On the one hand, there is Hettler’s definition of Wellness in broad dimensions of complete wholeness (Green 2016). On the other hand, current corporate Wellness programs demonstrate an organization’s concern for employees but must be costjustified as a means to employee productivity. In between the aforementioned two tracks as highlighted earlier, we look at Best Practices in Wellness and at the effectiveness of Wellness programs in general. Then the question must be asked, “is there more to Wellness that simply measuring cholesterol and checking blood pressure?” For in any way that Wellness is limited, then limits are put on the development of employees beyond simply measures of physical fitness as social redemption, of which Gillick spoke (Gillick 1984). If we look at recruiting and hiring talent as drawing from a bell-shaped curve, then perhaps we can limit Wellness to those metrics. But if people have imperfections, and Wellness as a philosophy is designed to help them to achieve their greatest good, it may be time to consider a broader definition of Wellness. Looking at Best Practices in Wellness programs may allow a comparison to what other companies have determined are investments to be made in talent, in order to reap the greatest reward.

Comparing the Best of the “Best Practices” In a report prepared by the interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Workplaces (ICHW 2018) out of the University of California-Berkeley, a list of eight different Wellness program types were identified, from lower to greater employer involvement (ICHW 2018). The report on Workplace Wellness researched successful programs with greater employee participation. The researchers also conducted focus groups to understand what programs worked and what didn’t (ICHW 2018). The report delineated five broad emphases in Wellness programs: • Educational programs providing health-related information • Social community-building programs making greater social connections among employees, then also from organizations to their surrounding areas • Healthy habit development, which included physical activity and nutrition but also included greater, more in-depth types of programs which included support of childcare and elder care and flexible work hours • Preventive care programs with screenings • Disease management programs (ICHW 2018)

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As can be observed, there is no mention here of Employee Assistance Programs or redemptive interventions or last chance agreements specifically related to failed employee project management or recovery from job-related stress due to a toxic work environment. Why not? In the comprehensive research conducted for the Illinois Workplace Wellness Study (Jones et al. 2018), Workplace Wellness for this research was defined as the following: (1) biometric screenings, which provide clinical measures of health; (2) health risk assessments (HRA), which identify potential health issues; and (3) wellness activities, which promote a healthy lifestyle by encouraging behaviors such as smoking cessation, stress management, or fitness. Again, no mention here of Employee Assistance Programs or redemptive interventions (Jones et al. 2018). There was no mention by De La Torre and Goetzel (2016) in their summary of the IHPS report (2015) about Employee Assistance Programs as one of the best practice initiatives. Yet the inclusion of EAP programs as a part of a comprehensive approach to employee wellness was mentioned in the document as part of an interview with a firm which has developed its own unique and effective approach to Workplace Wellness (IHPS 2015). As previously mentioned the De La Torre and Goetzel report (2016) documented best practice initiatives including programs to address physical activity, nutrition and weight management, tobacco cessation, stress management, preventive screenings for cholesterol blood pressure and sugar, sleep support, social connectedness, and alcohol management. We can see here again that the trend is more toward the physical and social aspects as earlier mentioned (De La Torre and Goetzel 2016). While the research by De La Torre and Goetzel (2016) does not mention any specific approach to the psychological aspect of employee wellness, one of the experts cited in the report, a program manager at the University of Michigan’s Well-being Initiatives, mentions that after extensive research of their own, the MHealthy program at the University of Michigan included an integrated approach where Wellness Occupational health and their Employee Assistance Program work together (IHPS 2015). This was also one of the hallmarks of successful corporate wellness programs referenced in a Fortune Magazine blog post (Rossi 2015).

Considering Redemption as a Part of a Workplace Wellness Program Author Mickey Anders (2000) wrote that if we live long enough and attempt much of anything, we will run up against failure (Anders 2000). People fail every day – in relationships, and marriages, and health, and most especially at work. It’s untenable that we would design Workplace Wellness programs that consider the rhythmic beating of an employee’s heart yet overlook the occasional loss, mistake, or failure to which all of us are subject on a daily basis. Failure regularly occurs on projects, at the most critical times and at the biggest moments. Just ask anyone who has lost a sporting event in the last seconds. In the book, Losing Isn’t Everything (2016), Curt Menefee describes sports personalities better known on the losing end of a sports score than on the winning end. The tendency for most people is to observe the winners and rejoice with them,

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particular those of our own home teams. Menefee’s work is interesting as it considers the event from the viewpoint of the losing team or individual, as well as the impact of failure on these people, many of whom struggle with the loss and its social and psychological implications for many years. If losing a game has such a tremendous impact, what about losing or failing in business when one has invested one’s heart and one’s own personal resources? There must be a consideration for assisting employees in overcoming a project failure or professional breakdown and for its impact on a team or department in the workplace. A number of reasons have been identified here. Talent is too difficult and too costly to secure and hard to replace. Wellness is meant to consider the whole person, not only whether their cholesterol level reaches a particular medical standard. Human beings have incredible potential and flourish when nurtured and given care and direction (Blanchard et al. 1985). And finally, it is the manager’s moral responsibility to undertake whole person development, not simply the businessrelated productivity components (Banks and Stevens 1997). If people are complete systems, then a lack of productivity at work could be affected by something outside of work or a failure to meet the standards at work and the multilayered fallout from such failure. Success at work can also be affected by previous unaddressed anger or bitterness with projects at work, where managers guidance was not present or supportive. When we fail on a project, if we are not fired or the issue not addressed, then what happens to our performance?

When Leaving Failure Behind Is Better than Staying to Clean Up In one research study on the effects of failure on future career opportunities (Semadeni et al. 2008), there seemed to be no difference between those talented leaders who stayed with the organization to help weather the business through a financial crisis based on poor oversight or errors in judgment and those who pulled out prior to the failure by jumping ship and finding a new position (Semadeni et al. 2008). The results of the study seemed to suggest that the answer would be to invest in the employee making the costly mistake and to aid them in recovery of the resources and their own self-esteem and career viability. Why lose that talent to another organization, even with the mistakes made? While the study’s authors acknowledge this, they seem to also contradict their findings by specifically writing in their conclusion that executives who exited prior to the failure fared better overall (Semadeni et al. 2008). How ironic, that those who stayed with the organization and tried to resolve their problems were more likely to suffer greater disrespect or demotions than those who bailed prior to the failure becoming public knowledge (Semadeni et al. 2008). So much for the rewards of recruiting highly talented individuals. Make a mistake with us and suffer the consequences – or so the research seems to say! Certainly, the data in the authors’ study presents evidence that as the event becomes more publicly available, the individuals associated with the failure suffered more significant impact on their careers (Semadeni et al. 2008). That’s why getting

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out before the problem became widespread seemed like a legitimate approach to protect oneself. However, what about those leaders who tried to manage the event and fell short? Should there be some consequences as a result of the failure? Certainly the market and the customers will weigh in on this. But could there not also be some measure of respect for those who stayed with the event even though it represented a career blemish? The data suggests otherwise. Author Edgar Schein repeated a famous story about big mistakes and forgiveness in his book Organizational Culture and Leadership (Schein 2010). The story tells about Tom Watson Jr., who was CEO of the IBM corporation from 1956 through 1971, and how he dealt with a mistake-prone executive in a compassionate and redemptive way. The young man was reported to have made several bad mistakes costing the company several million dollars (Schein 2010, p. 244). The young executive was directed to Watson’s office, fully expecting to lose his job. As he entered the office, the young man was reported to have said, “I suppose after that set of mistakes you will want to fire me.” Mr. Watson, a proponent of developing people, was reported to have replied, “Not at all, young man, we have just spent a couple of million dollars educating you” (Schein 2010, p. 244). While in some organizations Workplace Wellness is more than just health tips and cholesterol screening, there is still a gap between encouraging employees to eat healthy and the effort to encourage mental and emotional health and wellness among employees. This would especially be true when it comes to failure and mistakes that employees make. The author’s personal experience proved true with this: once having personal struggles with anger management issues, the author sought out an EAP counselor at his place of employment to resolve some latent issues with an absent father. After a successful intervention and growth through this issue, the EAP counselor became a supervisor in the author’s organization. When an office realignment occurred, it appeared that the former counselor would now become the author’s supervisor. Suddenly the position into which the author was to move was eliminated. Currently, issues with aberrant employees would be handled through a Human Resource function utilizing employee discipline, corrective plans of action, and other tools to support performance management. In plain English: “straighten up or you’re gone!” How many of these “highly recruited” and highly valued employees may work in a company where they must endure negative coworkers, high levels of stress, inconsistent rules being applied, a lack of transparency, a lack of supervisory oversight of corrective action, and inequity in managerial treatment (Aries 2017)? In these environments, the offer of blood pressure testing for physical health maintenance seems to miss the fact that this same high blood pressure might have a cause unrelated to being out of physical shape.

Workplace Wellness Grounded in Redemption According to Professor Paul Nutt (2002), about half of all business decisions end in failure (Nutt 2002). Nutt’s research summarizes a multi-decade study of real-life organizational decisions. Professor Nutt indicated that there were common themes in

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failed decision-making: a rush to judgment, a misuse of resources, and failure-prone heuristics – such as a lack of broader input – which repeatedly led to bad decisions (Nutt 2002). Nutt’s research recommended a number of interventions and techniques to avoid failed decision-making. What is less available are approaches to help those who have failed in decision-making or project delivery to find support and restoration to allow them further opportunities within the organization. While we understand that failure occurs, it seems the message at work is that success is the only acceptable behavior. One author quoted by John Maxwell in his book Failing Forward stated the following: “The increase of suicides, alcoholics, and even some forms of nervous breakdowns is evidence that many people are training for success when they should be training for failure. Failure is far more common than success; poverty is more prevalent than wealth, and disappointment more normal than arrival” (Hamilton, J.W., cited in Maxwell 2000, pp. 4–5). The following principles for establishing a Workplace Wellness program grounded in career and personal Redemption are drawn from the previous four sections of this chapter, summarized below: 1. A Workplace Wellness program grounded in Redemption should consider the challenge of finding, developing, and keeping talented employees. These employees are not selected from a normal distribution curve (Blanchard et al. 1985) but come with warts and wrinkles, some prone to mistakes, some needing additional guidance, all wanting to achieve success. 2. The program should also consider the manager’s role and the importance of the manager’s moral responsibility in developing each and every employee to their fullest potential. This includes not only what they do at work but also how they live their lives. 3. The third consideration would be providing organizational clarity as to what Workplace Wellness really looks like in each organization. Wellness needs to be holistic, considering the roots of the movement, and not simply a social attempt at redemption (Gillick 1984) through physical health and fitness only. 4. Finally, Wellness needs to consider that people make mistakes and fall short of expectations. Some of those failures may be based on individual aberrant employee behavior for sure. Some of those shortcomings could arise due to a lack of clarity on the manager’s expectations. Some of the failures could be emotional or psychological concerns from events inside or outside the workplace. If Workplace Wellness is to be holistic, it needs to consider not only the hours that your talented employee is on the job but that employee’s life outside of work. A comprehensive Workplace Wellness program should consider not only those moments when that person contributes time and effort to the organization but also the whole person support needed in order for them to be optimally functional on the job (Bennett et al. 2017). Below are recommended guidelines for establishing a Workplace Wellness program grounded in Redemption, based on the above principles as articulated in this chapter:

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The “ABC’s” of a complete whole person Workplace Wellness program: 1. Articulate to employees how the Wellness program supports corporate objectives, beyond simply measuring heart rates and cholesterol screenings. Hold employees accountable for not only Wellness screenings but Wellness discussions and moments of candor for improved performance. • Wholeness in Wellness encourages moments of candor and moments of accountability. Within the legal and ethical framework of personal development and growth, employees must also recognize that new business requires new thinking and new thinking requires growth. As modeled in the book, Winning (Welch and Welch 2009), and in a famous HBR article (O’Toole and Bennis 2009), there is a time for transparency and candor about the issues organizations face, but there is also a need to hold workers accountable to achieve corporate objectives or to consider other employment. Employee Engagement sounds great on paper, but it is accountability to achieve results and to remove excuses that are the hallmarks of a healthy organization (Wakeman 2017). • Wellness needs to address people as triune beings. We are Body, Soul, and Spirit. Wellness needs to address all of these in a place of tolerance and acceptance. Whether we are Christian or Muslim, whether we agree or disagree on our politics, whether we watch Fox News or CNN, there must be tolerance, and a lack of tolerance should be cause for employee discipline. There is too much benefit in diversity to not welcome thinking that comes from many different sources. This may seem to be something which is already a part of the fabric of most organizations. The culture around our places or employment suggests that this lack of tolerance could creep into the workplace. This environment of acceptance and tolerance of differences must be defined and supported in the workplace. 2. Broaden the Wellness program’s scope – more than physical. View employees as whole systems and whole people. • First, the organization’s Wellness program must clearly reflect that every person has value. They may do different jobs or have different responsibilities, but each person in the organization has access to Wellness tools. Wellness is not a perk for office people as compared to the factory people. Program equity and confidentiality must be foundational to support employee health whether physical or emotional. The whole program for the whole person. • Espouse the philosophy that prevention is better than postmortems. Encouraging people to seek out and be transparent about their weaknesses and insecurities would be a better approach than waiting for someone to explode and then trying to pick up the pieces. If this seemed too farfetched in the past, the self-inflicted deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain should awaken us to how talented and creative people may live on the edge of fashions and trends because they also live with edginess in their personal lives. But that would mean the first two statements need to be in place: everyone has access, and failure is not the end of the road. If we’re honest about

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ourselves, we realize that each of us has potential to succeed wildly or to fail miserably. We would rather provide the tools and support to allow people to achieve success then to clean up the mess of undisclosed and unaddressed issues. 3. Clarify the manager’s role in Wellness and holistic employee development: • In creating a whole person approach to Wellness and learning from mistakes, managers must articulate and model the approach that failure at work is not be the end of the road. Failure on projects or with clients allows us to learn from mistakes. This does not mean, conversely, and people who fail on projects get assigned to an EAP counselor. It does mean that as a part of workplace wholeness and in creating a healthy environment, the organization should clearly articulate the difference between poor workplace behavior and project failure. Move the ownership for project failure from the individual to where it should be – to the organization. Management needs to publicly state that. “We succeed together and we fail together.” A policy where there is no automatic termination or demotions when a project fails will allow people to learn and grow and innovate without fear. • According to Casuto (2016), failure and mistakes on the job help employees to learn and actually increase their brain capacity. Casuto’s research suggests that making mistakes matures the brain, which makes it more efficient and smarter Casuto (2016). But leadership must encourage risk taking and innovation, which can lead to mistakes but also to breakthrough innovations. Where mistakes are made, this cannot be a terminal offense in most cases. • Finally, Wellness in organizations also encourages resiliency, where employees work through obstacles to find solutions to problems, regardless of their personal circumstances. Support can be provided, and as per the Americans with Disabilities Act, reasonable accommodation is made. The path of redemption and resilience requires more honesty but also the willingness to press through and get past personal and professional challenges. All parties must be committed to individual and corporate success, with no employee left behind.

Conclusion De La Torre and Goetzel (2016) were well regarded for the research that they did on effective Workplace Wellness programs (IHPS 2015). In their report, they wrote the following challenge. These words give support and encouragement to those reading this chapter who are considering Workplace Wellness as more than simply physical fitness and health screening: A healthy company culture is built intentionally. It is first and foremost about creating a way of life in the workplace that integrates a total health model into every aspect of business practice, from company policies to everyday work activities. By ‘total health’ we mean a culture that’s supportive of career, emotional, financial, physical and social well-being – not

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just an occasional road race. Examples include offering flexible work schedules, giving workers latitude in decision-making, setting reasonable health goals, providing social support, enforcing health-promoting policies and establishing a healthy physical environment (healthy food offerings, staircases instead of elevators, walking trails in and outside buildings and treadmill workstations). (IHPS 2015)

We would echo that Redemption be included as well!

Cross-References ▶ A Humanistic Perspective for Management Research: Protecting Dignity and Promoting Well-Being ▶ Organizational Spiritual Maturity (OSM): The Root of Workplace Well-Being

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Working Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Well-Being (WWB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Organizational Spiritual Maturity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Claim #1: Organizations Have Spirits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Argument Against Organizational Spirits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arguments for Organizational Spirits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Claim #2: Most Barriers to Workplace Well-Being Are Spiritual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Claim #3: Increasing OSM Is Necessary to Increase Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Now What? Increasing OSM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Holistic Path for Developing Organizational Spiritual Maturity (OSM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

Creating sustainable workplace well-being (WWB) requires recognizing and addressing the root causes of WWB. This chapter argues that WWB is rooted in organizational spiritual maturity (OSM) and that organizations with greater OSM will naturally have greater WWB and vice versa. Further, it is argued that many inhibitors of WWB cannot be fully addressed without addressing the

A. S. Freer (*) Department of Health, Housing and Human Services, Clackamas County, OR, USA e-mail: [email protected] P. J. Robertson USC Price School of Public Policy, Los Angeles, CA, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_78

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spiritual roots of problems by increasing OSM. Increasing OSM has the dual effect of increasing the desired positive aspects of WWB and reducing the factors that inhibit WWB. After, clarifying the concepts, the arguments are made in successive claims. This is followed by actions that can be taken to assess and increase OSM.

Introduction Organizations are the most dominant institutions in the modern world (Bakan 2004). Each of us has a complex and closely interconnected relationship with them. Our beliefs, values, and behaviors are affected by them, and we have various reciprocal effects on them. Virtually all of us are members of multiple organizations, including schools, faith communities, and places of employment. Many are also members of voluntary organizations, such as sport teams, civic groups, unions, interest clubs, etc. (Garsten and Nyqvist 2013). Others with which we interact include media companies, utilities, fuel companies, health systems, and sellers of goods and services that we use daily. In addition to the organizations with which we knowingly interact in our daily lives, we are impacted by a great many others in ways that we may or may not recognize. Some organizations work on higher, macro levels of society and may have impacts that are not easily observable by most of us but nevertheless greatly shape our worlds – such as the many layers and types of government and public organizations, including police, fire departments, and the military; thought leaders such as academic and research institutions and think tanks; and countless nonprofit and advocacy agencies that influence our thinking and address societal issues both large and small. From the moment we wake, turn on the lights, grab our coffee, take a shower, get dressed, and drive to work listening to the radio, we have already been affected by many different organizations before we even reach the one to which we will contribute our labor. The end result is that organizations have pervasive and powerful impacts on the world and each of us individually. Consequently, whether this impact is harmful or beneficial is important to our well-being as individuals, our families, friends, society, nations, and the planet itself. This chapter seeks to improve this impact by identifying the spiritual roots of harmful organizational behaviors in order to demonstrate that both the problem and solution are rooted in the spirit of the organization. This volume contains a wealth of information on workplace well-being (WWB) with a large number of chapters that appropriately recognize the relationship between spirituality and WWB. However, the role of the organizational spirit in advancing or impeding WWB has heretofore been largely unrecognized. Organizational spiritual maturity (OSM) is presented here as the ultimate root of WWB. As such, it opens the doors to new ways of understanding WWB and strategies for improving it. It is argued that all organizational characteristics are rooted in its spirit including many factors that impede WWB and, consequently, WWB cannot be fully achieved without increasing OSM.

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Working Definitions Workplace Well-Being (WWB) The emergence of the concept of WWB is largely in response to the greater diversity of work conditions in the modern workplace reflected in the factors described in this book. This diversity has created a need for a unifying concept that includes all the factors involved (Schulte et al. 2015). Interest in the topic has also come from a recognition of the connections between WWB and organizational performance, making development of WWB a worthwhile investment (Laine and Rinne 2015). However, defining the concept has been elusive. Prior to this volume, there has been no agreed upon definition of workplace well-being (Laine and Rinne 2015). Chapter “Workplace Well-Being: Past, Present, and Future,” reviews the development and ambiguities of the concept, and ▶ Chap. 46, “The Internal Conversation of How Human Objects Speak” presents a helpful literature review and proposes a way to clearly understand the idea. Consequently, only an overview of the concept is provided here to ground the discussion. While many definitions tend to focus on either the well-being of individuals or the well-being of organizations, Schulte et al. (2015) suggest that the needs of both be equally considered when understanding WWB. In general, WWB is suggested as a holistic concept reflecting the overall health of employees and unifying the many factors that affect worker health and quality of life. It is a summative term that describes flourishing employees who benefit from a safe, supportive workplace, engage in satisfying work, and enjoy a fulfilling work life (Schulte et al. 2015). In other words, organizations with high WWB have positive impacts on employees and are generally healthy themselves, while those with low WWB are unhealthy and have negative impacts on employees.

Organizational Spiritual Maturity While the concept of organizational spiritual maturity is more fully described by Freer (2017) and Freer and Robertson (2019), for present purposes, OSM is defined as the extent to which an organization recognizes its interconnectedness with its members, its community, and the planet and consequently respects, values, and seeks to care for and benefit them. Freer (2017) conducted a literature review to identify organizational qualities that reflect this definition. Over 70 qualities were identified, which were synthesized into 6 core features of spiritually mature organizations: love, wisdom, integrity, purpose for the common good, spiritually mature leadership and management, and continual evolution. Although they may seem vague, as explained by Freer (2017), each of these concepts is robust and has specific manifestations. These qualities are also interdependent and can be expected to co-occur, since they are all different expressions or manifestations of the same spiritual core. For organizations, just as for individuals, perfection or complete spiritual maturity is an elusive goal, such that these qualities describe an ideal state to which all organizations can continually aspire.

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Underlying the concept of OSM is the belief that organizations have spirits (Claim #1), which are the deepest essence of the organization. As such, these spirits are the ultimate root of workplace well-being. Organizations, like individuals, display differing degrees of spiritual maturity. Spiritually mature organizations understand the depth of interconnection and interdependence of the world and operate in ways that seek to minimize harm and maximize benefit. Conversely, spiritually immature organizations are driven primarily by self-serving desires, such as profit and power, with little or no concern for how this affects people, society, or the planet. Drawing from the definition of WWB, it is clear that organizations with high OSM will naturally strive to increase WWB, while those with low OSM will not be inclined to do so. This creates a dual relationship between OSM and WWB. OSM is related to both the degree to which positive WWB attributes are present and the degree to which factors of ill-being are absent. This argument is further developed below by first addressing arguments against organizational spirits, because their existence is core to the overall argument of this chapter. This is followed by demonstrating that the factors that inhibit WWB are inherently spiritual in nature (Claim #2), i.e., they are rooted in the organizational spirit. The natural conclusion of this argument is that pursuing OSM is necessary in most cases to achieve WWB (Claim #3).

Claim #1: Organizations Have Spirits The idea that organizations have spirits is not a belief commonly stated in the extant literature, although there are many signs the discussion is moving in that direction (e.g., Biberman 2009; Laloux 2014; Vasconcelos 2011). For this study, the definition of spirit is the deepest essence of a living entity – who it is at its core, its true nature and identity. The basic argument made here is that organizations are in fact living entities and like all living entities, have unique essences, or spirits. It is important to recognize that organizational culture and other characteristics are not themselves the spirit, or true essence of the organization, but rather flow from the spirit and reflect the nature and qualities of that spirit. This is analogous to an individual’s personality (Barrett 1998), which reflects his or her spirit, but is not itself the person’s spirit. To begin, the argument against the existence organizational spirits is presented.

Argument Against Organizational Spirits The primary argument against the idea that organizations have spirits is rooted in the identity or the very concept of an organization. Some scholars disagree that organizations can have spirits as they do not believe they are distinct entities or living things. A common belief is that organizations are solely collections of individuals and not separate entities (Brown 2003). In this conceptualization, all actions and attributes may seem to indicate a separate and unique organizational identity, but this is an illusion. Some acknowledge the similarities of organizations to people, but

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relegate them to a lesser form, or secondary personhood (Werhane 2008). Meadows (2008) recognized that organizations are dynamic complex systems but stops short of calling them living, stating instead that their actions can be “lifelike” (p. 12). Guerreiro Ramos (1981) gives them an even lesser existential status, stating that “formal organizations are nothing but tools. Individuals are their masters” (p. 70). Still others, such as organizational psychologist Karl Weick, go further to say that organizations do not actually exist, but are merely abstract concepts (Hatch 2011). For these reasons, some scholars recoil when organizations are anthropomorphized by applying attributes typically reserved for individuals to organizations. Guerreiro Ramos (1981) calls the application of anthropomorphic terms to organizations, including spirituality, love, and health, a “misplacement of concepts” (p. 61). Brown (2003) agrees, suggesting that some of the spiritual concepts are likely just repackaging of existing organizational development terms and specifically stating that spirituality itself is an individual attribute that “cannot exist” at the organizational level (2003, p. 395).

Arguments for Organizational Spirits The primary responses to the argument against the idea that organizations have spirits are as follows: (1) research demonstrates that organizations are much more complex than the scholars mentioned recognize; organizations are complex systems, which have emergent properties that are not present or observable in the constituent parts nor if the system is dismantled (Meadows 2008; Wheatley 2006), opening the door to the possibility of life as an emergent characteristic; (2) organizations are living systems; and (3) being alive implies the existence of a spirit.

Organizations Are Complex Systems The academic field of systems thinking has been traced back to the 1930s and emerged from multiple sources, especially developments in management science, engineering, and biology (Hammond 2002). This came out of a need to better understand the increasing complexity of the natural world. A system is defined as “an interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way that achieves something” (Meadows 2008, p. 11). Systems thinking made at least two major contributions to organizational science. The first is the realization that the system is more than the sum of its parts. Certain properties of the system exist only when the system is whole. These are called emergent properties. A key example is a person, which is a system of cells, organs, etc. You cannot understand the whole person by examining any of the individual components of the system (Meadows 2008; Wheatley 2006). Likewise, if you dissect a system into its constituent parts, it ceases to be a system – it loses that nature that made it a coherent system. The other contribution is that systems are nested within other higher-order or more complex systems. Cells are systems that are simpler than organs, which are systems comprised of many cell-level systems. Organs make up larger systems and so forth. In nested systems, each higher level

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contains multiple subsystems, such as organs containing multiple cells and individuals containing multiple organs (Hatch 2011; Meadows 2008; Skyttner 2005). Boulding (1956) developed a hierarchy of systems with each level being a higher order of complexity, which he called the framework for general systems theory. According to this theory, all humans are complex systems, comprised of simpler complex systems and existing within larger and more complex systems, such as organizations. Sridhar and Camburn (1993) demonstrated empirically that most conceptualizations of organizations in the literature are problematically oversimplistic and that most organizational scholars (to that point in time at least) incorrectly underestimated the complexity of organizations. This is critical, because these conceptualizations serve as paradigms through which we understand organizations. If our paradigm is too narrow or restrictive, we cannot accurately comprehend them (Sridhar and Camburn 1993). Additional characteristics of systems are relevant here. A system consists of three components: elements, interconnections, and a function or purpose (Meadows 2008). The elements are the physical manifestations of the system that are the easiest to see. The interconnections and function or purpose are more difficult to ascertain yet are more fundamental to organizations than the elements. Elements, including individual employees and even leaders, can be replaced with little to no effect on the integrity of the system. However, if either interconnections or, more importantly, purposes change, the system can change drastically. Changing elements can also lead to significant change, but only if this changes the interconnections or purpose of the system. For this reason, the elements are the least important in defining the nature of the system (Meadows 2008). Consider that, for organizations, many of the key elements are individuals. Recall that the primary argument against living organizations is that organizations are abstract or even a false construct and that the only things that really exist are the individuals. However, according to systems thinking, individuals as elements are the least important factors in defining the nature of the system, which are more powerfully defined by interconnections and purpose. This stands in direct contrast to those who argue that individuals are the most important in defining a system, or even that the organization is only a collection of individuals, ignoring the critical importance of the interconnections and purpose in defining the system. More must be said about organizational purpose. The purpose mentioned here is not the mission or vision statement or anything that is said in speeches or written down on papers or walls throughout the organization. Instead, it is the purpose that is reflected in the actual behavior of the system. Meadows (2008) states that “the best way to deduce the system’s purpose is to watch for a while to see how the system behaves” (p. 14). This is analogous to the maxim that “actions speak louder than words.” She continues on to say that the true purposes reflected in its actions are not necessarily those that are intended. Because systems are nested within systems, each subsystem may have a different and potentially competing purpose. For this reason, she states “one of the most frustrating aspects of systems is that the purposes of subunits may add up to an overall behavior that no one wants” (Meadows 2008, p. 15). Systems thinking is a proposed solution to remedying or preventing this

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unfortunate, or even tragic, situation, because it entails taking a step back to analyze the fuller picture, including not just the people involved – the individual staff, leaders, board members, and politicians – but also the nature of their relationships and the unspoken purposes that can only be truly understood by reflecting on the behavior of the system itself. Systems theory provides a helpful way of understanding the many factors involved in establishing WWB. The behaviors of individuals are affected by forces from each of the systems in which they participate – the team, departmental, organizational, cultural, and societal systems as well as their internal systems, such as their psychological system. This more robust picture also helps clarify the true complexity of the dynamics involved, explaining why many past efforts to address systemic problems by targeting the individual “bad apples” have failed. This also seems to turn on its head the power dynamic claimed by Guerreiro Ramos (1981) when he said that organizations are tools and individuals their masters. It has instead been demonstrated here that individuals are often small pieces of much larger systems that are neither easily seen nor understood.

Organizations Are Living Simple metaphors of organizations, such as the machine metaphor promoted by the modern paradigm, have become less relevant over time as they failed to capture the adaptability and self-organizing nature of organizations (Ajmal and Lodhi 2015; Harder et al. 2004; Hatch 2011). Scholars have been increasingly turning to more organic metaphors to capture the true essence of organizations, especially anthropomorphic concepts in which human concepts are applied to organizations. However, this is not necessarily a new development, as the conceptualization of an organization as a living organism, or the organism metaphor, emerged just after World War II influenced by the Darwin’s ideas about evolutionary biology. The organism metaphor views organizations as having organismic characteristics of variation, selection, and retention that explain their survival or failure, similar to Darwin’s notion of natural selection (Hatch 2011). The idea of organizations as organisms has rapidly evolved over the past few decades in response to the increasing complexity of organizations along with rapidly changing societal factors, such that a new organizational “species” is evolving that fits better with the extremely dynamic environment (Harder et al. 2004, pp. 81–2). Another reason for this is that organizations typically do not reflect static organizational charts. According to Wheatley (2006), “we must leave behind the imaginary organization we design and learn to work with the real organization, which will always be a dense network of interdependent relationships” (p. 144). Discussions in the literature about organizations having life are typically influenced by living systems theory, which Harder et al. (2004) argue is in the process of replacing the predominant machine metaphor. In this theory, all of the nested levels of living systems share characteristics of life. Miller (1978) identified seven levels: cell, organ, organism, group, organization, society, and supranational. Organizations are recognized as a specific level of living system. One of Miller’s main contributions was to recognize that larger social systems exhibited very similar

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properties as systems within organisms. These properties are often difficult to perceive due to the use of different terms and theoretical frameworks (Tracy 1989), hence the tendency of scholars to argue that individuals are the highest level of living organism. To support the idea that organizations are alive, some common characteristics of living systems are presented here. These are intended to help clarify the difficult-tosee similarities at the multiple levels of living systems, from the cell to the planet. In particular, living systems are concrete or have actual matter (Capra and Luisi 2014; Miller 1978), are open systems, seek to maintain homeostasis, and seek to achieve actualization of their potential (Miller 1978). They possess templates within them that guide their growth, development, and purpose that some call a form (Capra and Luisi 2014), providing the capacity for self-organizing or autopoiesis. This ability allows the system to respond to challenges and adapt in order to reach higher levels of complexity and thus to survive (Harder et al. 2004; Tracy 1989; Wheatley 2006). Living systems seek to propagate themselves, whether through reproduction or by disseminating their message, mission or purpose (Tracy 1989). They are also coevolutionary, which means they evolve along with and in relationship to their environment, i.e., their suprasystem (Harder et al. 2004). Living systems display what Capra and Luisi (2014) call the process of life, which is the continual activity involved in the manifestation of the form. It is argued that organizations have all of these characteristics and are thus considered living systems. Capra and Luisi (2014) also include in their conceptualization of living systems the dimension of meaning, which is the internal consciousness and reflectiveness of the system. Barrett (1998, p. 10) argues that organizations can have certain values “such as trust, honesty, integrity, compassion, and sharing,” and because they do, they “cannot be described as machines. They are living entities.” These values indicate that, unlike cold and lifeless machines, organizations have “physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs.” Some believe that life is optional for organizations, and not inherent, which supports their encouragement for choosing to pursue characteristics of “living” organizations (Barrett 1998; Harder et al. 2004; Pruzan 2001). This suggests that life is a choice and that adding the characteristics above will enable an organization to transition from not living to living. In contrast, it is argued here that life is an existential quality, and not something that can be achieved – something is either alive or it is not. Rather than having a vague and perhaps arbitrary demarcating line between living and nonliving organizations, the argument here is that all organizations are living (cf. Biberman 2009; Capra and Luisi 2014). The characteristics of living organizations described above actually exist in all organizations, but to varying degrees. Rather than reflecting the degree to which an organization is alive, it is argued that the extent to which these characteristics are present instead reflects the spiritual maturity of an organization, a claim we return to below.

Living Beings Have Spirits Does the fact that something is alive necessarily suggest that it has a spirit? The short answer is yes. This is based on the very definition of spirit provided above. To be

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alive means to be animated. This comes from the Latin root anima which “refers to the spirit, the breath of life, the essence of being alive” (Harder et al. 2004, p. 97). In other words, to be alive is to have a spirit, and since all organizations are living, they all have spirits. Bakan (2004) argues that anthropomorphizing the organization opens the door to new forms of analysis and consideration that could otherwise not be seen. The same can be said for the recognition of organizational spirits – it offers new ways of understanding organizations and consequently workplace well-being. To stress this point, Mitroff and Denton (1999) convey the critical importance of this analytical lens: We believe that today’s organizations are impoverished spiritually and that many of their most important problems are due to this impoverishment. . .We believe that organizational science can no longer avoid analyzing, understanding, and treating organizations as spiritual entities (Mitroff and Denton 1999, p. xiv).

Claim #2: Most Barriers to Workplace Well-Being Are Spiritual Scholars and practitioners alike have recognized a wide variety of problematic and destructive behaviors within organizations, of organizations, and across organizations (Linstead et al. 2014) that inhibit WWB. In fact, much of this book expounds on these impediments, including topics such as toxic workplaces (▶ Chap. 39, “Purpose, Meaning, Joy, and Fulfillment at Work”), toxic leadership (▶ 9, “Leadership in Virtual Organizations: Influence on Workplace Engagement,” and ▶ 34, “Purpose, Meaning, and Well-Being at Work”), psychopathic leaders, and workplace bullying (▶ Chaps. 30, “Impact of Workplace Bullying on Employees’ Mental Health and Self-Worth,” and ▶ 42, “Leader Mindfulness: Well-Being Throughout the Organization”). Following Linstead et al. (2014), these behaviors are referred to here as dark side organizational behaviors (DSOBs). This catch-all term essentially represents all of the behaviors that inhibit WWB, because they indicate a lack of overall workplace and organization health. To further clarify, Table 1 provides a list of DSOBs identified in the literature, separated into the level at which the behavior occurs. These behaviors reflect spiritual immaturity as they are counter to the definition of OSM, and organizations with these characteristics do not consistently demonstrate the qualities of spiritually mature organizations. For example, several of the organizational-level DSOBs – such as collective wrongdoing, organizational narcissism, and egotistic climates – reflect a lack of love or purpose for the common good (two OSM qualities), because the behaviors reflect a general lack of care for the potential harm that might be done to those outside or even inside the organization. Similarly, all of the DSOBs indicate the absence of one or more of the OSM qualities.

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Table 1 Example forms of dark side organizational behavior Level of behavior Individual

Team/group Organization

Meta-organization (across organizations in a field)

Forms of dark side organizational behavior Deviant behavior Aggressive behavior Incivility Narcissism Derailment Unethical intention and/or behavior Counterproductive work behavior Everyday organizational violence Dysfunctional team behavior Groupthink Counterproductive organizational behavior Egoistic climate Corrupt organizational behavior Organizational narcissism Dysfunctional organizational culture Collective wrongdoing Organizational corruption Institutional corruption Herding behavior Ideological dispositions Institutional sanctions/social silences Meta-organizational narcissism Corrupt networks Cronyism

Sources: (Freer 2017; MacKenzie et al. 2011; MacKenzie 2014; Pearson and Porath 2005; Vince and Mazen 2014).

In order to achieve WWB, DSOBs must be prevented. This requires understanding the deeper dynamics at play that create the context and incentives for behaviors that lead to ill-being. Figure 1 provides a simple overview of the DSOB development process. First, the antecedents of the behaviors create a situation that encourages or incentivizes dark side behaviors. Then the immediate causes initially spark the DSOBs, which are then facilitated and perpetuated by different sets of factors. A few notes about this figure are necessary. There comes a point in each behavior when the true harm is recognized. If an organization continues to tolerate the behavior, this is called an “evil turn” (Adams and Balfour 2012, 2015), because it is knowingly allowing harm to occur. This structure should not be interpreted as a linear process although it appears as a straight line for the sake of simplicity. There is extensive back and forth, even cyclical interactions, between many of the factors. For example, one facilitating factor of major dark side behaviors is minor dark side behaviors (Rose-Ackerman and Palifka 2016), which in turn have their own development processes. Another important note is that this presentation of factors is intended to provide a broad picture of the many factors that could influence this behavior in an organization and is not intended to describe any one particular organization or any particular form of dark side behavior. Finally, the list is not intended to be comprehensive but instead provides a general understanding of some

Diffusion of responsibility

Moral inversion

Need for social approval

1. Instrumentality (means to an end) 2. Threatened egotism 3. Idealism 4. Sadism

Immediate Causes of Dark Side Behavior

Fig. 1 Factors involved in dark side organizational behaviors (DSOBs)

Source: Freer 2017

Individual Moral underdevelopment Weak integrity

Organizational Organizational narcissism Destructive leaders Profit maximization

External Competition Domination Materialism Superficial greed Individualism Fragmentation & dissociation Toleration of corruption

Antecedents

Minor DSOBs

Moral disengagement

Dark Side Behavior

Compliance/ Obedience

Inaction

Normalization

Successive ratification “sunk costs”

After harm is clear (i.e. “unmasked”)

(While still masked)

“Evil Turn” when harm is unmasked

Perpetuating Factors

Facilitating Factors

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of the many factors at play and how they can and do interact to produce dark side behavior in organizations. The DSOB development process reveals the many factors intersecting to incentivize and support the harmful behaviors that decrease WWB. This view is critical to understand, because seeking to control the behaviors of individuals without addressing the factors that influence them will be limited in impact. The notion of OSM then provides a more holistic way of viewing and addressing the deeper dynamics at work. Like the behaviors, each of the factors in Fig. 1 reveal a lack of spiritual maturity and the absence of OSM qualities at the individual or collective levels. While some of the factors are clearly spiritually immature, others are more ambiguous. For instance, almost by definition “for-profit” institutions, like companies, have a goal of profit maximization. This is often encouraged by larger society through the demands of shareholders and even by leading scholars. For example, Harvard professor Debora Spar stated that corporations are simply not intended to be moral entities but have only one mission – to increase stakeholder value (Bakan 2004). When businesses put profit ahead of the well-being of customers and employees, it can lead to any number of illegal, destructive, and even pathological organizational behavior (Bakan 2004; McMichael 2009). The goal of profit maximization is therefore spiritually immature, because it involves an organization putting its own needs above those of others, which stands in direct contrast with the OSM qualities of love and purpose for the common good. But what is the source of these harmful factors? The prevailing values and beliefs in modern society, including in the vast majority of organizations, are based upon a mistaken assumption that humans and organizations are all largely disconnected and independent. This detached paradigm of organizations is “no longer practical in an ever-changing and mutually interconnected” world (Ajmal and Lodhi 2015, p. 202). Bohm (1980) states and demonstrates through scientific and mathematical principles that, at a level we are unable to discern, there is an “unbroken wholeness” (p. 172). If we could observe it, we would see an “implicate, or enfolded, order out of which seemingly disparate events emerge” (Bohm 1980, p. 177). Likewise, DSOBs are not discrete events, but have deeper and common spiritual roots and reflect an ignorance of and disconnect from Bohm’s unbroken wholeness. The definition of spirituality used here is: “the sense of connectedness that one has with the whole of creation and resultant valuing of all people, living things and the planet” (Freer 2017, p. 98). Those that are less conscious of this interconnectivity are less spiritual, and those with greater awareness are more spiritually developed (Liu and Robertson 2011). The same applies to organizations. When organizations are spiritually immature, they fail to recognize, sufficiently prioritize, and counteract harmful side effects and consequences of their operations, resulting in undue harm on employees, society, and the planet (Ajmal and Lodhi 2015). As we learn how we affect the planet and other people, and how we are also affected by them and dependent upon them, we respect and value them more. As a result, our attitudes and behaviors change. This is the process of spiritual growth or spiritual maturation. If an organization is spiritually mature, it will incentivize its employees toward

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spiritually mature practices and away from those that are harmful. This means that harmful behaviors of individuals within an organization are often just as indicative of low OSM as behaviors at the organizational level. The DSOBs and factors that lead to them reflect spiritual immaturity at the organizational level. Therefore, immature organizational spirits are a primary source of factors that inhibit and prevent workplace well-being.

Claim #3: Increasing OSM Is Necessary to Increase Workplace Well-Being If organizational spiritual immaturity is the root cause of many or most of the behaviors and factors that prevent WWB, then increased organizational spiritual maturity is the natural solution. In addition to addressing the factors that prevent WWB, OSM creates the positive aspects of WWB. In other words, WWB is not solely generated by addressing negative organizational aspects but also by creating positive ones. The primary mechanism at work here is that, as organizations mature spiritually, their care for and desire to benefit others increase. This is directed both externally at the world and internally at employees. This increased spirituality increases the desire for WWB and leads to actions to help improve it. Using examples from this volume, positive indicators of WWB include happiness, joy, flourishing, psychological safety, high employee engagement, a sense of caring, altruism, and wisdom. Other positive indicators of WWB include job satisfaction, a sense of meaning or purpose, quality connections with co-workers, and work-life balance (Jarden et al. 2018). The idea that increasing OSM will lead to higher WWB as reflected in these indicators has a great deal of face value. It is easy to imagine that organizations that exhibit the OSM qualities – love, wisdom, integrity, purpose for a common good, etc. – will experience a high level of workplace well-being. In fact, wisdom is both an indicator of WWB and an OSM quality. Others are not far off. At the organizational level, love has both internal and external manifestations. Organizations extend love toward employees and generate a sense of community. This helps create WWB indicators of quality connections with co-workers, a sense of being cared for, happiness, joy, and psychological safety. Love exerted externally results in altruism, which is also connected to the OSM quality purpose for the common good. Integrity helps create psychology safety because there is dependability and coherence between words, policies, and actions that demonstrate consistent loving attitudes. A sense of meaning or purpose and even flourishing can be achieved when organizations have a clear purpose in which employees are fully engaged. Employee engagement is a little more complex as it is affected by multiple factors. But all of these can be addressed through OSM. Empirical data have shown that the strongest influence on engagement is the relationships employees have with their co-workers and managers. They feel like they are home or have a family at work (Shuck et al. 2011). As described above, this is achieved through the generation of love. People are also strongly motivated by perceived organizational

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support (POS), which is a climate of cooperation, support, and trust between coworkers and management (Mone et al. 2011; Shuck et al. 2011). These are achieved through the pursuit of OSM characteristics of love, integrity, and “the general feeling that the organization values their contribution and cares for their well-being” (Saks 2006). The OSM quality of wisdom includes the recognition of the importance of input from all stakeholders, while the OSM qualities of spiritually mature leadership and management and continual evolution also naturally lead to valuing the contribution of all employees to inform the ongoing improvement of the work and workplace (Freer 2017). The idea of achieving WWB through spiritual routes is further reflected by other authors in this volume. In fact, two entire sections include topics exploring the spiritual aspects of WWB – WWB, Spirituality and Social Ethics and Spirituality and Secular Ethics. The argument presented here is that the spirituality of the organization itself must be examined and developed in order to fully achieve WWB.

Now What? Increasing OSM The case has been made for the necessity of increasing OSM to create lasting WWB, but how can organizational spiritual maturity be intentionally increased? Before presenting some proposed steps, some general statements regarding the process of developing OSM are in order. First, there is no one right process. Each organization is unique and must determine its own path (Neal 2013). For this reason, the steps below should be considered suggestions based on successful experiences in other organizations and recommendations from experts in the field. Each step is inherently flexible, allowing for customization. Second, it should be considered an ongoing rather than one-time process. The entire process should be implemented every few years, especially when a significant change has occurred, such as a new strategic plan or executive leadership. Third, if it is not continually monitored, there is the potential of regression. Maintenance steps are presented to prevent this and ensure continued progress. Many organizations go through natural changes that may make them less spiritually mature. For example, it has been noted that when small organizations grow, they tend to move from predominantly more spiritual, person-centered values to less spiritual, organization-centered and controlling policies (Biberman 2009). The overall intent is for organizations to continually evolve in their spiritual development, in recognition that this process is ongoing and never truly completed. Another point is that organizational spiritual development often looks and feels much like personal transformation (Barrett 1998). In other words, it is often simultaneously challenging, uncomfortable, anxiety-inducing, and perhaps even frightening. Biberman (2009) argues that organizations traverse similar stages as individuals in their spiritual development. However, the process of organizational spiritual development is still largely theoretical and not empirically verified. The point is that the process will likely not feel good at times, which will require that leaders help all members maintain a focus on the big picture and ultimate goals and benefits in order to see the process through.

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Since spirits are the deepest essence of organizations, the spiritual maturation process likely requires profound transformation. For this reason, the holistic path described below is highly recommended. However, in recognition that many organizations may not be ready for this preferred path or in a situation in which they are able to take it, a more abbreviated targeted path has also been specified. (This targeted path is not described here as it involves a more narrowly focused approach, but see Freer (2017) for more information.) It is worth noting that, in general, the process for organizations becoming more spiritual is still in its early stages of development as there is no direct empirical data on how best to achieve it (Howard 2002).

The Holistic Path for Developing Organizational Spiritual Maturity (OSM) The holistic path describes the process recommended for the deeply transformative development of organizational spiritual maturity. Because real quantum-jump transformation is often needed to develop OSM, rather than minor iterative improvements to an immature organizational spirit, the term “organizational transformation” is used here to refer to the goal of the process with the understanding that the OSM qualities represent the desired ends of this transformation. The steps for the path are depicted in Fig. 2 and were adapted from two sources – Barrett (1998) and Neal (2013).

Preparation Step 1: Assess readiness for holistic change. A critical need for organizational transformation is readiness (Barrett 1998) or intentionality for authentic growth (cf.

Step 1: Assess readiness for holistic change Step 2: Determine who will lead transformation process Preparation

Implementation

Maintenance

• • • •

Step 3: Determine organizational identity and purpose Step 4: Institutionalize identity and purpose Step 5: Assess the current state of Organizational Spiritual Maturity (OSM) Step 6: Develop OSM qualities

Step 7: Assess progress Step 8: Monitor internal and external environments Step 9: Share lessons learned

Fig. 2 The holistic path for organizational spiritual maturity (OSM) development

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Agrawal 2013; Hendricks and Hendricks 2003). Barrett (1998) argues that the keys to readiness are the openness of leadership and the organizational culture to transformation. The readiness of leadership is reflected in the understanding and support of the board and the top executive (Laloux 2014). Without these, a holistic process is likely doomed. If the top executive is not fully supportive, it will likely be a waste of time. But if the executive is supportive and the board is not, they will likely clash. The recommendation in these cases is to seek board support individually or wait for unsupportive board members to term out with the hopes of being replaced by more supportive ones (Laloux 2014). The readiness of the organizational culture to true transformation is reflected in the motivation understood for the efforts. Whether the steps described here are implemented under the auspices of spiritual development may not matter. What is most important is the intent. If the intent is rooted in the self-interest of the organization, such as increased productivity or profit, then spiritual development is considered a means to an end rather than a genuine desire to improve its impacts on the world – i.e., the motives are spiritually immature. These instrumental motivations can interfere with or even inhibit spiritual development, because they can prevent the depth of introspection and level of commitment to improvement required for true change, some of which may require risks or sacrifices to achieve the greater good. True change also requires vulnerability, humility (on individual and organizational levels), grace, and willingness to change. It requires time to work through difficult and uncomfortable issues and a level of openness to feedback that is uncommon in most organizations, which in turn requires the creation of a safe space that invites people to share their most uncomfortable or challenging perceptions of the organization. In short, the process will not work unless there is sufficient commitment to do it right and see it through. If this does not exist, it will most likely fail or have severely limited benefits. This is analogous to going to therapy. The extent that a person will benefit from the experience is directly related to their openness to self-reflection and desire to improve. It is therefore suggested that the process not move forward if this prerequisite commitment does not exist and instead redirect efforts to generate it. Alternatively, the targeted path described below can be adopted to demonstrate the benefits and generate support for increasing organizational spiritual maturity. The readiness of other employees who are not in leadership roles can also be an important consideration. This is certainly true if there have been previous failed or aborted attempts at organizational transformation. For instance, it is common for organizations to have retreats with the intent of developing and adopting new ways of working together. However, the new approaches often last only a few weeks or months after which the group falls back into the same problematic routines. Over time, this can create cynicism and/or despondency that can prevent the necessary buy-in to the OSM development process. It is therefore recommended that staff be surveyed regarding their support of and belief in proposed efforts to increase spiritual maturity and directly address any concerns prior to launching a holistic approach. If a strong resistance or other negative attitudes are identified, a smallerscale targeted approach addressing a relatively easy change is recommended in order

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to give the organization or team a taste of success and sense of optimism that change can occur and that leadership can and will see the process through to completion. Step 2: Determine who will lead transformation process. A team is recommended to lead the project comprised of champions and supporters of the organizational development (Neal 2013). This team should also have any spiritual leaders that have organically emerged in the organization. These spiritual leaders can be in any position or at any level of the organization. Their inclusion has two purposes – in addition to tapping into the existing spiritual maturity in the organization, it maximizes the credibility of the process. Conversely, failure to include these individuals can create the risk of undermining the perceived validity of the process and poses a potential barrier to buy-in. Consider how it might feel if a person thought to be a spiritual authority or leader is left out of the process, which is instead driven by those considered to be less advanced. Even if they have legitimate hierarchical authority, the credibility of the process is compromised from the outset.

Implementation Step 3: Determine organizational identity and purpose. One of the most important activities in the spiritual development of organizations involves deep introspection and reflection. The organization’s identity includes its beliefs and values, and its purpose includes its vision and mission. Some call this step “orienting,” because it involves the critical examination of and collective decisions regarding the core elements of what is important to the organization, what it stands for and/or against, and its role in the world (Goodpaster et al. 2004). This is essentially an examination and proactive steering of the organizational spirit along a more spiritually mature path. Barrett (1998) suggests that this step involves a detailed culture assessment. The assessment needs to determine the prevailing values of the organization, as well as its level of consciousness and the alignment between personal values of its members and organizational values and also between the organizational values and ideal values. His values audit instrument can be used for this purpose, which also seeks to identify any discrepancies between the espoused culture and the actual culture of the organization. Neal (2013) also recommends assessing what she calls “baseline factors” including organizational commitment, trust, turnover, stress, productivity, quality of work, spiritual values, and the spiritual well-being of employees. Much has been written about the importance of identifying and clarifying organizational values, in general and to inform the organizational change process. However, many organizations either have not clarified their values or only poorly articulate them (Ferguson and Milliman 2008). Barrett (1998) defines values as “rules for living” and says that “they are deeply held beliefs that a certain way of being or a certain outcome is preferable to another” (p. 19). He further adds that values are “deeply held principles, ideals, or beliefs that people hold or adhere to when making decisions” (Barrett 2009, p. 145). In addition, values provide moral guidance and inspire employees by helping them connect with the organizational vision and purpose. Of course, this assumes that the values are well implemented. When they are poorly implemented, this can have a negative impact on employees

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and the organization (Ferguson and Milliman 2008). While individuals express their values through their behavior, organizations express them through their cultures (Barrett 2009). The real values of an organization naturally and inevitably shape the culture and therefore cannot be hidden and tend to be quite clear to those within the culture. Therefore, it is crucial to conduct a culture assessment to root out any undesirable and often unspoken values. True spiritual development also requires that spiritually mature values become pervasive and fully integrated throughout organizations and their cultures (cf. Barrett 1998). Therefore, hypocrisy can be viewed as a sign of spiritual immaturity. Deep reflection requires focus, so it is recommended that a multiday retreat be held that includes all the people who are responsible for and affected by the mission, including the board, leadership, and all employees (Laloux 2014; Wheatley 2006). However, this is an ideal that may not be feasible for every organization, especially those that are very large. In that case, a phased approach is recommended in which representatives from the various stakeholder groups develop draft versions that are then presented to all employees for feedback. People are much more likely to support and buy into purposes that they help craft and may be resistant if handed to them without an opportunity to provide input. Broekstra and de Blot (2011, pp. 296–7) recommend wrestling with the following questions when determining an organization’s identity and purpose: • • • •

“Why do we exist? What is our reason for being? What do we really stand for (rather than what do we purport to stand for)? How strong is our organizational spirit? What is our meaning to society?”

They go on to say that while these questions are clearly fundamental in nature and tend to be avoided in board rooms, because they may lead to the realization that the true identity and purpose of the organization are “abysmally out of sync” with those intended by the board (Broekstra and de Blot 2011, p. 297). Of course, this is precisely the intent. True purpose cannot be discerned by reading vision or mission statements but only through empirical observation of the actions and decisions of an organization. Deep and honest reflection on these questions ultimately reveals the true essence of the organization and is therefore “intrinsically spiritual in nature” (Broekstra and de Blot 2011, p. 297). The purpose(s) discerned through answering the proposed questions is then used to craft or refine the vision and mission statements. Johnson (2009) identified the development of these statements as necessary steps in promoting collective spiritual development with the caveat that the vision and mission statements must transcend the bottom line and reflect the core values of the group. If successful, these statements will tap into intrinsic motivations of employees by inspiring them and bringing more meaning to their work (Ferguson and Milliman 2008; Johnson 2009). Because the values and vision and mission statements are highly definitional in nature, some organizations may consider these sacrosanct and be hesitant to revise them. However, in order to maintain the integrity of the organization, these

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statements must be continually and honestly revisited to ensure they continue to be accurate. The OSM quality of continual evolution demands that the organization be continually open to transforming itself in response to the rapidly developing modern world in which it is situated. Continual deep reflection and self-awareness on the organizational level helps to ensure integrity between the true values, intentions, and purposes of the organization and that which it espouses to its employees and society. Step 4: Institutionalize identity and purpose. Once the values, vision, and mission have been clarified, they need to be integrated into all aspects of the organization (Porter and Norris 2013), a process called institutionalization. This is likely the most difficult step, because it requires a deep understanding of current practices and the changes necessary to align with the values, vision, and mission and must also include ways to measure these changes (Goodpaster et al. 2004). Several additional actions have been recommended to facilitate institutionalization. Barrett (1998) suggests creating a team, such as a culture committee, to specifically focus on incorporating the identity and purpose into the fabric of the organization. Training programs need to be created to support the new culture by ensuring that all existing and new employees are operating from the same understanding (Barrett 1998). Neal (2013) also suggests identifying a specific cultural change approach, such as appreciative inquiry or Open Space Technology that best fits the organization’s needs and desired culture. In addition to structures, practices, and processes, supporting the development of a new culture requires that spiritual leaders serve as role models and that everyone is challenged to reflect on their own beliefs and values, especially whether they support or undermine the desired culture (Laloux 2014). Step 5: Assess the current state of organizational spiritual maturity. After the organizational identity and purpose have been clarified and progress is being made to institutionalize them, the work of improving spiritual maturity can begin. This requires identifying the unique strengths and areas for improvement. Recommended questions for assessing organizational spiritual maturity are provided in Table 2. The desirable answers to each question are believed to be clear and may be either “yes” or “no.” The questions are intended to be probing. Each question should all be followed by a request to elaborate. Ideally, this would examine each level of the organization from the smallest unit or group to the full organization, because subcultures develop within organizations with their own unique strengths, challenges, and spiritual maturity. Once this information is gathered, the OSM quality assessment matrix in Table 3 can be used to determine the extent of spiritual maturity of the organization, department, or unit according to each of the OSM qualities. Step 6: Develop OSM qualities. Within this context of holistic organizational transformation, practices can be identified and adopted to increase specific OSM qualities. The assessment would have revealed specific areas for improvement. This is the point in the process at which the targeted path is embedded in the holistic path, because the intent of the targeted path is to help organizations develop specific OSM qualities. The matrix is designed to provide a clear picture of what spiritual maturity looks like in practice that can be highly instructional. Freer (2017) provides a variety of specific practices for improving OSM. It would be helpful at this point to develop

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Table 2 Questions for assessing organizational spiritual maturity (OSM) OSM quality Love

Integrity

Wisdom

Purpose for the common good Spiritually mature management and leadership

Continual evolution

Assessment questions Does the organization consistently consider the full impacts of its decisions and choose the path of least harm to individuals inside and outside the organization, society, and the planet? Does the organization have a strong sense of community? Do all organizational members feel safe, valued, trusted, and loved at work? Are there any inconsistencies between the organization’s action on any level and its stated values, mission, or policies? Are any of the organization’s actions, policies, or practices immoral? Are organization members incentivized (not just encouraged) to speak up when they perceive a lack of integrity in the org? Does fear play a role in shaping organizational decisions and actions? Are decisions consistently made well-informed, and the major decisions also reflect the collective wisdom of organization members? Does the organization consistently learn from its own and others’ experiences and apply lessons learned? Is the organization wasteful in any way in the use of natural resources or the time of its employees? Does the organization consistently demonstrate through its actions that its overall purpose is to serve the common good? Do all leaders in the organization consistently model spiritually mature qualities (i.e., love, integrity, wisdom, continual evolution)? Do the management approaches consistently promote and reinforce the development of the qualities of spiritually mature organizations (including the creation of a safe and trusting community, wise decision-making, and continual learning and evolution)? Do any parts or aspects of the organization fail to continually change in response to new information, including lessons learned, research, and the identification of best practices?

an implementation plan, which would help ascertain leadership support of the specific changes sought (Neal 2013), while also ensuring that all involved were on the same page. The plan should include goals, objectives, roles, a timeline, and measures that can be monitored to assess progress. To the extent possible, the development of OSM qualities should not be conducted in a manner that is isolated or siloed but rather as a direct outflow of the larger holistic transformation stemming from the renewed understanding of identify and purpose developed in the previous step. The practices can, however, be adopted on a variety of levels, such as work units, and need not be implemented consistently across the entire agency. In fact, in some cases it may be beneficial to pilot some practices, while for others it may be necessary to make a long-term

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Table 3 OSM quality assessment matrix OSM quality Love

Purpose for the common good

Integrity

Wisdom

Continual evolution

Description of OSM qualities exhibited at different levels Low Medium High Love is largely Love is one factor of The organization nonexistent in the many driving the consistently exhibits organization. The actions of the love through its actions. organization is largely organization but is often A high degree of trust exploitative and selfsuperseded by more and strong sense of serving self-serving factors. community pervade the Some sense of trust and organization community exists The purpose of the Organizational actions Practices consistently organization is demonstrate some reflect that serving the generally self-serving as desire for serving the common good is the reflected in its actions, common good, but it is primary purpose of the regardless of its stated not a primary purpose organization’s existence purpose or is not consistently the primary drive The organization The organization Organizational actions exhibits poor alignment exhibits some alignment strongly align to its between stated and between stated and professed identity, demonstrated identity, demonstrated identity, values, and purpose. A values, and purpose, values, and purpose and strong integrity tolerates or even sends mixed messages management system incentivizes poor ethics, regarding ethics and exists to support this and does not promote takes some steps to alignment and healthy employeepromote healthy adherence to high organization boundaries employee- organization ethical standards. boundaries Healthy employeeorganization boundaries are maintained The bases for The bases for decisions The bases for decisions organizational decisions are moderately strong – are strong – considering are generally weak – considering some input the full impact on the failing to consider beyond the best interest decision on employees, available data and input of the organization, but the organizational from key stakeholders. typically failing to get purpose, and larger Little or no input from those society. Strong learning organizational learning affected and/or consider mechanisms allow for occurs, and the data available. Some continual improvements organization is learning occurs and the exploitative in its organization shows approach to the natural some degree of concern world and employees for its impact on the natural world and employees The organization is The organization is The organization strongly resistant to exhibits some flexibility flexible, fluid, and able to quickly respond to change and responsiveness to feedback, learned feedback, learned lessons, and the lessons, and the changing environment changing environment (continued)

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Table 3 (continued) OSM quality Spiritually mature leadership and management

Description of OSM qualities exhibited at different levels Low Medium High Organizational leaders Organizational leaders Organizational leaders and managers seek to and managers are and managers create an control information and inconsistent in sharing open, transparent, restrict the actions of information, supporting supportive, and employees staff, and encouraging empowering autonomy environment

commitment and have broader-scale implementation in order to be truly effective, such as establishing integrity.

Maintenance Organizational change should not be expected right away but will require time, patience, persistence, and continual engagement (Laloux 2014; Neal 2013). As Biberman (2009) says “even the most spiritual organization faces challenges to remain on the spiritual path” (p. 117). Organizational spiritual development requires maintenance (Barrett 1998) or sustaining (Goodpaster et al. 2004). Several steps are recommended to this end. Step 7: Assess progress. Perhaps the most obvious action is the monitoring of progress in accordance with the identified measures of success and/or implementation plan (Barrett 1998; Neal 2013). The progress, or lack thereof, may indicate midcourse corrections that need to be made in implementation (Barrett 1998). The organization also needs to be open to and may even seek challenges and criticisms from various sources internally or externally, as these may reveal previously unidentified issues that need to be addressed and/or barriers to progress. As the institutionalization process proceeds, it may be necessary to revisit the purpose, values, vision, or mission to make adjustments or clarifications. Periodic retreats are suggested as an effective way to take a step back and assess (Biberman 2009). It is also important to celebrate any and all progress that is made (Biberman 2009; Neal 2013). This helps generate enthusiasm, hope, and momentum to continue to drive the process and keep everyone engaged. Additionally, organizations can appoint people or units to provide ongoing feedback on how to support spiritual development and address any challenges that surface (Biberman 2009). Step 8: Monitor internal and external environments. In the rapidly changing modern world, there may be changes in the internal or external environments that will impact the espoused values, vision, and mission of an organization. For this reason, the organization should designate people to monitor these environments (Barrett 1998), ideally the same people who planned and monitor the organizational transformation or a subset thereof. The impact of major events and occurrences should be considered, whether positive or negative. Internally, this may involve such events as landing a major contract or grant or launching a major program. Negative occurrences may involve the loss of major sources of funding or sunsetting of major initiatives.

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The factors may also be of a more personal nature, such as the death of an employee or other traumatic event. External factors may include political, economic, or societal issues, such as the economic recession of 2008–2009, or politics. For instance, some political issues may prompt some organizations to take a stance on the issue, perhaps by revising its list of values or initiating a response to address the situation in some way. Another area to consider monitoring is the field of organizational spiritual development. Neal (2013) suggests that organizations join with other organizations in either formal or informal collaborations to share lessons learned and stay abreast of real-time developments. Goodpaster et al. (2004) suggest that an important step in sustaining these efforts is to be intentional about passing on the effort to future leaders as well as larger society. This creates a mutually reinforcing situation. Step 9: Share lessons learned. Sharing lessons learned can help solidify the learning. Otherwise, they may not be clarified for all involved and therefore not actually learned allowing mistakes to be repeated and successes to go unheeded and unreplicated. This can have other great benefits, such as informing other units in the organization and ideally helping to inform the field to increase awareness of OSM and ways in which to successfully develop it. Lessons can be shared in many ways, but written and disseminated documentation in the form of reports or articles promises to have the greatest impact as it allows a greater number of people to access the fullness of the lessons learned and has much greater longevity. This can allow organizations and perhaps the larger field of organizational development to build upon the lessons.

Summary This chapter demonstrated that organizational spiritual maturity (OSM) must be considered when seeking to improve workplace well-being (WWB). This is due to the complex and often hidden factors that incentivize and perpetuate harmful behaviors that are ultimately rooted in the organizational spirit. Only a deep and holistic approach will truly unearth and resolve these underlying issues. Just such a process was presented. Conversely, it was demonstrated that increasing OSM will also increase many positive factors of WWB. While our understanding of organizational spirits is nascent, this introduction to the concept will hopefully lead to efforts that will help increase our understanding of OSM and how to improve it in order to create a better world for all of us.

Cross-References ▶ Employee Well-Being Under Corporate Psychopath Leaders ▶ Impact of Workplace Bullying on Employees’ Mental Health and Self-Worth

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▶ Toxic Leadership and Workplace Bullying: The Role of Followers and Possible Coping Strategies ▶ Toxic Leadership: Managing Its Poisonous Effects on Employees and Organizational Outcomes

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spirituality/Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Spirituality (WPS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Three Levels of WPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Mission of Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Business School Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WPS: A Precursor for Spiritual Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lebanese University (LU) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Notre Dame University (NDU) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LU Professors: A Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NDU Professors: A Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WPS, Business Professors, and Spiritual Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to examine the spiritual well-being of Business school faculty (within a university) and how workplace spirituality enhances such wellbeing. Exploring workplace spirituality (WPS), this chapter adopts a philosophical interdisciplinary approach that borrows from the works of prominent thinkers and philosophers. Using grounded theory, 25 business professors are interviewed in two Lebanese universities while assessing the level of spiritual/religious

D. A. Harajli (*) Adnan Kassar School of Business, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_80

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well-being and the connection with personal values, work performance, identification with the mission, and community life. This chapter reveals that religious universities are for workplace spirituality a natural habitat. Faculty members living out their beliefs at work feel more influential and satisfied. On the other hand, when a university shies away from a spiritual/religious mission and does not live the supreme mission of education, faculty members are more likely to feel depressed and unfulfilled. This chapter has practical implications to both universities and the corporate world alike. First, it advises universities to go back to their spiritual/religious roots primarily for the sake of faculty well-being; and second, it gives valuable insights to any organization that neglects the spiritual/religious needs of its employees. Keywords

Workplace spirituality · Spirituality · University mission · Higher education · Business school faculty · Employee well-being · Spiritual well-being · Workplace well-being

Introduction This chapter links workplace spirituality to employee well-being by exploring the spiritual well-being of business school professors. Further, it highlights the difference between a religious missioned and nonreligious university revealing how identifying with a religious/spiritual mission and living out one’s values and purpose embrace all dimensions of well-being for a flourishing workplace. Major changes in the world today have left employees in the workplace feeling alienated, demotivated, and disconnected. Changes such as business breakdowns, scandals, huge layoffs, and the deterioration of communities and extended family units have left employees demoralized and disheartened (Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Mitroff and Denton 1999; Giacalone and Jurkiewicz 2003). These factors, which helped develop an interest in the subject of spirituality at work, are in truth a simple call for more meaning and purpose at work, a connection to something higher, and feelings of belonging (Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Giacalone 2004). Spirituality at work or workplace spirituality is defined as “the recognition that employees have an inner life that nourishes and is nourished by meaningful work that takes place in the context of community” (Ashmos and Duchon 2000, p. 137). In our lives today, people view their work as a reflective element of their selfconcept. As a place where they spend the majority of their time, they perceive work as a factor that influences life both in and out of the work setting. It is when this workplace allows them to be who they really are and to live out their diverse beliefs in a respected climate of common goals; it is when their work becomes a “calling” or a religious duty (Weber 1958) that they begin to see the light of workplace spirituality. .Workplace spirituality (WPS) has been a focus of attention for the last few decades (Bell and Taylor 2004; Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Duchon and Plowman

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2005; Krishnakumar and Neck 2002; Lips-Wiersma 2003; Lund Dean et al. 2003; Tischler 1999; Hicks 2003; Marques et al. 2005). Workplace spirituality in business settings is now a recognized concept that is spreading at a fast pace. Most employees are looking for work environments that are meaningful to them and can provide them with a sense of connection. Corporations are no longer only looking for profit when they hire employees; employees are hired for their degrees and skills as well as their bodies, souls, and spiritual integration (Giacalone and Jurkiewicz 2003). WPS, perceived as providing the drive for change (Gotsis and Kortezi 2008), is also expected to contribute to a deeper and more meaningful understanding of human work and organizational identity. WPS is generally treated as the missing element of both organizational life and organizational effectiveness (Giacalone and Jurkiewicz 2003). As an organization, the university is run much like any other business. The difference lies in the mission that defines an organization’s purpose, “own values and daily practices” (Firmin and Gilson 2010, p. 67). For many centuries, the purpose of education was “guided and unified by theology” (Noddings 2015). Although critics still claim that the central aim of education is for “intellectual knowledge” (p. 232), it is actually how knowledge is administered and how courses “call upon the intellect in the acquisition and application of knowledge” (p. 233) that makes the difference. It is not exactly just theology or the idea of intellectual knowledge that plays a unifying theme for the purpose of education. What is needed are “questions of the deepest existential nature” (Noddings 2015, p. 235). The mission of a university is to educate the whole person as Professor Donald Schepers of Baruch College in New York wrote in his letter to the AACSB: “Failing that, we become mere technical schools. Laudable as that might be, it is not the purpose of a university” (Swanson 2004, p. 52). A university is a place where higher learning and careers commence, a place that takes a lead role in creating upcoming generations of conscientious, self-disciplined, and service-oriented employees and leaders (Derrida 2004; Phenix 1961). In light of all this, this chapter examines how workplace spirituality thrives in higher education and how it facilitates the expression of spirituality and along the way enhances the well-being of business school professors. It explores how WPS can provide the optimum context for business professors to live out the mission of education. It delves into the purpose of a university and then evaluates the faculty’s interpretation of their university mission, their beliefs, values, and work experience as a whole. Using grounded theory, 25 business professors are interviewed in two Lebanese universities, in addition to months of observations, focus group discussions, and secondary data analysis. Fostering a climate of spirituality at work nourishes employee’s well-being through the implementation of a religious university mission. Professors work with purpose, meaning, and a sense of community. In the next section, the chapter briefly explores the different components of employee well-being and highlights how spiritual well-being at work triggers all other dimensions of well-being.

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Well-Being Employee well-being, an important concern and a challenge for any organization, is a multifaceted construct with several components: physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual (Dhiman et al. 2018, p. 3). According to Dhiman et al. (2018, p. 19), the paradigms are categorized and described as the following: Physical well-being involves “movement and exercise” in activities such as yoga and stretching. Emotional well-being is having “good sleeping/eating habits” which lead to emotional clarity directing one to reflect on the “true purpose.” Psychological well-being is about “positive self-talk and affirmations.” Spiritual well-being involves meditation, mindfulness, transcendence, and personal growth. This chapter narrates the well-being of spiritual professors who live out their personal values in connection with the university mission. It shows how professors are more awakened and enlightened to their purpose. Their spiritual well-being becomes an umbrella that encompasses other facets of well-being. Satisfied spiritual professors all embrace the habits of the “head and heart” cited by Dhiman et al. (2018): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

“Pure motivation Gratitude Generosity Harmlessness Selfless-service Acceptance Mindfulness” (Dhiman et al. 2018, p. 20)

Highly fulfilled spiritual professors, outspoken about their spiritual/religious practices, are aware of their contributions to the university and more specifically to the business school. Their heightened self-awareness and sense of ownership make them more committed. Dhiman et al. (2018) agree that such employees are “better in control of their feelings, so they are equipped to deal with the feelings of others” (Dhiman et al. 2018, p. 26). They understand their higher purpose and thus are content and fulfilled. Well-being may appear intangible but “it can tangibly affect growth and success” (p. 26). The tangible effects can be measured with tangible choices and behaviors. These are manifested with professors who never want to miss a day of work, those who work long hours without feeling stress, and those who avow to a sense of belonging. Workplace spirituality, which for a long time struggled with its elusive elements and definition, can be clarified and brought to light through one of its principal features, that is, the influence of workplace spirituality on employee well-being (Garg 2017).

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Clearly, there is a positive association between workplace spirituality and employee well-being. Workplace spirituality may well be an antecedent for wellbeing (Pawar 2016). When exploring the benefits of employee well-being, it was found that enhancing well-being involved trade-offs where one dimension of wellbeing may reduce or undermine another. However, when placing well-being within the context of workplace spirituality, multiple dimensions of well-being got enhanced without “impairing” or lowering any other form of employee well-being (Pawar 2016, p. 978). The next sections of the chapter outline the facets of spirituality/religion and how this is inherent to inner fulfillment and spiritual well-being at work.

Spirituality/Religion Spirituality is a true human dimension we are born with. It is manifested in different ways, but its essence remains the same. Our general knowledge of humans is intensified when we understand the realities faced by the early religious man and the profane (Eliade 1959). As Christian Smith states: Human beings are naturally religious when by that we mean that they possess, by virtue of their ontological being, a complex set of innate features, capacities, powers, limitations, and tendencies that give them the capacity to think, perceive, feel, imagine, desire, and act religiously and that under the right conditions tend to predispose and direct them toward religion. (Smith 2012, para. 19)

Modern societies today have fully developed the realm “no religiosity.” Many people today reject the appeal of transcendence. It is their assertion that only with such a rejection can freedom be found. This man sees himself as the subject and agent of history. . . he “desacralizes” himself and the world (Eliade 1959). Such a “profane” man is but a result of the “desacralization” of human existence. This means that the nonreligious man has been formed by opposing those who came before him, “by attempting to ‘empty’ himself of all religion and all trans-human meaning” (Eliade 1959, p. 204). This decline in spirituality is being lamented by many different kinds of writers. Thomas Moore (1992) opens his Care of the Soul with the following phrase: “The great malady of the twentieth century, implicated in all of our troubles and affecting us individually and socially, is ‘loss of soul’” (p. xi.). We live in a “spiritual wasteland” (Campbell 1986). People have lost touch with themselves, with others, and with important moments in life. Jung (1959) explains this reality as: A growing impoverishment of symbols; everything that we have not thought about, and that therefore has been deprived of a meaningful connection with our developing consciousness, has got lost. . . Our intellect has achieved the most tremendous things, but in the meantime our spiritual dwelling has fallen into despair. (p. 14)

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Most spiritual outlets or sources for spiritual growth are disappearing. Whether it is an organized religion, civic engagement, the natural environment, or local community, they are all on the decline. Unlike modern work, the work of our ancestors was not bare drudgery; it was directly, vitally, and urgently linked to survival. It was endowed with deep meaning. Work focused the mind on its relation to life and was thus sparked with spirituality (Hart and Brady 2005). In contrast, modern business life suppresses the spirit with the countervailing quest for efficiency. Defining spirituality remains one of the main challenges in this new field of study. “Spirit” comes from the Latin word spiritus or spiritualis meaning “breathing, breath, air or wind” (Merriam-Webster 2018). Spiritus is defined as “an animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organisms” (Merriam-Webster 2018). The definitions mean that spirit is the life force that keeps us alive and breathing (Garcia-Zamor 2003). The most important conception of the soul is its internal animating principle; “it is that which moves it and makes it live, to such an extent that when it withdraws itself, life ceases or is suspended” (Durkheim 1961, p. 84). There isn’t one accepted definition of spirituality. For example, spirituality is defined as an inner consciousness within each of us (Guillory 2000; Rama 2002). It is also identified as a “process of enlightenment” (Barnett et al. 2000, p. 563), a certain kind of work emotion that infuses action with energy (Dehler and Welsh 2003), and “a world view plus a path” (Cavanagh et al. 2001, p. 6). Spirituality is also perceived as an “access to the sacred force that impels” (Nash and McLennan 2001, p. 17), a “unique inner search for the fullest personal development through participation into transcendent mystery” (Delbecq 1999, p. 345), and an understanding of ourselves at the deepest state of knowledge (Conger 1994). Religion comes from the Latin root religio “which signifies a bond between humanity and some greater-than-human power” (Hill et al. 2000, p. 56). To some human beings, separating religion and spirituality seems absurd, while for others it appears to be the natural thing to do. In this chapter, the reconciliation approach is used, which “sees religion as an instrument and an exterior expression of an individual’s search for meaning, transcendence, connectedness, and integration” (More and Todarello 2013, p. 18). Spirituality is finding meaning to our lives that transcends daily routine; it is having a purpose that completes and nourishes one’s “spirit” and sense of community. It is the “the basic feeling of being connected with one’s complete self, others and the entire universe” (Mitroff and Denton 1999, p. 83). Streams of thoughts in that direction are reiterating; and with “thought” everything begins. One must not be “conformed to the present century, but be transformed by the renewal” of thought (Badiou 2003, p. 110). True events seem to be falling at doves’ feet, surprising us at that moment of “greatest silence” (Badiou 2003, p. 111). This means when least expected, people can be awakened, for example, by passing through a disaster, surviving an illness, or losing a loved one. People are awakening and becoming enlightened to this renewed spiritual human dimension. Reflecting on the “Now,” they are seeing that all religions in the end share “deep commonalities” (Tolle 2004): all religions point to the “Now” as the key to “spiritual egoless state of enlightenment.” Differences, like instrumental notes, provide us with the recognizable

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univocity that makes up the melody of the “True” (Badiou 2003, p. 106). The reality is “an indifference that tolerates differences” (Badiou 2003, p. 99). It is humankind working together for a common goal or purpose.

Workplace Spirituality (WPS) The workplace is an important outlet that allows people to be in touch with their inner selves. It makes their moral character shine through every thought, decision, and behavior. Today, our deeply internalized motivational attitude toward work is making way into our lives again. People are starting to see their work as a “calling;” they are seeking an organizational community based on respect, autonomy, development, inclusion, and freedom of faith. The spiritual dimension at the workplace is witnessing a renewal of its old spark – a rebirth of its old ideals. Defining spirituality in the workplace “is like capturing an angel – it’s ethereal and beautiful, but perplexing” (Laabs 1995, p. 63). One way of defining workplace spirituality is to divide this spiritual dimension into its component parts as Ashmos and Duchon (2000) did when they identified three parts: recognition that employees have an inner life (meaning), an assumption that employees want to find work meaningful (purpose), and a commitment by the organization to serve as a context for spiritual growth (community). It is “the recognition that employees have an inner life that nourishes and is nourished by meaningful work that takes place in the context of community” (Ashmos and Duchon 2000, p. 137). WPS facilitates a culture that respects and nurtures employees, helps in the job design, and builds teamwork and community (Brown 2003). This, in turn, gives birth to a humanistic organizational culture where high-morale employees feel more satisfaction and enjoy an overall improved performance (Garcia-Zamor 2003). Organizations that change and adapt to today’s needs perceive WPS as a necessity where companies will be described in terms of their innovation, transformation, and environmental responsiveness (Guillory 2000).

Three Levels of WPS Spiritual practice, discipline, and wisdom can be integrated in a secular organization (Case and Gosling 2010). Stemming from all the three levels of WPS, meaning, purpose, and community, many ways exist to facilitate WPS in an organization. First, on a personal level, it is to acknowledge that employees have an inner life that gives them meaning (Ashmos and Duchon 2000). Therefore, effort must be placed to help these employees find time for reflection, silence, meditation, and prayer (Duerr 2004). Organizations should focus on employee empowerment and spiritual development. Meditation improves communication, meetings, performance, decisions, and understanding (Marques et al. 2014). In reality, “there may be not only a human case, but also a business case, for accepting and encouraging the expression of faith and religion at work” (Duerr 2004, p. 335).

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Second, on an organizational level, incorporating spirituality simply falls under the assumption that employees want to find work meaningful – that is, with a purpose or a fulfillment of our “spirit” at work (Ashmos and Duchon 2000). And third, on a community level, a commitment by the organization to be a context for spiritual growth or community is a way of incorporating WPS (Ashmos and Duchon 2000). A strong organizational culture is needed – one that values diversity, respects all beliefs, and serves as a community of shared principles. With a strong sense of purpose, employees can build open and trustful relations at work. The organization, which serves as a community, makes every employee feel like a member. Kolodinsky et al. (2008) found that employees appreciate it when their organization respects and embraces others’ spiritual values even if they themselves are not spiritual. This is because humankind is joined together by shared moral codes. These include empathy, servant orientation, and community (Kutcher et al. 2010). In an organization where spirituality is embraced, “values and mission statements are not forgotten documents.” Rather, there is an ongoing reflection with the mission and values, embraced by the organization’s spiritual efforts (Geh and Tan 2009, p. 296). Thus, a culture in which organizational values call for employees’ respect and freedom to express themselves is one that can incorporate spirituality. It is a culture that advocates meaningful work in a community context, and finally, it is a community or culture that enables employees to view their work as a way to advance spiritually. Such employees are more likely to exert effort than those who see work as a means to make money. When faith is a part of an employee’s identity, it does a lot of damage to try to ignore or suppress it. In the next section, higher education is discussed, bringing to attention the original mission which is aligned with WPS.

The Mission of Higher Education What purpose does education hold and toward what ends does it prepare students? Getting an education at a university is a way of improving lives; however, understanding the reasons that tie a good education together with society is what makes all the difference. Evoking the spirit in education is in bringing teachers together, not to discuss the curriculum, technique, or course material, but to discuss the “deepest questions of our teaching lives” (Palmer 1998, p. 11). For many centuries the question was and still is today: what is the purpose of education? The “answers to this question were guided and unified by theology” (Noddings 2015, p. 232). Including professional and business schools in the university was criticized in the early 1900s where “the purpose of higher education, critics claimed (and still claim) is intellectual knowledge” (Noddings 2015, p. 232). Intellectual knowledge is important; however, nurturing a “caring educational environment” based on morality and ethics is the aim of higher education (Noddings 2013). Existential questions naturally find their way in a university setting. “Where are we? And who are we in the university? What do we represent? Whom do we represent? Are we responsible? For what and to whom?” (Derrida 2004, p. 83). In other words, does a university today have a raison d’etre? What is the essence of a university in its relation to being

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and reason, to cause, purpose, meaning, and mission? It is what Derrida (2004) likes to call destination; “To have a raison d’etre, a reason for being, is to have a justification for existence, to have a meaning, a purpose, a destination” (Derrida 2004, p. 129). Assessing the moral purpose of education should cover all disciplines (Pring 1999; Palmer 1998; Noddings 2013). Because disciplines have lost their spirit, they should be connected or integrated together and to real life (Noddings 2013). The teacher must be helped in finding ways to “incorporate material of universal human interest in every subject” (Noddings 2015, p. 235). The objective is to find connections, nurture interdisciplinary cooperation, and keep in mind as teachers “the unifying purpose of producing better adults” (p. 235). Teachers need to be reminded that they are “moral educators, that discussion centered on morals and social problems is not time wasted” (p. 235). Today, an economic outlook is dominating all phases of our life, even our education. The religious (Christian) college is facing a genuine challenge, where education is seen mainly as a preparation for a “lucrative career” (Wells 2014). “The college, in attending to the concerns of life’s purpose as a central element of educational mission, is swimming upstream” (p. 52). However, Christian colleges and universities “have a distinctive context and a strong grounding from which to address the purpose of general education” (Wells 2014, p. 53). Thus, educational policy and criteria should involve subordinating economic interests to criteria of worth. A focus on “economic utility has marginalized attention to life’s meaning in the conversation about the value of higher education” (Wells 2014, p. 52). On the other side of the spectrum, organizing education around a meaningful goal and purpose will validate the very aim of any educational institution (Derrida 2004; Palmer 1998; Noddings 2013; Wells 2014; Phenix 1961; Pring 1999; Standish 1999). The central aim of education becomes nurturing the understanding of what it means to be human through the gradual participation in the public world of all major disciplines taught. Palmer (1998) claims that “to teach as a whole person to the whole person is not to lose one’s professionalism as a teacher but to take it to a deeper level (p. 10). The aim is to enable students to reach a personal resolution on how to live and for what; it is having a personal search for meaning through issues of “profound human importance.” The mission of higher education, its essence, purpose, and ideals are in coherence with the concept of workplace spirituality. Incorporating or reviving spirituality in higher education helps in achieving its centrally positioned moral purpose. It places professors at the center stage, since their wellbeing, which influences work performance, will influence the lives of future generations.

Business School Education A business school is always presented as a faculty within a university. Etymologically, a faculty is a spiritual and intellectual capability (Kamuf 1997; Derrida 2004). This point is exacerbated in American English where academics are called “faculty.” The implication thereof is that these professors, modern times’ prophets, incarnate

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and physically embrace this spiritual and intellectual capability (Kamuf 1997). Hence, the mission of business schools is supposedly not separate from the founding university. Similar values should make their way into all different disciplines. They should find a way to unite their differences under one truth. The secularization of society has resulted in students enrolling in universities without expecting to find this universal truth but to obtain a degree and have an occupation (Kamuf 1997). If a business school’s mission is to allow students to find an occupation and pay their fees back (Drucker 1973; Ireland and Hitt 1992), the university’s ontological destination has been lost (Kamuf 1997). Business school education that has evolved from trade schools that taught practitioners business as a profession to one of creating knowledge through research is losing track of its founding purpose (Bennis and O’Toole 2005). The mission of business schools has long been an area of debate. What is the purpose of business schools? What should be taught and apprehended from a curriculum that presumes to make students ready for the business world? And when developed and formed, what kind of challenges does the mission face in order to bring it to life? Do words used reflect the organization’s “own values and daily practices” (Firmin and Gilson 2010, p. 67)? Although the purpose of business schools is not separate from the founding university, business schools are seen by many scholars to be primarily using their mission for “marketing and social relations purposes rather than driving organizational practices” (Firmin and Gilson 2010, p. 67). A business school’s mission which should be the “basis for providing all faculty and staff promotion” is in need of examination. This can happen when institutions reflect on their mission on a typical daily basis (Firmin and Gilson 2010). Currently, there is a clear problem with the status quo. Most business schools have followed curricula that hardly included and sustained “purpose, meaning, values, and empathy” (Marques et al. 2014, p. 199). Our world today requires “character” in addition to competence. Recent scandals and economic failures provide all the proof that characters of business students are in dire need of values such as “integrity, diversity, compassion, and personal responsibility” (Marques et al. 2014, p. 199). It is the “alignment of attitude, behavior, and cognition” that brings about responsible action. Teaching from a mentoring perspective creates “informed, intentional, empowered and responsible learners” (Marques et al. 2014). As the faculty helps the students “receive” their benefits, in terms of personal growth and better career prospects and professional development, the students connected with their spiritual cores are ready to “give” to the world what they learned from the program (More and Todarello 2013, p. 25). It is no real surprise that many universities worldwide have retained their religious/spiritual mission and are proving to be examples for others to follow as they claim to “educate citizens and leaders of competence, conscience, and compassion to foster a more humane, just and sustainable world” (Delbecq 2010, p. 241). If teachers are more attuned with their own spirituality, they are more able to help students grow spiritually and thus

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influence their lives positively in the workplace (More and Todarello 2013; Palmer 1998; Bradley and Kauanui 2003). Workplace spirituality can thrive when meaning and purpose are articulated, understood, and lived through by a sound university mission. This allows for a sense of interconnectedness, belonging, personal fulfillment, and joy. Having a mission that resonates with a spiritual mindset can allow the university to go back to its roots and founding principles. In order to nurture spirituality in students, professors must be in touch with themselves (Palmer 1998). They should have a sense of spiritual, emotional, psychological, and physical well-being. Therefore, assessing the spirituality of business school professors and trying to understand their “intellectual and emotional” reaction to spirituality will give a vivid sense of their general well-being. As will be discussed, professors in religious universities have a higher spirit of well-being and feel they make a direct difference in students’ lives (Bradley and Kauanui 2003).

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WPS: A Precursor for Spiritual Well-Being The spiritual well-being of business school professors is examined by dividing WPS into three levels or categories: personal, organizational, and community. The following are examples of questions asked: Personal/individual level: Since faculty members have an inner life that gives meaning, what does spirituality mean to them? And how important is it? What brings meaning to their lives? How aware are they about who they are, what they are doing, and the contributions they are making? Are they free to live out their values/beliefs at work? Do they have the freedom to be themselves? To practice their religion? To pray, reflect, and meditate? Organizational level: Based on the assumption that employees want their work to be meaningful – that is, with purpose, what is their university’s mission? Business school’s mission? How is it perceived, understood, and identified? Is there a sense of alignment between personal values and the organization’s mission and purpose? (Milliman et al. 2003). How is WPS incorporated in teaching and research? Is it reflected in the curriculum? Is it incorporated within different topics in business? How is WPS reflected in managerial practices such as employee-oriented values, decision-making, responsibility and autonomy, self-managed teams, training and development (being yourself), work-life balance, and a secure workplace devoid of abuse and fear? Community level: Is there any kind of commitment by the university to serve as a context for spiritual growth and development? Is the workplace perceived as a community – a second home? In what way? In what way do employees feel they belong? How do faculty members form relationships at work with students and other faculty members, and how united they feel in their diversity?

Within the three categories are the overlying themes of service to others, purpose, and meaning in life derived from spirituality or religious belief. The core category “spirituality at work” captures all of the themes and relates them to each other: Exposing spirituality on a personal level: morality/beliefs/religious practice, nature (intuition) vs. nurture (childhood), a sense of well-being, and connectedness Discovering spirituality at work: teaching/research with a purpose by being of service, living the workplace’s mission, inner fulfillment and satisfaction, and religious values Experiencing spirituality in feelings of community: interpersonal relationships, social integration, inclusiveness, and respect for diversity

To find out the extent WPS is a precursor for faculty well-being at business schools is not an easy thing to do. We live at a time where work has taken a mundane identity. People go to work, perform expected tasks, tire, and go home to rest. The soul, eager to bring the whole human to the workplace, awaits nourishment and naively expects it from a university – the place of “Universal Truth” (Derrida 2004). In Lebanon, business professors in a religious university are all content when working with students, though with comparable lower pay. Business professors at secular universities are mostly not as satisfied because the realm of their work does not support

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their spirituality except within the classroom with students. The next sections in this chapter will shed light on two case studies from the Lebanese universities.

Lebanese University (LU) Founded in 1951, the Lebanese University (LU) is the only public institution available in Lebanon for higher learning levels (www.lu.edu.lb). The mission provided by the website is the following: The Lebanese University sees itself as a research university with a strong international orientation. Besides enhancing its disciplinary strengths, the Lebanese University places special emphasis on maintaining the dialogue across traditional subject boundaries.

The Lebanese University’s general goal and mission is to help its students achieve a successful future that enables them to live a comfortable life in their homeland. Lebanon has witnessed a huge immigration movement where younger generations left in pursuit of higher levels of education and work in the West. Although the university aims at retaining Lebanese talent and human resources, it has not been successful, and the main reason is the political and economic instability in the country.

Notre Dame University (NDU) Notre Dame University (www.ndu.edu.lb) was founded in the year 1987. The general mission of NDU focuses on the spiritual aspect that this Catholic university tries to spread: As a Catholic institution inspired by the cultural and spiritual heritage of the Maronite Order of the Holy Virgin Mary, NDU seeks to provide a comprehensive quality education that fosters excellence in scholarship, lifelong learning, enlightened citizenship, human solidarity, moral integrity, and belief in God. In designing its curricula, NDU is committed to the philosophy and standards of the American model of liberal arts education. Conceiving itself as an authentic academic community, good. Its profound aspiration is to prepare its students to be future leaders who can. http://www.ndu.edu.lb/About/Identityandmission.htm

LU Professors: A Biography LU professors, endowed with high qualifications, work hard but do not look happy. In many instances, the extent of bitterness these professors carry is felt behind a wall of silence. During the interviews, it is not easy to make them feel comfortable. Their eyes do not light up nor do their lips smile or project any sign of joy. On the contrary, exhaustion lines are drawn all over their faces narrating unspoken tales of endurance.

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Modest plain clothing shows no sign of extravagance. It is as if those professors work just to make ends meet; they walk around like robots, silenced by a cruel bureaucracy that reigns by breaking all the rules of justice. Social interactions are kept to a minimum; the only laughter and gaiety witnessed are those of politically affiliated and thus “secure” people who receive all their rights and much more than they deserve. Getting to know LU professors makes one frustrated and sad for Lebanon’s highest educational institution. Lebanon is divided into many different religions and sects. Politicians are mainly leaders of a specific sect and thus cater to “their kind,” giving them priviledges and power over others. Thus politicians become caregivers for those affiliated with them as sectarian leaders. Therefore, when assigning public administrative positions, including academic positions at the Lebanese University, politicians fight for their representatives. Interviewing 13 professors and allowing them to speak freely for an hour, information about their level of spirituality and how this influences what they do was gathered. Lebanese University professors are divided into four distinct groups with two variables, spirituality/religion and favoritism. The following lists the four groups of professors: 1. 2. 3. 4.

The spiritual/religious and favored (politically/along sectarian lines) (6) The spiritual/religious and not favored (3) The nonspiritual/nonreligious and favored (1) The spiritual, nonreligious (non-practicing), and not favored (3)

For clarity sake and as a reminder: The “spiritual/religious” are those who have a connection with the Divine; they seek meaning in their lives and a sense of connectedness with themselves, others and the universe. Religion is “an external expression of spirituality” (More and Todarello 2013, p. 17); for this reason there can be no one grouped as “religious” and not spiritual. “Spiritual/nonreligious” can imply someone who is spiritual/agnostic or someone who believes in God, but does not practice any form of ritual or religious practice. LU professors speak on three levels: personal, organizational, and community levels. Professors within each group share relevantly similar backgrounds, experiences, opinions, and feelings toward the three levels of workplace spirituality. Interestingly, although the spiritual/religious professors are almost identical on a personal level, identical irrespective of favoritism, and thus share similar outlooks on education, work, and community, the way they feel in general was different, and this is what prompted the variable that emerged as the cause for such divergence (favoritism). Similarly, the spiritual/nonreligious professors also share common characteristics but diverged on the ground of favoritism. All of them are satisfied and fulfilled on a student level but not on a university level because of the politics. But being favored makes them much less frustrated than they would have been. In general, professors who are spiritual/religious show more signs of compassion; they feel they have a mission in life that unfolds and is lived out within the education realm. They have a connection with God or higher being and admit that their life

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ethic and values are direct derivatives of spirituality/religion. Spiritual/nonreligious (non-practicing) professors are those who believe in God and who experience Him; however they do not perform any religious practice or ritual. Moreover, they keep their beliefs to themselves, not bringing them in any way to the workplace. The only nonspiritual and nonreligious professor does not care about God or the hereafter. He stresses the material world and human achievements. In brief, LU’s business school does not provide a nurturing haven for WPS. Workplace spirituality is not communicated within the mission nor experienced by faculty members and students (except on an individual level). At work, religious/ spiritual professors do not practice rituals, acknowledge, or speak of their religiosity. Stepping into the university, they choose to leave their religiosity at the door. However, they unreservedly admit that it’s those religious values that they carry into class while teaching that make all the difference! But basic human values such as trust, honesty, caring, flexibility, integrity, loyalty to the university, and long-term orientations are missing. How can communication be present and how can WPS be experienced even with spiritual/religious professors when loyalty is toward a politically fed religious/sectarian affiliation and not the higher education institution? The lack of alignment between personal beliefs of faculty members and the organizational reality makes the spiritual/religious and politically favored and the spiritual/nonreligious (non-practicing) professors not fulfilled and not at ease with others around them as a community. When faculty members are not capable of fully integrating their personal spirituality and beliefs into their workplace, the sense of fulfillment and meaning suffers, creating a sense of satisfaction that is limited to class interaction. Divisive politics brings into the game extrinsic religiosity where your religion more or likely is perceived foremost as defining your sect and political views. Intrinsic religiosity is not lived out, and in such culture professors feel let down, depressed, and demotivated. Not fulfilled, LU professors in their own words express: Teaching is not for money, not just a career/job; it is giving to society but I have reached the extent of disgust; I am not happy anymore! I expect nothing. I don’t trust anyone in the political, economic and societal structure of this university and country. I don’t care where I want to reach, I am interested to be able to reach and communicate with students only.

The mindset of unhappiness is prevalent when professors feel isolated from community life. They confess: I tried to be part of the community but I couldn't; there is no help, no appreciation, only professional and academic interaction; and the relationship is with students only. So there is only financial satisfaction. There is no comfort . . . I am only fulfilled with academic aspect with the students. . . and of course no spiritual growth!!!

Feeling tired, disturbed, and impotent, words of desperation strike sharply through their expressions:

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I am getting hurt from the inside because of the reality of LU, your soul gets hurt and you get an inner depression. . . you are dead from inside . . .

Many professors got emotional and described their community life in the following way: I was taught at this university. I was a student here. . .the doctors were my professors. But no sharing here, no disclosing of problems, no encouragement and we do not talk about personal problems. There is no excitement or support, everyone does his job. . .I don’t like to make myself part of it.

Though they forget everything in the classroom, professors cannot turn a blind eye to the harsh reality around them where expectations are not met. A professor explains: I was expecting to deliver maximum knowledge but found the opposite of what I was expecting. . . politics It is more dominant in this university and politics is an art and a science. . . Saturating themselves with politics – declining student levels and we are having a collapse in our academic levels. Promotions are not merit-based so demotivation exists and professors are not teaching as they should, they are demotivated.

Therefore, fulfillment lies on a student level where student interaction embraces professors in another world. Professors become temporarily oblivious to the outside workplace where on a university level, fulfillment is but a lost dream, a bureaucracy that drowns them in an ocean of mental and emotional fatigue, making no room for spiritual growth. . . As one frustrated professor stresses: Of-course I am not fulfilled; I am fulfilled only with students. The connection with students makes me feel so satisfied and fulfilled. Spiritually, I grow only with students who are humans not numbers. I thank God daily but I feel upset I cannot do anything to change the situation for the better.

Drained and let down, one professor elucidates: I always think of leaving/quitting. On paper, LU has a mission to develop the community and build values. . . Written is one thing, implementing it totally another story. Politics is interfering in everything. And you know we worked hard and got tired to get here.

When life is replete with belief, faith, religion, or spirituality, whatever one does becomes part of one’s mission; it characterizes who one is, how one thinks, and what attitude one carries; and it defines one’s role in this world as the free soul becomes the driving energy behind hearts and minds. Ubiquitously, purpose becomes a moonlight of reflections, expectations, influence, and positive change, a discovery that starts within and moves outward to satisfy an inner calling for social impact and perfection. The academic realm is naturally the haven where such aspirations and existence find their voices. This is not the case at the Lebanese University where favoritism rules.

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LU as an academic establishment mirrors the political climate outside. Education is a natural habitat for self-actualization. It is a place where despite difficulties and disappointments, spiritual/religious professors seem to find their inner voices and live their mission of servitude. The hours spent in a classroom are strong enough to calm any wave of demotivation and depression felt by spiritual/religious professors. Student interaction and the mere feeling of helping and guiding those uninformed, less fortunate, and in dire need become itself a source of temporary satisfaction to the spiritual nature. Moreover, had there been a supportive, fair, and merit-based work environment, all professors would have been more satisfied and fulfilled; this would have had a greater impact on students, future citizens, and society as a whole. Although being favored eases the frustration a professor experiences, it does not remove it, with the only vivacious and “happy” professor an agnostic who is powerful politically and does not take his work as a mission but rather as a “ladder” for additional “social prestige.” To this end, though favored, unfulfilled spiritual/religious professors working in an unsupportive environment still manage to grow spiritually within the framework of student interaction. Moreover, the spiritual/religious professors who are not politically favored have higher comparable feelings of discontent. And those who are spiritual/nonreligious (non-practicing) and not favored are completely miserable dejected and down. They experience no spiritual growth. One explanation can be that rituals or practicing a certain religion can add resilience, patience, and hope in the face of vicissitudes.

NDU Professors: A Biography The mission of NDU’s business school focuses on nourishing the minds of business students with knowledge that is beneficial for their future career, in consistence with the general religious mission of NDU: Consistent with the University mission, the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics at NDU strives for excellence in teaching, research, and community involvement. We instill in our students the necessary knowledge, skills, and moral values to become ethical and socially responsible professionals within the framework of a liberal arts system of higher education.

The spiritual and educational environment offered at NDU openly helps students reach their full potential while keeping faith and nourishing Catholic values and beliefs. Therefore, NDU advertises itself as a religiously founded, directed, and managed university standing for a quality holistic education that caters students’ souls as well as their minds. Surrounding the university campus, whether in the hallways, classrooms, cafeteria, or gardens, are religious imageries which work on the senses giving a subconscious message, a religious mission to be experienced and communicated on every level and in every possible way.

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NDU professors have an extremely similar outlook about life. First, they are all spiritual/religious, with similar childhoods and religious habits. Second, identifying with the religious mission of NDU and by having a purpose, they all express meaningful work with personal expectations falling outside personal interests. Third, they all have feelings of community where spiritual growth thrives as a result of the spiritual/religious work environment. Quoting their words gives a closer feel to their spiritual well-being: My personal expectations are continuous learning, inner satisfaction, and contributing to society are my expectations. I want to have a small impact in fixing Lebanon. . . As a practicing Christian, this is the best place for me to fit in. So I identify and live 100% the mission of this university and I am so satisfied.

One professor who expects self-satisfaction confesses: I am so happy to go to work and am not working for the money. I declined several higher paying jobs where I received better offers but I am so happy at NDU.

Religiosity and spirituality make professors more empathetic as one professor explains: It is my nature. I like to help people, to stand on the side of the poor and weak and not on the side of the strong. I believe I have high empathy for others. I don’t like to see people fail. I encourage students, guiding and helping them with problems. I have personal relations with students.

NDU meets all the personal expectations of this group of professors on a student and university level as one professor articulates: I want to be able to help, to be able to have work-life balance, continuous learning, and a secure/good environment where I am free to be myself – I care so much for my students. And NDU has fulfilled all my expectations.

Another colleague explicitly claims: I love teaching! I fill out my mission of helping, giving information, and engaging students. I feel energized in class. My soul is at work and the class is my home; there I forget everything. Even when I am sick, the pain goes away.

These words are indicative of a lived spirituality. The euphoria allotted to teaching stems from a spiritual nature that is realizing itself through the interpretation of life’s mission as well as a university; it is that of servitude through self-actualization in helping others and having a positive impact on others’ lives no matter how miniscule. This reaps what they describe as “inner satisfaction,” itself a result of the “Supreme purpose of education” (Phenix 1961). The mission of all professors is articulated with a direct link to religious thought, belief, and values. As one professor explains:

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My mission as a professor is to hold teaching as a mission, to believe in God, transfer knowledge, and make students ready for the real life and also helping in real-life problems. The religious mission of NDU is similar to my own religious background so I understand and live on a deep level the mission and values of this university.

There is “that link with God” that enables professors to have empathy, compassion, embrace for diversity, and religious tolerance, with one professor confessing: I work in an inclusive environment where I feel united with everyone and am happy to be among different sects and religions. And so I am always ready to help.

Discussing social issues and teaching outside the book, one professor articulates: My mission is to teach, help, guide, to have a better education in Lebanon, to share, influence students, serve, contribute to society, help students in class and at home, solve student problems of all kinds and at NDU I am fulfilling this mission. The mission of NDU is my beliefs. I am christain. We are losing religion outside, losing religious in life and people are moving away from values but here at NDU Virgin Mary is everywhere and the cross in class a reminder in hallways and the president is a priest. . . I am living my beliefs. And I am 100% happy and satisfied.

The strong identification with NDU’s mission makes one professor watch the sunset every day from his office. Awakened, and thus indifferent about money, he says: Money does not last. I am happy with everything NDU stands for. Life is not about the lottery. It’s about the decisions you make.

Longing to enlighten students about values and that money is not everything, another professor articulates: Life matters most; it is not the money. . . NDU brings me closer to who I am. NDU is ideal. The mission is to identify, help and believe in God. It is a peaceful place to work- there is a “human touch” and values are important. [4]

This group of professors is committed to moving beyond material rewards. They have their priorities in serving others and the society at large, nurturing students to become better citizens of humanity. It is not money they are after but, rather, a sense of meaningful contribution, a positive influence, and a sense of freedom. With another professor expressing: NDU is my home!! Even when there are no classes, I still go to NDU. I am respected & valued as I told you I left a much higher paying job for NDU. I am not working for the money!! I am happy where I am. . . I am fulfilled and satisfied; money is not everything. I thank God for everything. I never complain and I long to teach and incorporate philosophy into my business courses!!!

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What is it that makes those professors so passionate when in general talking of NDU? Using imagery, metaphors, and emotionally appealing language to describe their workplace, there must be magic or so much spirituality. As this professor declares openly: I love life- I have a purpose. . . NDU is an inclusive environment that embraces diversity. We are all humans, all spiritual. NDU time is more than family time, we are one family. I serve this university. We go out together, movies, hiking all together with students too.. there is also cooperation, coordination when we learn from each other and from students.. there is also family values.. Spiritual retreats where we discuss issues relating to life- God, social issues- exchange information- like a family picnic- worship together or we spend evenings in someone’s home. . . We instill values naturally by doing. I respect students and listen to them. I answer their needs. I am 95% fulfilled, 5% error-perfection for God!!! God is in class, spirituality integrated, using spirituality integrated, implemented. . . religion and spirituality are obvious. . ..

NDU is a university living its religious mission. This is discernible when spiritual/religious professors (10/11) find themselves, discover their identities, and live by their conscience. Perceiving their work as a “calling” (Weber 1958), faculty members simultaneously speak on an organizational and community level when asked questions about personal spirituality, thus revealing the interrelation between the levels and showing how WPS is prevalent in NDU without any boundaries or contradictions. Out of 11 professors, only ONE is spiritual and nonreligious (non-practicing), and he is the only one to mention rank, publication for promotion, and distance from students; the only one who doesn’t feel as much a part of the community and who admits he would leave if a higher rank elsewhere is provided; but overall, he is satisfied because in the end, he does have a spiritual nature and thus enjoys working in a religious environment. The rest are all spiritual/religious who understand their mission as professors and link it to that of the university. Expectations beyond material gains, the need to connect and interact with students leads to goals of societal welfare. Working with a mission and feeling supported in a religious environment fire their motivation and general performance, leading to inner satisfaction, feelings of community, and spiritual well-being. NDU professors view their work as freedom since it is replete with an absolute purpose – that of worshipping God. Worship creates meaning in their lives, filling a purpose by living their spiritual identities in daily work. The incorporation of religious values in a business class with “God in class” is itself a demonstration of such a claim. It is what frees professors from the greed of the corporate world making them give a “social justification” for teaching business as a discipline. For this reason, several professors highlighted the need to incorporate philosophy into business courses. The religious mission of NDU ripples through the business school by the mere presence of professors who live out their own values on every level (individual, organizational, and community), professors who have a sense of spiritual, emotional, psychological, and physical well-being.

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WPS, Business Professors, and Spiritual Well-Being Unlike LU, NDU fosters more satisfied faculty members who live with empathy, a concept described by Pavlovich and Krahnke (2012) as the “connectedness organizing mechanism” that enables people to “transcend” their current condition “through mutual and yet sometimes unconscious connection” (p. 131). All spiritual/religious professors embrace the “ethic of caring” where caring for students becomes central to teaching (Noddings 2013). Connecting with the religious mission as an extension to their own identities, connecting with students through teaching with purpose, and feeling part of a serving community boost empathy and spiritual growth. This enhances well-being in all its dimensions as discussed by Pawar (2016). Spiritual/religious human beings need a context to live out their beliefs and values. This is something agreed upon by many scholars in the field (Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Fry 2003; Giacalone and Jurkiewicz 2010; Palmer 1998). When a university such as LU does not provide such a context for spiritual/religious faculty members, the result is depressed, demotivated, or simply less satisfied professors than their counterparts in religious universities. Further, the importance of having a religious mission that is well communicated and lived out makes a big difference in people’s lives. A well-reflected upon shared mission that connects all of organization’s constituents strategically toward a goal is a tool that influences employees on a personal, organizational, and community level. Therefore, when identification with a religious mission is strong, employees are more likely to abide with the ethical/moral values it entails. Spiritual/religious professors who teach with a religious/spiritual mission cuddle a purpose of education that falls beyond making people ready for jobs; rather it is a supreme purpose lived in teaching knowledge, morality, and values and in helping or serving fellow students. The supreme purpose builds a sense of detachment and freedom from self-serving interests that tarnish people’s caring hearts and empathetic tendencies. Therefore, teaching business with a spiritual/religious mindset is of benefit to business schools that are being criticized for losing the right track and failing to deliver (Bennis and O’Toole 2005; Podolny 2009). There is a dire need of spiritually nourishing faculty members such as those at NDU, who as spiritual souls seek satisfaction by bringing happiness to others. However, the right context must be provided. This is what LU’s spiritual/religious and spiritual/nonreligious (non-practicing) professors really need to re-ignite their energy levels and recapture their inner satisfaction and well-being. Spiritual/religious professors show that when work takes on a sacred value, faculty members will be more internally satisfied, giving more for less and adhering to their own moral codes. When expectations fall out of themselves, life takes on a higher level of conscientiousness and awareness; and when they realize their existence is part of a whole, servitude becomes a purpose in life to be fulfilled. This naturally has implications for the business world with NDU being a good example or role model for organizations to follow. Individual beliefs, values, and religious morals echo through the whole organization, touching lives with feelings of community. With such examples, WPS is exposed as still a fragile force in the

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corporate world where employees who are tired or drained spiritually leave after many years to join academia. Therefore, a change must take place from the roots. It is never too late to start with a purpose-driven education such that by the time students enter the corporate world, their work ethics formed by their family and society is also influenced by the well-being of business professors. To this end, it is of utmost logical relevance to laud professors who teach the right values to future employees, managers, or leaders who have a direct influence on society.

Conclusion Leaders who nourish spirituality at work can advance the “culture, productivity and self-fulfillment of employees” (Dhiman et al. 2018, p. 3). To have and sustain a thriving workplace, employees must be fulfilled from within. This involves being in sync with one’s self in the form of “spiritual clarity, conviction and psychological freedom” (Dhiman et al. 2018, p. 3). Whereas the corporate world tries to incorporate spirituality as a way to increase performance and motivation, the university in itself is a spiritual entity that fosters teaching as a way of enlightening, guiding, coaching, directing, helping, and serving others and a way of directly contributing to the development of society. For this reason, it is most natural for spiritual/religious professors to find themselves, their inner voices, and help others find theirs (Covey 2004). Serenity exists when one lives the present moment, feeling the Power of Now (Tolle 2004) by first being free from greedy desires and second through daily interaction with students and colleagues. Transformation and self-growth happen when spiritual practices are in place. At religious universities, professors engage in such self-knowledge by being mindful and by meditating, praying, and living in humility and gratitude. This chapter sheds light on the importance and contingency of the context or work setting and how this influences WPS and well-being. It is not enough for WPS

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to exist on one level and not the other. Thus, the founding mission of a workplace is the most important factor in making room for WPS. It is with this condition of context that WPS can enhance employee well-being. That is why spiritual/religious professors in secular universities who are unable to live out their beliefs at work lack the motivation, zest, and energy levels of other professors teaching at religiously missioned universities. Further, spirituality in business schools (WPS), facilitated by the mission of a university, has a direct impact on the corporate world by the caliber of students it graduates. Spiritual/religious professors say they teach values within their business courses and make it a priority to interact positively with students by helping them in every way possible. Graduate students return years later just to say “Thank you!” to their professors, a living proof that when you deal spiritually with students and illuminate their way, they will be touched by the light that glows with care, humility, and gratitude. They can become more ethical employees later on in the workplace (More and Todarello 2013). As discussed in the chapter, a religious/spiritual mission that is well communicated and lived out in a university will give a purpose beyond the self. And when employees have a purpose, anything they do would be enriched with meaning. This meaning begins with the work one does, how they do it, and how they and others perceive it. When work becomes a “calling,” or a sacred vocation, employees will be more willing to give and share without expecting material returns. The workplace becomes a second home, a place they love to come to and feel sad to leave as it connects them to their purpose; a workplace where existential questions are honored and the need to build moral character is fulfilled. Thus, a university as a place of service fulfills the spiritual needs that touch on the inner sense of life’s purpose. At religious universities, this is explicitly iterated and experienced. At LU, it was more limited to student interaction in the classroom. To this end, taking business school professors as a case, this chapter highlights the need for workplace spirituality as a precursor for faculty’s spiritual well-being. Professor’s spiritual well-being can be the springboard that releases all other wellbeing dimensions. It is the energy that leaves its mark on any workplace by influencing future generations of business leaders endowed with conscientious, empathetic minds, hearts, and souls.

Cross-References ▶ Employee Engagement: Keys to Organizational Success ▶ Organizational Spiritual Maturity (OSM): The Root of Workplace Well-Being ▶ Purpose, Meaning, and Well-Being at Work ▶ Purpose, Meaning, Joy, and Fulfillment at Work ▶ Renewing the Soul: A Workplace Wellness Strategy Grounded in Redemption ▶ Sustainable Happiness, Well-Being, and Mindfulness in the Workplace ▶ The Languages of Spirituality and Science: Two Fraternal Twins ▶ Wellbeing and Spirituality: Insights from the World’s Wisdom Traditions

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▶ Well-Being at Workplace: A Perspective from Traditions of Yoga and Ayurveda ▶ Women in Leadership and Work-Family Integration: Strategies for Fulfillment and Well-Being

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . An Integral Aspect of Happiness in Several Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Cognition of Happiness Through Contentment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Role of Yoga Sastra in Learning Happiness at Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Philosophical Presentation of Happiness as Ānanda (Supreme Bliss) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Virtue of Contentment in the Alliance of Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Relevant Lessons that Can Be Drawn from the Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reflection Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Happiness is a contented state of emotions in life, and the perception of contentment exhibits inner peace among human beings. Contentment has associated with ecstasy, and ancient scholars have elaborated this powerful potential in their works related to the study of human attributes. This virtue has developed through constant practice and meditation and plays a significant role in controlling the senses. It comes from the churning of the self, which is called svāydhyāya, which has a vital aspect in the fields of psychology and self-management. The purpose of this chapter is to present the framework of happiness (Ānanda), which has based on the theoretical aspect of contentment, given in eminent ancient Indian texts such as Vedas, Upanishads, and Yoga Sutras of Patañjali, and described a balanced path to happiness that indicates “contentment” (santosha) as a primary originator of happiness. These texts also advocate the practice of yamas and N. Kaushal (*) Yamunanagar, Haryana, India e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_82

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niyamas for developing and maintaining happiness and well-being at work. Despite plentiful literature available on the concept of happiness, there remains a new prospect of research in the field of happiness along with contentment, and this chapter not only offers insights on realizing integrated well-being, happiness, and contentment ethically but also prolongs a new outlook in the realm of happiness literature, which can enhance and substantiate the “well-being” concepts of modern times. Keywords

Ānanda · Contentment · Happiness · Psychology · Svāydhyāya · Upanishads · Vedas · Virtue · Well-being · Workplace · Yamas and Niyamas · Yoga

Introduction The state of happiness defines those peaceful moments of life in which our inner self feels delightful. Happiness is a basic dimension of experience, something like a personality trait (Argyle 2013). Happiness at work is a mind-set that allows us to maximize performance and achieve our potential (Pryce-Jones 2011). The great author of our being, ever careful of the happiness of his creatures, has given to all, whatever be their lot in life, sources of happiness (Beaver 1820). The idea of happiness is made much brighter by applying the percept – try to treat others as you would want them to treat you (Hubbard 1989). Happiness is a process which means that our daily interpretation of things determines our feelings of well-being, and learning to interpret most events in a positive light is a valuable skill (Diener and Diener 2011). William Barclay writes that the English word happiness contains the root hap, which means chance. Human happiness is something which is dependent on the chances and the changes of the life, something which life may give and which life may also destroy (Barclay 1968, 103). It is not a simple sum of pleasures but rather a cognitive construction which the individual puts together from his various experiences (Veenhoven 2013). A twofold meaning adheres to happiness; objectively, it is favorableness to circumstances, of destiny, but subjectively the enjoyment of favor, appreciative participation in it (Hartmann 2014). Happiness describes the conviction that acquiring and owing nicer and better things leads to personal happiness, enjoyment, and a better life (Jankovic and Dittmar 2006). One kind of happiness comes to us when our circumstances are pleasant and we are relatively free from troubles, and the second kind of kindness is lasting, inner joy and peace which survives in any circumstances (Graham 2011). Happiness is an integral aspect of human life. The presence of a human’s delight reflects his mental state, personal self-belief, and insight. This not only reflects the external personality but also helps in maintaining a harmonious environment. When a human being works with a happy mood and the mind, it affects his style and health in a good way and performs the task more efficiently. But in reality, happiness is the name of living in peace and harmonizing with available facilities. Some people enjoy their happiness in others, and this fact shows their

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strong-mindedness and positive personality. A person who has contented with his life remains happy in every situation because he knows the art of being happy by keeping the mind calm. This chapter highlights the main related features of happiness at the workplace and its perspective of contentment and alienated into five main points: (1) an integral aspect of happiness in various works; (2) the cognition of happiness through contentment; (3) the practice of learning happiness through Yoga Sastra; (4) philosophical presentation of happiness as Ānanda (supreme bliss); and (5) the virtue of contentment in the alliance of workplace well-being and happiness.

An Integral Aspect of Happiness in Several Works Happiness is defined as the degree to which an individual’s overall evaluation of his life as a whole concludes positively (Veenhoven 1984). The word happiness derived from the Icelandic word happ, meaning luck or chance. In the moments of joy that life brings, happiness feels like something that comes out of the blue (Lama and Cutler 1999). “Happiness appears as an overall evaluation of the quality of the individual’s own experience in the conduct of his vital affairs” (Wessman and Ricks 1966, p. 240). The wisdom of happiness includes the elements of justice, fairness, loyalty, good sportsmanship, honesty, kindness, consideration, compassion, self-control, tolerance, forgiveness, benevolence, belief, respect, politeness, dignity, admiration, friendliness, love, and follows it with integrity (Hubbard 1989). Bertrand Russell defines the secret of happiness that “let your interest be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile” (Russell 1930a, p.157). It is an ongoing process that requires a way of experiencing life and the world that includes positive attitudes, meaning, and spirituality (Diener and Diener 2011). Anand (2016) purposes the ways of thinking that might also be conducive to happiness and well-being including looking for the good in those around you, being mindful, being curious, knowing your thoughts, developing positive thought patterns in favor of negative ones, being realistic, putting yourself in a positive frame of mind, finding strength and focusing on using them, learning to meditate, and finding your purpose. The word happiness is simply the name for a brief emotional state that lasts for a few seconds or minutes and then disappears (Power 2015). Generally, the concept of ideal happiness, or bliss, is directly derived from a definition of human nature. The endeavor to reach full happiness means striving to actualize one’s true nature (Jakubczack 2004). Happiness is not a tangible thing, it is a state of mind (Renshaw 2011), and its concept is obscure and mysterious (Argyle 2013). Happiness may be defined as the feeling one gets by being with one’s family, having better health, having a rewarding job, or having more money (Dutt and Radcliff 2009), and it appeared to have other than that it offered a temporary respite between periods of pain and trauma (Holden 2011). The ethical aspect of happiness can be divided into an evaluation aspect and a moral aspect. The evaluation aspect directly connects with the psychological dimension of happiness, and this refers to the fact that happiness requires positive affect, while the moral aspect of happiness

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refers to the fact that, to experience happiness, a person must also approve of the thing or the situation that makes an individual feel happy (Hirata 2011). The hedonic, eudaimonic, and Aristotelian models of happiness are likely to overlap to some extent and to complement each other. For instance, it is plausible that emotions feel right when basic human needs are satisfied and that satisfying such need induces positive affect. In such cases, happiness reflects feeling right, satisfying basic needs, and maximizing pleasure (Tamir et al. 2017). Happiness is localized in time, as it is a fleeting state of mind, whereas the good and meaningful life is extended in time, since it also relates to the past and the future, and thus it is valued as a whole (Yacobi 2015). Happiness is awfully important (Haybron 2013). It is that inward state of perfect satisfaction which is joy and peace, and from which all desire is eliminated (Allen 2009), while contentment stands at a distance from the irritations of envy and repining. It enjoys all the sweets of its blessings, and knows their value, while in possession of them (Cogan 1810). It is the happiness and contentment that fills the soul even in the midst of the most distressing circumstances and the most adverse environment (Graham 2011). In terms of ethics, it is a value. Happiness, the most popular of the good values, which so often passes for the value of the values, may, in any case, be classed long with power, to which it is materially related (Hartmann 2014). It includes pleasure, passion, and higher purpose. The pleasure type of happiness is about always chasing the next high, the passion types of happiness is also known as flow, where peak performance meets peak engagement, and times flies by, and the higher-purpose type of happiness is about being part of something bigger than yourself that has meaning to you (Hsieh 2010). Happiness, the state of mind, has such a grip on the popular imagination that a proper appreciation of its pursuit requires us to set in the context of what, in general, matters for a good life (Haybron 2013). It may be viewed as an overarching concept with two principal aspects, well-being and self-validation (Warr 2011). Happiness is one of the three components of subjective well-being at work. Subjective well-being includes positive attitudinal judgments as well as the experience of positive and negative affect (Fisher 2014). Happy people have a good immune system and a healthy body because they are altruistic, self-disciplined, social, and confer better conflict resolution skills (Larsen and Eid 2008). As workers with a happy mind provide a massive advantage at the workplace by the completion of the tasks with full concentration, dedication, and efficiency, so happiness helps to create and maintain the value of the organization (Achor 2013). The notions of the good life and happiness and well-being are highly subjective, as each individual has different experiences and perspectives in life (Yacobi 2015). Every current morality is acquainted only with certain values, or even only with one, which it then emphasizes, to relate everything else to it (Hartmann 2004). Philosophy is thought of as ātmavidyā, knowledge of the self (Radhakrishnan and Moore 1957). The inner self, the ancient spirit, is everlasting, part-less, immediately experienced happiness, ever of one nature, pure waking knowledge, sent forth by whom voice and the life-breaths move (Johnston 1999). When one is more focused on the future, happiness is more strongly associated with feeling excited, whereas

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when one is more focused on the present moment, happiness is more strongly associated with feeling calm (Mogilner et al. 2011). Goodness is a strictly universal claim that lies like the basic moral value (Hartmann 2004), and happiness is a pleasant emotion made out of contentment, love, joy, inner peace, and fulfillment (Singh 2012). Pathak (2011) observes that though bliss is immanent in us, and is an inherent quality of atman, yet we are deprived of it, because of our ignorance. The true nature of bliss is described in Upanishads, and our total life is the attainment of Anand, and we liked the worldly things because of the bliss we derive from them. So, if we can derive bliss from our work, we can achieve happiness in the workplace also.

Literature Review The simplest way to describe the difference between two sorts of happiness is to say that one sort is open to any human being and the other is only to those who can read and write (Russell 1930b). Happiness might be sought in place of virtue based on two distinct concepts such that the moral good on the one hand and subjective well-being on the other (Norton 2012). True happiness is an inner power – natural, healing, abundant, and always available (Holden 2011). Proverbs can be regarded as providers of commonsensical views (Eysenck 2004). Happiness therapy has consisted of increasing positive life events and using cognitive therapy and social skills training (Argyle 2013). Freedom to choose and control over our lives is closely related to happiness (Dempsey 2015). Happiness gives us a richer and deeper insight (Pryce-Jones 2011). The term hedonic well-being is normally used to refer to the subjective feelings of happiness, and the less well-known term eudaimonic well-being is used to refer to the purposeful aspect of psychological well-being (Robertson and Cooper 2011). Happiness is the precursor to success, not merely the result, and that happiness and optimism fuel performance and achievement – giving us the competitive edge which is called happiness advantage (Achor 2011). Positive psychology is primarily concerned with the scientific study of human strengths and happiness. It aims to enhance well-being and happiness, rather than remediate deficits (Carr 2011). The roots of positive psychology can be traced to the thoughts of ancient Greek philosophers. Aristotle believed that there was a unique daemon, or spirit, within each individual that guide us to pursue things that are right for us. Acting by this daemon leads one to happiness (Boniwell 2012). Positive psychology movement is a coat of many colors, and there are many points of commonality, especially in consideration of the “virtues life” (Power 2015). The scholarship of distinct disciplines like positive psychology, commitment, appreciative inquiry, demographics, social responsibility, high-performing teams, community-based organizations, and work family offers insight into how to create an abundant organization where positive, expansive, and future-focused actions occur. Each of these diverse disciplines presents a unique perspective on how people find enduring happiness (Ulrich 2010). A cognitive approach to motivation places a

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primary emphasis on a person’s thought processes (Deci 2012). Happiness is not about being blind to negatives in our environment; it is about believing we have the power to do something about them (Achor 2013). Authentic happiness has a characteristic of being dynamic (Rashid 2011). Our desire for happiness is the driving force behind all the countless forms of efforts that we are always making because we love our self above all other things. Happiness is our own true and essential nature, and each one of our actions is motivated by our desire to be perfectly happy because we desire our happiness above all things (James 2012). The concept of well-being calls for aggregation of morals in a person’s life in a way that is duly sensitive to him (Alexandrova 2017). A virtue is a lasting feature of a person, a tendency for the person to be a certain way, and also a reliable disposition (Annas 2011). It is the happiness that endures no matter what comes our way – even may grow stronger in adversity (Graham 2011). Positive affect, approval, and rationality are three elements of happiness (Hirata 2011). Happiness is being described as an affect which just happens to us but also as a detached assessment of the quality of life (Veenhoven 2013). It is a cornerstone of psychological wealth in part because it is an emotional currency that can be spent on other desirable goals, such as relationships and success at work (Diener and Diener 2011). The word itself, contentment, implies content – to be your place with what you already contain (Johnson and Ruhl 2009). A godly life is made all the richer by finding satisfaction in it (Nelson 2004). Happiness requires that one set a good example for others and lies along the road to the truth as well (Hubbard 1989). The factors of happiness include wealth, worldly satisfaction, spirituality, and enlightenment. Together they embrace the totality of an individual’s quest for happiness as well (Lama and Cutler 1999). Happiness was a subject of philosophical thought long before it entered the purview of psychologists (Graham 2012). The emotion of contentment has been described well in ancient Vedic texts as the ideology of santosha (Hejmadi 2013). The fifth kosha or state of consciousness described in Upanishads is composed of bliss (ānanda) and joy (Kuzmiak 2017). While impatient discontent acquires the art of extracting misery from everything, and good from nothing, prudent contentment enjoys something in every state (Cogan 1810). The poetical mythology of Greece supposed another state of existence, in which, to those had performed their parts in this life well were allotted different degrees of happiness (Beaver 1820). Contentment is like repeated pleasure and demand consistency (Madzongwe 2012). Nature itself, for Patañjali, is more praiseworthy in its conduct toward purusa-s, and liberation is approximated to the extent that the individual can make nature a mirror of their moral perfection (Ranganathan 2008). Contentment – santosha – brings joy, not only in its momentary experience of security but also because letting go of our attachment to externals as the source of happiness allows us to abide in the here and now (Hartranft 2003). Yamas and niyamas are ten commandments of behavior, where niyamas disciplines mean to improve the human personality and the yamas are to guide our relationships and actions worldly, thus the curriculum of yoga education for internal and external growth must include the notion of these practices (Misra 2015).

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The real importance of Vedic culture seems to be that it has enabled native yoga paths to stay in the Indian subcontinent unchanged longer than they have in other locations (Devanand 2008). The significance of well-being is given in the Yoga Sutras of Patan˜ jali (I, 33) – “By cultivating attitudes of friendliness towards happiness, compassion toward suffering, delight toward virtue, and equanimity towards vice, thoughts become purified, and the obstacles to self-knowledge are lessened” (Patañjali and Stiles 2001, p. 10). The clearer our mind, the more correctly we evaluate our experience (Shearer 2010). The first limb (yamas) consists of a set of ethics, which ensures that the individual interacts harmoniously with the surrounding community, and the second limb (niyamas) consists of observances, which ensures that the body and mind are not polluted once they have been purified (Maehle 2011). B. K. S. Iyengar observes that Patañjali’s words are direct, original, and traditionally held to be of divine provenance (Iyengar 2012, p. 1). In yogic svāydhyāya, the practitioner of yoga extracts and squeezes out spiritual knowledge by bringing the intelligence of his head and heart to work in harmony (Iyengar 2000). If infinite alone is happiness, then surely happiness is to be found in the discovery of the atman (Mehta 1970). The introduction of self has defined as more of a verb than a noun in ancient literature, but for life and people in the present time, scholars have represented it (self) as more of verbs than as nouns (Sovatsky 1998). Happiness arises in the abandonment of the present moment and when we are free of our earthly desires (Keltner 2009). Life satisfaction and happiness correlate with most of the character strengths (Peterson and Seligman 2004).

The Cognition of Happiness Through Contentment Cogan (1810) defines the significance of contentment in the concept of happiness that without prudential virtue of contentment, no possessions, no situation, however, ample, and no accomplishment of the most ardent desire can be productive of wellbeing; but the possession of a contended spirit renders the humblest lot a source of true enjoyment, without being an impediment to those plans and pursuits, which are destined to augment the happiness of man. Contentment is a blend of both these traditional forms of happiness theory, realized through one’s temporal being, and interpreted and understood from a mood of contentment with the living of a willed life plan revealed through attunement. (Gibbs 2012). V. K. Subramanian implies that “the fullest development of the individual potential, creating happiness from within and spreading it around through harmonious relationships and forging an environment free from strife, rancour, hatred, suspicion, jealousy, stress, division, and negativity of any kind (Subramanian 1996, p. 4).” The degree to which an individual perceives his conscious aims to be achieved is called “contentment” (Veenhoven 1984), and happiness is determined more by one’s state of mind than by external events, and it is a function of how we perceive our situation and how satisfied we are with what we have (Lama and Cutler 1999). Contentment is the result of more or less deliberate intellectual activity: the setting of aspiration and the inspection of their realization (Veenhoven 2013). It is a distant tree with multiple colors, each color with

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meaning and purpose (Madzongwe 2012). Contentment, even in a prosperous situation, is a commendable quality, since it depends much upon the goodness of heart, and right temper of mind, and without them is not attainable in any condition (Arrowsmith et al. 1823). Cognitive concepts hold that happiness is a product of human thinking, and as such roots in social constructions (Rojas and Veenhoven 2011), and inference is studied as a means of true cognition. The meaning of Sanskrit word anumāna is a cognition etymologically, that follows upon some other cognition or perception (Mohanty 2000). Cognition is a representational thought. There is a very crucial relationship in emotion, cognition, and happiness which nurtures the well-being of an individual in life or at the workplace. Happiness is not a simple sum of pleasures, but rather a cognitive construction which the individual puts together from his various experiences (Veenhoven 2013). Knowledge derived from tradition is often reduced to sabda or word-generated cognition (Mohanty 2000). Graham (2012) finds that contentment is the cognitive evaluation that is captured by life satisfaction questions, and joy and satisfaction are the affective and cognitive components of happiness (Carr 2011). Contentment is an integral part of humanity and it is define to be a significant human virtue (Gibbs 2017). In Eastern culture, contentment has been perceived to be especially positive and socially desirable in the emotional development of human beings (Hejmadi 2013). Every Indian philosophical system has defended the types of cognition. The Sanskrit word for true cognition is pramā. Pramāņa means that by which true cognition is arrived at (pramîyate ānena) or it means that obtaining the knowledge; it may be taken then to be a cause of, or a means for, achieving true cognition (Mohanty 2000). The internal source of happiness, closely linked with an inner feeling of contentment, is a sense of self-worth (Lama and Cutler 1999). The profile of contentment includes that it appears with a serene and steady brow, with cheer and cheerful eyes, an erect and smiling countenance, inspires calmness and modesty, submissiveness, allays the sharpness of every pain, mitigates the grief of every trouble, and heightens the relish of every delight (Davidson 1749). Contentment has long been a principle in good standing, endorsed by philosophers, statesmen, men of letters, and theologians of all religions (Swenson 2014). It evokes the inner being, and it commands joy that cannot be incurred easily (Madzongwe 2012). The books of wisdom literature – Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs – are ancient yet timeless. Each book makes its significant contribution to contentment. The contribution to wisdom literature begins before the era of 1000 BC including Psalms, the lyrical Kind David; Greek and Roman era (800 BC–Ad 500), Socrates (470–399 BC), Plato (424–348), and Aristotle (384–322 BC); postclassical era (AD 500–1500), Augustine (AD 354–430), Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), and Thomas ^a Kempis (1380–1471); the early modern era (1500–1750), Martin Luther (1483–1546), Williams Ames (1576–1633), John Owen (1616–1683), Jeremiah Burroughs (1599–1646), Thomas Watson (1620–1686), Samuel Rutherford (1600–1661), Thomas Jacomb (1622–1687), George Herbert (1593–1633), Matthew Henry (1662–1714), John Bunyan (1628–1688), Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758), David

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Brainerd (1718–1747), Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586), Shakespeare (1564–1616), Francois Duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680), Jean de La Bruyere (1645–1696), Vauvenargues (1715–1747), and Samuel Johnson (1709–1784); the modern era (1750 onward), William S. Plumer (1802–1880), Harvey Newcomb (1803–1863), etc. onward which have significantly analyzed and contributed the concept of contentment through their writings (Swenson 2014). Contentment is an intrinsic and habitual thing. It is a settled temper of the heart; one action does not dominate it (Ashe 2012). Happiness lies in engaging worthwhile activities, and the way to happiness is far more easily followed when one supports people of goodwill (Hubbard 1989). The concept of happiness can be discussed in a prescriptive way, for example, as a moral value or policy objective, in an ontological way – for example, by assessing the difference in happiness as people evaluate it in general terms and as people experience it – and also in epistemological way, for example, how to obtain knowledge about happiness (Graham 2012). Important moral values are based upon the good value of happiness (Hartmann 2004). The satisfaction or contentment which results from gratified desire is brief and illusionary and is always followed by increased demand for gratification (Allen 2009). Contentment, as another positive emotion, may create an urge to contemplate life circumstances. This may lead to new and more positive ways of viewing ourselves and the world around us and of carrying on our day-to-day lives (Carr 2011). The art of realizing the contentment is an active and dynamic process, and it is hard to maintain (Johnson and Ruhl 2009). If we view it as a habit in practice, we shall find its influence to be very confiderable in conducting and regulating life (Davidson 1749). It doesn’t come naturally and is not always learned quickly, but it can be learned. As with anything in life, contentment requires learning to balance and involves intellectuality and gratitude (Nelson 2004). Contentment opens the door with a welcome to receive whatever blessing or hardship God sends, knowing He sends both as needed with precision (Swenson 2014). Davidson (1749) writes that happiness is contentment, and contentment is happiness.

The Role of Yoga Sastra in Learning Happiness at Workplace The ancient philosopher Patañjali presents us with the possibilities of complete psychological transformation through the discipline of yoga (Miller 2009). The personality –the part of us that is deeper than the physical, the vital, or even the intellectual – has great potential for transformation through the combined practices of āsana, prānāyāma, chanting, and meditation (Kraftsow 2002). Cognitive-spiritual absorption is also called yoga. The spiritual absorption is cognitive because of the accompaniment of the appearance of the supposition, clear vision, rapture, and egoism. Supposition (vitarka) means the gross expanse for mental grasp, the subtle is a clear vision (vicāra), rapture (ānanda) is gladness, and the cognition of unified nature is egoism (asmitā) (Patañjali and Baba 1976). In yoga, it is impossible for the person to have self-knowledge directly; rather their knowledge must be mediated

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through their mind, which is a feature of nature (Ranganathan 2008). Yoga was first clearly expounded in the great Vedic Shastras (religious texts). It can be traced back to pre-Vedic period (ca. 6000–3000 BCE); then continue with Vedic (ca. 2000–1500 BCE), Upanishads (ca. 800–100 BCE), and Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras (second century BCE) by sage Patañjali; and prescribes adherence to eight limbs to quite one’s mind and merge with the infinite, the Yoga-Bhasya (450–850 CE) and Hatha Yoga (1350–1400 CE) (Devanand 2008). Yoga is usually referred to as Pātan˜ jalayogasˇāstra or Pātan˜ jalayogadarsˇana as outlined in the Yoga Sūtra, compiled by a certain Pātañjali in the early centuries of the Common Era (ca. 350–450) (Bhattacharyya 1970). It concludes the topic of happiness through yamas and niyamas (Patañjali and Bharati 2001). The Sandilya Upanishads is from the Atharva Veda which includes the description of astāngayoga (Ramaswami 2001). Yoga Sutras deals with the practical aspects of yoga and different ways of attenuating afflictions (Patañjali and Verma 1996). Daniel Raveh writes, “Patañjali’s philosophy is ‘applied’ in the sense that it aims at facilitating ‘silence with silence,’ a state of affairs in which the world shifts from center to the periphery and one discovers oneself as a metaphysical self-hood above and beyond body, mind, and even psychological content (Raveh 2012, p. 5). Patañjali moral philosophy balance activism with self-transformation, altruism with self-concern, ambition with modesty, and revolutionary potential with a reverence for the sacred and a deep insight into human frailties (Ranganathan 2008). Yoga depicts as physiologically immanent the impetus of all human searching for unencumbered or absolute wisdom and bliss (Sovatsky 1998). The practice of yoga is meant to rein in the tendency of consciousness to gravitate toward external things, to identify with them, and to try to locate happiness in them (Hartranft 2003). Yoga is intended for the good of all creatures (Svātmārāma and Singh 1975), and it is the control of the moral (character) of thought (Ranganathan 2008). Practicing yoga promotes selfacceptance and deepens the relationship with oneself (Tummers 2009). Astāngayoga, which comprises eight different types of activities, is, however, divided into external and internal processes (bahirañga and antarañga sadhña). It include yamas, niyamas, asanas, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and Samadhi (Ramaswami 2001). In Yoga Sastra, the “right living” is based on yama and niyama, very simple ethical disciplines of “dos and don’ts” (Bhatta 2009). One’s mental clarity is phenomenally enhanced by astāngayoga, and the limit is perfect objective knowledge (Ramaswami 2001). The yamas and niyamas are the first two limbs of astāngayoga (Muni 2001), and the exposition of their philosophy found in Taittiriya Upanishad throws significant light on the qualities required to be developed in the individuals for their happiness and wellbeing (Bhatta 2009). The first añga, called yama, means control. It consists of an attitudinal practice of the practitioner (yogi) toward objects that are external to him (Ramaswami 2001). Yama is a moral restraint or rule for living virtuously, and niyama is the restraint of the mind using its own rules and regulations (Devanand 2008). Yamas are elucidated because they are brought to fruition without depending upon any other (Bharati and Patañjali 2001), and they guide our actions toward the benefit of all life (Hartranft 2003). Yamas are ethical guidelines for healthy relationships, and niyamas are positive habits or behaviors (Tummers 2009). Yamas are eternal, universal moral

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commandments (Devanand 2008), while niyamas involve developing positive habits and or behaviors important for a healthy and balanced life. These principles allow people to act in a way that is harmonious with what is of value to them (Tummers 2009). Both yamas and niyamas forbid any kind of misuse of the body or mind. Through their practice the aspirant cultivates unselfish behavior, health, genuine happiness, one-pointedness of mind, and strong willpower (Muni 2001). A brief introduction of yamas and niyamas with the concept of happiness and well-being collectively is given here: Yamas Are Ahimsa, Satya, Asteya, Brahmacharya, and Aparigraha • Non-violence is stated to be the first restraint (yama). Ahimsa (non-violence) guides us toward compassion for both self and others by being kind and treating others as we want to be treated. It promotes the concept of self-care (Tummers 2009). It is the non-intention to injure, of all beings, in all ways, at all times. Not harming any being, whether by the mind, words, or physically, is ahimsā (Ramaswami 2001). Being firmly grounded in non-violence creates an atmosphere in which others let go of their hostility (Hartranft 2003). • The second yama, satya, means to have an attitude of being truthful and honest in our words, thoughts, and actions (Tummers 2009). Our essential nature is living in truthfulness. Satya not only means not lying to other people or ourselves but also being true to our feelings and beliefs (Sturgess 2014). Veracity is to always speak the truth and never to distort it or tell lies (Patañjali and Verma 1996). The words which uttered to communicate one’s thoughts to others should be truthful, provided they do not appear deceitful, delusive, and meaningless to the listeners (Patañjali et al. 1983). Truth is defined as speech and mind conforming to reality (yathārtha) and there must be truth in the words of a person, and maintaining the truth in his speech and mind, should be above his ethical obligations (Bharati and Patañjali 2001). One has to make sure that what one does does not violate the injunction of “don’t harm.” In situations where speaking the truth will be harmful, the yogi is advised to keep mum (mouna). One should not speak untruth even if it is good (Ramaswami 2001). Not taking anything that is not the result of one’s honest work is steya (Ramaswami 2001). • Asteya means not to take the things that do not belong to you and to not take credit for something you did not do (Tummers 2009). Desire, envy, and greed keep us continually looking to the future for the fulfillment, instead of realizing that perfection is attainable in the present, with what we are already lucky enough to have (Sturgess 2014). Asteya also means releasing the desire to possess that which belongs to another (Muni 2001). The negation thereof, non-theft, consists of non-desirousness (a-sprhā) (Bharati and Patañjali 2001). To collect money by coercion or deceit is asteya (Ramaswami 2001). • Brahmacharya (celibacy) cultivates the attitude of self-control and encourages practicing moderation (Tummers 2009). An intense discipline burns up impurities; the body and its senses become supremely refined (Hartranft 2003). Celibacy is the control of the secret organ (Bharati and Patañjali 2001).

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• Aparigraha (non-covetousness) means not being greedy, taking only what you need. It encourages simplification instead of accumulating and hoarding more stuff (Tummers 2009). It means not being overly attached to external objects or events or the results they might bring about (Sturgess 2014). Whatever the means of acquisition should be, being acquisitive is based on an internal belief that things can make us happy. Aparigraha means freedom from the thought of materialism, which allows us to seek the true sources of happiness, and that is the real wisdom (Hartranft 2003). Not to covet is not to desire for oneself the means of enjoyment (Patañjali and Verma 1996). The more simply we live, the more energy can be devoted to our spiritual practice (Muni 2001). Not accepting the detriment is termed as non-indulgence (a-parigraha (Bharati and Patañjali 2001). Niyamas are Saucha, Santosha, Tapas, Svāydhyāya, and Isˇhvara Parindhāna • Saucha is the habit of cleanliness and purity. By taking the concept of cleanliness to a more holistic point of view, we should be clear in our thinking and speaking (Tummers 2009). Purification also brings about clarity, happiness, concentration, mastery of the senses, and capacity for self-awareness (Hartranft 2003). Cleansing the mind of impurities like arrogance, conceit, malice, etc. is internal purification (Patañjali et al. 1983). • Santosha is the habit of contentment, optimism, and gratitude. Contentment (santosha) allows individuals to accept situations and people as they are and to let go of the struggle to change and manipulate what they cannot change (Tummers 2009). Practicing santosha means being in a state of happiness. It is the art of being happy with whatever life brings you (Muni 2001). Happiness and equanimity that does not depend upon any external conditions is contentment (Sturgess 2014). Contentment (santosha) is not only the quality of not being disturbed by adversity but also the cessation of the sense of the want (Bhattacharyya 1970). It is to be satisfied by the minimal possible means which are just enough to sustain oneself in a good physical condition (Patañjali and Verma 1996). • Tapas (ascetic practice) is the habit of self-discipline, the determination to keep goals, do our best, and use our energy to do positive things, and this habit promotes self-efficacy (Tummers 2009). Tapas is the means through which we purify and transform ourselves. It is primarily the process of getting rid of something undesirable in our system – from chronic subliminal muscular contraction to toxicity in the colon to deep-rooted emotions and behavior (Kraftsow 2002). Tapas begins in our hearts with the desire to be whole, to realize our potential, and to come home. It is the manifestation of desire. Tapas become yoga when it is enacted without attachment to results (Gates and Kenison 2010). • Svāydhyāya (self-study) gives one a first glimpse into the nature of the self, and the individual gets a measure of control over the senses and citta, and, rather than being engrossed completely in worldly vrittis, starts contemplating spiritual pursuits (Ramaswami 2001). It not only to the regular, independent study and

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recitation of wisdom teaching but also more broadly to the way one applies them to one’s own life (Hartranft 2003). An intelligent practice of tapas must of necessity includes svāydhyāya. Svāydhyāya develops tapas, and tapas develops svāydhyāya (Kraftsow 2002). • The final niyama healthy habit is Išhvara Parindhāna. We all are an important part of this universe, and this habit encourages us to build trust in our intuition (Tummers 2009). Išvara represents that living symbol of the Divine that is in our hearts, and Pranidhāna is a technical term usually translated as “surrender.” It also implies an element of self-sacrifice, for in this act of surrender we must give up our own self-importance (Kraftsow 2002). Išhvara Parindhāna means offering of our ego-self to the supreme consciousness (Sturgess 2014). Išhvara Parindhāna, dedicating oneself to the ideal of pure awareness, has little to do with the emotion of devotion (Hartranft 2003). The attitudes and habits of the yamas and niyamas are practiced over and over in yoga, so there can be a transfer of learning to other life habits that are always selfhonoring and respectful of others (Tummers 2009). Yamas and niyamas are the common sense guidelines of how to lead a healthier, happier life – bringing spiritual awareness into a social context (Corrigan 2010). One needs to practice these in order to create happiness and well-being in the workplace. These specific observances and restraints create for any individual a life rich with peace, contentment, integrity, and clarity (Muni 2001). Kumar (2002) observes that the eightfold yoga mechanism is significantly helpful in workplace well-being because these eight steps help to regulate (a) one’s desires; (b) personal and social conduct; (c) psychophysiological and psychomotor activities; and (d) fluctuation of attention and sensory involvement.

Philosophical Presentation of Happiness as Ānanda (Supreme Bliss) The giants of Sanskrit literature Bhartrihari, Kalidasa, Sankaracharya, Chanakya, Vishnusarman, the author of the famed Panchatantra, and Narayana, the author of Hitopadesha, all lived and composed their invaluable works during the first millennium, indisputably before 1000 A.D. (Subramanian 2001). The ancients recognized the inherent power of the mind and the tremendous influence that it has over the entire human system (Kraftsow 2002). These ancient texts present a comprehensive view of life, which includes both the enjoyment in the phenomenal world and the attainment of the highest goal of life that is liberation (Bhattacharyya 2006), and these are the great lights of Indian wisdom and far away in the golden age, in the bright dawn that has faded so many ages ago (Johnston 1999). Philosophy develops into the analysis of statements and concepts, of our means of acquiring knowledge (Warder 1988). Indian thought is neither merely ancient speculation nor merely provincial Indian thinking. It is man’s mind and soul at their best in philosophy and religion (Radhakrishnan and Moore 1957). “Philosophy essentially consists of a rational investigation into the nature of Reality” (Sharma 2004, p. 3). Through the ages, the Indian philosophical minds have probed deeply into the many

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aspects of human experience and the external world (Radhakrishnan and Moore 1957). The origins of philosophy in India can be traced in the literature of the Vedas, the earliest Indian literature in the present era, and this literature spans a considerable period, from about 1500 B.C. onward over about a thousand years, and its language is an ancient form of Sanskrit (Warder 1988). The process of Vedic cognition is represented in the Rig Veda as a holistic experience that involves both seeing and hearing (Holdrege 1996), and it is the oldest compilation of knowledge in the world (Moorthy 2011). Veda is the only source of the kind of knowledge that matters, the application of which can lead to happiness and freedom (Warder 1988). The Upanishads are the basic foundation and the fountainhead of philosophical wisdom, the eternal truth and the religion of mankind (Prasad 2003). The word Upanishad occurs with three distinct meanings as a secret word, secret text, and secret import (Deussen and Geden 1999). Vedas remained with two departments of study, (1) the ritual as a system of actions bringing about desirable results and (2) the knowledge of Brahman, the ultimate reality or “being,” as by itself enough to lead to supreme bliss (Happiness) and liberation from transmigration (Warder 1988). Indian philosophy is extremely complex, and it is characterized by the introspective attitude and the introspective approach to reality (Radhakrishnan and Moore 1957). The holistic learning of ancient India aims at developing a mind, which is rational, flexible, and not dogmatic, open to change and not irrationally attached to an opinion or belief, and in this system, understanding oneself (self-knowledge) is as important as understanding the world (Bhatta 2009). The rarely acknowledged influence of positive psychology comes from the Eastern traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism, and love, kindness, compassion, and joy, which are the emotions explicitly promoted by these traditions as paths to happiness (Boniwell 2012). Ancient ethics has a structure – the notions of happiness and virtue are primary in it (Annas 1995). The difference between the emotional responses of various individuals reflects their personal histories (Clarke 2003). Aristotle has also discussed the philosophy of happiness in his work the Nicomachean Ethics (350 BCE) – the same people say different things at different times. It appears that their opinions depend on their situation at the time they asked, and achieving a particular solution to a particular perceived shortcoming will bring them happiness. He offers a rational and universal approach to achieving the happiness that can be good for all (Markel and Madvin 2012). Psychological wealth is closely related to happiness because it cannot be attained without positive emotions (Diener and Diener 2011). Human needs are most likely to be fulfilled in a society that produces many goods and services, and therefore well-being or utility will be heightened in a nation with greater productivity (Diener and Suh 1999). While our sensations reflect variations in the objects that stimulate our senses, the very same objects may excite different passions in different people because they may appear harmful or beneficial to them (Descartes 1649). Joy is a central theme of beatitudes, and the word blessed speaks of a deep, abiding happiness (MacArthur 1998). Contentment is the result of more or less deliberate intellectual activity: the setting of aspiration and the inspection of their realization

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(Veenhoven 2013). Within each of us lies the potential to reduce and ultimately to eliminate undesirable characteristics, dysfunctional patterns, and impurities from our systems; to awaken our inherent potential, discriminative awareness, and the wisdom-mind; and to experience a still, quiet, untroubled calm, joyous, and expanded consciousness (Kraftsow 2002). In our ideal nature, we are morally perfect and incapable of moral error that involves harm or offense to other persons (Ranganathan 2008). Everything that we might think of like me – physical, emotional, conceptual, spiritual, internal, and external – is part of nature or prakriti (Hartranft 2003). Every human being longs and strives for happiness. One makes attempts to find happiness according to his/her capacity and level of development (Muni 2001). The word bliss comes from the Sanskrit word ānanda, meaning rapture (Chapelle 2003). By ānanda is meant the sentiment of joy, of bliss, of well-being, and of placidness (Tola et al. 1987). Ānanda is the unending joy that is possible when our possible passion for something, our experience of it, and our desire to continue in the experience are integrated and fulfilled (Kraftsow 2002). The experience of bliss is indeed a state of ecstasy (Mehta 1970). Happiness, joy, and well-being are those moments when there is an unobstructed manifestation of ānanda, which is our original nature (Salagame 2003). Real happiness is bliss, and that lies in freedom from all pairs of opposites. All pairs of opposites are nothing but false concepts of the mundane mind (Muni 2001). An intellectual bliss is the bliss of reconciliation – not a bliss of transcendence (Mehta 1970) – and the bliss always exists in the self but is covered by ignorance, and it is not created but simply is discovered (Bhattacharyya 2006). Ānanda is pure limitless, unconditioned joy, and the individual personality dissolves like salt in a sea of joy, merges in it like a river, and rejoices like a fish in an ocean of bliss (Easwaran 2010). The only internal happiness is the independent one, which is the very nature of human beings (Prasad 2003). The word ānanda implies eternal joy (Kraftsow 2002). Joys are sought with the extroverted mind through the senses and material objects. They are more or fewer enjoyments of sense-pleasures. On the other hand, bliss (supreme ānanda) is experienced only by withdrawing consciousness from the senses and making the mind introvert (Muni 2001) Attachment to a moment of bliss (ānanda) that then passes results characteristically in disorienting anguish (Sovatsky 1998). The knowledge of Self (Atman) itself is a perpetual bliss – not for it is happiness and unhappiness; as in dreamless life, where are no sensuous things, the Self that is bliss – is enjoyed, so in waking life, it is enjoyed, through the word, intuition, teaching (Johnston 1999). To turn to pleasurable affects, what we call happiness is a feeling of pleasure in connection with experience or fantasy of instinctual gratification, no matter whether the gratification is wholly or in part unconscious. If the pleasure is intense, the affect is called bliss (Brenner 1980). Gratitude is an important dimension of life as we interact with one another in our everyday affairs (Harpham 2004). Gratitude is a fundamental attribute of human beings and a potential key to human flourishing. It has a casual influence on mood, especially positive mood (Emmons 2004). The concept of Anand has been significantly proposed and described in various ancient literature and scriptures. It reflects a kind of inner joy and happiness. This

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feeling reflects the mental euphoria, and its effect has likewise mirrored in the external personality of individuals. Happiness can also be achieved through selfstudy because it is an art of identifying oneself by analyzing the personality within us, which gives us inner peace and joy. Therefore, we have included the ānanda and Svādhyāya concerning the concept of happiness at work and workplace well-being. Satisfaction is the ultimate treasure and highest happiness, and the equivalent word for contentment in the Sanskrit language is saṁtuṣṭa or saṁtoṣa (Madhura 2015) Contentment is the absence of desire for more than immediate necessities (Bhattacharyya 1970). It is a mental non-possession of things, material that may or may not be externally owned by one or which may be offered to one as gifts or presented to one as sense-experience (Patañjali and Bharati 2001). Contentment brings unsurpassed joy (Hartranft 2003). From satisfaction, unsurpassed happiness is gained, and the happiness gained on this earth through the enjoyment of desired objects, or the supreme heavenly joy, is not even one-sixteenth of the happiness caused by the cessation of desires (Patañjali et al. 1983). It grows out of our capacity to mediate our desires with “what is” (Johnson and Ruhl 2009). Svādhyāya (self-study) deepens the communion with one’s deity (Hartranft 2003), and it is similar to introspection, which is derived from the Latin words for “to look within” (Brock 2013). Traditionally, svāydhyāya is the study of sacred texts and the application of scripture to our daily life (Kuzmiak 2017). It is the study of the self, and the true art of living lies in understanding how to live with nature without disturbing the order of things as well as ourselves. It leads to an understanding of the self (Iyengar 2000). Svāydhyāya suggests that we can use all of our activities solitarily and relational as mirrors, in which to discover something important about ourselves and to use what we discover as valuable information in the process of arriving at a deeper self-understanding (Kraftsow 2002). Selfobservation and self-reflection are keys, to practice svāydhyāya, and watching our emotions is helpful too (Kuzmiak 2017). Self-knowledge (ātam-gyan), knowledge (vidyā), wisdom (buddhimattā), and righteous conduct (naitik ācharān) are the foremost antecedents of happiness and well-being (Gotise and Upadhyay 2018). The ultimate function of svāydhyāya is to function as a mirror to remind us of our high potential (Kraftsow 2002). In svāydhyāya, the aspirant exerts discipline by his own will and reflects on himself as well on his behavior (Iyengar 2000). Svāydhyāya is the habit of self-study, to be introspective, to learn for mistakes, and to make things better the next time a challenging situation presents itself. It cultivates self-awareness and reflection on “who am I?” by asking individuals to notice recurring ineffective patterns and taking steps to change these patterns (Tummers 2009). The fire of self-discipline leads us to learn about ourselves, how we relate to the outside world, and what our strengths and weaknesses are (Kuzmiak 2017). Self-regulation strategy primarily refers to the ways and means of controlling and directing the activity of a system by itself, which are built-in (Kumar 2002). Observance of discipline and control of the senses and mind leads to the realization of lasting unbiased happiness (Iyengar 2000). In exercising the character strength of self-regulation, the individual exerts control

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over his or her responses to pursue goals and live up to standards (Peterson and Seligman 2004). These literary works (Vedas and Upanishads) have significantly contributed and analyzed the concept of leadership qualities and given the verses of wisdom such that the leader or executive should learn one quality each from the lion and the crane, four from the cock, five from the crow, six from the dog, and three from the donkey. One should learn from the lion to undertake a task well-prepared, whether it is a big one or small. Like a crane, one should control the senses, and knowing the aptness of time, and place to accomplish all tasks. From the cock, one should learn four things: getting up in time, fighting, division of responsibilities among allies, and enjoyment after initiating the attack oneself. From the crow, one should learn five things: secrecy, secret actions, catch in time, unruffled behavior, and distrust of everyone (Subramanian 2001). Thoughtful leaders endorsed contentment, as a source of hidden bliss and riches, and identify it as a treasure, within the human heart in all circumstances (Swenson 2014).

The Virtue of Contentment in the Alliance of Workplace Well-Being Contentment is about finding and knowing one’s place in the world, fitting in through self-meaningful ways (Gibbs 2012), and well-being means an individual’s ability to enjoy life and efforts to achieve psychological resilience (Singh and Modi 2010). In terms of experiencing happiness, those who are high in the frequency of positive affect and high in intensity tend to feel exuberance and joy, whereas those high in frequency but low in intensity experience contentment and serenity (Diener et al. 1985). The fundamental issues of happiness and wellbeing have been debated in all cultures for ages (Salagame 2003). Orison Swett Marden has quoted the words of Abraham Lincoln in his book How to Get what You Want (1917) that folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be (Marden 1917). Contentment is a virtue that becomes lofty and spiritual in its later developments, as the mind is trained to perceive and the heart to receive the guidance, in all things, of a merciful law (Allen 2009). It feels peaceful as the moonlight at the bottom of the stream, tranquil amid constant change (Johnson and Ruhl 2009). Contentment is supposed as a satisfying connection with the self and society, and happiness comprises pleasant experiences (McKenzie 2016). Virtues are the core characteristics like wisdom, courage, justice, temperance, and transcendence valued by the moral philosophers (Peterson and Seligman 2004). If there is any virtue which is immediately its reward, it is the virtue of contentment. It has the wisdom to contemplate well, which is always a pleasant contemplation (Cogan 1810). Virtue promotes happiness, our own, as well as that of others (Martin 2007). Contentment is knowing deep in our souls that all is well (Joy 2010, p. 2). Virtue is the part of an agent’s happiness or flourishing, and that is plausible to see virtue as actually constituting (wholly or in part) happiness, and it implies a commitment to the good and whatever account we give of what the good

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is (Annas 2011). Contentment serves probably as a formative element in the overall evaluation of life (Veenhoven 2013). Virtuous contentment may be connected with the perception that there are qualities in other objects, and advantageous in other situations, highly desirable in themselves; and it will not feel an obligation to remain in its confined and circumscribed sphere, when an enlargement may be lawfully and honorably obtained (Cogan 1810). The virtue of humility is achieved by the strengths of kindness and generosity, and the virtue of temperance has several roots like modesty and humility; self-control and self-regulation; and prudence and caution (Peterson and Seligman 2004). Happiness and positive emotions have a significant role in human existence (Gao and Edelman 2016). Happiness’s theories such that emotional state theory (happiness as a positive condition), and hedonism (happiness as pleasure) define happiness in terms of feelings, while the life satisfaction theory sees, happiness mainly as a judgment about one’s life. But all these theories are equally relevant, to understand the notion of happiness and its importance in human nature (Haybron 2013). Aristippus of Cyrene (c. 435–c. 356 BCE) has conceptualized the hedonism, and when we assess how well we feel, we typically estimate the pleasantness in feelings, in emotions, as well as in moods, and this is called as “hedonic level of affect” (Veenhoven 2009). In the eighteenth century, the moral theme of pleasure and happiness has systematically explored by Francis Hutcheson (1694–1747) and David Hume (1711–1776), before the contributors of the theory of emotions such that Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806–1873). The degree to which an individual perceives his wants are met is called “contentment,” and this equals the “cognitive” concept of happiness. It signifies the life satisfaction theory, including the concept of subjective well-being given by Edward F. Diener in 1984. The third aspect is the emotional state of happiness contributed by James–Lange (1884), and the theory of emotions given by William James (1842–1910) and Carl Georg Lange (1834–1900). Positive psychology is about what we choose for its own sake, and it is about happiness in three guises – positive emotion, engagement, and meaning (Seligman 2012). Our brains have special circuitry for joy, pleasure, and euphoria. Just as we come into the world with a capacity for speech, we are programmed for positive feelings as well (Klein 2006). Over the last some years, the potential new paradigm of the abundance approach for work psychology has been emerging and goes by different names such as appreciative inquiry, the strength approach, and positive organizational scholarship (Linley et al. 2010). Whether publically traded, or privately held, large, or small, domestic, or global, the world of work is changing dramatically (Cascio 2010). Psychology has more often than not emphasized the shortcoming of individuals rather than their potentials, and this particular approach focuses on the potential (Boniwell 2012). Positive psychology gives us a framework for approaching organizational issues that are focused on discovering the best of what is and creating the conditions that will enable that “best” to flourish (Linley et al. 2010). It is primarily concerned with the scientific study of human strengths

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and happiness. It aims to enhance well-being and happiness rather than remediate deficits (Carr 2011). Emotions are constantly regulating what we experience as “reality” (Pert 1997). Enthusiasm, optimism, and contentment are among the keys that can free from encumbered emotions. One can maintain the self-respect by controlling the ego and find contentment. Perfect happiness is the commonest of all valuation ideals. The specific emotion (excitement or calm) that is experienced as happiness likely aligns with the individual’s current temporal focus (Mogilner et al. 2011). Authentic happiness generally includes modest positive emotions (Rashid 2011). Nicolai Hartmann writes that nobility of character is what language designates as magnanimity, generosity, large-heartedness, and high-mindedness because there is no word for it except such one-sided figurative expressions (Hartmann 2003, p. 192). Positive psychology provides a means of looking at the people in organizations that are grounded in the strengths that enable those people to succeed in what they do, the well-being they achieve through doing so, and the meaning and fulfillment that gives coherence and direction to their activities along the way (Linley et al. 2010). It turns out that our brains are literally hardwired to perform at their best, not when they are negative or even neutral but when they are positive (Achor 2011). Intensity is such a pervasive dimension in the organization of affective experience that some people experience affect more intensely than do others no matter what the time is (Diener et al. 1985). The road of happiness primarily involves overcoming internal barriers to flourishing, and this often matters of spiritual discipline or psychological health. Well-being is a construct, and happiness is a thing. Well-being has five measurable elements that count toward it, namely, positive emotion (of which happiness and life satisfaction are all aspects), engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement (Seligman 2012). Individual subjective well-being is both an outcome social systems and a factor in their functions (Veenhoven 2008). The mere continuity of a perhaps varying sense of happiness is intrinsically a worthwhile goal of individual’s well-being (Sovatsky 1998). The important ingredient in psychological well-being is the subjective feelings brought on by something we enjoy, and the feeling that we are doing with our lives has some meaning and purpose (Robertson and Cooper 2011). Among the three levels of psychology – the subjective level, the individual level, and the group or community level, the subjective level includes the study of positive experiences such as joy, wellbeing, satisfaction, contentment, happiness, optimism, and flow. This level is about feeling good, rather than doing good or being a good person (Boniwell 2012). The term well-being quite often refers to more or less exclusively to the individual’s “economic situation” to his “work life” or his “social functioning” (Veenhoven 2013). Well-being is a sense of enduring life satisfaction that itself comes and goes (Derne 2016). It includes both positive emotions and a sense of purpose in life (Robertson and Cooper 2011). We refer to happiness as subjective well-being in scientific parlance, because it is about how people evaluate their lives and what is important to them. In other words, happiness is the name we put on thinking and feeling positive about one’s life (Diener and Diener 2011). Well-being

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of all kinds is often viewed along a single dimension – roughly from feeling bad to feeling good, and work is usually defined in part as an activity directed to valued goals beyond the enjoyment of the activity itself. So a person’s overall well-being has a strong impact on his or her job-specific well-being, and job well-being also affects general feelings (Warr 1999). The two important ingredients in psychological well-being are the subjective happy feelings brought on by something we enjoy and the feeling that what we are doing with our lives has some meaning and purpose (Robertson and Cooper 2011). Subjective well-being refers to people’s evaluation of their life. These evaluations include both cognitive judgments of life satisfaction and affective evaluations of moods and emotions (Diener and Lucas 1999). Understanding the workplace factors that influence psychological well-being is essential and useful (Robertson and Cooper 2011). It involves a component of judgment and comparisons with ideals, aspirations, other people, and one’s past (Kahneman et al. 1999), and objective well-being or happiness is derived from a record of instant utility over the relevant period which is based on the data of good or bad experience of moments of life (Kahneman 1999). Well-being is that general value for the sake of which we pursue the quality of life (Alexandrova 2017). Good psychological well-being is more or less the same as being happy at work (Robertson and Cooper 2011). “Well-being (job satisfaction and happiness) is not just a local characteristic of individuals and their unique adjustment to their work demands and context” (Berry 2010, p. 141). Our contentment and the happiness that seems to result from it are both subjective feelings that arise from our innermost being and that we accordingly experience only within our self (James 2012). Happiness denotes a subjective appreciation of life by an individual (Veenhoven 2013). When people’s well-being is improved, so their efficiency, productivity, or quality of output get better inline (Cooper and Theobald 2011). Happiness happens from inside out (Wilkinson 2008). Happiness is described as good fortune, joy, and a state of well-being or contentment. Within this definition are external factors such as good fortune mixed with internal qualities such as the feeling of joy, competence, or optimism (Markel and Madvin 2012). Together with the values of consciousness, activity, and strength, there also appears the unprecedented value of volitional freedom of the will, personal self-determination in directing the aim of actions morally intentional (Hartmann 2004). In all our relations, moral and political, as well as religious, we have the same cause for contentment (Beaver 1820). Contentment appraises the mind, body, and soul (Madzongwe 2012). The virtue of contentment requires much exercise, learning, and meditation (Arrowsmith et al. 1823). In the contemporary psychological literature, meditation is a broad and generic term to include all those different connotations of yoga as a spiritual discipline (Kumar 2002). Self-fulfillment is a bringing of oneself to flourishing completion, an unfolding of what is strongest or best in oneself, so that it represents the successful culmination of one’s aspirations or potentialities (Gewirth 2009). Sometimes contentment comes at the ending stage of development when we are being tired by the world, and it includes the process of trying, measuring, getting up and starting back (Swenson 2014). Contentment is as

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necessary to keep life comfortable, as oil is necessary to keep the lamp burning (Ashe 2012). Happiness comes from within and cannot be obtained by making the world conform to your desires (Haidt 2006). Happiness may be construed as general satisfaction with one’s life (Gewirth 2009), and being content brings us joy and happiness (Corrigan 2010). Being happy at the workplace and harmonious culture ultimately provides satisfaction and inner peace. This philosophy has been described in the Indian cultural texts by various scholars for centuries, and that if any task starts with an ardent mind, it will be successful because mental euphoria and enthusiasm associated with it give an intuition of success before the work starts. This insight also reinforces the goal of well-being at the workplace because, by following this rationality, an individual can complete the work with full devotion. An organization has become progressive and successful only if it preserves the interests of its employees, and through collectively working, they also maintain well-being, morality, and interests of each other at the workplace, which strengthens their social and personal life. Happiness acts like an explicit power in the workplace, and the virtue of being content is a felt achievement.

Conclusion Happiness has found to be a beautiful expression of human behavior. Morality and well-being invariably affect all aspects of human life in every way and develop contentment as well. Prosperity is an important contributor to happiness because a contented person can be happy in every situation, and this ability also improves his working style and procedure. In various demographics and age-old culture-related works of literature on well-being, the main reason for happiness is the satisfaction that comes from internal peace rather than worldly pleasures, and these texts have explained the importance of well-being, happiness, contentment, including a systematic framework to maintain and observe the pleasant qualities. The yamas and niyamas given by Patañjali have emphasized the concept of contentment through Svāydhyāya, which focuses on internal happiness called ānanda, and it provides wisdom on the art of living to human beings through positive thinking and realizing inner bliss (Ānanda). Additionally, the practice of these associated concepts to contentment can be fruitful and effective for maintaining well-being at the workplace.

Relevant Lessons that Can Be Drawn from the Chapter • Happiness is associated with positivity and satisfaction and described uniquely in various literature. This is not only a matter of psychology but also explained the ideology and significance of working happily in the workplace. • Contentment is one of the reasons to be happy, and happiness reflects the art of being happy and contented in every situation, and both are interrelated.

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• Ancient Yoga Sutras define the tendency, importance, and the art of being happy and content through the practice of yamas and niyamas and its other benefits for individuals concerning their work-related issues. • Through self-practice, a person can obtain the inner bliss, which makes his behavior positive, and the concept of happiness is analyzed in as ānanda, or inner bliss, and the experience of which can be realized by svāydhyāya (selfstudy). • The notion of well-being is based on positive psychology at the workplace, and by applying this concept in the working environment, an organization can be successful in maintaining the interest of its employees in a meaningful way.

Reflection Questions 1. How is the meaning of happiness described in its related works? 2. How contentment and happiness are related to each other? 3. How is the practice of yamas and niyamas, which are moral guidelines to the human being, be helpful in maintaining a contented, happy, and positive ideology in life and the workplace? 4. How svāydhyāya and yoga are helpful in achieving happiness, and what is their contribution to the literature of well-being? 5. How does well-being in the workplace affect an individual’s work, and how to be positive is the real goal of human life?

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Workplace Spirituality: An Antidote to Employee Burnout

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Spirituality: A Close Companion for Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Spirituality and Eudaimonic Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Spirituality and Hedonic Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Burnout: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Spirituality and Burnout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Organizational Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Spirituality and Organizational Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Organizational Trust as Mediator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discussion and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

Employee burnout leads to several ramifications that could be debilitating for the employees affected by it and their organizations. Burnout is marked by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and weakened personal accomplishment (Golembiewski and Munzenrider 1981). The chapter posits that workplace spirituality can act as an antidote to employee burnout. The chapter proposes an indirect linkage between workplace spirituality and burnout in employees by

C. Khari (*) Institute of Management, Nirma University, Ahmedabad, India e-mail: [email protected] S. Sinha Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_86

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studying organizational trust as an intervening variable; arguing the role of workplace spirituality in fostering trust through strengthening the positive beliefs and attitudes towards the employing organization. Theoretically, the chapter complements the growing literature on workplace spirituality by outlining in detail its effects on burnout. Practically, the chapter provides actionable cues for organizational practitioners to address and counter the syndrome of burnout by integrating spirituality in organizations. Keywords

Burnout · Subjective well-being · Workplace spirituality · Trust

Introduction Burnout has caught academicians’ and practitioners’ attention since 1970s and has been recognized as a global phenomenon affecting people across sectors and industries. Schaufeli et al. (2009) attributed burnout to the loss of social relationships, focus on individualism, and job demands. Burnout remains a key issue as it leads to weakening of – employee engagement, job satisfaction, commitment, employee retention, and work performance (Bakker et al. 2002; Jung and Kim 2012; Maslach and Goldberg 1998; Wright and Bonett 1997). Workplace spirituality (WPS) has recently gained impetus owing to its beneficial outcomes both for the organization and employees (see Afsar and Badir 2017; Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Dhiman and Marques 2011; Haldorai et al. 2019; Milliman et al. 2003, 2018; Moore and Casper 2006; Pawar 2009; Petchsawang and McLean 2017). Workplace spirituality concerns with innerlife nourishment through pursuing meaningful work that gives a sense of self-connectedness, connectedness with work, and with co-workers (Marques 2006). Literature across different domains has indicated that spirituality is inversely related to burnout (Galea 2014; Golden et al. 2004), but limited attention has been paid towards explaining this relationship in detail within the organizational context. Implications of workplace spirituality for employee burnout merit attention, since workplace spirituality is considered to be conceptually different from the existing constructs of individual spirituality (Ashmos and Duchon 2000). This chapter argues that workplace spirituality can act as an antidote to burnout by replenishing employees’ internal resources. The chapter proposes organizational trust as a mediator between workplace spirituality and burnout, arguing in favor of workplace spirituality’s role in fostering trust through strengthening the positive beliefs and attitudes towards the employing organization. Theoretically, the present chapter supplements the growing literature on workplace spiritualty and well-being, by examining the antidote role of workplace spirituality in countering burnout. Practically, the chapter offers intervention ideas to practitioners towards the potential benefits of employing workplace spirituality in managing employee burnout.

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The chapter is structured as given: the following section discusses the eudaimonic and hedonic well-being perspectives and situates the spirituality discussion within them. The next section presents the burnout literature and the implications of the burnout syndrome. This is followed by the scholarship of organizational trust. The subsequent sections elucidate the association between individual workplace spirituality, organizational trust, and burnout. The chapter concludes by summarizing the core arguments presented here and giving an overview of the future research directions.

Workplace Spirituality: A Close Companion for Well-Being The construct of workplace spirituality (WPS) is being recognized and acknowledged by both academicians and organizational practitioners. Changing social and institutional factors are responsible for the growing acceptance of spirituality at workplace. Weakening social relationships at work is one of the crucial social factors responsible for the rising need for acknowledgment of workplace spirituality. Employees put in considerable time in their workplaces (Polley et al. 2005), hoping for it to offer a means of connection with others. The changing composition of the workplace with the rise in the number of female employees, is another factor considered responsible for the acceptance of workplace spirituality (Srinivas 1998). Females are considered to score higher on spiritual aspects (such as transcendence and higher-order needs) compared to males (Ibid.). Dehler and Welsh (1994) associated spirituality with an inherent source of inspiration. Neck and Milliman (1994) relate spirituality with meaningful existence by serving the larger interest. Mitroff and Denton (1999) describe spirituality as the connection with self, others, and the transcendent reality. This understanding of spirituality indicates that workplace spirituality deals with serving a purpose larger than self through work within the organizational realm that somewhere satisfies the innate higher-order needs of employees and enhances their sense of connection with others. The extant scholarship has presented many shades of workplace spirituality at the collective and individual levels. Miller and Ewest (2015), for instance, define workplace spirituality in terms of the scope to which the organizations facilitate the employees to express their spiritual self by allowing the practicing of respective faiths at workplace. Ashmos and Duchon (2000) describe it as a psychological state experienced by employees that is characterized by satisfaction of innerlife through doing work that provides meaning, purpose, and connectedness. Research so far has defined the multidimensional individual level construct with broadly four dimensions – innerlife, work meaningfulness, sense of community, and alignment of values (Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Milliman et al. 2003). Giacalone and Jurkiewicz (2003) offered the other collective level construct of organizational spirituality which relates with the creation of organizational culture shaped by certain universal values that facilitate spiritual experience of employees. This chapter focuses on the individual level multidimensional form of workplace spirituality.

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Within the organizational context, empirical evidence has indicated that workplace spirituality strengthens the well-being of an individual (George et al. 2000; McKee et al. 2011; Pawar 2016), which connotes effective psychological functioning (Deci and Ryan 2008; Ryan and Deci 2001; Ryff and Singer 2008). Well-being has been defined through the hedonic and eudaimonic lenses (Deci and Ryan 2008; Ryan and Deci 2001). Hedonic well-being approach focuses on pleasure attainment, while the eudaimonic approach focuses on meaningfulness and actualizing individual potential and relates with how individuals see themselves in integration with others (Deci and Ryan 2008).

Workplace Spirituality and Eudaimonic Well-Being Spirituality relates with experiencing transcendence which provides existential meaning (Giacalone and Jurkiewicz 2003; Mirvis 1997; Mitroff and Denton 1999). A plethora of studies in the recent past have established the association between spirituality and well-being across various cultural contexts. For example, Kennedy and Kanthamani (1995) found positive connection between spiritual experiences and positive affect. Bartlett et al. (2003) reported spirituality as the significant predictor of happiness. Another study done by Fave et al. (2013) across seven Western countries found that individuals high in spirituality reported more life satisfaction and meaning in life. A longitudinal experimental study based on more than 5000 adolescents across 15 countries concluded a strong relationship between spirituality, psychological well-being, and happiness (Pandya 2017). Ivtzan et al. (2013) conducted a multigroup study that substantiated the evidence for the importance of spirituality on well-being. Similar results were reported by Joshanloo (2011) on an Iranian sample after controlling for gender and religiousness. A study conducted on 450 US adults reported that eudaimonic well-being mediates the linkage between daily religious/spiritual experiences and hedonic well-being (Yoon et al. 2015). These studies have suggested that spirituality positively influences eudaimonic well-being. Eudaimonic approach relates with living up to one’s true potential or actualizing one’s capacities to the fullest (Deci and Ryan 2008; Grant et al. 2007). Eudaimonic well-being is derived through doing things that give space for the expression of our best selves (Ryff 1989). Waterman (1993) and Waterman et al. (2008) call it “daimon” or “True Self.” Ryff (1989) developed an instrument for eudaimonic well-being with six dimensions converging the earlier theorizations on optimal functioning. Collectively, all the dimensions connote positive psychological health – environmental mastery, supportive relation with others, personal growth, purpose in life, acceptance of self, and autonomy (Ryff 1989). Environmental mastery signifies a sense of competence and trust in handling one’s environment. Positive relation with others connotes warm and trusting relationship with others. Personal growth refers to realizing one’s true potential. Purpose in life (also a key element of spirituality) relates with a sense of direction and meaning. Self-acceptance relates with having self-respect. Autonomy connotes choice in conforming to social norms.

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Fry (2005) suggested a plausible linkage between well-being and workplace spirituality. Workplace spirituality relates with perceiving work as a means of contribution towards the larger good which in turn provides one with a sense of positive self-concept and renders meaning and purpose in life (Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Marques 2006). Pawar (2012) noted that workplace spirituality relates with a higher sense of purpose by transcending one’s self-interests and doing work that connects to the larger social good. This sense of purpose and meaning is argued to generate inner resources such as positive affect, feeling of connectedness with others, and existential well-being (Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Giacalone and Jurkiewicz 2003; Jurkiewicz and Giacalone 2004; Mirvis 1997). Kinjerski and Skrypnek (2004) also related high energy levels and positive affect with workplace spirituality experience. Dierendonck and Mohan (2006) suggested the role of inner resources in strengthening the self-actualization component of eudaimonic wellbeing. Thus, workplace spirituality relates to the development of inner resources that produces a recognition of one’s inner self and helps one relate better to others. It is noted that inner resources help individuals to gain better control over the situation and view the situations more positively (Pargament 1997). Thus, it is highly likely that individuals who report experiencing workplace spirituality are expected to score high on eudaimonic well-being.

Workplace Spirituality and Hedonic Well-Being The Hedonic approach to well-being considers pleasure seeking and pain avoidance as the essence of well-being (Kahneman et al. 1999; Ryan and Deci 2001). Psychologists argue that hedonic well-being comprises of subjective happiness and have used subjective well-being as its assessment. Subjective well-being (SWB) is defined on the basis of the hedonic well-being definition given by Diener et al. (1985) in terms of “how people evaluate their lives” (Bakker and Oerlemans 2011, p. 178) and is said to have two key aspects – life satisfaction and experiencing positive emotions like joy and happiness. An individual is said to score high on subjective well-being if experiencing high satisfaction with life and greater positive affect and lesser of the unpleasant affect (Ryan and Deci 2001). Work-related subjective well-being (SWB) indicates positive evaluation of one’s job (cognitive aspect) and experiencing positive emotions at work frequently (affective aspect) (Bakker and Oerlemans 2011). The affective aspect of work-related SWB (experiencing positive emotions) can be explained with the help of Russell’s circumplex model (1980 as cited in Bakker and Oerlemans 2011), according to which any emotion is the function of two neurophysiological states of pleasure-displeasure and its activation degree. The resulting model has four quadrants where quadrant one signifies high pleasantness and activation, quadrant two signifies high pleasantness and low activation, and quadrant three signifies low pleasantness and activation levels followed by quadrant four which denotes low pleasantness and high activation levels.

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The introduction of spirituality in the organizational domain generates positive affect such as energy, joy, enthusiasm, fulfillment, meaningfulness, and feeling of connectedness with others (Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Dhiman and Marques 2011; Giacalone and Jurkiewicz 2003; Jurkiewicz and Giacalone 2004; Mirvis 1997). This signifies that workplace spirituality indicates high levels of pleasure and activation and therefore would fall into the first quadrant of Russell’s circumplex model (characterized by high pleasantness and high activation levels) (1980 as cited in Bakker and Oerlemans 2011). Workplace spirituality relates with perceiving work as a means of contribution towards the larger good which in turn provides one with a sense of positive self-concept and renders meaning and purpose in life (Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Marques 2006). This results in positive assessment of one’s work and life (life satisfaction aspect of SWB). The following sections outline the prominent scholarship on burnout and organizational trust.

Burnout: An Overview Burnout is considered as a psychological response to the stressors at workplace related to job and social relationships (Maslach and Goldberg 1998). It reflects a psychosocial phenomenon expressed at the individual level which is marked by lowering of enthusiasm, high stress, physical, mental and emotional exhaustion, tiredness, helplessness, hopelessness, work withdrawal, negative self-concept, and negative outlook towards others (Sharma 2007). Authors have defined burnout in terms of a process (Cherniss 1980; Cordes et al. 1997; Leiter and Maslach 1988), a state of mind (Pines and Aronson 1988). Demerouti et al. (2001), proposed burnout as a dichotomous phenomenon (exhaustion and disengagement). Maslach and Jackson (1981) presented it as a continuous multidimensional trait having the following components: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment (Golembiewski and Munzenrider 1981). Burnout results in exhaustion of energy resources and fatigue, often accompanied by tension and frustration. This feeling of fatigue accompanied by frustration often results in cynicism that triggers depersonalization/dehumanization, i.e., distancing oneself from others at workplace (Maslach and Jackson 1981). In a service context, for instance, a frontline employee experiencing burnout may show emotional callousness towards the customers or may refer to them in derogatory ways. Such callousness or cynicism is not only likely to affect their perception of quality negatively (even anger them) but may also affect the frontline agents’ performance and his/her evaluation by the employing organization. Poor performance evaluation is likely to weaken the employee’s sense of professional efficacy and accomplishment. The moment an employee realizes the difference between desired performance and the actual one, he/she starts perceiving him/herself to be inefficacious (Sharma 2007). Therefore, while there is positive correlation between exhaustion and depersonalization, they relate negatively with personal accomplishment (Leiter and Maslach 1988). According to the job demands-resources model of burnout, the job

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demands predict the exhaustion, and the lack of resources predicts the depersonalization component of burnout (Demerouti et al. 2001). The process understanding of burnout has gone through considerable debate in the literature. In the initial studies, emotional exhaustion was considered to be the trigger for depersonalization (which was seen to be a coping strategy to conserve the already depleting internal resources). Depersonalization was argued to evoke a sense of incongruence between the revised attitudes and behaviors (triggered by fatigue and frustration) and the original enthusiastic versions that made employees join their organizations and perform their work with excitement (Maslach 1978, 1982). Alternative conceptualizations by Golembiewski and Munzenrider (1981, 1984) place the process trigger closer to depersonalization, arguing that it diminishes the sense of personal accomplishment which adversely affects emotional resources leading to emotional exhaustion. Irrespective of the process understanding adopted, at an individual level, burnout associates negatively with morale, self-esteem, and psychological well-being (Bakker et al. 2002; Maslach and Goldberg 1998; Sharma 2007). The existing burnout scholarship has studied the role of individual factors such as gender, age, experience, and personality on burnout (Alarcon et al. 2009; Bakker et al. 2002, 2006; Kokkinos 2007). Contextual factors such as transformational leadership and organizational climate of innovativeness and autonomy are found to be negatively related with burnout (Gill et al. 2006; Jung and Kim 2012), and lack of resources and excessive job demands relate positively with burnout (Maslach and Goldberg 1998). Greater job demands in the contemporary organizations can be ascribed to the changing work trends, change in workforce demographics, technological advancements, and globalization (Burke and Ng 2006; Parker et al. 2017). Employees in contemporary organizations face the challenges of an uncertain external environment, need for regular skill upgradation (mostly due to technological advancements), and job insecurity (Burke and Ng 2006; Demerouti et al. 2001). Sense of meaning, purpose, and fulfilling work provide the motivation for workers (see Horwitz et al. 2003), and the lack of these factors results in work alienation (Nair and Vohra 2010). Work is a central part of life for many employees and often spills into their personal life, blurring the boundary between work and personal life and often weakening their social connections (Ashmos and Duchon 2000). Taken together, all these factors lead to excessive and competing job demands that can trigger employee burnout (Demerouti et al. 2001). Spirituality is shown to be inversely associated to burnout (Galea 2014; Golden et al. 2004). Considerable research linking spirituality with burnout has focused on examining individual spiritual experience with burnout. Workplace spirituality is argued to be conceptually different from existing constructs of individual spirituality (Ashmos and Duchon 2000). Within the organizational context, work holds great significance in experiencing spirituality. In the domain of organizational research, some of the studies have examined the influence of spiritual practices of meditation and yoga on burnout (Adhia et al. 2010; Anderson et al. 1999; Sharma 2006). This chapter joins this scholarship in highlighting the role of workplace spirituality in countering burnout and the mediating role of

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Fig. 1 Proposed model elucidating the linkage between workplace spirituality, organizational trust, and employee burnout

organizational trust in this relationship. A series of propositions are offered to elaborate these relationships as outlined below in Figure 1.

Workplace Spirituality and Burnout For workplace spirituality, we draw upon Ashmos and Duchon’s (2000) conceptualization of workplace spirituality that emphasizes innerlife, meaningful work, sense of community and alignment of values with the organization as the dimensions of WPS. For burnout, we adopt Maslach and Jackson’s (1981) explanation of burnout which recognizes emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminishing personal accomplishment as the three components of burnout. 1. Innerlife: Ashmos and Duchon (2000) related this dimension with the recognition and acknowledgment of the spiritual element in oneself and others. The appreciation of this aspect by the individuals results in the feelings of joy, fulfillment, enthusiasm, and sense of connectedness with others through perceiving a sense of connectedness (Piedmont 1999). This aspect of workplace spirituality counters the development of negative emotions and feelings about oneself and others which often indicate the emotional exhaustion dimension of burnout (Schaufeli et al. 2009). Experience of positive emotions, research shows, diffuses the boundary between self and others (Sekerka et al. 2012), resulting in feeling strong connectedness with others. Thus, the following are proposed: P1 (a): The innerlife dimension of workplace spirituality relates negatively with the emotional exhaustion dimension of burnout. P1 (b): The innerlife dimension of workplace spirituality relates negatively with the depersonalization dimension of burnout.

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2. Meaningful Work: Meaningful work concerns with the sense of contribution towards the larger society through work by serving the organizational higher purpose (Ashmos and Duchon 2000). This feeling of contribution fulfills the individual’s need for meaning and imparts a sense of self-worth in employees (Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Mirvis 1997; Mitroff and Denton 1999). The employees of these organizations consider themselves to be valuable members who are perceived positively by people both within and outside of the organization, which augments their organization-based self-esteem (Milliman et al. 2003; Milliman et al. 2018; Mitroff and Denton 1999). This helps to bolster their relationship with the organization as a whole and others at workplace (Vlachos et al. 2010). Maslach and Jackson (1981) suggested a positive association between personal accomplishment and task significance. Meaningful work provides one with joy and enthusiasm and energizes action (Ashmos and Duchon 2000). When employees experience burnout, their capability to make a meaningful work contribution and their sense of self-worth is affected negatively (Schaufeli et al. 2009). Empirical evidence has indicated that task significance buffered the negative effect of emotional exhaustion (see, Raub and Blunschi 2014) and is negatively associated with emotional exhaustion (Pizam and Neumann 1988). Based on the above arguments, the following propositions are offered: P2 (a): The meaningful work dimension of workplace spirituality relates negatively with the emotional exhaustion dimension of burnout. P2 (b): The meaningful work dimension of workplace spirituality relates positively with the personal accomplishment dimension of burnout. P2 (c): The meaningful work dimension of workplace spirituality relates negatively with the depersonalization dimension of burnout.

3. Sense of Community: Sense of community dimension denotes a sense of we-ness characterized by transcending the we-they polarity to contribute towards a shared organizational higher purpose, resulting in a strong sense of connection with fellow workers. Sense of community provides employees with social and emotional support. Social bonds relate with positive emotions. As per the “need to belong theory,” all individuals share an intrinsic desire to belong with others which, when satisfied, results in the generation of positive emotions (Baumeister and Leary 1995). Workplace spirituality facilitates positive feelings of joy, fulfillment, and belongingness with others. These positive feelings further the cooperative and helping behavior of employees (Moore and Casper 2006). These helping gestures would help to connect employees to others as employees would perceive that they are ultimately making a contribution to the larger goal through helping others. Also, the presence of informal social relations at workplace is inversely associated with exhaustion (Korczynski 2003) and depersonalization and positively correlated with self-efficacy (Leiter 1993). Thus, the following propositions are offered: P3 (a): The sense of community dimension of workplace spirituality relates negatively with the emotional exhaustion dimension of burnout. P3 (b): The sense of community dimension of workplace spirituality relates negatively with the depersonalization dimension of burnout.

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4. Alignment of Values: It reflects the match between personal values of an individual and the organizational values. This dimension is defined by the indicators such as connection and identification with organizational mission, vision, goals, and values (Milliman et al. 2003). The strength of this values alignment depends on the extent to which an organization practices the values that it preaches (Shah and Sachdev 2014). The greater the dissonance between the stated values and practiced values, the lesser will be the employee commitment towards these values and the organizational goals and vision. This may result in employee cynicism, negative consequences of which have been discussed earlier. Schaufeli et al. (2009) cited values conflict as one of the precursors of burnout. It is therefore proposed that: P4: The alignment of values dimension of workplace spirituality relates negatively with the depersonalization dimension of burnout.

Next, we discuss the prominent scholarship on organizational trust and its association with workplace spirituality.

Organizational Trust Research has admitted that trust remains a significant construct in organizational research, as it influences cooperative and extra mile behaviors in organizations (Colquitt et al. 2007; Dirks and Ferrin 2002; Gallivan 2001; Jones and George 1998; Mooradian et al. 2006; Newell and Swan 2000; Shockley-Zalabak et al. 2000; Verburg et al. 2018) and underpins workplace social relationships (Mayer et al. 1995). Trust has received widespread attention in the fields of psychology, sociology, and management owing to its contribution in shaping effective social arrangements (Dunn and Schweitzer 2005; Mayer et al. 1995). Mayer et al. (1995, p. 712) offered the notable definition of organizational trust, “willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the other will perform a particular action important to the trustor, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control that other party.” Organizational trust represents the positive belief and confidence by the employees that their organization would not indulge in any wrong act towards them (refer Andersson 1996). Research shows that organization trust positively influences commitment towards the organization, and retention (Colquitt et al. 2007; Dirks and Ferrin 2002; Gallivan 2001; Jones and George 1998; Shockley-Zalabak et al. 2000). Organizational trust is a function of the characteristics of the trustor/employee and the trustee/organization. Mayer et al. (1995) suggested employee characteristics and organizational characterstics as the two antecedents of organizational trust. Organizational characteristics of benevolence, ability, and integrity comprise trustworthiness which is an employee’s perception of these organizational characteristics. Benevolence denotes the positive and caring perception of the organization towards employees (Ibid.). Ability represents the employee’s view of the organization’s competence in

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some domain, and integrity connotes the employee’s perception that the organization would stick to principles acceptable to employees (Ibid.). Organizations faring well on perceptions of benevolence, ability, and integrity would elicit greater trust from their employees. In this way, benevolence represents an emotion-based source for predicting trust, and integrity along with ability represents the cognition-based sources for predicting trust (Colquitt et al. 2007). Employee’s trust propensity comprises the second antecedent of organizational trust (Mayer et al. 1995). Greater the employee’s propensity to trust, greater would be the trust of the employee in the organization (Ibid.). The need to build organizational trust is triggered by a contemporary tumultuous business environment which has weakened employees’ trust in their organizations due to a variety of factors, e.g., unmet psychological contracts (c.f. Pugh et al. 2003), strengthened needs for meaning, purpose, and connectedness among employees at workplace which characterize workplace spirituality (Ashmos and Duchon 2000). The next section offers a set of propositions to elaborate upon these relationships.

Workplace Spirituality and Organizational Trust 1. Innerlife: This dimension connotes the awareness of the spiritual aspect in oneself and others. Individuals scoring high on the innerlife dimension experience joy, fulfillment, and enthusiasm (Piedmont 1999). These feelings enable a positive evaluation of others and strengthen the inclination to trust them (refer Jones and George 1998). Empirical studies have attested that affect is used as pointer for building trust (see, Dunn and Schweitzer 2005). Mohamed et al. (2004) asserted that individuals who acknowledge the spiritual aspect in others tend to be more trusting of others as such individuals can see the joint responsibility and destiny with others as part of the collective. Thus, the following propositions are offered P5: The innerlife dimension of workplace spirituality will positively affect the organizational trust through strengthening the employee’s propensity to trust the organization.

2. Meaningful Work: This dimension covers aspects of meaningful work (with larger social good connection) (Ashmos and Duchon 2000). This meaningfulness can be derived when employees perceive their work as a contribution towards the larger social good (Mirvis 1997) which fulfills their need for meaning and purpose. Research has demonstrated that the fulfillment of meaningful existence need results in the development of trust in organization (Vlachos et al. 2010). Meaningful work creates positive experiences in employees which further help to develop deep emotional bonds with the organization. The employees of these organizations view themselves as valuable members who are perceived positively by people within and outside of the organization which augments their organization-based self-esteem (Milliman et al. 2003; Mitroff and Denton 1999). This helps to bolster their relationship with the organization as a whole and others at

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workplace (Vlachos et al. 2010). Fulfillment of wider social interest in addition to one’s self-interest makes employees consider their employer as making a difference to the wider scheme of things. Also, extant trust scholarship has highlighted that the perception of ability facilitates trust building (Mayer et al. 1995). Such employees form positive image about their organization (Ibid.). This perceived organizational care and concern compel employees to trust the organization as a reciprocal act for the social intangible benefits received (Chen et al. 2005). Empirical research has proven that organizational members’ perception of benevolence helps to foster organizational trust (see Colquitt et al. 2007). Thus, P6 (a): The meaningful work dimension of workplace spirituality will positively affect the organizational trust through strengthening the employees’ perception of organizational benevolence. P6 (b): The meaningful work dimension of workplace spirituality will positively affect the organizational trust through strengthening the employees’ perception of organizational ability.

3. Sense of Community: This factor constitutes the third dimension of workplace spirituality, which relates with experiencing connectedness with peers and sharing of a collective goal (Milliman et al. 2003). The sense of belongingness with others leads to the expansion of the definition of self by the inclusion and incorporation of others. This integration strengthens a collective identity in individuals (Baumeister and Leary 1995) to achieve the collective and shared organizational goals. This in turn enhances the tendency of the employees to cooperate with others, resulting in more frequent and better quality interpersonal interactions (Ibid.), which enhance interpersonal relational trust and trust with the organization as a collective entity (Rousseau et al. 1998). Experimental research has indicated that repeated interactions build trust in the collective (Kollock 1994). Also, enhanced feelings of connectedness with the collective strengthen positive affect (Baumeister and Leary 1995) which in turn influences the individual’s disposition to trust positively (Jones and George 1998; Williams 2001). Consistent with the above arguments, the following is proposed: P7: The sense of community dimension of workplace spirituality will affect the organizational trust positively through strengthening the employee’s propensity to trust the organization.

4. Alignment of Values: This factor relates with the match between values of an individual and those of their employing organization and identification with the collective goal (Milliman et al. 2003). This depends on the extent of alignment between the proclaimed values and values in action in the organization. As per Shockley-Zalabak et al. (2000), the development of trust happens when there is greater consistency between words and behaviours. The stronger the degree of promise fulfillment, the greater would be the employee’s perception of organizational integrity (see Herriot and Pemberton 1995). Employees who experience greater values alignment with their organization are more likely to identify with

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their organization and consider organizational welfare to be their own. It means the greater the organizational integrity, the more is the tendency of the employees to trust the organization (Mayer et al. 1995). The following proposition is offered: P8: The alignment of values dimension of workplace spirituality will positively affect the organizational trust through strengthening the employees’ perception of organizational integrity.

Organizational Trust as Mediator Workplace spirituality aims at fulfilling the innerlife of employees, recognizing the employee not only as a member of the organization but also a member of the larger society. Workplace spirituality provides an inward connectivity to oneself, work, and the larger society (Ashmos and Duchon 2000). Employees’ experience of spirituality in organizations is evidenced through joy, energy, enthusiasm, meaningfulness, and sense of belongingness with others. Workplace spirituality encourages employees to sense how one’s organization is fitting in the larger picture with respect to meeting the economic goals and social goals in a balanced manner. Workplace spirituality, with its balance for economic and social interests, is considered to play a strategic role within the corporate social responsibility framework which has been employed by many successful organizations such as The Body Shop, Southwest Airlines, and Tom’s of Maine (Karakas 2010). This notion of serving one’s interest within the context of the interest of others strengthens the emotional bond (Jones and George 1998) between an individual and their employing organization, which in turn bolsters the employees’ trust in their organization (Chiaburu et al. 2013) and reduces the negative beliefs and reactions towards the employing organization. Recent research has proven that when employees trust their organization, their psychological resources get enhanced, which guard the employees from a potential burnout (Mo and Shi 2017). Another study concluded that a teacher’s trust acted as a buffer against burnout (refer Van Maele and Van Houtte 2015). Similar findings have been reported by other studies regarding negative association between trust and burnout (see Dworkin and Tobe 2014; Lambert et al. 2012). Therefore, it is proposed that: P9: Organizational trust mediates the negative relationship between workplace spirituality and burnout.

Discussion and Conclusion Different domains of psychology (Bhawuk 2011; Narayanasamy 1999; Piedmont 1999; Wilber 2011), sociology (Canda and Furman 2010), and philosophy (Roy 1999) have converged to define spirituality as an essence of human nature and are found to be linked with many positive biopsychosocial outcomes (Brome et al. 2000; Dierendonck and Mohan 2006; Dierendonck 2012; Hill and Pargament 2003;

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Powell et al. 2003; Woods and Ironson 1999). These outcomes have bolstered the acceptance and integration of spirituality in an organizational context. The soaring interest in spirituality at workplace can also be attributed to the economic, social, and technological changes at the global level that are responsible for putting psychological pressure on employees resulting in the problem of burnout (Schaufeli et al. 2009). Burnout relates with draining of energy, motivation, and personal resources, thereby denoting the negative pole of well-being (Ibid.). Workplace spirituality on the other hand replenishes these internal resources. Research suggests that employees who experience spirituality at workplace perceive their work as meaningful, joyful, fulfilling, energizing, enthusing, and generating a sense of belongingness with others (Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Houghton et al. 2016; Milliman et al. 2003). Bakker and Oerlemans (2011) suggested the work-related subjective wellbeing model based on the circumplex model given by Russell (1980 as cited in Bakker and Oerlemans 2011) wherein the author proposed that any affective emotional state is a function of the two neurophysiological states of pleasure-displeasure and its activation degree. Spirituality at workplace as a construct would fall in the category characterized by high degree of pleasantness and high activation levels. Burnout falls into the category characterized by low degree of pleasure and activation. The arguments put together indicate that workplace spirituality can work as an antidote for burnout. This chapter also elaborated the mediating role of organizational trust in workplace spirituality and burnout. It emphasized that while trust building between employees and organizations was critical for both the parties, it has gained greater prominence in light of the changing dynamics of work and workplaces. The need to build organizational trust is driven by the contemporary business environment characterized by layoffs, downsizing, and scandals that have shattered the employees’ trust in their organizations (c.f. Pugh et al. 2003) and account for the prominent triggers of employees’ activated needs for meaning, purpose, and connectedness at workplace which characterize workplace spirituality (Ashmos and Duchon 2000). Workplace spirituality aims at fulfilling the innerlife of employees as a member not only of the organization but also of the larger society. It does so by providing an inward connectivity to oneself, work, and the larger society (Ashmos and Duchon 2000; Houghton et al. 2016). Employees’ experience of spirituality in organizations is evidenced through joy, energy, enthusiasm, meaningfulness, and sense of belongingness with others. This notion of serving one’s interest within the context of the interest of others strengthens the deep emotional bond (Jones and George 1998) with the organization which in turn bolsters the employees’ trustworthiness in their organization (Chiaburu et al. 2013) and reduces the negative beliefs towards the employing organization. Burack (1999) asserted that interpersonal trust constitutes a seminal outcome for organizations which have integrated spirituality at workplace. Daniel (2010) also contended that workplace spirituality influences interpersonal trust. And recent research has proven that when employees have trust in their organization, it enhances their psychological resources which guard them from burnout (Mo and Shi 2017).

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This chapter draws attention towards the linkage between workplace spirituality, organizational trust, and burnout, focusing particularly on the process through which workplace spirituality can help to combat burnout. In doing so, this chapter makes theoretical and practical contributions. Theoretically, it contributes to the workplace spirituality, organizational trust, and burnout literatures by highlighting the linkages between them. Practically, the chapter gives suggestions to tackle burnout by integrating spirituality in organizations. Organizations have adopted several practices to integrate spirituality at workplaces, from encouraging their employees to meditate to adopting spiritual values of benevolence, generativity, trust, etc. Spirituality-based interventions such as yoga and meditation to strengthen positive beliefs and attitudes towards the employing organizations have been found to correlate positively with spirituality experience at workplace (Petchsawang and Duchon 2012). Also, empirical research has proved that employees who do regular mediation practice experience positive affect (Davidson et al. 2003). Interventions such as meditation and yoga help to enhance the spiritual experiences of employees and strengthen an individual’s internal resources (Brown and Ryan 2003; Marques et al. 2014; Urgesi et al. 2010), which in turn make them guard against burnout. Sharma (2006) found empirical support for the impact of spirituality-based interventions on executive burnout. The notion of serving the higher purpose as one of the organizational goals constitutes an important organizational facilitator of the spirituality experience at workplace which influences meaningfulness and connectedness. At the collective level, initiatives can be taken by the organizational leadership to build a shared mindset towards serving the higher purpose (Pardasani et al. 2014) which facilitates the spiritual experience at workplace (Ashmos and Duchon 2000). The contribution towards the larger social purpose would help the employees to create a positive selfidentity and thus impact the task significance which is negatively related with emotional exhaustion (see Raub and Blunschi 2014). This perceived individual contribution towards serving the organizational higher purpose for the well-being of others is likely to enhance the collective identity through augmenting the sense of belongingness with others and provides one with a high sense of self-worth which can help to reduce depersonalization and enhance personal accomplishment. As pointed out by Cherniss and Krantz (1983), the sense of collective identity due to the sense of connectedness with the whole is negatively associated with burnout. The extent of meaningfulness of work hinges on the degree of perceived linkage of one’s work with the organizational higher purpose (Grant 2008). Perceived linkage between one’s work and higher purpose is decided by the level and consistency of quality efforts taken by the organization to create social value along with the economic value through the minutest of their functions. Work meaningfulness is clearly evident in certain sectors such as nursing, hospitality, banking, and academia, where the linkage between one’s work and its impact on others is clearly visible/ comprehensible. But in other cases, where such linkages are not easily visible, employee involvement in organization-led community programs could help employees to see their work as more meaningful compared to employees who do not get involved in these programs directly (Grant 2008). Quality efforts must be

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taken by organizations which aim to create social value along with economic value as employees should not perceive that there are hidden organizational motives behind such goals or the organization lack honesty and integrity in serving these goals of higher purpose. Such negative perceptions threaten to affect organizational integrity adversely which can hamper organizational trust (Mayer et al. 1995). Measures should also be taken by the management to make employees aware of their organization’s social contributions as this awareness is positively related with task significance and sense of pride (Raub and Blunschi 2014). Therefore, it is imperative for the organizations to communicate fairly why they are supporting a social cause which will further strengthen the employee confidence in organizational actions (Andersson 1996). Also, values-driven CSR initiatives influence employees’ organizational trust positively (Vlachos et al. 2010). Employee involvement in organizational initiatives and regular and consistent communication of information on social value created by the organization could help to create a shared vision that most employees of the organization would subscribe to and which could strengthen the congruence between personal and organizational values. This would help to build and maintain a positive attitude towards the organization (Andersson 1996) and help to reinforce trust in organizational actions (Mayer et al. 1995). Given the proposed linkage and the process view of burnout, organizations can take appropriate interventions to address burnout that help to curb the cascading effect of one stage of burnout to the subsequent stages. Such spiritual practices enhance positive affect such as joy, fulfillment, energy, and sense of connectedness with others (Piedmont 1999) which help to reduce exhaustion. As reported by the broaden-and build theory, positive emotions help to widen the thought-action repository and build lasting personal, physical, social, and psychological resources (Fredrickson 2004). Positive affect often dissolves the boundary between self and others (Sekerka et al. 2012), thereby strengthening the sense of community. Also, empirical research has proved that positive affect is found to influence trust in organizations positively (Dunn and Schweitzer 2005). Other measures such as employee participation in organization-led community programs can be encouraged in organizations as these initiatives fulfill the employees’ need for meaningfulness and connectedness (Grant 2008). The satisfaction of these needs relates positively with organizational trust and negatively with cynicism directed towards the organization or its stakeholders (Mayer et al. 1995; Vlachos et al. 2010). The proposed conceptual linkage between workplace spirituality, organizational trust, and burnout offers considerable scope for future research. Testing the linkage empirically would help to bolster confidence in these linkages.

Summary Burnout remains a key issue for organizations due to the loss of social relationships, focus on individualism, and constant job demands. Given the challenge of addressing the burnout syndrome, this chapter argues that the experience of workplace spirituality (work meaningfulness and connectedness) helps to build positive

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selfconcept and strengthen the internal resources of employees (in terms of energy, joy, meaningfulness and belongingness) which help to counter employee burnout. The chapter also proposes an indirect association between workplace spirituality and burnout by studying organizational trust as mediator, arguing in favor of workplace spirituality’s role in fostering trust through strengthening the positive beliefs and attitudes towards the employing organization, thus countering burnout.

Cross-References ▶ Being Good and Being Happy: Eudaimonic Well-Being Insights from Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle ▶ More than Happiness: A Stoic Guide to Human Flourishing ▶ Spiritual Values for Utilizing HR in Organizations: Evidence from Indigenous Knowledge of Organizational Management in Sri Lanka ▶ Wellbeing and Spirituality: Insights from the World’s Wisdom Traditions

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Having an Ethical Mindset Might Enhance Workplace Well-Being

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Contents Introduction and Setting Up the Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Background and Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aesthetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ethical Mindsets and Its Six Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Preface to and the Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Analysis of the Case Study of “Person X” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discussion and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

Living and working in such a contemporary society that is characterized by the techno-economic ongoing and fragmentary developments; it is no wonder that individuals living in such a society are struggling with issues that might lead them to experience anxiety and stress in their daily lives including the time they spend at their workplaces. Such a psychological status, might be endangering the harmony at the workplace and might in turn have a direct negative impact on those individuals not only on their workplace behaviour and attitude but on their overall well-being. This chapter endeavors to establish a relationship between the

T. Issa (*) Faculty of Business and Law, School of Management, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_58

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existence of “ethical mindset” in an individual and the overall “well-being” of that individual. Thus, this chapter commences with a presentation of a brief background coupled with a literature review on issues relating to “workplace well-being” and “ethical mindset,” its components, and its dimensions. It is worthwhile to note here that the “ethical mindset” was defined through research conducted deriving from two literatures, namely, “spirituality” and “aesthetics.” This literature review leads to the introduction of a brief “case study” demonstrating the impact of having an “ethical mindset” on the “well-being” of an individual who is featured in this case study. The chapter concludes with pleas and appeals to academics and researchers for further research in this area which might assist in the reduction of mental ill health of employees, which might be a result of stress and anxiety in the workplace, which might face any worker no matter what level of seniority they are in or at which industry they work in or from which background they come from. Keywords

Ethical mindsets · Workplace well-being · Spirituality · Individual · Contemporary society

Introduction and Setting Up the Scene Living and working in such a contemporary society that is characterized by the techno-economic ongoing and fragmentary developments; it is no wonder that individuals living in such a society are struggling with issues that might lead them to experience anxiety and stress in their daily lives including the time they spend at their workplaces. Thus, individuals in this contemporary society are struggling with emerging issues such as those identified by Arisian (1993): lack of security, uncertainty, risk, stress, individualism, nihilism, relativism, and subjectivism. This is coupled with the contention of Mansueto and Mansueto (2005) that this society is also characterized by ambiguity and suffering, which adds to individuals’ anxiety and stress. Such developments in this post-ideological period and post-modern society seem to threaten the very fabric of the society, by allowing individuals to stand alone and to introduce change to or even reject the values that have hitherto defined the character of Western society. This trend, if left unchecked, might lead to grievous consequences for the society as a whole. Thus, as the certainties of modernity are dissolving, there is a little guidance on how to act (Hoijer et al. 2006). Undeniably, individuals cannot separate their own lives from the ongoing and fast-moving landscape of techno-economic and techno-scientific innovations which, and in the words of Brown and Rappert (2017), are creating unknowable futures. Such issues might hugely affect the well-being of individuals including their workplace wellbeing, as individuals seem to spend more time at their workplaces and with their colleagues than at their own homes and with their own families, and friends. This is a very crucial point and certainly needs attention from academics and researchers.

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Considering the above, and taking refuge in the idea of “ethical mindsets” that was coined and researched in relation to aesthetics and spirituality (Issa 2009), this chapter will endeavour to establish a relationship between the idea of “ethical mindsets” and the “well-being” of the individual at the workplace through the introduction of a case study and follow-on analysis. The idea of “ethical mindset” was originally introduced through research conducted in Australia as a direct response to several scholars’ calls, such as Lane and Klenke (2004) who highlighted the need to think seriously about the “influence of uncertainty.” This was coupled with the ideas of Ghoshal (2005) that relate to the fact that bad management theories are destroying good management practices. Therefore, it was felt that the problems humankind was and continues to be facing will not be merely solved through the old management theories, but needed an innovative method. Deriving from scholars such as Ashar and Lane-Maher (2004) and Ramirez (2005), the eight components of “ethical mindsets” were first identified by Issa (2009) as a result of the qualitative data analysis. Further, and following the focus groups interviews (Issa 2009), the eight components were reduced to six components, with some having their names changed to better reflect the meanings of the dimensions within this component. Therefore, the 2009 “ethical mindset” research’s final outcome was that ethical mindsets had six components: (1) aesthetic spirituality, (2) religious spirituality, (3) optimism, (4) contentment, (5) making a difference, and (6) interconnectedness. Deriving from this research, this chapter looks into the possibility of having and maintaining an “ethical mindset” by an individual might enhance this individual’s overall well-being specifically at the workplace.

Background and Context Individuals living in this contemporary society seem to be faced with too many duties, responsibilities and obligations. These seem and might be enhanced with the ongoing, constant and enduring advancements in technology. While the advanced technology might have resulted in enhancements to what can be achieved by individuals and the society as a whole in record times, nonetheless, such technology advancements seem and in some cases to influence the individuals negatively, in that individuals seem to be losing their touch with their inner selves and ultimately their humanity, being always connected to their devices and thinking of virtual and augmented reality rather than their own human reality. These are individuals, who form this contemporary society, which seems to be characterized by the expectation of ongoing and constant availability, add to this the need of individuals to meet the ever-increasing demands of life, that might enhance anxiety and stress in the humankind. Certainly, this expectation of constant availability brings in complacency that is enhanced through the application of advanced technology which seems to be an integral part of individuals’ lives and the way contemporary societies function. While everything seems easy to access, and everything is always reachable and obtainable, this in itself hides within its folds the danger of losing touch with the

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individual’s humanity, which might ultimately result in a negative impact on individuals’ well-being filtering its negative impacts on the society as a whole. As a result of the ongoing technological developments, individuals seem to be more aware of the ongoing transgressions that take place in corporations, governments, around the world, which might be intensifying and upsurging continuing the downturn, reporting several wrongdoings; which seems to unfortunately materialise, despite the surge in regulatory reforms and codes of conduct in governments at all levels, and businesses of any size. Therefore, any action taken, no matter what the consequences of this action might be, seems to be the result of individuals’ decisions, at all levels. This argument is best described by the works of Schon and other scholars (e.g., Schon 1967, 1971a, b, 1983, 1987a, b, 1991, 2001; Schon and Rein 1994; Schon et al. 1999; Schonemann 1990). In this respect, Schon’s (1987b) discussion about the crises of confidence in professional knowledge, as he came to a conclusion that the practitioner needs to make choice of either to solve the problems that might not be important for the individual or the society or to look at the problems of greatest human concern. However, it seems with the increase of dependence on technology, such an ambitious aim might not be pursued properly, thus not achieved, which has diluted confidence in the abilities of professionals and technologies to solve the ongoing and increasing problems that are faced by individuals, organizations, and societies. In this regard, Schon (2001, 2017) posits that although our society has become thoroughly dependent on professionals, so much so that the conduct of business, industry, government, education, and everyday life would be unthinkable without them, there are signs of a growing crisis of confidence in the professions. In many well-publicized transgressions and scandals, professionals have been found willing to use their positions for private gain. Professionally designed solutions to public problems have had unanticipated consequences, sometimes the solution itself might create a problem that is worse than the problem they were intended to solve at the first place. The public has shown an increasing readiness to call for external regulations of professional practice. Laymen have been increasingly disposed to turn to the courts for defense against professional incompetence of venality. The professional’s traditional claims to privileged social position and autonomy of practice have come into question as the public has begun to have doubts about professional ethics and expertise (Hughes 1959). Therefore, and as a matter of fact, there might be several benefits of technology adding positive value to the way individuals are running their lives, and contemporary societies conduct their affairs, yet, and in line with the overall thoughts of and recommendations by some scholars (e.g., Weick 1999; Weick and Quinn 1999) that always called for theorists to drop their heavy tool of paradigms and monologues to properly think, and ethically, about the new reality that faces humanity. Without a doubt, taking a quick look at some of the seminal work in ethical decision-making such as Jones’s (1991, p. 366) who highlighted the importance of the ethical issue characteristics, proposing an issue-contingent model, Granitz (2003, pp. 101–124) introduced a new methodology to study ethics, a micro-cultural analysis stipulating that to explain patterns of sharing and variation, one must understand

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how individual, social, and organizational variables influence sharing and variation. Further, Granitz (2003) concluded his research by stating that social ties, personal moral intensity, Machiavellianism, locus of control, and codes of ethics were significant determinants, whereas individuals who share in these determinants are more likely to share in ethical reasoning and moral intent. On the other hand, Ferrell and Gresham (1985) presented a contingency framework on marketing ethics that is the result of a lack of an integrated framework that clarifies and synthesizes multiple variables explaining how marketers make ethical and/or unethical decisions. Ferrell and Gresham (1985) recommended that this framework needs to be used as a starting point for the development of such a theory. In addition, Ferrell and Gresham’s (1985) work also demonstrated how previous research could have been integrated to reveal that ethical and/or unethical decisions would be moderated by individual factors, significant others within the organizational setting, and opportunity for action. During the same period, and in relation to marketing ethics, Hunt and Vitell (1986) developed a positive theory of marketing ethics. While Rest (1986), through assessment of his and co-workers’ work on theoretical framework (the four-component model) and evaluations of the defining issues test (DIT), concluded that formal education would be correlated with moral judgment, there is evidence for Kohlberg’s higher stages; moral education programs produce modest gains, and, there are no gender differences. While Trevino (1986) proposed an interactionist model of ethical decision-making in organizations, Trevino’s model combined individual variables (moral development, etc.) with situational variables to explain and predict the ethical decision-making behavior of individuals in organizations. Trevino’s (1986) model’s major component was based on Kohlberg’s cognitive moral development model providing construct definition, measurement tools, and theory base to guide future business ethics research. Dubinsky and Loken (1989) presented an alternate approach for analyzing ethical decision-making in marketing suggesting that the framework has a promise as a means with which to study marketers’ ethical decision-making. In the field of services, McGarrigle and Walsh (2011) claim that the demands placed on human service workers in supporting people through challenging circumstances can contribute to high levels of stress and burnout. Self-care practices implemented regularly may decrease the impact of the high levels of stress while also serving as strategies for coping during particularly stressful times. The interconnections between contemplative practices, including mindfulness, as coping and preventative strategies for self-care practice among human service workers are beginning to emerge. Further, and in an effort by Hillier et al. (2009) to improve understanding of the connection between employees’ health (physically, spiritually and mentally) and their performance allowing the identification of new strategies through which treating wellness as an investment in human capital rather than a liability on the corporation’s balance sheet, can lead to a greater organizational success. It is not only the physical health, but the spiritual and for that matter the mental health. In this regard, Badrinarayanan and Madhavaram (2013) posit that theoretical and empirical support has been emerging on how workplace spirituality influences both employee

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and organizational outcomes. Certainly, the spiritual health of the employees, seems to be an issue that continues to be either marginalized, ignored, disregarded, or neglected if not forgotten at the corporate level. The question here, who comes first the worker or the profit when it comes to the corporation stategy. In this respect, Baicker et al. (2010) opined that amid soaring health spending, there is growing interest in workplace diseases and illnesses prevention and wellness programs to improve health and lower costs. In their critical meta-analysis of the literature on costs and savings associated with such programs, Baicker et al. (2010) found that medical costs fell when it came to funds spent on wellness programs; this was coupled with lower absenteeism costs. This suggests that the wider adoption of wellness programs could prove beneficial for budgets and productivity as well as health outcomes. In his book chapter on spiritual wellness in the workplace, published as part of the handbook of workplace spirituality and organizational performance by Giacalone and Jurkiewicz (2003), Ingersoll (2003) argueed that there is a need to have the notion of spirituality more accessible at the workplace. Ingersoll brought forth some of the literature in support of his argument. George et al. (2000) argued that there are typically links between religious practices, spiritual involvement, and reduced onset of physical and mental diseases and illnesses, reduced mortality, and likelihood of recovery from or adjustment to physical and mental disease or illness. Further, Ingersoll (2003) provided ten dimensions of spiritual wellness (a) conception of the absolute or divine, (b) meaning, (c) connectedness, (d) mystery, (e) presentcenteredness, (f) spiritual freedom, (g) forgiveness, (h) hope, (i) knowledge and learning, and (j) experience and ritual. Finally, Quick and Quick (2004) revisited the origins of our preventive management approach to health and well-being in organizations. From there, they wanted to fastforward to their own leadership experiences during the 1990s and finally overviewed the contributions at the time which addressed the domain of healthy, happy, productive work. Quick and Quick (2004) were of the opinion that a study of the happy, productive worker cannot be completed without studying the positive and authentic leader. Deriving from the above discussion, it becomes apparent that there is an area that has yet to be explored in the field of management that might assist with the enhancement of the individual’s well-being at the workplace, the prevention of illnesses, which might lie in the understanding of the concept “ethical mindsets,” its components, and their dimensions. Thus, heading the call of Weick (1999) who indicated that theorists should drop their heavy tool of paradigms and monologue, Issa (2009) departed from the traditional behavior and decision-making such as the ones highlighted in the earlier discussion in this chapter and went to investigate the phenomenon of “ethical mindset.” Issa (2009) proposed that the existence of ethical mindset which in her opinion, is a lens that might assist individuals to reach an ethical decision. Issa (2009) examined the lens of “ethical mindset,” as to whether “spirituality” and “aesthetics” are two of the ethical mindsets’ components in a business context. Issa (2009) and in her main research indicated that both “spirituality” and “aesthetics” have experienced development in their definitions and their definite meanings throughout the years. However, there continues to be a

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misconception between spirituality and religion, while the definition of aesthetics continues to take the reader and the researcher back to the sixteenth century and would usually relate the concept directly to art. There is a need to remember that both leadership and management are art! However, and despite this, Issa’s (2009) research on this phenomen through the lens of the literatures of spirituality and aesthetics had provided an evidence of the existence of “ethical mindset” from an Australian perspective. Therefore, Issa (2009) and in her research on “ethical mindset” had considered that spirituality draws attention to individuals’ conscientiousness in inventing ethical workplaces, while aesthetics focuses the conversation and discernment on ethical behavior in business. Mindset provides a key perspective that combines spirituality and aesthetics into a single analytical framework. In the following paragraph a brief explanation about the two concepts, (a) spirituality and (b) aesthetics, will be provided coupled with a brief discussion about “ethical mindset” deriving from Issa’s (2009) research. This would be followed by a brief case study of an individual at the workplace which intends to highlight how the existence of such a mindset (i.e., an ethical mindset) might have assisted in the enhancement of the well-being of that specific individual at their workplace, at their home, and in their community and society as a whole. The discussion would commence with spirituality, which will be followed by a brief discussion on aesthetics, which were the two literatures that were studied by Issa (2009) to coin the concept of “ethical mindset,” leading to a discussion on ethical mindset, its components, and their dimensions.

Spirituality In an attempt to provide a critical review of the literature on spirituality, spirituality at work, and workplace spirituality by examining the underlying rationale of the main trends regarding spirit at work and by negotiating their strengths and weaknesses, Gotsis and Kortezi (2007) posit that it is an undeniable reality that workplace spirituality has received growing attention during the last decade; however, they admit that it is difficult to find the suitable theoretical framework to fully capture the complexity of “spirituality” being a multidimensional phenomenon. Current approaches to workplace spirituality are distinguished to the exploratory, contextual, and the consequential, acontextual ones. In relation to spirituality in the workplace, and especially following the events of September 11 2001, Hicks (2003) opined that particular attention should be given to “respectful pluralism” proposed by Douglas Hicks (2003), as it is suggested that this theoretical framework is the most well-founded, elaborated, and systematic up to date. However, Gotsis and Kortezi (2007) proposed that even “respectful pluralism” fails to fully capture the complexity of such a multidimensional phenomenon as spirituality, thus drawing on mainstream ethical and philosophical traditions (deontology, utilitarianism, virtue ethics) supporting alternative value systems; it is suggested that a more inclusive and philosophically affluent framework needs to be developed.

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On a sample of social workers, nurses, funeral homes, and churches, Csiernik and Adams (2002) examined the impact of stress on spirituality and of spirituality on ameliorating workplace stress. The overall outcome of this examination was that spirituality contributed to wellness and assisted in counteracting workplace stress. Reave (2005) reviewed over 150 studies which indicated that the values that have long been considered spiritual ideals, such as integrity, honesty, and humility, have been demonstrated to have an effect on leadership success. Similarly, practices traditionally associated with spirituality as demonstrated in daily life have also been shown to be connected to leadership effectiveness. All of the following practices have been emphasized in many spiritual teachings, and they have also been found to be crucial leadership skills: showing respect for others, demonstrating fair treatment, expressing caring and concern, listening responsively, recognizing the contributions of others, and engaging in reflective practice. Reave (2005) went on to provide components of spirituality such as unconditional love, forgiveness, integrity, honesty, compassion, and support among other components. Issa (2009) conducted an investigation of spirituality and workplace spirituality definitions deriving from research in this area during the period between 1975 and 2008. This examination resulted in 67 definitions of these terms. The synthesis of these definitions (Issa 2009, p. 72) had six major themes emerging: (1) human experience; (2) God, divine, and higher power; (3) transcendence; (4) searching for inner meaning and well-being; (5) faith, hope, and human spirit; and (6) nature and environment. While some definitions recorded nine themes within the definition, others reflected only one. The common themes of faith, hope, and the human spirit emerged. Issa’s (2009) research had highlighted some of these themes, with some more emerging. These will be discussed later in the chapter, but now, the discussion will move to briefly talk about the second literature used by Issa in her research on “ethical mindset” which is “aesthetics.”

Aesthetics Issa (2009) denoted that aesthetics is characterized by a number of emotional and cognitive properties, while Tateosian (2005) had identified several components of aesthetics such as parsimony (prudence or thriftiness), harmony, balance, and pursuit of truth. Further, White (1996) illustrates the potential applicability of aesthetics by outlining the position on the nature of beauty developed by Immanuel Kant in the Critique of Judgment while arguing that organizational theorists would be concerned with experiences based on, or might include as an essential element, objects that originally appeal in some special way to sensation and perception. Tilghman (2004) posits that there is one very important reason for seeking aesthetic, especially artistic, agreement. It can connect individuals with their own history and culture and, in addition, individuals personally with one another so that in their shared appreciation of art they can better appreciate their own individual, and shared, situation. Taylor and Hansen (2005) contend that organizational research has long focused on the instrumental sphere with its

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questions of efficiency and effectiveness, and in recent decades, there has been interest in the moral sphere with its questions of ethics. However, within the last decade there has emerged a field that draws on the aesthetic sphere of individuals’ existence in organizations. Hansen et al. (2007) suggest that aesthetics relates to felt meaning generated from sensory perceptions and involves subjective, tacit knowledge rooted in feeling and emotion. However, Hansen et al. (2007) also acknowledge that while aesthetics is important in workplaces, particularly in relation to leadership, it is little understood in relation to the business and corporate worlds. Therefore, Issa (2009) incorporated aesthetics and spirituality in the research that allowed her to coin the concept of “ethical mindset.”

Ethical Mindsets and Its Six Components The research and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data by Issa (2009) highlighted the strength of the relationship between spirituality and aesthetics, allowing the contribution to the wider debate on ethical issues, specifically regarding ethical mindsets, spirituality, and aesthetics, generating the concept of “ethical mindset” with its components and their dimensions. In addition to the “ethical mindset” components and their dimensions, the analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data had also revealed the influence of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors on the individual’s “ethical mindset.” According to Issa (2009) the “intrinsic factors” pertain to individuals (e.g., age, gender, motivations, beliefs, values, etc.), and extrinsic factors pertain to the broader environment (e.g., organizational culture, organizational leadership, national culture, social norms, etc.). In the 2009 research on “ethical mindset” Issa’s (2009) analyses of the quantitative data had come up with eight components of the “ethical mindsets,” namely, (a) aesthetic spirituality; (b) religious spirituality; (c) optimism; (d) harmony and balance; (e) truth seeking; (f) pursuit of joy, peace, and beauty; (g) making a difference; and (h) professionalism. These eight components were presented to members of focus groups, and through the discussions and analysis of the qualitative data, the eight were reduced to six, and their designtations were changed slightly. Thus, the designations of these six components of ethical mindsets were (1) aesthetic spirituality, (2) religious spirituality, (3) optimism, (4) contentment, (5) making a difference, and (6) interconnectedness. These components were generated through the use of a tool that was developed, piloted, and used by Issa (2009) who used it later for further research (e.g., Issa, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2019) and other ongoing research that are currently under preparation for further publications. As for the components, each had their own dimensions, and these dimensions were connected to aesthetics and spirituality (Table 1). Finally, Issa (2009) concludes that “ethical mindsets” are likely to assist individuals and in turn businesses to tackle the deterioration of ethics in business-related matters, thus, and ultimately, enhancing the well-being of employees. This would bring us to the discussion on well-being.

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Table 1 Ethical mindset components derived from Issa (2009) Ethical mindset component Aesthetic spirituality

Religious spirituality

Optimism

Contentment

Making a difference Interconnectedness

Dimensions Integrity Honesty Support Compassion Harmony Balance Fair/fairness Motivation Prayer Divine truth Spiritual person Belief in miracles Searching for truth Knowing truth Pursuit of truth Have belief in change of self-centered person to the better Have belief in change of the selfish person to the better Have belief in change of the negative and cautious person to the better Searching for joy in the workplace Searching for beauty in the workplace Searching for peace in the workplace To the people working with through joy responsible on personal development, and behavior Enjoy working in a team Comfortable with the way dealing with people Act in a professional manner Acknowledge others contributions

Well-Being As posit by Chen and Cooper (2014) “well-being” has been thought off and researched for a long time but has more recently came to the fore due to the changes in the global economic scenes, including global recession and economic downturn (Antoniou and Cooper 2013). Additionally, Chen and Cooper (2014) and, in their introduction to the handbook on well-being opine that 1 in 4–6 people in most countries in the world suffer from a common mental disorder of anxiety, depression, or stress. Chen and Cooper (2014) go on further to state that mental ill health costs countries billions of dollars per annum. This reminded Chen and Cooper (2014) of the famous speech of Robert Kenney in 1968 when he talked about the inadequacy of the national product as a measure of a society’s success. Though there have been some work regarding the suggestion of frameworks that might lead to the conceptualization of “well-being” in the workplace (De Simone 2014), here, and in this chapter, it is proposed here that maintaining an “ethical mindset” might assist in developing and maintaining individuals’ “well-being” at the

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workplace. It is argued here that an individual with an “ethical mindset” might enjoy a better “well-being” at the workplace and that same individual who maintains an “ethical mindset” might become the source of adding to the “well-being” of other colleagues, thus, with time, becoming surrounded by individuals with “ethical mindsets,” therefore enhancing the “well-being” of all employees in the workplace. Besides, and in her research, Fisher (2014) discusses the definitions and measures of “well-being” in general and at the workplace in specific. Fisher (2014) concludes that comprehensive conceptualizations and measures of “well-being” at work should include three major components: (a) subjective well-being (job satisfaction and similar positive attitudes, positive affect, and negative affect), (b) eudaimonic well-being (e.g., engagement, meaning, growth, intrinsic motivation, calling), and (c) social well-being (e.g., quality connections, satisfaction with co-workers, highquality exchange relationships with leaders, social support, etc.). Ultimately, Fisher (2014) and Chen and Cooper (2014) opine that effective prevention of excess psychological stress as well as promotion of mental wellbeing and investment in return to work activities can all contribute to better outcomes for business. Not only can the rates of poor functioning at work, as well as the employees absenteeism and the withdrawal from work, be reduced, but a healthy workplace environment can foster creativity and innovation. In order to enhance this further, and establish the link between “ethical mindset” and “well-being” at the workplace, in the following section, and through the presentation of a case study, the components of ethical mindsets will be connected and interrelated to the factors associated with well-being of individuals at the workplace. First, we shall go through the case study.

A Preface to and the Case Study This is a case study about an individual (referred to in this chapter as “Person X”). This “Person X,” despite the several obstacles that faced them in their working lives, were always strong, robust, spirited, and resilient enough to march on and achieve several accolades of diverse types and forms locally and internationally. These accolades and achievements paved the way for several prestigious positions in different industries, the latest of which was in academia. The specific event that is covered in this case study took place when “Person X” was working in academic, and was in their mid-50s. “Person X” was known of their vast knowledge and utmost dedication to work and way of life. “Person X” was known of that brilliant smiling face and that eagerness to help everyone anytime, always stepping forward for the benefit of their workplace and all the involved stakeholders, “Person X” was convinced that each individual is created in the image of the Divine. To support these claims about the personality and character of “Person X,” we share hereunder, with slight edits to ensure anonymity (e.g., name deleted etc...) some of what others who dealt with “Person X” in academia said about “Person X’s” way of doing work:

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• “Person X” is excellent and professional teacher. • “Person X” always pushes us to learn and always encourages us and helps us in every aspect including writing skills assistance. • “Person X” is quite responsible and enthusiastic. • I love the unit “Person X” teaches very much. • “Person X” is very good. • “Person X” has lot of knowledge. Gave us many useful tools, which we could learn from. • “Person X” took the time to explain to us every detail about the assessments. • “Person X” took the time to provide us with feedback about our journals helping us to improve. • “Person X” showed lot of enthusiastic and motivation in all classes. • “Person X” supports us through providing many useful information resources. Highly outstanding encouragements. Useful video clips regarding to the models. Very useful and self-confidence hints on assignments. • “Person X” helps students from this unit with more information from different sources and real-world examples about the organizational behavior and management. • I have full confidence after experiencing “Person X” teaching. I am sure [their] future students will be lucky having “Person X,” because “Person X” has got long experience on issued taught. • “Person X” puts the students in the shoes of the real world on issues discussed, and the students feel that they are doing the unit through a combination theoretical and practical way of learning. • “Person X” was one of the best. . .. I have had throughout my years of study at. . .. “Person X” is clearly dedicated to the role and I believe, genuinely, “Person X” cares about the students achieving their potential. • “Person X” communicates clearly, concisely, and most importantly on a very regular basis, so we never felt as though we were left “alone.” • “Person X” was always there for us when we needed and devoted a lot of time to us. • “Person X” knowledge in the field of study is profound and is truly one that students may look up to. • It was a privilege to be a part of “Person X” unit! Despite the hard and smart work, the ongoing great achievements and accolades, coupled with high satisfaction from all stakeholders, which were coupled with assurances given by top management regarding their position at their workplace, “Person X’s” substantitive position was under threat. This had created uncertainty and insecurity for “Person X” at their workplace. In addition to this, “Person X” comes from a very tightly knit family; thus, this uncertainty had filtered to the family life, which created anxiety at all levels. Now and following this preamble, to follow is the case study: On a hot sunny beautiful afternoon, as “Person X” was preparing to leave the office to catch up with Mom and family for coffee at the backyard in their garden,

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and prior to leaving, “Person X” carries out a final check of the e-mail, and immediately notices new messages, thus opted to check, and if deemed necessary, to respond to those e-mail prior to leaving. One of these e-mails was an e-mail under the title “HR discussion” from someone who works for the institution where “Person X” works, yet “Person X” had never heard or met that individual and had no idea who that individual was and what was their status or role in the institution. This e-mail stated: it is necessary for a meeting to take place that will involve yourself, [a top manager], and [the individual sending the e-mail] whereby we will discuss your current employment situation. You are welcome to include a support person.

Reading through this e-mail, and specifically concentrating on the inclusion of the phrase “a support person” in the e-mail, “Person X” went to check what was meant by “You are welcome to include a support person”; following a quick search, “Person X” confirmed what they knew about the use of “a support person” that such a party might be required to be available in such a meeting to offer emotional support. “Person X” questioned as to why there was a need for someone to provide them with emotional support, thus, became alarmed, immediately writing back to the individual, the originator of the e-mail, asking why there was a need to bring in “a support person” for a mere “HR discussion”; the response came immediately: Please do not be alarmed, this is purely a formality.

It is worthwhile to note here that the top manager whose name appeared in the e-mail as an invitee to that proposed meeting had, only 3 months earlier, sent an e-mail to “Person X” copying the line manager asking about the due date of “Person X’s” contract that was issued to cover the period of secondment in addition to the tenured/ essential position that “Person X” held at the time. That earlier e-mail stated: Can you let me know when your fixed-term contract expires please? I have spoken to your line manager and as agreed earlier in the year, it is our intention to progress the continuing appointment process in the New Year once we have the enrolment numbers to include in our rationale to HR. We will diarize this to follow up during [next few months] unless your contract expires before that.

Based on the above and the fact that there were earlier face-to-face discussions, and on more than one occasion, with that same top manager in relation to the tenured/ essential position, “Person X” felt it is inappropriate to take “a support person” to the meeting; therefore, “Person X” headed to the proposed meeting without “a support person,” assuming that this meeting will be a continuation of those earlier discussions with the top manager regarding “Person X” tenured/essential position (this assumption of “Person X” has proven to be incorrect, unfortunately). The set date came, and “Person X” went as agreed to this meeting, without “a support person.” Despite the earlier discussions and assurances, and to “Person X’s”

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surprise, in a meeting under the title “HR discussion,” “Person X” would be handed a redundancy letter. From what was written in this letter: As you are aware, your [essential] position of . . . in the . . . was deemed no longer required as part of the Reshaping initiative last year.

The letter went on to discuss some of the details in relation to “Person X’s” rights and obligations at the institution. However, this letter was a bit different than any other redundancy letters, whereas “Person X’s” situation was different and a bit complicated involving more than one position and more than one area within the institution. The letter included the following: In your case a different circumstance applies. You are presently engaged in a fixed term appointment until . . . in the . . . within . . .. I understand that this employment is proceeding well, that your work is highly regarded, that you wish to continue in the role and that [we] wish for you to complete your term in this role. This then pre-empts [us] to action your redundancy at this point in time, as any payment of a redundancy amount would require you to abandon your current fixed term of employment and any election of a redeployment period by you may result in a similar outcome.

Throughout the process “Person X” seemed to have been denied the right to be told the whole truth behind a decision which was taken regarding “Person X’s” employment with the institution that totally contradicted every other earlier assurances and advices by different individuals at different levels in the institution. In short, “Person X” felt that those involved in the “HR discussion” issue were not treating “Person X” with integrity, honesty, truthfulness, and respect, despite the proven excellence of “Person X.” Therefore, “Person X” went on searching for the truth which seemed to have been a victim in this whole process, and “Person X” thought the truth might be found somewhere else away from the department. Thus, “Person X” lodged a complaint against the department. This complaint that took some 13 months to be finalised and resolved, had attracted the attention of top executives at the institution. Despite the lengthy process, and the uncertainty that surrounded the whole issue “Person X” continued working with great enthusiasm, and eagerness, and even the line manager asked “Person X” to take on more new tasks, which were also completed by “Person X” with flying colours. In actual fact, despite the stress and the uncertainty of their future with the institution, “Person X” felt that the other stakeholders (i.e., the students) deserve to be served and severed well, and that is what “Person X” did during that uncertain and anxious time. Therefore, the evaluation of “Person X’s” work brought forward excellent results, and, of what was written by the stakeholders, describing “Person X’s” work can be briefed in the following statements: • “Person X” is very well-planned in their weekly classroom activities and always encourages students to be more vocal and expressive in their own thoughts. Through such way, “Person X” would enable the students to relate the subject’s theories to the news that the students should bring to the class.

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• “Person X” is very dedicated in teaching, as would they invite guest lecturer almost weekly and respond to students’ queries promptly. • “Person X” is an extremely dedicated teacher, emphasizing on extremely helping the students. Anyone attending the workshop would be able to see that “Person X” gives the best and expects nothing less in return. It has truly been a pleasure learning with and from “Person X.” • “Person X” is very organized and ready to understand students’ problems in special circumstances. • “Person X” is a very good teacher. • “Person X” has in-depth knowledge and handles situation in class. • “Person X” is very committed teacher. Class is very interesting. The question here is what kept “Person X” marching along despite the excessive stress, the uncertainty, the difficult and unfriendly atmosphere at their workplace, throughout such strenuous, challenging, and problematic times. Now, following the literature review of “well-being” “ethical mindset,” spirituality, and aesthetics, also the display of the case study, we shall provide some analyses that intend to shed some light on the personality of “Person X” through an application of the components and the dimensions of “ethical mindset.” These analyses will be carried out through an application of the “ethical mindsets” components and their dimensions as identified by Issa (2009).

Analysis of the Case Study of “Person X” Deriving from Issa’s (2009) research on “ethical mindsets” and from what was included in the case study above, specifically what was written about “Person X” by those who were served by “Person X,” who despite going through the extremely difficult negotiations with top management, continued with the work displaying the first two components of the ethical mindsets’ aesthetic spirituality and religious spirituality, with their dimensions, whereas “Person X” displayed integrity, honesty, support, and compassion, which according to Reave (2005) are components of spirituality, which “Person X” combined with the display of harmony, balance, fairness, and motivation. Further, “Person X” maintained within and displayed to the outer world the dimensions of the second component of “ethical mindset,” whereas prayer and ongoing search of the Divine were two of the issues that usually provided strength to “Person X.” Indeed, through prayer “Person X” displayed the characteristics of a spiritual person who believes in miracles and dealt with this difficult issue through the prism of the dimensions of “religious spirituality.” Despite this display of the dimensions of these two “ethical mindsets” components, “Person X” did not see this reciprocated by those in leadership positions at the workplace, who might have been aware of the situation that “Person X” was going through with top management. However, the case was different when it came to “Person X’s” co-workers and colleagues, who did not know about the situation, as “Person X” did not want to engage others prior to “finding the truth.”

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In this respect, and according to Deluga (1994) and Cavanagh et al. (2003), “fairness” demonstrated by those who supervise people within an organization generates trust in that organization, which Deluga (1994) and Cavanagh et al. (2003) would take back to the influence of “spirituality” on individuals who usually have an impact on the way those individuals behave at their positions. “Person X” had the responsibility to develop and deliver material to people seeking new knowledge. “Person X” took this responsibility very seriously and delivered with excellence and distinction, throughout that uncertain and anxious time while waiting for the complaint process to be completed, this happened despite the uncertainty and the ongoing negotiation with top management. To follow are some excerpts from what “Person X’s” students said anonymously about the way “Person X” performed: • “Person X” marking is very fair and truly appreciate hard work. . . Keep up the good work. • It was a real pleasure having “Person X” as the lecturer for this unit. The flip class employed this semester is the way forward for teaching and putting the onus on students to do their own learning is great for those of us who are motivated and actively participate in class. • “Person X” is an asset to the . . . and I really enjoyed this unit. It was a great learning experience and I really encourage the flip class teaching method. This coupled with the excellent speakers and debate/discussions in class really enforced the subject and learning throughout this semester smart, knowledgeable, approachable. Further, and though, as mentioned above, “Person X” did not discuss any of the developments with co-workers, friends, and colleagues within or outside the institution, thus, there was no chance for colleagues to provide support, however, “Person X” was strengthened throughout by the immense support displayed continuously by family members. In addition, “Person X” took refuge in the values that were instilled in them from young age, displaying a strong character that was supported by the ongoing prayer, the knowledge of the Divine truth, practicing religious and spiritual rituals, which strengthened “Person X” to face the uncertain circumstances and always with that beautiful smile. Therefore, “Person X” continued the crusade pursuing and searching for the truth, aiming to know the truth behind the decision that was handed by top management relating to the position becoming redundant. Though the route was wobbly, unsteady, uncertain, insecure, unstable, rocky, and difficult, “Person X” proceeded with a strong belief in miracles, and truly miracle was what eventuated for “Person X” following the lengthy negotiations with top management. Throughout the difficult times, and despite the hopelessness that marked several of the discussions and the outcomes of different meetings, nonetheless, as an individual maintaining an “ethical mindset,” “Person X” has been very optimistic, and this was in the heart of the motivation displayed throughout “Person X’s” life, specifically during uncertain times. “Person X” had a great belief in the goodness of

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humans, whereas “Person X” had the belief that people would change for the better, the self-centered would change, the selfish would change, and the negative and cautious person would change. This what carried “Person X” to be patient: pushed them forward to march on despite the difficulties, and always be ready to convey the best message to the subordinates, colleagues, and friends, without discussing and dwelling much on the uncertain situation, but concentrating on the task at hand, which is the service of the students, without any distraction. “Person X” was raised by their family to always seek contentment, through finding joy, beauty, and peace in her life, not only within the family but also at the workplace, which are also dimensions of the components of “ethical mindset.” “Person X,” despite the uncertainty surrounding the essential position, kept the sense of humor as indicated by this statement by one of the students: Even though sarcasm is part of unique character as a lecturer, sometimes [this] sarcasm or sense of humour do bring the lecture more entertaining, especially [the lecturer] class is the final class of the most hectic class for students, who have three classes in a day. ‘Person X’ a very committed teacher, funny though often sarcastic. Classes were very interesting.

Despite the above, and the fact that “Person X” displayed “aesthetic spirituality,” which had as its dimensions matters such as “boss integrity, honesty, support, and compassion,” “co-worker integrity, honesty, support, and compassion.” Nonetheless, their bosses at the time displayed none of these dimensions, thus did not help much throughout. Further, it is worthwhile to note here that “Person X” kept the issues to self and did not discuss any of such issues with the co-workers and, thus, could not examine the existence of this component in the mindsets of the co-workers, but was very much sure that this component did not exist in the mindsets of the bosses at the time. This had added to the uncertainty and anxiety of “Person X.” “Person X” always felt optimistic about life, and no matter how difficult the negotiations were, “Person X” was and continued to be throughout very optimistic. “Person X” was confident that truth will prevail, and their records will testify for them in these difficult negotiations. “Person X” optimism was in its place, as the end result was in favor of “Person X.” “Person X” was known of their contentment not only during this difficult period, but throughout her life. In addition, “Person X” always endeavored to make a difference in the lives of people they worked with, if that was in the current or previous positions, whereas “Person X” mentored several individuals who later became high-ranking officials in an international financial institution in their early career stages, and currently mentoring junior academics working with them on their research, and enhancing their knowledge in learning and teaching. “Person X” always felt that their development and personal behavior as a person is their own responsibility, which was something that was instilled in “Person X” from an early age through their parents and family. In addition, “Person X” brought joy, which is yet another of the dimensions included in the “ethical mindset” components, to others who experience working with them:

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• [“Person X”] has taught us more than MOB [management and organizational behavior] concepts; [“Person X”] has taught us how to become a person, leader and really encourage us to make a difference in the world. • “Person X” made this unit the absolute best unit I have undertaken throughout my time at university. “Person X” is patient, understanding, consistent, and down to earth. “Person X” has been an incredible help on getting me back on track with falling back in love with university, and I would recommend this class to anyone who may show an interest in [this subject]. I have never been more in love with learning. I can never thank [“Person X”] enough. The content was immersive and well presented. • [“Person X”] is a brilliant lecturer! [“Person X”] is very engaging and knowledgeable. [“Person X”] is very consistent in [their] approach to each class, which I thought was a very good thing (i.e., when we got to class, [“Person X”] had already written the session outline on the whiteboard). [“Person X”] was highly organized and had up-to-date current information to share with us (i.e., news items from that morning). This reflected [“Person X”] commitment to teaching the unit using the most appropriate (current) examples. I thoroughly enjoyed being in [“Person X”] class! • I think [“Person X”] was wonderful. [“Person X”] was articulate, very knowledgeable, passionate about [the] subject and wanted [the] students to get as much out of the unit as possible. Seminar presentations were great and always explained topics better than the text book. [“Person X”] is approachable and aids learning, whether providing increased understanding (further references) or breaking down a concept. News presentations were topical, enjoyable, and informative. The feedback on the 200-word reports were fantastic. • [“Person X”] is one of the best lecturers I have ever had. Thank you, you have been great. • [“Person X”] was very responsive and attentive to any questions directed at [them]. The use of individual feedback on the discussion board rather than just a generic answer made for a more pleasant learning experience. As a distance ed student I felt I had the support I needed. • [“Person X”] A very good teacher, very enthusiastic, willing to help with anything at any given time, very passionate about the topic, and very approachable. High Distinction! “Person X” always performed with professionalism, which is one of the “ethical mindset” components, whereas “Person X” always acted in a professional manner toward others at the workplace. “Person X” was always comfortable with their way dealing with people of all ranks and from all backgrounds. In this regard, some of what “Person X’s” students said about the manner “Person X” liaises with them: • Lessons are constructed well and are very organized. You always knew what to expect. Resources always available for students. [“Person X”] was always in contact, provided constructive and helpful feedback on all assignments or queries. Enabled group discussion and was very good at engaging international students who do not always like to talk. My favorite class this year. The learning

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environment and resources were excellent allowing for a large volume of information to be learnt in such a short amount of time. Thoroughly enjoyed [“Person X”] classes and have found a new interest in [the topic]! • [“Person X”] is inspiring and passionate, honest appreciation for the topic of [the unit]. • “I like the class discussions as it opened up my mind and made me aware of how ethical I am when dealing with others.” Furthermore, “Person X” usually acknowledges the contribution of their coworkers as indicated by the input received from co-workers: • Thank you very much for your support, mentoring, and patience with me. I have learnt a lot by sitting in your classes to observe your teaching style/method, by team teaching approach, and by your feedback/mentoring in the assessment evaluations. I also appreciate that you have included us in decisions about academic integrity and consulting policies in different matters of the unit. • I will also thank you for listening to my suggestions, feedback about certain things in the unit and my feelings about payments of marking which might have been annoying to you. I really appreciate your patience and response on that. I felt respected and valued while teaching under your supervision. Moreover, and final thought in relation to these analysis of “Person X” character and the presence of “ethical mindset,” its components and their dimensions. “Person X” had always enjoyed working in a team; the team was not only composed of their co-workers but also people from industry in order to enhance the knowledge of the students. The following quotes are given in support of this statement: • Experienced guest speakers. I find it interesting to see how various backgrounds of professionals share their working experience passionately and how they relate it to management and organizational behavior theories. This demonstrates the importance of this unit, as it is applicable across all industries. • The most helpful aspect of this unit is to learn diverse economic systems and management styles of different countries. This is really important for the potential global managers working under the globalization. • Thank you for your patience and high doses of tolerance when dealing with me which have greatly shaped me. I distinctly remember the first time we started marking; you were always quick to respond and encouraged me so much. I was lights out completely but you never made me feel incompetent if anything even when I was completely out of sync you gave me hope.

Discussion and Conclusion From the above analyses, it can be noticed that “Person X” maintained an “ethical mindset” with its components and their dimensions. This “ethical mindset” had assisted “Person X” cruise through the lengthy, difficult, stressful, anxious, uncertain,

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and ambiguous situation at the workplace, which concluded with the offer for a tenured position at the workplace to “Person X” instead of the redundancy that was offered to “Person X” following months of meetings, complaints and investigations. In addition, and as mentioned earlier, the “ethical mindset” that “Person X” enjoyed needs to be considered together with the “intrinsic factors,” which influenced and developed “Person X” “ethical mindset.” Certainly, here, it is prudent to highlight the fact that “Person X” was raised in a very tight-knit family that has robust beliefs and maintains very strong Christian values. In addition, “Person X’s” parents dealt with their children in a manner where there was no difference in the way they treat males or females, giving both genders in the family the same treatment coupled with the same opportunities. Add to this the extrinsic factors that have influenced the way “Person X” performed and dealt with others. With regards to the extrinsic factors, for example, “Person X,” been exposed to leadership training and other training, having international experience as a high ranking official, and not to forget the higher education that “Person X” obtained later in life which led them to the highest qualifications that anyone can dream off. This had helped “Person X” to face all difficulties with that famous and brilliant smile that was always refurbished and restrengthened through talking to family members and and of course the ongoing praying. Indeed, “Person X’s” “ethical mindset” and these positive experiences in their life (until the day of that e-mail under the title “HR discussion”) were positively influencing the way “Person X” behaved throughout. In view thereof, the case study of “Person X,” and the follow on analyses that attempted to connect the “Person X” situation with the components of “ethical mindset” and their dimensions, would enhance the research on “ethical mindset” and would be yet another evidence that the presence of an “ethical mindset” as Issa (2009) indicated would assist individuals to tackle the issues, problems, concerns, or disputes faced in their lives, such matters that might be considered as a deterioration in organizational culture and a deterioration of ethical consideration in the office and in the case of “Person X” the existence of “ethical mindset” had enhanced “Person X” well-being despite the difficult, stressful, anxious and uncertain situation in the institution that might have been a direct result of poisoned culture. Thus, imagine how positive the situation have been if and when all the employees and the leadership would maintain an “ethical mindset.” The culture of such an organization would be very positive and would allow for and might lead to the well-being of employees. Therefore, this chapter concludes with a plea to individuals to try and enhance the existence of “ethical mindset” with its components and their dimensions and always act positively toward issues no matter if those were for or against the individual. This might always enhance the well-being of individuals wherever they might be. This comes from a real-life experience shared throughout this chapter in the form of the case study of “Person X” detailed above. Therefore, the author here pleas for further research in the area of “ethical mindset,” the existence of which might assist in the reduction of mental ill-health of employees at different levels from diverse industries and backgrounds. This further and future research can come through different avenues. For example, such research can be done by either, applying the components and dimensions of “ethical

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mindsets” to the way of life of individuals at different levels of employment, and different levels of seniority to those individuals’ experiences at the workplace; or use the survey tool of Issa (2009) to understand the “ethical mindsets” in organisations, in communities, in societies and countries to allow the theorisation of this concept or phenomenon of “ethical mindsets.” This would provide an idea of how well individuals might have dealt with adversities that they were faced with at the workplace and also how the existence of an “ethical mindset” in the individual with its components and their dimensions would have assisted those individuals in facing off the challenges they might face in their lives. Moreover, further research can be done through joining forces with the author in translating the contents of the survey tool, for the collection of more data from different countries through the completion of the online survey that would allow for further understanding of this phenomenon of “ethical mindset,” components, and their dimensions with different sorts of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that differentiate individuals at different countries, different industries, and different seniority levels in the workplace, in an attempt to further enhance the well-being of employees at the workplace.

Summary In this chapter, the author aimed to establish a positive relationship between the individual’s well-being at the workplace and the existence of an “ethical mindset,” its components, and their dimensions in the individual. Therefore, the author attempted to provide an understanding of the concept of “ethical mindset.” Following the provision of a brief background on the issues relating to well-being at the workplace, the discussion moved to introduce the concept of “ethical mindset” through the provision of an explanation of the two literatures of spirituality and aesthetics that formed the basis of Issa’s (2009) research that coined the concept of “ethical mindset” and, thereafter, introduced “ethical mindset’s” six components, which are (1) aesthetic spirituality, (2) religious spirituality, (3) optimism, (4) contentment, (5) making a difference, and (6) interconnectedness. This was followed by the introduction of the dimensions of each of those components, to assist in a better understanding of the relationship between “ethical mindset” and “well-being.” In order to allow for this understanding, the author introduced a case study of “Person X” followed by analysis of this case study through the prism of the “ethical mindset,” its components, and their dimensions, providing evidence from the contents of the case study that maintaining an ethical mindset would definitely assist individuals through the uncertain, ambiguous, and difficult times to reach a proper and beneficial solution to the individual through always looking at the inner strengths of the individual of aesthetic and religious spirituality, maintaining optimism no matter how difficult the situation or negotiations might become, and displaying contentment with the situation, though it is difficult. Then the author stressed on the fact that the existence of “ethical mindset,” its components, and their dimension are also either enhanced or limited by the intrinsic and extrinsic factors, whereas in the case of “Person X,” the intrinsic factors

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had played a positive role in enhancing “Person X” well-being despite the difficulties faced throughout, coming into conclusion that despite the difficult situation, maintaining the motto of helping others, interconnecting with others, and making differences in their lives brought peace to the heart of individual as it was the case with “Person X.” This chapter has provided a real-life exemplar of the importance of “ethical mindset,” calling for further research, as there is a need for further examination and application of the idea of “ethical mindset,” its components, and their dimensions on other case studies, in other industries, and at other levels of seniority.

Cross-References ▶ Diverse Personalities, Egos, Roles, and Relations: Toward Workplace Wellbeing ▶ Efficient Diversity Management for Workplace Well-Being ▶ Employee Well-Being Under Corporate Psychopath Leaders ▶ Enhancing Workplace Well-Being Through Understanding the Three Personality Types: Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas According to Samkhya ▶ Fostering Workplace Well-Being Through Servant Leadership ▶ Hedonic Versus (True) Eudaimonic Well-Being in Organizations ▶ How Chinese Conceptualize Employee Well-Being ▶ Leader Mindfulness: Well-Being Throughout the Organization ▶ Organizational Spiritual Maturity (OSM): The Root of Workplace Well-Being ▶ Spiritual Values for Utilizing HR in Organizations: Evidence from Indigenous Knowledge of Organizational Management in Sri Lanka ▶ Sustainable Happiness, Well-Being, and Mindfulness in the Workplace ▶ The Languages of Spirituality and Science: Two Fraternal Twins ▶ The Management of Emotional Labor in the Work of Australian University Business School Academics and the Implications for Well-Being ▶ Wellbeing and Spirituality: Insights from the World’s Wisdom Traditions ▶ Well-Being at Workplace: A Perspective from Traditions of Yoga and Ayurveda ▶ Western Wisdom Traditions and Workplace Spirituality ▶ What Are the Key Components of Workplace Well-Being?: Examining Real-Life Experiences in Different Work Contexts ▶ Workplace Spirituality: An Antidote to Employee Burnout ▶ Yoga Sutras and Well-Being

References Antoniou A, Cooper CL (eds) (2013) The psychology of the recession on the workplace. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham Arisian K (1993) Will humanism survive the postmodern era? A preface. humanismtoday.org. http://www.humanismtoday.org/vol8/. 29 July 2005 Ashar H, Lane-Maher M (2004) Success and spirituality in the new business paradigm. J Manag Inq 13(3):249–260

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Contents Incentivizing Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Why Phenomenology? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What to Expect from Traditional Approaches to Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Wellbeing: The Constitutive Phenomenology of Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wellbeing and Intersubjectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Traditional Practices of Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wellbeing Via Intersubjectivity: Mindfulness and the Letting Go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wellbeing Via Joy: Kundalini Yoga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “I Am the Only One Remaining”: A Wellbeing Myth of Nonduality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

Strategies for implementing the agenda of employee wellbeing in workspace need to avoid manipulation of social behavior that puts pressure on an employee’s capabilities of agency and freedom of choice. The world wisdom traditions offer solutions which reassign the locus of control over wellbeing to the individual and suggest methods of modifying experience directly, not via modifications of one’s environment. Such intentional self-constitution produces a variety of internal experiences, all of which are characterized by wellbeing. Phenomenological analysis of these experiences shows the zones of internal architecture of experience in which ordinary experience changes into experience of wellbeing. Such “locations” include the sphere of intersubjectivity and

O. Louchakova-Schwartz (*) University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_57

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the stratum of the so-called passive synthesis responsible for the constitution of emotions. Critical analysis of traditional practices shows that the practice of mindfulness leads to wellbeing via modifications of intersubjectivity – that is, relationships with others – and that the embodied practice of Kundalini Yoga transforms emotions and feelings so that they become more wholesome. These intentional wisdom practices enable one’s control over the experience of wellbeing beyond the scope of wellbeing’s dependence on the condition of workspace. Not all practices can be compatible with workspace: for example, practices that produce dissociate experience of wellbeing (e.g., so-called nonduality) are not compatible with participation in the workflow. Developing personal strategies to directly accentuate the positive aspects of subjective experience so that it turns into an experience of wellbeing has its limits but can greatly enhance wellbeing in the workspace.

Make a powerful memory, the happiest you can remember. Allow it to fill you up. . .Stay focused. – Harry Potter teaching the Patronus charm to the Dumbledore Army

In recent literature, wellbeing in the workspace is described as a self-evident imperative (Ryan 2018) according to which the wellbeing of an individual employee translates directly into the wellbeing of the corporation (Jimenez-Parra et al. 2018; Ogula 2012). The incentive for wellbeing in the workspace was linked to corporate social responsibility. However, the organizational level of understanding of overall wellbeing does not necessarily translate into what wellbeing means for an individual who is a subject of wellbeing. Overall, wellbeing is a global parameter consisting of different scales (Allin and Hand 2014; Kilroy and Schneider 2017a, b; WHO 1948) that are normally correlated with each other (Kokkoris 2016; Longo et al. 2017). However, in workspace, the data on different scales may diverge: for example, level of income is strongly correlated positively with evaluative wellbeing but not with experienced wellbeing (Kapteyn et al. 2014, 625). Even in high earners, the dissonance between evaluative and experienced wellbeing creates a situation of internal conflict that an employee must negotiate with herself. Implementing the agenda of employee wellbeing as a part of management strategy may end up in subtle manipulation of social behavior that puts pressure on the employee’s capabilities of agency and freedom of choice (Holmqvist 2009). As of Amartya Sen, these faculties are essential for subjective wellbeing (Muffels and Headey 2013). Hence, in the corporate environment, subjective experience of wellbeing becomes eroded by those very means that are intended to strengthen it. The situation comes full circle: if an individual’s moral responsibility is for the wellbeing of the other (Roberts 2019), the workspace by default presents serious obstacles to fulfillment of this imperative. Such tensions are theoretically predictable: based on Karl Marx and Michel Henry’s views on life and capital (Canullo 2019), economy-driven workspace and

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subjectively experienced wellbeing may be in principle antagonistic. However, since experience of wellbeing is not just subjective (Varelius 2005) but has an individuated, personal, and even personality-related character (Tessier and Thuilliez 2018), it may be possible to develop individualized strategies which counteract this general tendency. Accordingly, the purpose of this chapter is to explore wellbeing in situ of its subjective manifestations, and to recommend cognitive strategies that directly enhance such subjective wellbeing by changing experience per se. Generally, subjective wellbeing depends on how experience is affected or even shaped by one’s environment, in particular, by the workspace. However, wisdom traditions offer methods of modifying experience directly, and not via the modifications of the environment. Reassigning the locus of control over the subjective experience of wellbeing to the individual creates a powerful addition to management strategies that optimize the workspace. Intentional practices free the experience of wellbeing from dependence on the workspace. Intentional constitution of experience is possible; for example, ethical leadership includes intentional constitution of self-experience (Ladkin 2018). Of course, the effectiveness of such practices is not absolute but exists on the spectrum. Thereby, the dialectical interrelatedness of the intentional wellbeing and the workspace should be considered not before but after methods of intentional constitution are introduced – latter being a purpose of this paper. Section “Incentivizing Wellbeing,” explains how the emancipatory character of wellbeing relates to the pragmatics of the workspace. It also shows the subjective character of emancipatory wisdom practices: that is, their direct focus on experience as opposed to their scientifically proven health benefits, even though such health benefits also result from such practices and have their pragmatic values and uses. Section “Why Phenomenology?” introduces the phenomenological methodology tailored to the study of subjective experience. Section “What to Expect from Traditional Approaches to Wellbeing,” addresses the relationship between the experience of wellbeing and spiritual aspects of wisdom practices. Section “Inside Wellbeing: The Constitutive Phenomenology of Experience,” shows what aspects of experience can be controlled by traditional practices. Experience has internal structures; practices modify experience in specific locations within such structures. Section “Wellbeing and Intersubjectivity,” shows how experience incorporates others and discusses how intentional constitution of wellbeing relates to this sphere of experience. Section “Traditional Practices of Wellbeing” introduces three wisdom practices that cause the subjective experience of wellbeing. The practice of the mindfulness of meaning (section “Wellbeing Via Intersubjectivity: Mindfulness and the Letting Go”) and the practice of bodily transformation of emotions in Kundalini Yoga (section “Wellbeing Via Joy: Kundalini Yoga”) are recommended for use in the workspace, and the so-called nondual experience is critically appraised (section “‘I Am the Only One Remaining’: A Wellbeing Myth of Nonduality”). Section “Conclusion” summarizes information on direct internal modifications of subjective experience which effectively lead to wellbeing in the workspace.

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Incentivizing Wellbeing Whether or not intentional wellbeing can be practiced in the workspace is very much a question of whether such practices can be integrated with a workflow. At first glance, such compatibility may appear strange: business is utterly pragmatic, whereas wisdom practices are emancipatory. However, both business and wisdom traditions use a litmus test of praxis to determine what works and what does not; both of them favor a dialectical, hermeneutic, flexible kind of thinking over a linear one (Hideg and Ferris 2017); both of them gravitate to explorer cognitive styles (Martinsen et al. 2016), use affect for creativity and innovation (Hammershøj 2018), use descriptive (situated) as opposed to normative (theory-laden) decision making; and both of them are nontechnological in the sense of their basic orientation toward the living human subject (Cf. Introna 2017). Both wisdom and business practices value attentional focus (concentration) which can both make a person a fully present other in the workspace and grant wellbeing benefits in the spiritual practice of absorption (Cf. Bronkhorst 2012). In many ways, experiential styles of business and of traditional wisdom are compatible. Because the pragmatic and emancipatory dimensions of meaning fluidly interpenetrate (Barber 2019), a transition between a pragmatic workspace and an emancipatory spiritual retreat does not present a problem. Both spaces, the retreat one and the work one, are governed by the truth of experience. By contrast, measures and statistics of objective science do not translate into “subjective ‘truth’ of the marketplace” (quoted from Luft 2011, 72). For example, the Amazon reader reviews of scientifically excellent Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Organizational Performance (Giacalone and Jurkiewicz 2015) say: “The amount and quality of research collected here is top-notch. However, I found it quite boring. There was nothing that really piqued my interest. More of an academic resource rather than an informational read” (GrawlHal 2019). Or, simply: “Boooring [sic]” (Charles 2019), in another example of a missing power of convincingness. A “business imperative” (Comasti 2017; Rogers 2017) of wellbeing needs a living and engaging “know-how” – which, after millennia of trials, wisdom traditions exactly deliver. Their focus on the subjective experience of wellbeing stems from a focus on salvation, enlightenment, liberation, and so on: that is, from the pursuit of immortality common to all traditions. Of course, the life immortal cannot be analogous to Stanislaw Lem’s (1983) “painful sex” – that is, be an eternal drag that one carries on for the sake of the end product. Living long or even forever must be living well: that is, wellbeing. Buddhist teachings directly link enlightenment to the cessation of suffering (Heim 2007); Vedanta equates liberation with unalloyed happiness; in Zoroastrianism, and following it, in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, one strives for Paradise; and so on. Vedanta says that between the ups and downs of one’s life, one should want liberation as badly as a man whose hair is on fire wants to jump into a lake. Traditional practices of subjective wellbeing consist not of theoretical abstractions but of very concrete, nuanced modifications of experience. Regardless of their form, all traditions disentangle subjective wellbeing from dependence on circumstances and environment: the person gains control over the quality of the internal

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sphere of experience. For example, a modern Indian saint, Mata Amritanandamayi Ma (a.k.a. Amachi), grew up in poverty and suffered psychological and physical abuse. Connection with traditional wisdom and internal practice not only led her to her own wellbeing but gave her extraordinary resilience in inducing wellbeing in others. According to tradition, enduring subjective experience of wellbeing leads to altruism. However, the purpose of wellbeing in the workspace is not immortality or altruism per se but wellbeing itself. Despite massive anecdotal and textual evidence of a connection between traditional practices and wellbeing, what exactly constitutes the subjective, circumstances-independent experience of wellbeing has not been recognized. If one suspends satisfaction derived from the idea that one engages in psychological or spiritual growth or does the right thing (eudemonic wellbeing), will the remaining wellbeing be necessarily an experience of pleasure (hedonic wellbeing)? Wellbeing is frequently equated with positive emotion – for instance, happiness, joy, mirth, or compassion. Indeed, positive emotion is a constitutive ingredient of wellbeing, but only in part (Tappolet and Rossi 2015). Since traditional practices make a claim to the predictability, certainty, and reproducible character of wellbeing, it remains to approach their insights phenomenologically in order to identify what exactly their promise is, what state of experience one should expect as a result of practice, and what kind of practice will be compatible with the workspace. A methodology for such investigations is known as “scientific phenomenology.”

Why Phenomenology? Emphasizing importance of subjective experience, Walden (2017, from the back cover) states: “[people] are not data – they are people: living, breathing, contradictory, infuriating bundles of cognitive and emotionally-driven responses to stimuli. Understanding experience helps to explain how people really think, feel, and behave – that is, what motivates them to act apart from concern for the easily forgettable parameter of ‘efficiency.’” Understanding experience is a prerogative of phenomenology. By means of phenomenology, one can study subjectivity without losing its living, first person character. In contrast to statistics-based research designs, phenomenology does not include measurements but nevertheless delivers scientifically rigorous findings. Applied phenomenology, such as is used in the present chapter, stems from theoretical discoveries of the transcendental phenomenological philosophy that was articulated by Edmund Husserl in The Crisis of European Sciences (1970). Sometimes, applied phenomenology goes under the name “human science,” to distinguish it from the natural or social, so-called objective sciences. The main distinction between phenomenology and such “objective” sciences is that phenomenology focuses on how one experiences things, as opposed to more traditional examinations of material properties and behaviors of things (as does physics, chemistry, or neurobiology). Thus, phenomenology is essential for studies of wellbeing not only in terms of the workspace practice but also in terms of generating

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scientific knowledge of the experience of wellbeing: when the subject of interest is not the physical mechanisms of health or economic mechanisms of financial success but the experience itself, one needs to have a clear picture of what such experience entails. In the available studies, the experience of wellbeing has to date been treated not in itself but with regard to its links to values (eudemonic wellbeing) or pleasure (hedonic wellbeing). But is wellbeing pleasure, or is it “pleasant” but in itself something else? While “objective” natural sciences and psychology attempt to link an undetermined, general idea of wellbeing to standard variables of mental or physical health, phenomenology can give us a much more nuanced and thereby much more precise picture of what wellbeing is for the person who experiences it, and not just of what wellbeing is connected to. Subjective experience of both employees and customers has been shown to play a leading role in the sustainability (Sarkar and Shaw 2017; Walden 2017), productivity (Atler 2015), and overall success (Lencioni 2012) of corporations. It is quite possible that the subjective experience of wellbeing cannot be reduced to a set of objective parameters without losing important definitions of such experience (Varelius 2005). Hence, phenomenology of the subjective experience of wellbeing contributes not only to the pragmatics of the workspace but also to the theory of wellbeing in general. Phenomenology should not be mistaken for a simple (naïve), commonsense description of something given in experience. Such descriptions help to refocus attention on experience, but they have a very limited capacity to illuminate the nature of experience. The reason for this limitation is that experience has a complex synthetic structure, in which a sense of meaningful unity (“this is my experience” or “I [felt/]feel that...”) comes from one’s ego constantly stitching together separate components of consciousness. Neither these parts nor the synthesis itself can be noticed in a commonsense, natural attitude to experience: one simply lives experience as a whole. But the living wholes of experience are often ambiguous, and this is exactly why the experience of wellbeing is obscure. Without an analysis of constitution in particular cases of experience, it is often not possible to say what’s going on there. Under phenomenology, one understands a systematic analysis of experience that produces a description of the essential properties and relationships within experience itself. Such properties and relationships enable experience to be what it is: that is, a specific experience for its subject. Phenomenological descriptions reveal essential structures of experience whereby one can relate to experiences of other persons through an instant recognition of such essential structures. Such structures have different degrees of generalizability. The founder of scientific phenomenology, the mathematician-turned-philosopher Edmund Husserl and his successors proved that structural patterns of experience (that is, of consciousness-meaning) display robust predictability, and that the validity in evidence of such patterns is comparable with the validity of statistical data. In cases when one cannot use measurements and statistics and has to adhere to description, phenomenology is the method of choice. Like any science, phenomenology has not only a “what” – that is, the subject matter of its studies – but also a “how”: of its method. Various adaptations of the

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phenomenological method have been incorporated as one of the methods of qualitative research, along with grounded theory, hermeneutics, thematic analysis, and other methods of the social sciences. However, while qualitative methods certainly expand caring for the human subject, they do not have a capacity for clarifying obscure forms of experience, or, for that matter, of any experience; they also cannot predict experience’s temporal development. Clarification of experience remains the subject matter of phenomenology per se, in its primary incarnation as phenomenological science in its own right. Accordingly, the method used for the analysis of wellbeing in this chapter is not a qualitative phenomenological research method, but the so-called genetic phenomenology. Genetic phenomenology and the related phenomenological ontology focus not just on the description of experience but on revealing the above-mentioned hidden dimensions of consciousness. The invisible dimensions of experience are termed in phenomenology “anonymous”: they are de facto present in consciousness but escape one’s attention in a manner similar to how people in a crowd fade into background when one runs into a longtime friend. Among these quasi-hidden dimensions are invisible ethical bonds by which one is tethered to others; the relationships between an individual and a group of other people; the strata of experience that underlie other strata; and so on. Genetic phenomenological method(s) also captures temporality, embodiment, and affect, as opposed to being limited to conscious thought and observable behaviors and emotions that can be grasped by qualitative methods. Because the experience of wellbeing is foundational to both biological and experience-related aspects of one’s life, wisdom traditions modify wellbeing by changing components of experience within these deep, invisible dimensions. Below is an example of how the phenomenological understanding of experience in world wisdom traditions, specifically Tibetan Buddhism, changes “objective” psychological approaches. One Tibetan visualization practice, Deity Yoga, consists of maintaining complex internal images; according to His Holiness Dalai Lama’s claim made in meeting with MIT scientists in 2003, these images remain intact for many hours without a noticeable degradation of internal experience. But from the standpoint of theories of visual cognition, that should not have been possible. Having a phenomenologist on the research team (the present author) allowed reconfirming Dalai Lama’s claim and finding that in Deity Yoga the brain learns the new skill of “underwriting” expanded possibilities of experience (Kozhevnikov et al. 2009; Louchakova-Schwartz 2013). Experience in Deity Yoga begins with visualizations and progresses toward a sense of expanded, stable wellbeing. Such wellbeing comes with the recognition of a new form of awareness, called Rigpa. Other traditional practices also open experience to new possibilities of wellbeing; phenomenology helps to understand how exactly these practices achieve their results. Then the “know-how” of traditional practices can be transferred into the nontraditional environment: for example, the workspace. The focus on practical “know-how” applicable in one’s life makes a phenomenological approach to the experience of wellbeing interesting and not “boring,” as when wellbeing is reduced to the explanatory scope of scientific facts.

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What to Expect from Traditional Approaches to Wellbeing For the most part, subjective wellbeing has been linked to happiness (Mindoljević Drakulić 2012) and health and has been considered a composite of different components of experience and largely a phenomenon of interpretation: wellbeing depends on how one relates to current circumstances. For example, in Buddhist understanding, the impermanence of life is linked to suffering, but for an optimist such as e.g. Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind tomorrow always brings a new promise. Consequently, while most traditional wisdom was directed at attaining wellbeing, wellbeing itself was understood differently depending on the history and cultural status of different traditions. Despite such differences, wellbeing-related modifications of experience are commonly of three kinds: through ethical/behavioral observances, by intentional internal practices (e.g., meditation, various forms of contemplation, internal prayer, or other forms of internal “doing”), and spontaneous. In fact, spontaneous modifications of experience are also connected with prayer, observances, or a ritual of some kind, but they do not result from direct modifications of experience, in a manner the latter takes place in internal practice. The possibility of modifying experience directly and intentionally is, in fact, a discovery made across many traditions; this discovery (or these discoveries) can be translated into the context of the contemporary workspace. Consequently, the main focus of this chapter is on the internal practices that are customtailored toward predictable wellbeing. Such practices begin with various forms of interruption in the flow of everyday consciousness (Cf. Louchakova-Schwartz 2019a). Just as do disruptions in business, such well-orchestrated interruptions open novel angles of view and more effective workspace solutions. In a sense, interruptions have a recreational character: by creating a break in the everyday, they take the experiencing person into a new world of exciting, emancipating impressions (cf. Barber 2017). Like traveling, these are healthy distractions, which reignite one’s interest in life and create new insights regarding the self and the world. These insights are not just conceptual but embodied and perceptual in ways analogous to the expansion of perception while hiking a mountain range or the deepening of perception and perceiving “360 degrees” in diving the ocean (e.g., Nestor 2015). Practices always bring with them a rejuvenating afterglow that can normalize the stressed mind and even optimize it by inducing creativity and flexible decision making, as if brain and body are rebooted and new “updates” are kicking in. Internal practice is often thought of as something placid, perhaps uneventful, but the reality of it is quite the contrary. Finding new possibilities of experiencing can be quite entertaining or even dramatic, depending on what kind of “internal landscape” the experiencer navigates. These experiences are not “altered states,” in the sense that they do not alter consciousness but rather reveal hidden possibilities within the same consciousness as one has in the everyday. Internal experiences in such practice always have a certainty of being normal, with an intact, whole sense of self. In fact, the sense of the unity and integrity of the self, as well as of being at peace with oneself regardless of the circumstances, increases in spiritual experiencing, in contrast to feeling normalcy slip away or self-acceptance flag in depression, being under stress, or other unhealthy states.

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Internal experience in traditional practice has been often compared with the altered states of consciousness that one experiences when using psychedelic drugs. Psychedelics, or entheogens, are chemical substances of natural, botanical origin that have been used in indigenous cultures to induce an experience of the sacred. In the twentieth century, the spectrum of natural mind-altering substances was broadened by laboratory syntheses of artificial psychedelic drugs. While altered states of consciousness with psychedelics may be accompanied by a sense of temporary excitement or positive emotion, the drugs crudely alter the functioning of the brain and may have a gradual degrading effect on the body. By contrast, modifications of experience in traditional internal practices are completely normal and healthy. These practices introduce a new set of impressions and insights gradually and organically, so that both the body and the brain on one side and the empirical, subjective consciousness on the other side can properly digest and integrate incoming impressions. Unique benefits of practice may include enhanced clarity of perception, clarity in important decision making, heightened intuition, or emotional uplift. There can be a sense of enhanced self-value, a sense of internal beauty, a sense of mystery, or a sense of natural, harmonious unity with the universe. Once having such an experience spontaneously in childhood, people may spend the rest of their lives trying to recreate experience that was so natural then; or, quite to the contrary, they may remember no such experience, and accordingly the unexpected novelty of new experience becomes an escape from boredom. Traditional practices are very much a discipline of cultivating experiences that one falls in love with – a healthy, nonchemical form of “addiction.” For a believer, such extraordinary experiences mean that one experiences the presence of God or Reality (which is always “within” and always positive); but for a rationalistically, skeptically, or scientifically minded person or for an atheist, these experiences acquire a philosophical or metaphysical dimension. But when one begins with experience, it is only after, and only if, one becomes fully “saturated” with experiencing alone that a spiritual or philosophical making of sense follows. Spiritual experience has been linked to wellbeing (Kalkstein and Tower 2009) – both in positive ways contribute to the quality of one’s life.

Inside Wellbeing: The Constitutive Phenomenology of Experience Attempts to link the meaning that experience obtained as a result of traditional practice – such as spiritual experiences, internal experiences of self-knowledge, mystical experience, experiences “beyond the ego,” and the like – to some specific structure did not produce a classification, because the same structure of experience can be interpreted differently by different people. For example, the same structure of experience of internal light may have connotations of the supernatural for an enthusiastic romantic yet amount to So what? for a rationalist; not feeling experience as personal and being more on the “receiving” side in experiencing can have a spiritual sense or can be interpreted as an experience of self-knowledge; and so on. However, most researchers in phenomenology agree that beneath interpretation,

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there is a specific structure of experience that distinguishes religious experience from the experience of the everyday (Louchakova-Schwartz 2019a). In turn, the experience of Divine Presence or Ultimate Reality (so-called experiences of ultimacy) is always associated with a sense of goodness in experience: that is, wellbeing. Wellbeing is not an aspect that defines religious quality in experience, but rather, it serves as an invariable companion of the religious sense. Even dramatic religious experiences are always experiences of wellbeing, while everyday experience may or may not include wellbeing as its component. Accordingly, it is possible to restore a component of wellbeing to ordinary experience without any religious connotation. Phenomenology demonstrated that despite its extreme diversity and apparent “messiness,” every kind of consciousness has a fundamental organizing principle, which is called “intentionality.” The presence of this structure distinguishes experience from all other things. Intentionality entails a relationship of directedness-at, or aboutness: while all things in the universe show up as themselves, consciousness is what shows them – that is, shows things other than itself. Edmund Husserl, who dedicated most of his research to clarifying intentionality, and following him the phenomenologists of life Michel Henry and Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka also, stated that experiencing is a property of life. Since human beings are alive, they are subjects of experience: that is, experiencers. Intentionality of consciousness gives human subjects knowledge of things other than themselves. Hence, Husserl suggested that the framework for the analysis of experience should be experiencer–experiencing–the experienced (ego-cogito-cogitatum, Fig. 1). Analysis can be aimed at any segment within the structure. For example, the phrase “I feel well”

Fig. 1 The general structure of experience-meaning. (Based on Husserl 1970)

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points to wellbeing in the self and in the feeling – that is, in the experiencer and in experiencing, as opposed to what is experienced: wellbeing is not an object, which one can have an experience of. Experience of wellbeing is not an experience of something, like tasting ice cream or celebrating successful sales. It is not even an experience of something within, even though a positive emotion, a sense of certainty and truth, or clarity of thinking, comes as part of such experiencing. Phenomenologically, wellbeing must be “located” in the ego and in the cogito – that is, in the experiencer and in experiencing. Hence, in order to generate wellbeing, traditional practices attempt to modify the sense of self and the ways self-relates to the objects of experience. Living in the flow of experience like fish in water and being identical with the content of experience, a person does not notice such structures. Often, they are mistaken for abstractions (which they are not; these are descriptions of empirical, real elements of consciousness). However, one is always aware of changes in experience: this is why practices of wisdom traditions never point to static structures but always work with the change of experience toward everlasting wellbeing, which would be independent of circumstances. Such changes must engage the deep structures of experience, because otherwise, the changes would not hold. The sequence of internal mental moves in such restructuring is always repetitive from person to person and presents a temporal structure of the process, which can be replicated in a business setting. Unfolding in time, the experience of wellbeing has two levels of organization (Fig. 1): the order of active constitution and the order of passive synthesis. In the order of active constitution, the ego creates intentionalities, which reach their respective objects and assemble the whole meaning of experience. In the order of passive synthesis, intentionality is present less, and experience has more of the input of the senses; in creating its intentionalities of meaning, the ego works off the datum of passive syntheses. For example, we perceive not a table but only a side of it. Then, the constituting ego stitches together multiple snapshots (so-called adumbrations) of the sides of the table, digs into memories and associations, incorporates information from others who also perceive the same set of objects and share the same world, verifies the collected unity of meaning versus the idea of a table (the essence), and . . . voila! one recognizes a table. This whole process happens momentarily, and so we do not consciously experience the details – only the outcome. The constitution of the feeling of wellbeing begins with the stratum of passive synthesis and builds “upward” while progressing toward a fully developed sense of wellbeing. Consequently, the practices must penetrate top-down, beyond the stratum of constituting ego, and engage the processes of passive synthesis – which is not what one normally undertakes in everyday experience – and then help one make meaning out of this primordial syntheses of wellbeing. Both orders are important, because there is no bodily sense of feeling well without meaning, and no meaning of wellbeing without preintentionally given sense. The ego, “a jack of all trades,” puts experience together by many different syntheses. Such syntheses also include the “unknown”: one does not perceive the back sides of the cube, and neither can one feel the self of others. As Espen Dahl

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pointed out (2010, 152), “we are not fully masters of our own home, but already shot through with strangeness.” When, instead of being constituted around the objects, experience becomes constituted around these patches of the unknown, the sense of mystery turns everyday experience into spiritual experience (Louchakova-Schwartz 2019a). However, the absences are not empty but contain a sense of fullness, even bliss, of the unknown. As the Indian guru Swami Dayananda Saraswati once noted, when saying “Ignorance is bliss,” one should as well mean it. Why would the unknown be blissful? In the absence of positive intentional objects, experience opens into the sphere of passive synthesis, which carries a primary responsibility for the experience of subjective wellbeing (Fig. 2). In this sphere, the ego is decentered and passive, and experience consists of feelings, emotions, moods, alterations in the sense of time and the sense of being, dreams, and so forth. This area also involves the creation of mental imagery and spiritual qualities in experience through the use of symbols (Barber 2017). – Purple: areas of constitution connected with the spiritual character of experience – Green: areas of constitution specific to subjective wellbeing

Because the processes in the sphere of passive synthesis are unavailable to direct and conscious control, modifying this area so that there is wellbeing instead of illbeing cannot be done by a direct effort on behalf of the ego: one cannot just authentically feel good on demand. However, over millennia of practice, wisdom

Fig. 2 Phenomenological “Locations” of Wellbeing. (Based on Louchakova-Schwartz 2019b)

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traditions have worked out ways to bypass the ordinary top-down constitutive control of the ego and reach deeply into the sphere of passive synthesis. For example, some meditation practices, such as the meditation of loving kindness in Buddhism, cause a gradual and continuous transformation of emotions toward more positive and wholesome ones (Louchakova-Schwartz 2019b); Sufi meditations can refocus experience toward a sense of harmonious unity with the universe (LouchakovaSchwartz 2015); and so forth. Like every component of Figures 1 and 2, the ego is not just an empty construct but is embodied – that is, one’s sense of self has a felt sense to it as well as a tactile “enfleshed” component. According to spiritual traditions (e.g., Vedanta or Buddhism), the felt content of ourselves in major ways contributes to wellbeing. Figure 2 demonstrates that the phenomenological “locations” of spiritual quality in experience and the experiences of wellbeing are the same. Spirituality and wellbeing overlap not just empirically, and not only in objective scientific findings, but in terms of their phenomenological structure. In fact, causality here is reversed: because the phenomenological structures of wellbeing and of spiritual sense are close, we see empirical sameness and objectively existing scientific connections between the two. Both layers in the organization of experience, the sphere of active constitution and the sphere of passive synthesis, have to come together for an experience to be recognized as an experience of wellbeing. Wellbeing has an embodied content and a felt sense to it, and a synthetic unity to such experience, including interpretations. Within this picture of things, there may be many different forms of the experience of wellbeing. As long as all such experiences qualify as wellbeing, it is possible to talk about the outlook in consciousness: that is, a horizon of wellbeing in which many different such experiences of wellbeing can happen. Horizons are shown schematically in Fig. 3: Consciousness-experience-meaning can have many such organizing horizons. In Fig. 3, in order to avoid too much graphic complexity, examples of horizons are shown, but it is not specified what kind they are Husserl identified many horizons all of which are absolutely necessary for one to have experiences. Horizons are similar to folders: consciousness uses them to create files for experiences of a similar kind. For example, there can be an endless variety of experiences of the world that take place in the world-horizon created by the presence of the world. If there were no world-horizon in consciousness, we would have no experiences of the world. Likewise, the experience of wellbeing can have an infinite variety of forms, but all such experiences will have a shared quality of wellbeing within the horizon of wellbeing. The fact that there is a horizon of wellbeing in consciousness enables such experiences to be of infinite variety while sustaining the same quality of wellbeing; in other words, this horizon creates conditions of possibility for people to experience wellbeing. Horizon is a space of possibility for such experiences to endlessly unfold. The practices of different wisdom traditions use the horizon of wellbeing differently. Some traditions, such as Sufism or various forms of shamanism, approach it psychologically. Other traditions, such as Theravada Buddhism, bracket out the analysis of psychological meaning and focus mainly on attention and perception.

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Fig. 3 Horizons in phenomenological organization of experience

Yoga and Tantra focus on modifications of the embodied dimension of consciousness. Christianity developed practices of the adoration of iconographic images and bodily asceticism, and so on. However, all such practices and their corresponding experiences resolve into the horizon of wellbeing.

Wellbeing and Intersubjectivity Both empirically and from the analysis conducted up to this point, it appears that the subjective experience of wellbeing has a strictly individual character. However, the subjective character of wellbeing rubs off on others: people “light up” around a happy, healthy person, and being around somebody who doesn’t feel well is demanding if not depleting. When people are involved in transactions with others, one’s interpersonal emotional practices reflect subjectively lived emotional states (Shoemaker 2019). Antonov (Antonov and Vaver 1989), a pioneer in the research of intentional practices of wellbeing, noted that “being in the workspace in a bad mood is an egotistic behavior,” because one passes his or her emotional state onto others. When one becomes sufficiently deeply aware of the personal part of experience, one’s unique, owned, strictly first-person experience is discovered to be co-constituted by others. Meaning shows up in infinite entanglement with meanings coming from others – donated, inherited, and borrowed. Emotion that appeared to be one’s own is induced by others, and so on. A discovery that experience is not merely

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constituted by the ego but co-constituted by the presence of others is one of the main discoveries of phenomenology. If one traces subjective experience back to its origins, the whole content of awareness will be on many levels coming from interrelatedness with others. This has to be distinguished from a commonplace of cultural studies, that the mind is co-constituted by culture; what is meant here is a massive contribution to experience provided by the presence of other people and a reciprocal constitutive commitment of the ego to experience others as being equally as alive and conscious as the subject of experience herself. The sphere in which the constitution of consciousness involves others received the name “intersubjectivity.” In the way one ordinarily perceives things, consciousness seems to be “inside” one’s head, whereas others appear to be “outside”; one connects with others via behaviors, material transactions, and speech. However, phenomenological research demonstrated not only that intersubjectivity is completely “inside” consciousness but that the former in major ways constitutes the personal dimension of experience. The world is “the world for us all” (Husserl 1970, 209) – that is, the world that can be commonly talked about, used, and understood by all humanity. These insights of phenomenology were confirmed in developmental psychology: the mind develops in response to the presence of others, the earliest interactions being the emotional mirroring (Johnson 1987). The constituting ego (Fig. 1) exists “in the world through the living body,” by virtue of which human persons are “interwoven with one another and extended into the infinite” (Husserl 1970, 210). What seems from the surface of experience to be “my responses” are, in reality, the results of habits shaped through interactions with others. Thereby, an individual experience of wellbeing or illbeing also engages intersubjectivity. Ortega y Gasset famously stated: “I am me and my circumstances.” The “circumstances” include both the actual presence of others and the objects subject to shared uses, such as, for example, boats, houses, popular ideas, computers, theatrical performances, and so on. Experience in the workspace manifests this situation at maximum strength: one cannot do business with oneself. This is why workspace is so important for one’s experience of living, and this is also why it is so difficult to get work out of one’s head or to detach oneself from a bad boss: these influences are not just “external” but go deeply into the constitution of the self. The interactions in the workspace are rarely aligned with one’s habits and preferences. As one younger medical colleague quipped: “All my life, I was carefully choosing my friends – so how am I now supposed to get along with all these different people?” A conclusion must be made that in order for experience to settle in the horizon of wellbeing, the sphere of intersubjectivity must be either harmonized or somehow edited by the subject of experience in terms of the former’s foundational participation in the constitution of consciousness. Even though wisdom traditions did not have the analytic research apparatus of phenomenology, they did notice that one’s consciousness depends on others. For example, a visionary metaphor of Hinduism presents the cosmos as the Creator’s net, in which each person is a jewel node connected with other jewel nodes. Buddhism came up with images far less benign: the wheel of karma which ad

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infinitum cycles the souls between the realms of heaven and hell. The phenomenological actuality of interconnectedness is not a blissful oneness (as it is often presented in New Age groups) but a very concrete, direct experience of every facet of one’s individuality, shaped by memory, and every aspect of one’s consciousness, with its origin in the collective – except for the residual backdrop of consciousness, which does not carry any individual features. Diving deeply inward in search of the horizon of wellbeing, wisdom traditions worked out practical ways of escaping wellbeing’s dependence on intersubjectivity. Since neither the world nor others can ever go away, these practices work around this situation by untangling the possible negative input of intersubjectivity and helping one to find the horizon of wellbeing, which, when found, the ego can cultivate. Consequently, the point is that for a sustained experience of wellbeing, one has to sustain the practices in workspace.

Traditional Practices of Wellbeing Wellbeing Via Intersubjectivity: Mindfulness and the Letting Go One relatively uncomplicated practice of mindfulness received the most attention both in the workspace and in scientific research. Mindfulness is usually associated with Buddhism. However, Buddhist monks and nuns are not the only ones to practice mindfulness: Christian contemplatives, Greek Stoics, Islamic Sufis, shamans, Tantric yogis, followers of Gurdjieff, and others have also begun their training with different forms of mindfulness. The key in such practices is noticing: that is, recognizing of the layers of experience that are invisible in the natural state of consciousness, before the practice. In accordance with the philosophies of different traditions, different forms of mindfulness aim at highlighting different regions of experience. In Buddhism, one of the key notions is karma, a domino-effect-like chain of mental traces that keeps one bound by suffering. Consequently, Buddhist mindfulness aims at breaking the domino effect by removing the mental traces that obscure wellbeing. Thereby, the purpose of the practice is not just to find a region of experience free from unwholesome impressions but to recondition one’s responses and the whole of consciousness so that one does not fall again into the trap of the wheel of karma. The compatibility of mindfulness with the workspace has been proven beyond any doubt (e.g., Forbes Coaches Council 2018). Mindfulness appears easy to perform: instead of the usual moment-by-moment identification with the flow of experience, one turns attention toward experience itself and observes how it happens, including all of its components. When one manages to disidentify not just with a sensory stratum but with the very meaning of experience, the practice reveals various horizons in the constitution of experience, including the sphere of intersubjectivity. Then one can become aware of the habits that were formed in relationships with others and let go of mental traces that do not serve one’s wellbeing. Until then,

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that is, as long as one’s mindfulness continues showing experience as individual experience “inside” the meditator, and not as intersubjectively constituted experience, the improvements in one’s wellbeing will be short-lived. One begins attentional training with the embodied dimension of experience (e.g., in mindfulness according to a popular teacher S. N. Goenka). Because one lives in the world via the body, intersubjectivity of meaning is constituted via this bodily participation in the world. Therefore, “unpacking” the embodied dimension of experience leads one directly into the sphere of intersubjectivity and enables letting go of the habits that interfere with wellbeing in this sphere. In the beginning, the meditator sharpens focus and gains volitional control over attention. Like other faculties of consciousness, attention is governed by environment; others and the world constantly pull the strings of attention. Accordingly, the ego needs to appropriate attention as its own. For this, Goenka’s style of training suggests focusing on breath sensations on the upper lip. These sensations are distinctly cooling on inhalation, warm on exhalation; the small size of the affected area helps to train the necessary focus. This beginning stage of the practice reveals an overwhelming number of random thoughts, images, and associations, quite out of control. Accordingly, one needs to begin in a comfortable, quiet room where nobody will disturb one’s meditation for at least an hour (not so necessary at a later stage of practice). One should attempt not quieting the mind but rather sustaining the focus: because the origin of a busy mind is external, these disturbances are, in fact, disorganized memories. Not paying attention to them will stop ego’s activity of making sense of these passively accumulated impressions, and the mind will quiet down by itself. Another essential skill gained at this preliminary stage consists in inhibiting the ego’s proclivities of attraction and repulsion. Sharpened yet relaxed attention can notice these moves of the mind and stop them. Then the ego can relax its drive to constantly bestow new meanings, thereby breaking the Buddhist “karmic” chain of events. The first 15 min in such preliminary practice may be the most successful, but around the 15 min of the practice, attention begins flickering, and it becomes more difficult to keep the focus tied to the skin sensations. But this is exactly where the training really begins: when one notices that attention has slipped away, one should gently return it to the focus. With an hour of practice every other day or, alternatively, 30 min of practice every day, in approximately a week, one will have the skills necessary to proceed to the practice itself. The main practice consists in scanning the bodily sensations in an orderly manner, covering the whole surface of the body, and repeating these scans. It is usually possible to run two full-body scans within 30 min of practice. As in the preliminary training, one should sustain the focus, but this time the focus is dynamic. Also, again as in the preliminary training, one should inhibit the tendency of the ego to grasp at the impressions arising. As Goenka used to say: “No attraction, no repulsion; just observe, just observe.” Another prominent Buddhist teacher from a different tradition, Sogyal Rinpoche, stated: “Be alert yet relaxed, relaxed yet alert.” Relaxation amounts to the same “no attraction, no repulsion,” but adds an important dimension of relaxing the ego without losing alertness.

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The many activities of the mind, such as associations, fantasies, memories, a sense of intensity, feelings, and so forth, that show up in this process are not what one would call “wellbeing.” Consequently, the ego develops its own protective mechanisms to keep such unwholesome contents under control: one such skill is dissociation; another is the suppression of unwholesome contents; and so on. But such tricks on the part of the ego will not produce a lasting sense of wellbeing. Consequently, the objective is to bring the traces to the surface of experience, into awareness, and “unwork” them. But so long as experience remains to be seen as individual experience, or internal experience, such unworking of traces will have only a temporary effect. Luckily, if one keeps enhancing the letting-go element of the practice (“no attraction,” etc.), after many sessions of mindfulness, the scans become detached from the body-schema and penetrate more and more into the space of meaning itself. Initially perceptual, as if inside the body, this field loses its spatial representation and is experienced as a purely informational continuum that expands toward the world. This is the most interesting and rewarding stage of the practice, because it is at this stage that one begins seeing the co-constitution of meaning between the self and others, and the weight of intersubjectivity in one’s mental makeup. The sense of unfreedom that arises at this stage is immense but fleeting, because penetrating into the horizon of intersubjectivity opens the gate to real change. Using the skills of focus, “no attraction, no repulsion,” and emotional release, one can let go of strategies shaped in past relationships and radically change habits of behavior and thinking on a very foundational level. This not only leads to the surfacing of wholesome feelings in the internal field of experience but brings in new, wholesome forms of interaction with others. These new behaviors will harmonize interactions with others and lead to a new form of intersubjectivity more oriented toward wellbeing.

Wellbeing Via Joy: Kundalini Yoga The wisdom practice in this section addresses the attainment of wellbeing via affect and thereby produces results linked both to subjective health (Antonov and Vaver 1989; Joshanloo and Jovanović 2018; Louchakova and Warner 2003) and to the wellbeing of a group (Antonov and Vaver 1989). Recent developments in phenomenology show that what psychology normally categorizes as the affective sphere includes more than basic emotions, and that a basic emotion in itself is not a straightforward concept. First, emotion is a phenomenologically complex entity composed from feeling and thought (Louchakova-Schwartz 2019b); and second, the feeling part of emotion includes a whole spectrum of experiences (Ratcliffe 2008, 2013), some of which, for instance, a feeling-sense of “homelike being in the world” (for the term, see Svenaeus 2001, 2011), underlie the experience of health. This phenomenological complexity of emotion is correlated with how multiple emotions are represented in the human brain (Saarimäki et al. 2018).

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If mindfulness (section “Wellbeing Via Intersubjectivity: Mindfulness and the Letting Go” above) creates an experience of wellbeing by harmonizing the bonds between the self, others, and the world, the practice in the present section draws on the resources of wellbeing hidden deeply in the sense of embodiment. Such an approach is characteristic for yoga, Indian and Buddhist Tantra, contemporary Kundalini Yoga-Tantra, Chinese movement systems such as Tai Chi, Chi Gong, or Bagua, and contemplative martial arts such as Aikido or WuShu. By contrast with outgoing attentional modifications in mindfulness, these practices always include absorption. Absorption in the body can be found in Christian Hesychasm, Islamic Sufism, or Jewish Kabbalah. Since embodiment is a platform for the constitution of the whole of experience, different traditions have many options for pursing their own specific phenomenologies of wellbeing within this vast domain. For example, Tai Chi and Chi Gong aim to modify movement and the sense of space; Aikido will modify the sense of self; and Kundalini Yoga and related Tantras will focus on embodied emotion; and so on. All such practices have shared elements, but at the same time each has its own experiential style, which is either liked or not by different people. But what is “embodiment”? In the discussion above, it was established that experience is always an experience of meaning. But the analysis of experiencemeaning would not be complete if one were to focus exclusively on the structure of meaning alone. Meaning happens to living people, and living people always have bodies. In fact, if one puts aside a mental habit of splitting the mind and the body, living people do not just have bodies but are bodies: there is no evidence of anybody being able to have any experience in the absence of the body – for example, after full bodily death. Research in phenomenology has proved that an experience of meaning is at the same time an experience of being the body, even if one does not notice that the former is immersed in the latter and that meaning is always embodied meaning. This becomes evident when awareness drops from the head and into the body during massage, exercise, dancing, or sex, or even during the fluctuations of awareness in ordinary experience in which one becomes aware of a so-called felt sense, gut feeling, or a sense of emotion being located somewhere in the body. The best intuitive decision making takes place upon awareness dropping into the body, exactly because the body exists in correlation with the environment (via movement and senses), and thereby “reads” a situation closely and directly, as opposed to less effective decision making when one is caught in a circle of thoughts. This is exactly why finding the bodily experience of wellbeing increases the sharpness of thinking and adequacy of responses to the environment and others – for instance, in the workspace. Embodiment is put together by several components of consciousness. Each component can open into a whole spectrum of different experiences: there may be a limitless number of kinesthetic experiences, of experiences of feeling, of experiences with modification of the body-schema (including so-called out-of-body experiences), and so forth. Consequently, one may say that the sense of embodiment includes several necessary horizons, such as movement (kinesthesis), spatiality, and time, and related to all three of these the awareness of the shape of the body. Another

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important horizon of embodiment consists of variations in the feeling of the stuff (material) from which the body is “made,” i.e., the phenomenon of flesh. This framework helps with understanding how the practices of different traditions work: for example, the practice of Chi Gong will work predominantly in the horizon of kinesthesis, or the practice of Kundalini Yoga will have a lot to do with the horizon of phenomenological materiality (cf. Henry 2008), and so on. All components of mental life, such as thoughts, desires, decisions, memories, fantasies, associations, and so forth, on some level of constitution participate in horizons of embodiment. How each experience is “distributed” between different horizons varies: for example, feelings are mostly hosted in the horizons of phenomenological materiality and hyletics. A large body of anecdotal evidence points to the fact that emotions and feelings can be associated with specific locations in the body: for example, one feels “butterflies” in the stomach area, love or loneliness in the chest, or a sense of awe in the throat. Hence, Kundalini Yoga (Roberts 2014) and Buddhist Tantra-Yoga (Klein 2018) work predominantly in the horizon of embodied feeling and thereby produce rapid improvements of wellbeing. However, whereas mindfulness produces a long-lasting change in relationships with others, the feeling of wellbeing in Kundalini Yoga exists only so long as one keeps practicing. Also, these practices are not as straightforward as the always identical process of mindfulness: their complicated routines of attention, absorption, and embodied visualizations with light, sound, body movement and posture, and the like evolve together with changes in subjective experience. Figure 4 shows the dynamics of interrelationships between subjective experience and internal practice in Kundalini Yoga. When internal experience changes in terms of its content and the accompanying feeling, the inner focus of visualization, the use of internal sound, degree of absorption in the body, and so on – that is, the contents of practice – also get adjusted. Whereas mindfulness largely disregards the content of experience while repeating and perfecting the same set of internal activities, in Kundalini Yoga the practice is much more flexible. Tantric practices (which have been erroneously associated with sex) are mobilis in mobile: that is, working off the endless change of experience. At first, following such a practice may appear complicated – unless one considers an analogy with the workspace. The flexible decision making in the workspace reflects

Fig. 4 Dynamic interrelationships between internal practice and subjective experience in Kundalini Yoga. (Adapted from Louchakova-Schwartz 2013)

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the same dynamism of experience, the dynamism of the market, and ever-changing relationships with the human other. Embodied practices create an experience of wellbeing in constant adjustment to new sets of circumstances – a quality definitely valuable in the ever-changing workspace. Just as the organizational structure holds steady amid the whirlpool of incoming tasks, Kundalini Yoga has a steady core structure that one can work with differently under different circumstance. The stability of structure in the practice of Kundalini Yoga is provided by the stable presence of the body. Here is an example of practice with the use of such a stable structure (Antonov and Vaver 1989, translated and adapted by the present author): In a standing pose, relax the muscles of the body; keep the tension just enough to sustain the standing pose. Keep your eyes half-open and relax the eye muscles; keep your gaze slightly out of focus and concentrate attention inside the head, behind your eyeballs and eyebrows. Be aware of the “what it’s like” in this focus: of its intensity, density, tactility, or mood. Then slide the center of your “seeing” – that is, the center of awareness – backwards inside your head. Focusing in the front of the head often feels heavy, rigid, and unpleasant, whereas focusing in the back feels soft, expanded, and more subtle. Now, move the focus of internal “seeing” (that is, the focus of your awareness) from the base of the head, through the spine, and from the back into the core of your chest. Keep being aware of the quality of this state, and as if open your eyes inside the chest. This adds visual awareness of your interior space, as if you are seeing the inner space of your chest. It feels as if your head has sunk down into your chest and you have opened your eyes inside it. This inner space, initially dark, with practice will appear more and more luminous. You may also become aware of feelings – often, the sense of the sacred – and also, of the sense of subtle tactility inside the chest. Looking at this space from the head instead of being inside it would not produce such impressions, but absorption in the phenomenological materiality of the body will.

This exercise of absorption-awareness-focusing in the inner space of the chest initiates the beginning of work with the emotional sphere through the zones of emotion known in Kundalini Yoga as chakras. Phenomenologically, chakras are regions of internal experience associated with the segments of the body-schema (see Fig. 5). Such experiences include a sense of expansion within a certain region, a sense of intensity in the internal space, a sense of dynamic power, of internal luminosity, feelings, and other impressions in this layer of experience. In the phenomenological analysis of experience (Fig. 1), chakras would be structures related to the order of passivity. Kundalini Yoga calls some of these impressions “energy.” This “energy” cannot be converted into other types of energy: it always appears at a certain level of absorption into the body. Kundalini Yoga names this internal space of impressions “the subtle body,” in which one can perceive breath, sexuality, blood circulation, and other biological processes as motions of energy. Each of the chakras (levels of the body in Fig. 5) is associated with a cluster of emotions. This means that if one brings awareness into the zone of the chakra, it is likely to animate the memory of corresponding emotion. The very bottom segment is associated with early childhood fears, and also with shame; the second segment up is associated with sexual feelings, the third, with fear, anger, and other feelings of protection of one’s boundaries. The space of the chest is associated with existential feelings (Ratcliffe 2008): with love and joy, but also with sadness, loneliness, and

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Fig. 5 The motions of internal attention in Kundalini Tantra-Yoga practices. Horizontal arrows, primary change of focus. Vertical arrows, direction of the changes of focus in the practice of transmutation of emotions. (Summarized from Antonov and Vaver 1989; Louchakova and Warner 2003)

dark moods described by Ratcliffe (2013). The area of the throat is associated with awe and the sense of beauty. The head and the top of the head do not harbor emotions but are associated with different kinds of thinking: the more strategic experienced when one focuses in the top section of the head, and everyday problem solving and control of emotions in the center of the head. Some texts, such as Laya Yoga (Goswami 1999), offer even more detailed “maps” of emotions and feelings. A “trick” of focusing inside these regions consists in “entering” them (moving attention into them) from the back, in order to attain a relaxed stability of absorption (Antonov and Vaver 1989). Traditional practices include bringing focused attention into the zones of chakras, and visualizing light vortexes and positive imagery: this transforms emotions from unwholesome to wholesome and lead to a sense of emotional wellbeing. The transformational networks of emotion are presented in Fig. 6. Phenomenological analysis shows that transformations of emotion in these networks have a certain directedness (from left to right in Fig. 6).

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Fig. 6 Transformative networks of emotions and feelings in the practice of Kundalini Yoga. (Reprinted with permission from Louchakova-Schwartz 2019b)

In fact, chakras are the locations in the body in which one feeling can turn into another and thereby bring one closer to a feeling of overall wellbeing through the experience of emotion. Meditation on chakras trains the competencies of emotional intelligence, as described by Goleman (2016). Phenomenology has been a key philosophical movement in bringing emotions to the forefront of scientific investigation (Elpidorou and Freeman 2014) and developing an understanding of their transformation (Louchakova-Schwartz 2019a; Summa 2015); but why emotions are phenomenologically associated with the body-schema has yet to be researched. Opinions differ: for example, Schmitz et al. (2011) viewed emotions in conjunction with a theory of the felt body’s constitutive involvement in human experience; Gendlin (1973) noted that anger displays repetitive spatial patterns that can be distinguished from the absence of patterns in the felt sense; and so on. Kriegel (2015) critiqued the approach of the phenomenology of emotion on the whole, suggesting that the phenomenology of emotion should not be considered a special kind of phenomenology. But while research continues, the practice makes it clear that (a) emotion exercises a powerful interpersonal influence, that (b) emotion is embodied and comes in clusters associated with certain areas of the body, and that (c) feelings and emotions can be regulated directly and intentionally by means of meditative practice. A form of wellbeing achieved via the practices of Kundalini Yoga involves the transformation of emotion from negative toward positive, and of feeling from depression or moodiness to stability of happiness and joy. Kundalini Yoga discriminates three qualities of experience known as sattva, rajas, and tamas (Ramaprasad 2013). Tamas defines the quality of darkness, heaviness, moisture, inactivity, torpor, sloth, dullness, and inertia; rajas, activity, dynamism, and fire, but also anger and fear; and sattva, tranquility, peacefulness, joy, purity, lightness, light, and so forth. Wellbeing would be naturally associated with the sattvic state of experience.

“I Am the Only One Remaining”: A Wellbeing Myth of Nonduality Last in this discussion comes a group of so-called nondual practices. Nonduality – that is, “no two” – is an idea that the human self and God’s self are identical, the same self. “Self” in this case means not the whole of the human being, the body and the

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mind, but just the essence of pure awareness in the human body: that is, the so-called real self. This set of ideas is borrowed by New Age groups from Vedanta and Buddhism, and misinterpreted in the process, often for commercial purposes, suggesting that recognizing oneself as such an essence means achieving unalloyed happiness, limitless joy, and immortality. Consider the following promotional blurb from a book by one J. Martin (2013), The God Formula: A Simple Scientifically Proven Blueprint That Has Transformed Millions of Lives (The Path of Freedom Series): You may be surprised to learn that over the last decade a revolutionary scientific research project has been taking place that’s led to major advances in how to produce what seem like miraculous results in your life, and extraordinary levels of meaning and happiness.

With such promises, the stakes are high, even though research supporting such claims is either nonexistent or suspect. For most people, when they experience such a state, it is an experience of temporary dissociation/depersonalization described as So what? and not one of limitless, never-ending exalted wellbeing. So: Are such experiences technically possible, and what is their relationship with wellbeing? As discussed in section “Wellbeing Via Intersubjectivity: Mindfulness and the Letting Go,” the human mind has the ability to separate the witnessing part of consciousness from the rest of experience. Further, as discussed in section “Wellbeing Via Joy: Kundalini Yoga,” the mind can become absorbed in its own embodied content and focus on experiencing that. Phenomenological analysis has demonstrated that the ego is quite capable of such self-splitting. With training, the self-splitting capacity of the ego can be used to examine its own activities in the constitution of experience. In such examinations, the ego can also temporarily suspend or even blank out its own parts and examine how experience changes as a result of suspension. Such mental exercises in phenomenology are called “reductions” and are used as a research tool in studies of consciousness. In clinical studies, such capacity is associated with dissociation and has been shown possible both in dreams (Bob and Louchakova 2015) and in the waking state (Miller 2007). In the wakened state, because of the unusual character of such experience, it can sometime be termed “spiritual,” even though the state itself does not carry any specific connotations of spirituality (cf. Miller 2007). Reductions to pure subjectivity – that is, suspension of consciousness directed toward the objects of experience and focusing on the remaining backdrop of the subject – have been well known both in Western mystical philosophies and in the Indian spiritual philosophy of Vedanta. However, these traditions did not produce a uniform conclusion as to what the residue of reduction consists of: that is, what the nature of it is. In Vedanta, the act of reduction is accompanied by multiple logical proofs (the so-called prakriyas) that what remains is real, sentient, and beyond time and space, and accordingly must be God. Of course, God enjoys wellbeing, and so must the practitioner who is “God-realized.” However, in the same Vedanta, the same affirmation of Godliness is given twice, in the introductory vision before the

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practice begins, and then in the practice, as a matter of coordinating the results of practice with the aprioristic vision. Consequently, this is not a conclusion derived from experience but a theology with which experience is coordinated via an interpretation. Ananta ananda, the limitless fullness of such experience, is a theological definition of the nature of reality and not a description of wellbeing in it. According to Vedanta, a foundational possibility to realize the self lies in distinguishing the real from the unreal: the constant presence of awareness is contrasted with the ever-changing nature of the world and the mind. When such consideration is introduced, and is systematically practiced in complex with Vedantic theology, experience indeed acquires positive connotations. However, intentionally altering one’s sense of reality in the everyday, and especially in relationships with others in the workspace, toward “I am the only one remaining” (a verse in Vedantic poetry signifying the realization of the real Self) is not a good idea, for obvious reasons. Romanticized interpretations of an imagined possibility of breaking free from circumstances and at the same time remaining a highly successful and useful member of the work community do not hold true in actual experience. Vedantic texts indeed claim that upon realization one is relieved from the great fear (of death), but in reality there remain many different fears and anxieties, and they come back in full strength as soon as one stops maintaining the forceful dissociation essential for such experiences. There is no limitless compassion that one discovers upon realization that the self, indeed, has a constant presence within. The conclusion can be arrived at that while experiences of splitting the ego and reducing it toward pure subjectivity may be useful in reconstituting consciousness (mindfulness as discussed above), in itself, experience of the pure ego is not associated with wellbeing in the workspace.

Conclusion Wellbeing has been a perennial concern of wisdom traditions. This paper adopted a phenomenological approach to the subjective experience of wellbeing in order to demonstrate the intentional self-constitution of the subjective experience of wellbeing in the practices of wisdom traditions. These practices allocate the locus of control over wellbeing to the individual. Phenomenological analysis reveals that wellbeing can be attained via intentional modifications in two regions of experience. The first region, the sphere of intersubjectivity, can be modified by the practice of mindfulness. The other region is the so-called layer of passive synthesis: the changes of experience in this layer include the transformation of feelings from unwholesome to wholesome. The practices allowing such transformation of feelings are adapted from the tradition of Kundalini Yoga. The experience emerging as a result of popular practices of nonduality is appraised critically as not leading to the experience of wellbeing. Developing personal strategies to directly accentuate the positive aspects of subjective experience so that it turns into an experience of wellbeing can greatly enhance wellbeing in the workspace.

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Part IV Work Alienation and Disengagement

Toxic Leadership and Workplace Bullying: The Role of Followers and Possible Coping Strategies

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Toxic Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reasons for Workplace Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Exposure to Workplace Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Toxic Leaders and Followers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How to Deal with Bullying and Toxic Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Coping with Toxic Leadership and Workplace Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Toxic leaders and toxic leadership practices cause many problems for organizations and individuals. It has become apparent that such leaders consistently lead organizations to failure in the long run and hurt personal and health well-being of individuals. Within this context toxic leadership practices may also cause increase in workplace bullying behaviors among followers, and they play an important role on this relationship. They would be witness of the process, and they either vaguely accept or try to stop the process. However, if it does not stop, one of the possible solutions for victims may come from in the form of coping strategies. It is the argument that coping strategies may not be able stop abusive behavior of bullies but it helps victims to alleviate stress-related mental and health issues in the short and long term. This chapter looks for answers to the question that how under toxic leadership workplace bullying victims struggle and engage into

B. E. Kurtulmuş (*) Kuwait College of Science and Technology, Kuwait, Kuwait e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_24

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coping strategies in order to reduce stress-related health and mental problems and what is the role of followers in this process if there is any. Keywords

Toxic leadership · Workplace bullying · Followers · Coping strategies

Introduction Leaders can influence and determine the future of organizations through strategies they follow, influence they have on followers, and decisions they make (Kaiser et al. 2008). In fact, leadership is considered as accumulation of behaviors and traits whether these are positive or negative (Lunsford and Padilla 2015). There is no doubt that leaders play a crucial role on the future of organizations. They are also important for the well-being of others. In general, leadership literature describes leaders are successful individuals who contribute positively to organizations as well as to followers. It is also argued that it is even oxymoron to not call leadership as a positive thing. Leadership represents good behavior and deeds. Therefore, any leadership practices cannot be bad or negative, and if they are, then they cannot be described as leadership. However, it may be also not right to limit leadership into good practices as then it may become misleading and confusing and does a disservice. Besides the leadership practices can be bad or magnitude of bad on a different scale (Kellerman 2004). Therefore, it may be arguable whether to agree or disagree with such sentiments, but latest development in the related literature shows that not all leaders are heroic individuals and not all leadership practices bring success or contribute to well-being of individuals. Within this frame some scholars have since focused on negative and toxic effect of leadership on organizations and individuals. Toxic leadership has negative impact on both organizational outcomes and employee well-being. In the literature, it is consistently shown that toxic leadership leads organizations to failure at many organizational performance indicators including employee well-being. There are many negative effects that the toxic leadership causes on the others within the organizations. The toxic leadership would cause severe negative effects on followers’ physical, emotional, and psychological well-being (Einarsen et al. 2010). They may also follow unethical and immoral leadership practice without a second thought (Kellerman 2004). In this organizational context, research indicates a significant number of employee face bullying (Keashly and Harvey 2006). In fact, empirical studies found out that issue is wider spread in Europe as 10–15% of the employees face bullying. In North American context, similar results are found (Zapf et al. 2011). Workplace bullying is a type of interpersonal aggression at work (Neuman and Baron 2005) and consists of mobbing and harassment. In the context of stress theory, bullying is a severe form of social stressors at work and cause for anxiety (Zapf and Gross 2001). Since bullying increases the level of negative feelings that employees

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face, they also need to develop ways to deal with increasing anxiety, stress, and fear. In this vein, one of the best ways of understanding the toxic leadership and its impact on others is to study followers. There is a complex relationship between the dark leaders and followers involving organizational and individual circumstances. In fact, followers have more active role on leader’s behavior than one initially may assume. This relationship is dyadic and based on mutual benefits for both sides. It is also multi-directional. So, followers not only influenced but also affect leaders’ behaviors (Murray and Chua 2015). The chapter will provide an answer to the question that how toxic leadership may create an environment where bullying seems to be a normal occasion and how followers in these circumstances response from theoretical perspective. For example, when they witness mobbing and abuses within a toxic environment, would followers disapprove or would tacitly accept? Interestingly, sometimes, followers accept and rather prefer toxic leaders to the non-toxic counterparts (Lipman-Blumen 2005). The study will provide a comprehensive meta-analysis on the issues.

Toxic Leadership It is a general sentiment in the literature that leadership and leadership practices are positive and beneficial to others. Accordingly, scholars identify leadership as collection of positive actions that enhance prosperity of organizations and followers. However, since last the two to three decades, the scholars have more and more realized the fact that not all leadership practices contribute positively to organizations and followers. In fact, not only leadership practices but also personalities that may reside in leadership positions can be toxic, destructive, or even in the dark side. Subsequently, such practices or personalities may harm the well-being of individuals. This may also have negative consequences for the future of organizations in highly competitive contemporary business environment. This is also in align with general sentiments which belong to political philosophers that people are not necessarily good or bad in the state of nature (Kellerman 2004). The original concept of toxic leadership can be traced back to Whicker’s (1996) analysis. He identified three distinct leadership styles in organizations, trustworthy, transition, and toxic, and defined toxic leaders as bullies, malevolent, and enforcers. Within this framework the scholars identified different theories to describe the negative side of leadership. The term toxic leadership is interchangeably identified and conceptually overlaps with destructive (Einarsen et al. 2007), the dark side (Paulhus and Williams 2002), and tyrannical leadership (Ashforth 1994) practices. In fact, these concepts can be classified under harmful leadership practices. The main point of these approaches is leaders can be unsuccessful or even bad perhaps, even in their true nature. Therefore, they may not always successfully lead organizations to success, and they may even lead to failure. Among these approaches toxic leadership can be described as harmful and may have negative impact on both organizations and individuals. Nonetheless, the term is

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not explicitly defined in the related literature, and no consensus has achieved so far to explain the question of what leadership behavior deemed inappropriate and destructive and toxic for organizations (Padilla et al. 2007). One of the other problems is that one’s perception of toxic leadership can be perceived by others like a true leadership practice as context, and some other factors make judgments of individuals truly subjective (Lipman-Blumen 2010). The key issue in here is identification of behaviors and process that are described as harmful and negative for organizations and well-being of individuals (Pelletier 2010). Despite that, the scholars are looking to achieve the consensus on how to describe the term which then they can capsulate its true meaning. So, in order to identify the term, one should consider “toxic leaders’ intentionality, the intensity level of their toxicity, the types of destructive behavior in which they engage, the types of dysfunctional personal qualities that drive their decisions and actions, and the significance of the consequences of their decisions and actions” (Lipman-Blumen 2010, p. 1). The term is complicated and needs to be examined through multidimensional approach and has similarities to the concepts of destructive, bad, evil, and the dark side of leadership. In fact, destructive leaders create toxic environment with supportive environment and followers (Padilla et al. 2007). Nonetheless, leaders can be described as toxic when they manipulate and influence others through malicious and unsusceptible tactics. By doing so, toxic leaders reduce motivation and performance of followers. Such leaders may engage in destructive and harmful behaviors. They promote ideology of hatred, perhaps because of self-hatred in their sub-conscious (Padilla et al. 2007). There is also a degree of toxicity, and toxic leaders do not operate in the same degree in all circumstances (Lipman-Blumen 2005). Such leaders may have specific set of skills and traits. Like the dark side of leadership concept, most of the toxic leaders may possess extreme manipulation skills. This trait is one of the common traits of the dark tetrad of personality traits. They may have also callousness which makes them unresponsive to the others which eventually damage the followers (Paulhus 2014). Such leaders also exhibit intimidation and bullying behaviors, and they also tend to engage in unethical and immoral decisions whenever it deems to be necessity (Webster et al. 2016). Furthermore, arguably, one of the most common characteristics of harmful leaders is to believe about oneself (Kellerman 2004). In fact, this self-confidence in many occasions can be turned into grandiose narcissism which is one of the extreme forms of self-admiration and subsequently narcissism (Paulhus and Williams 2002). Narcissism is one of the most common personality traits shown by toxic leaders (Padilla et al. 2007). It is closely related to destructive leadership behaviors (Rosenthal and Pittinsky 2006). Further worsening the issue is it is more common to see such personalities on the senior level than the lower levels. Therefore, it may be easy to conclude that these personality traits may provide beneficial skills in the contemporary complex organization environment (Boddy et al. 2010). However, research shows such skill sets also reduce the chance of survival for organizations and at least in the long run harm the well-being of individuals. However, personality traits that are seen very relevant and important in the past leadership research may

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now reduce to be redundant in certain circumstances. Nonetheless, the trait theories of leadership, which once were the most popular approach to leadership, may still be relevant in certain context as it is still relatively simple and helpful for us to understand why leaders behave in a certain way (Kellerman 2004). Furthermore, there is also the problem of the relationship between followers and toxic leaders. It is claimed that toxic leaders are only able to create toxic environment through the support they receive. It is a general belief in the related literature that followers may not follow the leaders if they know the decision taken is wrong, unethical, and immoral. However, this may not hold true as because of their individual and group needs the followers may do and obey as they are told by their bad or toxic leaders (Kellerman 2004). Not always leaders tend to be bad or toxic but also followers can be as well. In fact, in many occasions good or bad leadership practices are influenced by followers. This relationship is mutual and dyadic. So, expecting followers blindly following their leaders may not be correct. Human transactions may be based on mutual benefits. If leader’s action yields benefit for followers, then it would be much easier for them to follow leaders. However, if it does not or behaving any other way provides more benefit, then convincing followers to pursue any other direction might be very challenging. It is, therefore, context that leaders operate as well as followers have strong impact on leaders’ behaviors. Close followers with good manipulation skills may dramatically alter leaders’ behaviors and even way of thinking (Kellerman 2004). One of the reasons why one person’s successful leader others toxic is lie on the fact that toxic leaders may have overwhelming enthusiasm and intensity (Pelletier 2010). Organizations are social construct that is created by individuals within a certain framework. Therefore, leaders should operate under certain conditions. Creation of a toxic environment may not be possible if established framework vaguely accepts to new toxic environment. However, a leader may be toxic as it may be in his/her true nature and as well as what they want (Kellerman 2004). Nonetheless, sometimes well intended and good professionals unintentionally may also create destructive leadership practices (Fraher 2016). As a result of toxic leadership behaviors or process, many negative organizational and individual outcomes happen. Research-identified toxic leadership practices may cause workplace deviance (Mitchell and Ambrose 2007), retaliatory action from followers (Tripp et al. 2002), alienation (Rosenthal and Pittinsky 2006), lower job satisfaction (Tepper 2000), and biological and psychological stress (Leymann 1996). Toxic leaders also attack to self-esteem of their followers, and employees report that they are ridiculed in front of the public (Pelletier 2010). Followers who have been working under toxic leaders reported negative attitudes toward their organizations (Dobbs and Do 2019). Therefore, it may not be incorrect to identify the matter as crucial to survival of organizations. It is also possible to a drawn conclusion that toxic leadership practices create an environment where undesirable organizational behavior can flourish. Perhaps, within a toxic environment, bullying of other employees may be easier. This is because toxic environment may vaguely allow such behavior even though it is not desirable.

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Workplace Bullying Workplace bullying is one of the most common types of interpersonal aggression at workplace (Neuman and Baron 2005). It is first identified by Brodsky (1976) as early as mid-1970s. In his initial work, he identified the concept. In his book which is called The Harassed Worker, he described the stories of bullied people. Since then the topic received huge amount of attention, and scholars accumulated a considerable amount of knowledge. This pool of knowledge extended, and there is a clear consensus on how to describe and identify actions that can be considered as workplace bullying. The concept is called with different names in different countries like harassment, mobbing, incivility, and bullying, but the most common word employed across the globe is workplace bullying (Branch et al. 2013). The term workplace bullying is easily understandable and refers to aggressor (Einarsen et al. 2011). The term can be encapsulated as “Workplace bullying, in the form of longterm and systematic exposure to increasingly harsher forms of aggression, incivility and social exclusion by other organization members” (Einarsen and Nielsen 2015, p. 132) or in another wording “repeated and persistent negative acts towards one or more individual(s), which involve a perceived power imbalance and create a hostile work environment” (Salin 2003, p. 4). Workplace bullying can be categorized in three different categories, personal bullying, work-related bullying, and psychically intimidating bullying (Einarsen et al. 2009). One of the main tenets of the concept – which is perhaps necessary to be described occurrence as bullying – is victim feeling sense of powerless and desperate (Rayner and Keashly 2005). It is important to emphasize that the workplace bullying consists of repeated and a long-term action toward victim and should not be confused with incivility or short burst of rages toward victims. It happens in many sectors, occupations, and workplaces (Johnson 2009). Workplace bullying is one of the strongest sources of stress on victims than any other work-related stress (Zapf et al. 1996). It is a peculiar and detrimental form of aggression at workplace (Nielsen and Einarsen 2018). It could be easily described as hostile behaviors committed by the perpetrators toward a single individual or group of people (Einarsen 1999). It could be usually in the form of psychological pressures but can be in physical and even sexual acts (Baillien et al. 2009) although Nielsen et al. (2010) indicates negative actions from perpetrators to victims are usually non-violent and non-sexual in nature. During the process employees are badly treated and abused by leaders or others in the organization, and usually, bullied individuals hardly able to defend him-/herself against the aggressors, and they would have no power to prevent aggressors’ negative behavior to stop (Nielsen et al. 2010). There is a relationship between leadership styles and perception of workplace bullying. For instance, research found relationship between autocratic, laissez-faire, participative, and non-contingent leadership styles and perceived and observed workplace bullying (Hoel et al. 2010). In fact, under laissez-faire leadership style, bullying behaviors can endure and progress due to freedom that perpetrators may have and preventive action lacking (Glambek et al. 2018). On the other hand, the research found that there is a negative relationship between authentic leadership practices and workplace bullying. When leaders

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more engage to authentic leadership practices, there will be less cases of workplace bullying (Laschinger and Fida 2014). There is no specific list of action from aggressors to victims to be made, but such actions specifically involve verbal abuses, hostile acts of humor, worsening conditions in work tasks, illogical deadlines, and even angry outburst. It may also involve social exclusion which could be one of the worst things to happen to the victims (Einarsen and Nielsen 2015). Even though different behaviors are observed in bullying process from aggressors, it is still described as one phenomenon. The set of actions and behavior to be observed is context and situation dependent. In nature bullying can be conflict related or predatory. In predatory bullying the victims literally do nothing provocative, but context – leadership practices, etc. – leads victims to be bullied. On the other hand, conflict-related bullying arises from work-related conflicts prevailing to control any wrongdoing at workplace. Such conflicts would probably not stop until one of the opponents is destroyed (Einarsen 1999). Majority of the literature agree that one of the most important characteristics of workplace bullying is consistency. One or 2 weeks of bad behaviors cannot be usually considered as workplace bullying. It usually takes weeks’ and even month’s actions to be perceived as workplace bullying. In fact, workplace bullying is a longlasting process (Einarsen et al. 2011) which repeated regularly in a prolonged period of time under the clear perceived imbalance between perpetrators and victims (Nielsen et al. 2010). It happens in four steps. It begins with critical incident stage which is usually followed by a conflict. This is followed by the second stage which is mobbing and stagmatization. In the third stage, the management is involved, and victims may face an extreme case of injustice. Management may accuse the victim and put responsibility on his/her so-called deviant characteristic. In the final stage, victims most probably quit the job as they will be assigned to no task. The final stage calls expulsion (Leymann 1990). It may also increase in intensity and create devastating problems for who are bullied. However, some others also argue that negative actions which happen occasionally can also be considered as workplace bullying (Zapf et al. 2011). Furthermore, the differentiating personal conflicts from bullying may be difficult due to perception of individuals as such victims may feel bullied, but perpetrators would not accept the consequences or nature of their actions (Einarsen et al. 1994). In this organizational environment, knowing the exact number of people bullied at workplace has proven to be difficult to predict. The numbers are different as research implemented different methodologies. Furthermore, most of the cases about workplace bullying is reported by victims rather than perpetrators as such individuals would not admit their actions (Zapf and Einarsen 2003). This has important implication as research found that self-labeled victimization reports tend to be lower than behavioral measure studies. Thus, the different findings from different studies should be considered by considering moderator variables (Nielsen et al. 2010). Despite the fact that various figures articulating about the number of people are bullied in workplaces, research shows one in five of American labors (Namie 2000), 10–15% of employees in Europe (Zapf et al. 2011), and 10% of workforce in Great Britain (Hoel et al. 2001) are victims of bullying in workplaces. In another study,

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Nielsen et al. (2010) found through meta-analysis that 11–18% of employees have been bullied in the workplaces. When detailed numbers are examined in American workplaces, males and females equally could be bullies 50%. However, overwhelming majority of victims are 77% females. Importantly, 81% of perpetrators are in higher ranking positions – entitlement of power perhaps provides false feeling of over-confidence which consequently may be reason for perpetrator to engage in such action. Average age of bullies is 44 years old. There is no relationship between education or skill level of employees and chance of being bullied (Namie 2000). Subsequently, it is important to emphasize that workplace bullying can occur anywhere to anyone. There is no doubt research established prevalence of workplace bullying. However, one should note that the scholars utilized different measurement and study designs to establish the results; therefore, the numbers may be varied, and as a result it is difficult to extract exact percentage of employees who are bullied (Nielsen et al. 2010). Nonetheless, the research so far relied on two different approaches to identify individuals who expose to workplace bullying. The methods are self-labeling and behavioral experience (Notealers et al. 2013). In this context no matter what cultural and environmental context the studies are conducted and what methodologies are implemented, results show that the issue is widespread. It is easy to conclude that workplace bullying may be more common than one may be initially thought.

Reasons for Workplace Bullying Most of the studies that are conducted to identify the reasons for workplace bullying have focused on two main issues, psychosocial factors and the personality of victims. In some studies, also perceived reasons for bullying are researched. Victims of bullying tend to be different in their personalities than to the others, neither negative nor positive ways (Einarsen 1999). Research claims that the victims’ personality traits play critical role to predict occurrence (Zapf and Einarsen 2005) and emotionally unstable individuals are more prone to be bullies than to emotionally stable personalities (Glasø et al. 2007). In fact, personality of victims plays critical role as a cause and outcomes of negative social interaction (Podsiadly and Gamian-Wilk 2017). For example, research finds that depressed individuals tend to be bullied more (Zapf 1999). In a similar vein, shy individuals are more vulnerable to bullying activities (Einarsen et al. 1994). In a meta-analysis, Nielsen et al. (2017) found that extraversion, negatively, and neuroticism, positively, are only two personality traits correlated with workplace bullying. In the case of bullying, sometimes it is difficult to observe why bullying occurs as people tend to believe their actions are moral and, in many cases, can be justifiable. Furthermore, not only the characteristics of the victims but perpetrators could be a matter. Perhaps, perpetrators themselves may have difficult personalities (O’Moore et al. 1998). It is also found that there is equal possibility that perpetrators may be a woman. So, gender plays no significant role to predict perpetrators (Namie 2007). However, racial differences

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play a significant role in being bullied. So, racial diversity is a significant predictor for workplace bullying (Lewis and Gunn 2007). Nonetheless, Leymann (1996) refutes the idea that victims’ personalities play a critical role on bullying. He suggests anyone under certain circumstances could be bullied by others. Accordingly, he argued that the main problem is not individual differences or personality of individuals but rather bad and negative working conditions. In fact, work environment factors are one of the most important antecedents of workplace bullying behaviors (Notelaers et al. 2019). Similarly, workplace bullying happens in organizational context where bullying behavior is vaguely accepted or permitted (Brodsky 1976). For instance, there is a relationship between high-strain work conditions and being a bully or perpetrator (Baillien et al. 2011). Further, organizational circumstances subsequently may cause individuals to be exposed to workplace bullying (Baillien et al. 2009) as well as work engagement may cause workplace bullying activities (Einarsen et al. 2018). In fact, successful implementation of positive organization climate supported by policies and procedures may help prevent incidents to happen (Einarsen et al. 2011). On the other hand, organizational chaos gives rise to bullying activities (Hodson et al. 2006). In this vein, it is found that there is a relationship between organizational change and being a perpetrator of the bullying. This is due to fact that when organizational change occurs, it may breach psychological contract of perpetrators and subsequently this would lead bullying behaviors toward other members (Baillien et al. 2019). Moreover, stressful work practices may push individuals to avoid work environment, and eventually, such attitude toward workplace and others may receive negative feedbacks. This may turn into workplace bullying practices (Notelaers et al. 2013). Further, individuals with disruptive behaviors may be prone to bullying behavior, particularly by those who held superior positions in hierarchy (Martin 2008). Not only these individuals but also whistleblowers may be prone to bullying behaviors by their hierarchical superiors, and it is even more stressful than other types of bullying (Park et al. 2020). Despite that findings, only few studies researched the factors preventing and protecting organizations from workplace bullying (Einarsen et al. 2018). The issue of preventing may be more complex than it may be perceived as moderator factors have a strong effect on the matter (Glasø et al. 2007). Even then human resource departments of organization can influence multiple facet of the experience for victims (D’Cruz and Noronha 2010).

Exposure to Workplace Bullying Exposure to workplace bullying may cause short- and long-term problems for individuals and organizations which include performance- and productivity-related issues as well as health-related problems for victims (Nielsen et al. 2016a). Exposure to workplace bullying negatively affects victims’ family and social relationships (Kieseker and Marchant 1999). In this vein, Nielsen and Einarsen’ (2012) metaanalysis reveals that there is a correlation between exposure to workplace bullying

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and health and mental problems at individual levels and lower job satisfaction and organizational commitment at organizational level. For example, at organizational level it increases chance of sickness absence at the workplace (Nielsen et al. 2016b) and fear of job insecurity (Park and Ono 2017). Research also shows that victim may have serious mental, health, and emotional well-being issues as a direct result of being bullied. Some of the health consequences include anxiety; sleep disruption; stress headaches; physical exhaustion; physical aches; panic attacks; migraines (Namie 2000) and headache (Tynes et al. 2013); sleep problems (Hansen et al. 2016; Nielsen et al. 2018); anxiety, positively; and vigor, negatively (Rodríguez-Muñoz et al. 2015). The exposure to workplace bullying may even significantly increase chance to have cardiovascular diseases (Kivimäki et al. 2003; Xu et al. 2018). In fact, workplace bullying may damage individuals’ health so much so that it is – in physical intimidation form – one of the predictors of suicidal idea (Nielsen et al. 2016b). Similarly, there is a positive correlation between facing workplace bullying and suicidal behavior (Leach et al. 2017). Almost all victims have reported to have post-traumatic stress disorder after being exposed to workplace bullying (Leymann and Gustafsson 1996). Consequent of workplace bullying is too difficult to cope for a point that victims may have mental issues in the form of anxiety and depression after 5 years on (Einarsen and Nielsen 2015). Furthermore, victims of bullying are described as conscientious and have difficulties to adjust to circumstances (Brodsky 1976). Therefore, findings from different studies have shown that exposure to workplace bullying has two main outcomes. One is for individual level and the other one is for organizational level. At individual level, bullying practices may cause long- and short-term health and mental issues. This may have devastating and serious consequences on individuals. Therefore, the matter becomes more problematic specifically for victims. For the organizational level, the studies consistently show that all outcomes negatively affect organizations. So, workplace bullying would cause devastating effects both on individuals’ well-being and organizational success. One of the alternatives to dealing with workplace bullying is prevention practices, and the other one is coping strategies – specific to individuals.

Toxic Leaders and Followers There is a complex and complicated relationship between leaders and followers. Traditional leadership studies considered followers as the subject of leaders who in most cases would follow leaders and, if necessary, obey the established rules. In here, it should be clarified that many studies assess leaders’ behaviors from the follower perspective. Perhaps, this is correct because leaders’ toxic effect can only be understood when it is perceived by followers (Schyns and Schilling 2013). The relationship of leaders and followers shapes around the concept of influence. This is a process where leaders utilize its destructive behaviors upon followers and create harms on well-being of followers. Such behaviors can be toward all followers or to a

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small group of people (Schyns and Schilling 2013). Nonetheless, followers may not agree about what constitutes toxic leadership behaviors. So, if followers cannot agree what are the toxic or destructive leadership behaviors, then how would they challenge or confront the leadership (Pelletier 2010)? Further, modern research in leadership appears to be influenced by a sentiment that the relationship between leaders and followers is dyadic and based on mutual benefit expectation. There is a constant calculation of benefit maximization by followers, and if leaders would like to be supported by them, he/she should provide followers what they want to have. In fact, toxic leaders may desire obedience and passivity and build their teams with such individuals, who fulfill their desires, but majority of followers may follow more passive (obedient) approach. Nonetheless, contemporary approach to leadership discusses that followers are both partners and co-producers of outcomes (Carsten et al. 2010). So, they should be treated with respect and dignity. Moreover, how follower responds to the toxic leadership may depend on the circumstances. Each circumstance is different and context dependent, and the relationship between toxic leaders and followers may be dynamic. For instance, when leaders are being silent, less likely followers engage into avoidance-oriented coping strategies, and more likely they will not respond in silence (Zill et al. 2020). However, there are more dynamics in the relationship between toxic leaders and followers. Unlike, general belief that followers do not despise and necessarily hate toxic leaders. In fact, toxic leaders sometimes may be perceived by followers as heroes. Some behaviors of the toxic leaders can be considered well and appreciated by followers (Lipman-Blumen 2005). This is due to attraction of some followers may have for toxic leaders as well as some behavior of the toxic leaders may be perceived as strong and independent. Autocratic behaviors of toxic leaders may be appealing because of comfort provided for some of the followers’ psychological needs (Lipman-Blumen 2005). Subsequently, followers protect their toxic leaders, and they may be lead with relative ease. Not only that followers may also obey and finally aid toxic leaders in case if they see some additional benefits (Heppell 2011). Therefore, sometimes it may be difficult to identify toxic leaders and their harm on well-being of others. This is despite the fact that toxic leaders can engage in workplace bullying activities and create toxic and harmful environments. In fact, one of the most common manifestations of toxic leadership is workplace bullying practices that they engage in (Webster et al. 2016). Furthermore, in certain context not only followers but also organizational structures can provide protection/cover for toxic leadership practices. This may be because toxic leaders may be competitive and effective in the short run but costly on organizational success and individuals’ well-being on the long run (Tavanti 2011). However, eventually toxic leaders may have detrimental effect on followers’ well-beings. In such circumstances the followers put blame on human resource departments to not realize detrimental effect which toxic environment causes on their performance and not to act on resolving interpersonal work-related disputes (Fahie 2019). Perhaps, more importantly, the most important impact of toxic leadership on follower’s performance is to cause long-lasting impairment (Bhandarker

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and Rai 2019). What is worrying is organizations usually react to toxic leadership practices when they reach a high level of adverse impact on others (Williams 2019). Consequences of toxic leadership practices on follower’s well-being include psychological distress, emotional issues, and physical health issues (Webster et al. 2016). Under these circumstances there is lack of research in leadership literature, that is, how followers react to toxic environment created by leadership. Toxic leaders strive to influence followers through different tactics and control them, thus hampering their work activities and reducing their performance. In response, followers may try to neutralize the leader’s harmful effects through workarounds and more importantly by learning (Milosevic et al. 2019).

How to Deal with Bullying and Toxic Leadership Toxic leadership and workplace bullying would create a very difficult environment for employees to deal with. Toxic leaders have a tendency of practicing bullying on other employees. Such leaders have destructive behavior and dysfunctional personality (Tavanti 2011). In fact, one of the most common forms of toxic workplaces created by toxic leaders is flourishing of harmful workplace practices in the organizations. Perhaps, one of the most common causes of the relationship between toxic leaders and workplace bullying lies on the aggressive and malicious characteristic of leaders. They have persistent harm on individuals and organizations (LipmanBlumen 2005). As it is mentioned earlier, identifying toxic leaders is a difficult act due to individual tendency of subjectivity toward leaders they follow as well as certain organizational structures. However, related literature suggests that it may be possible to prevent toxic leadership practices and workplace activities by engaging and establishing certain mechanism in organizational structures, rules, and procedure. However, organizations still struggle to provide protective pillars from workplace bullying practices for individuals. If it is the case in order to protect their own psychical, psychological, and mental well-being, individuals/victims may opt to engage into coping mechanisms. This can be beneficial to individuals’ well-being even under very intense, long, and stressful bullying process. One should recognize that workplace bullying may cause long-term health and mental problems even though victims are no longer exposed to it. Therefore, in order to protect their own well-being and in the case of lack of organizational protection mechanism, victims could consider to apply coping mechanism at the workplace. There is also certain role that human resource department should play. Perhaps, one of the most important things to be done is early detection and intervention. In order to achieve that, destructive leadership behaviors of certain leaders should be immediately recognized. Nonetheless, as sometimes it might be difficult to identify such behaviors from normal leadership practices, successful interventions may hugely depend on senior management’s ability to understand toxic and destructive leadership behaviors (Erickson et al. 2015).

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Coping with Toxic Leadership and Workplace Bullying Trying to deal with toxic leaders’ difficult characteristic and behaviors can be a very difficult challenge for organizations and followers (Tavanti 2011). In fact, one of the most difficult aspects of determining possible benefits of coping strategies is the role of organizations (D’Cruz and Noronha 2010). Coping strategies are usually adaptive, unconscious, and not voluntary (Webster et al. 2016). There are quite a few methods that help organization to prevent workplace bullying, and these are usually related to organizational measures including good leadership practices (Beirne and Hunter 2013), positive organizational culture (Dollard and Karasek 2010), work design (Notelaers et al. 2013), and conflict resolution mechanisms (Dollard et al. 2017). Among that the research found only helpful way to prevent workplace bullying is formal sanctions (Einarsen et al. 2017). Therefore, organization may be unsuccessful to prevent such occurrence which may have grieve consequences for individual well-being and organizational success. This may even make difficult for organizations to survive in the long run. Under these circumstances individuals engage into coping mechanisms. Much like the definition of toxic leadership, there is little consensus on how to conceptualize and implement coping strategies (Webster et al. (2016). There is even argument that whether coping strategies is a process or style, but eventually it is limitedly agreed that coping strategies are both style and a situation-specific behavior (Hogh and Dofradottir 2001). The concept of toxic leadership agrees an important point that leaders, whoever they are, are human beings who quite often make many mistakes and in their true nature they are imperfect (Pelletier 2010). Therefore, they may engage in harmful decisions for organization arguably and more importantly for individuals. Therefore, employees become more important to realize the situation and develop certain coping strategies. Subsequently, under these circumstances people develop certain ways to cope with increasing pressures. Despite that, organizations commit little to help victims and do not do much to prevent incidence to occur (Gardner et al. 2016). However, ineffective coping mechanism of frustration, consequently, may lead to workplace bullying (Baillien et al. 2009). Therefore, coping with workplace bullying from individual perspective would be important for victims. This may be even more important than preventing mechanisms. Victims sometimes may not realize that they are exposed to workplace bullying (Gamian-Wilk et al. 2017), and when they do, they may engage into coping strategies. Coping with workplace bullying requires victims to master on reduction of bullying-related stress (Bernstein and Trimm 2016). In order to achieve that, victim can utilize avoidance, doing nothing, seeking help, and assertiveness (Jóhannsdóttir and Ólafsson 2004). When they engage, they usually have two strategies to follow, problem-focused and emotional-focused coping strategies (Van den Brande et al. 2016). Both approaches can be beneficial for individuals depending on the circumstances. The first strategy focuses on environmental demands and the latter on emotional discomfort (Dewe 2000). However, both strategies are usually utilized together (Hogh and Dofradottir 2001). Furthermore,

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rather than engaging into avoiding strategies, victim is more likely to engage in emotional coping strategies (Dewe et al. 2010). So, emotions of individuals play certain roles in here. In this vein, if individuals decide to engage problem-focused coping strategies, then they will most likely try to alter bullies’ negative acts toward themselves. They may also address the aggressors directly. In emotional coping strategies, victim blames themselves, forgets the incidents, and accepts sympathy from others (Dewe et al. 2010). Victims of bullying process are more likely to engage emotional coping strategies, whereas witnesses would more likely try to utilize problem-solving strategies to help victims (Dehue et al. 2012). It is also found that witnesses more actively seek help and confront bullies than victims (Rayner 1997). It should be noted that there are few studies to explore how victims in different stages may engage in coping strategies (Karatuna 2015). In that victims more often first engage into constructive coping strategies, but if it does not work, they neglect or quit the job which may has devastating consequences for victims (Niedl 1996). Among all whether emotional or problem focused coping strategies engage there are different benefits for workplace-related mental and health problems. For example, Dehue et al. (2012) found that engaging into emotional-focused coping strategies increases health problems of victims. This study found that sometimes struggling to cope with workplace bullying may even increase the current stress level. Nonetheless, engaging into coping strategies is a complex issue, and the relationship between coping strategies and health highly depends on the chosen coping style/process (Reknes et al. 2016).

Summary The problems of toxic leaders are more apparent than ever. Their damage to organizations may have grieve consequences, and it may even reduce the chance of survival. In a hypercompetitive contemporary workplace environment, such leaders may provide some advantage in the short term, but as it is discussed above, almost in all instances, they would lead to failure in the medium/long run. Despite that, organizations most of the time fail to tackle the issues caused by the toxic leaders. There are some actions that can be taken by organizations which prevent toxic individuals to occupy leadership position. However, often organizations fail to do so. Besides leading organizations to fail, the toxic leaders also have negative impact on well-being of followers. This may happen directly or indirectly. One of the main problems that toxic leaders cause is that they may bully others particularly one who tries to stand – either willingly or unwillingly – on their ways. They may also allow bullying practices to be engaged by others in an environment that they shape for their own benefits. This may have negative impact on well-being of individuals. It may bring some short and even long physical, psychological, and mental problems to the victims. This health and mental problems can be really complicated to solve, and, in

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some cases, it may even increase the possibility of suicidal ideation (Nielsen et al. 2016). As it can be seen, toxic leadership practices may bring destruction and failure to organizations as well as create a toxic environment which subsequently undermines well-being of the followers. The toxic effect of leaders would reveal itself through time. Initially these effects cannot be easily understood, and therefore, individuals may not realize the circumstances they face. Nonetheless almost in all cases, toxic leaders may harm well-being of individuals in the long run. Toxic leaders can quite successfully hide their true nature in the short term but not be able to do that in long time. It is mainly the responsibility of organizations to prevent bullying practices and protect the victims. However, often they fail to do so. Subsequently, victims engage in coping mechanism. This would help victims to alleviate the problems that they face and reduce the stress they will have from the vicious bullying practices they will go through. Therefore, they may benefit more from coping mechanism and reduce the damage they will get. It also reduces the effect of stress. Workplace bullying is one of the main reasons of stress at workplace. It causes many health problems. Therefore, any attempt to reduce stress level would provide positive outcomes for individual well-being. Within this context, there is also the relationship between toxic leaders and followers. Toxic leaders sometimes perceive as heroes by followers. This may provide some sort of legitimacy to toxic leaders, and this would exacerbate workplace bullying. It should be remembered that toxic leaders need support from followers, and by providing legitimacy followers vaguely accept toxic behaviors of leadership. Therefore, in order to create a toxic environment, support of followers is strongly needed. Perhaps, it would not be wrong to say that followers intentionally or unintentionally allow toxic leaders to create harmful working environment which harm both organizational success and individual well-beings. In such circumstances, victims of bullying practices would have a difficult dilemma. First, organizations’ preventive action may not be able to protect them. However, increasing pressure of bullying-related stress may cause health problems. Possible alternatives could be implemented here. Emotional coping strategies can provide both short- and long-term solutions to victims which can contribute to wellbeing of individuals. Consequently, workplace bullying is a complex problem involving toxic leaders, followers, bullies, victims, and most importantly organizations. Perhaps the most important actions may be acting to prevent bullying practices. However, if it fails, individuals, more specifically victim, can engage in coping strategies which may be helpful to overcome. This would also help them to reduce the workplace bullying-related stress, thus may act to remove negative effect on victim’s health and well-being. Above all, perhaps another approach can be applied in here. It is discussed that the toxic leaders’ harmful and destructive behaviors can be altered through 360 feedback systems, coaching, and mentoring and, if these are not adequate, by implementing severe punishments (Burke 2017). This methodology can be proven more challenging due to toxic leaders’ nature. They may have the dark triad of personality traits – narcissism, Machiavellianism, and sub-clinical psychopathy – and if they have, it may not be possible to change the toxic leaders’ behaviors.

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Cross-References ▶ Impact of Workplace Bullying on Employees’ Mental Health and Self-Worth ▶ Improving the Quality of Work Life: An Interdisciplinary Lens into the Worker Experience ▶ Toxic Leadership: Managing Its Poisonous Effects on Employees and Organizational Outcomes ▶ What Are the Key Components of Workplace Well-Being?: Examining Real-Life Experiences in Different Work Contexts ▶ Workplace Well-Being and Human Flourishing: A Case Model of Homeboy Industries and Reducing Gang Recidivism

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Contents Worker Job Satisfaction and Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Worker Alienation and Disengagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fox News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harvey Weinstein and Weinstein Productions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NBC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Uber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Movement from Legalistic Approach to Focus on Leadership and Culture Change Within Corporations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Developments 2018: Challenge to Mandatory Arbitration and Nondisclosure Agreements . . . Legislative Initiatives in NY, NJ, and CA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Developments in Tech: Voluntary Relinquishment of Mandatory Arbitration and Nondisclosure Agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Change in Leadership and Corporate Culture Required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Real Gender Equality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lessons for Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beyond Sexual Harassment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

Work is fundamental to human flourishing. A toxic work environment can lead to work alienation and disengagement, adverse to human flourishing. Toxic leadership, including sexual harassment by managers, a form of bullying, creates a toxic work environment. Workers value transparency and fairness. The typical way that sexual harassment complaints are resolved in work organizations involves P. A. Becker (*) Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_29

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mandatory arbitration and nondisclosure agreements. Not only are these processes non-transparent, but they also enable the continuation of the toxic behavior. The #MeToo movement led to whistleblowing about sexual harassment at the Weinstein Company, Fox News, CBS, NBC, and Uber. Investigations conducted at Uber, following a complaint by a female engineer posted on a public blog, resulted in the resignation of the founder of Uber as CEO and widespread change in corporate procedures, including performance management and compensation systems. New York, New Jersey, and California all have prohibited secret nondisclosure agreements settling sexual harassment complaints. High-tech companies including Uber, Microsoft, Facebook, and Google have voluntarily abandoned mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment claims. Significant culture change is required to eradicate sexual harassment in the workplace, so that the sex roles of female workers are not defined as salient, but rather female workers are judged in terms of the effectiveness of their job performance. Performance management and compensation systems for executives are required to create real culture change in work organizations. The focus on improving organizational transparency and fairness would appropriately be expanded including race harassment and gender identity issues in the workplace. Keywords

Sexual harassment · Gender discrimination · Human flourishing · Transparency · Toxic work environment · Toxic leadership · Work alienation · Disengagement · Organizational culture · Mandatory arbitration · Nondisclosure agreements · Uber · #MeToo · Whistleblowing · Eudaimonia · Social contract · Job satisfaction · Engagement Human flourishing is widely considered the goal of human existence. This is Aristotle’s concept of “Eudaimonia.” See Nicomachean Ethics (Aristotle 2016). Human flourishing involves “actualisation of human potential” (Wolbert et al. 2015). Work is intimately connected to self-actualization and growth, for better or for worse (Dhiman 2007). Satisfying work can lead to personal development and human flourishing. Dissatisfying work can lead to worker alienation and disengagement, inhibiting both personal and community well-being. Work is undergoing transformation, in the postindustrial economy (Schwab 2016; see also, Schwab 2018). The International Labor Organization (ILO) on the occasion of its 100th anniversary commissioned an expert report on the future of work; the commission urged the redesign of jobs and workplaces toward a human centric approach to work: We propose a human-centred agenda for the future of work that strengthens the social contract by placing people and the work they do at the centre of economic and social policy and business practice. This agenda consists of three pillars of action [increasing investment in people’s capabilities, increasing investment in the institutions of work, and increasing

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investment in decent and sustainable work], which in combination would drive growth, equity and sustainability for present and future generations. (ILO 2019)

Human centric workplaces must manifest concern for employees themselves. For workers to flourish, they must experience job satisfaction and engagement at work.

Worker Job Satisfaction and Engagement The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is a leading professional organization concerned with the human factor in organizations. SHRM periodically surveys worker job satisfaction and engagement. Job satisfaction has multiple components, including being treated with respect and dignity, trust among workers and managers, the opportunity to use one’s skills and ability in the job, and job security and compensation, among other factors (SHRM 2017 Survey: 2017 Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement: The Doors of Opportunity Are Open). Although job satisfaction is considered “relatively high” according to SHRM, there was no factor contributing to job satisfaction, to which individuals surveyed responded “highly satisfied” with a response rate over 50% (see Fig. 1). In addition, 40% of those surveyed plan to seek other employment within the next year, another measure of job satisfaction/dissatisfaction and which contributes to organizational turnover. The single most significant factor contributing to job satisfaction was “respectful treatment of employees at all levels,” as shown in Fig. 1. Fairness and transparency are critical leadership practices impacting worker job satisfaction and engagement and thereby organizational performance. SHRM exhorts organizational leadership to lead with “fairness and transparency.” Issue Although job satisfaction is relatively high, there is room for organizations to improve employee engagement. Decreased engagement leads to less dedication by employees, higher turnover and lowered productivity. Insight Fairness and transparency are fundamental yet powerful concepts that can make a lasting impression on employees and employers. These principles have the potential to influence many organizational outcomes in the workplace, including job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Implications Integrating fairness and transparency into organizational procedures and initiatives will have a ripple effect of organizational enhancements. If these values are genuinely displayed by leadership, employees are more likely to mimic the desired behaviors of openness, establishing a more reciprocal relationship. Source: SHRM (2017)

Lack of fairness and transparency by leadership give rise to job dissatisfaction and disengagement on the part of affected employee and even individuals who simply observe the unfairness and opacity.

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Fig. 1 Factors in job satisfaction

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Worker Alienation and Disengagement Worker job dissatisfaction is manifested in organizations by behaviors such as low morale, higher turnover, and decreased productivity. Job dissatisfaction contributes to worker disengagement and alienation. Disengagement and alienation exhibit as such behaviors as low “citizenship” behaviors, including high absenteeism, loss of collaboration and teamwork, loss of initiative in problem-solving, and increased hostility and antagonism in the workplace toward co-workers and customers (https:// axerosolutions.com/Downloads/[eBook]22-Surefire-Ways-to-Increase-EmployeeEngagement-full.pdf; see also https://axerosolutions.com/blogs/timeisenhauer/ pulse/365/20-fundamental-problems-linked-to-employee-disengagement). In fact, disengagement and alienation can transform into a hostile work environment. Sexual harassment in the workplace gives rise to hostile work environments. Sexual harassment has been recognized at law as a form of gender discrimination in the workplace (Gender discrimination in employment was prohibited in the workplace by the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964) since the 1970s (MacKinnon 1979; see also Siegel 2003). Sexual harassment was defined to include both “quid pro quo” harassment and “hostile work environment” harassment (Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson 1986). Sexual harassment is defined in terms of “unwelcome sexual advances” by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (BNA Communications, Inc. n.d.): Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when: submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment, or submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as a basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment

Sexual harassment law was further developed by the adoption of the “reasonable woman” standard, to determine whose perspective determines whether behaviors are considered sexual harassment (Ellison v. Brady 1991). The employer is liable for the harassing acts of their employees, but the Supreme Court also created an affirmative obligation of the harassed employee to complain of the wrongful conduct (Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, Florida 1998; Burlington v. Ellerth 1998). Notwithstanding the fact that sexual harassments, both quid pro quo harassment and hostile work environment harassment, have been prohibited at law since the 1970s, with landmark US Supreme Court decisions, the pervasiveness of sexual harassment in work organizations became recognized as the #MeToo movement emerged in late 2017.

Fox News Roger Ailes was chairman and CEO of Fox News. In July 2016, co-anchor of Fox and Friends Gretchen Carlson sued Ailes for sexual harassment, after she had been terminated from Fox at the expiration of her contract in June. Ailes resigned from

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Fox within 16 days after Carlson’s complaint; Ailes received a $41 million severance package (BBC News 2019; see also Disis and Pallotta 2017). In the wake of the sexual harassment suit by Gretchen Carlson, the tenor of business conduct and culture created at Fox became revealed, as other women, including Megyn Kelly, came forward with disclosures. It is noteworthy that Fox attempted to force Gretchen Carlson to arbitrate her claims, rather than litigate. Carlson’s claim settled for $20 million. After the ouster of Roger Ailes, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly settled an allegation against him with a $32 million settlement made to one individual. Fox News was aware of the settlement, after which Fox renewed his employment contract for 4 years. Within several months, settlements with five other women came to light, and advertisers withdrew from sponsorship of ads with Fox. O’Reilly was terminated by Fox News and its parent, Murdoch. O’Reilly received a $25 million severance package, equivalent to a 1-year contract (Steel and Schmidt 2017).

Harvey Weinstein and Weinstein Productions Harvey Weinstein was the “poster boy” of the #Me Too Movement (People 2017). Harvey Weinstein allegedly acted as a sexual predator toward some female leads in the movies he produced at Miramax, owned by Disney, and later at Weinstein Productions. Harvey’s brother, who was his business partner, paid out some settlements from his personal account to hide the settlement payments from Miramax and its parent Disney (Farrow 2017). The settlements and their associated nondisclosure agreements, reportedly with eight women, enabled his serial predatory behavior (Kantor and Twohey 2017).

CBS Charlie Rose was terminated from CBS and PBS, on Nov 17, 2017, in response to an article reporting that he sexually harassed many women on the shows that he produced or worked on. Initially 8, then 27 woman alleged Charlie Rose sexually harassed them (Carmon and Brittain 2017). This was at the height of #MeToo (Abrams 2018). A harassment lawsuit was brought against Rose and CBS. Rose was terminated from CBS and PBS after the second round of allegations published in the Washington Post (Brittain and Carmon 2018). Charlie Rose’s firing from CBS was followed within a year, by the termination of Jeff Fager, executive producer of 60 Minutes, and of Leslie Moonves, the Chairman of CBS Corporation in September 2018 (Farrow 2018; Hagey 2018). CBS, in the wake of the allegations against its top executives, engaged the services of the law firm of Eric Holder, Covington & Burling, as well as Debevoise & Plimpton to investigate cultural issues relating the sexual harassment claims against its top executives (Flint 2018) (Covington & Burling is the same firm hired by Uber to investigate its corporate culture, as discussed below (Griffin 2017)).

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NBC Matt Lauer, the anchor of the Today Show, was terminated by NBC in late November 2017, within 24 h of allegations by a subordinate of misconduct by Lauer at the 2014 Sochi Olympics (Gabler et al. 2017). After he was terminated, other women came forward with report of sexual misconduct (Farrow 2018). At the time of his termination, NBC released a statement, “Our highest priority is to create a workplace environment where everyone feels safe and protected, and to ensure that any actions that run counter to our core values are met with consequences, no matter who the offender” (NBC.com 2017). Lauer received no payout at his termination.

Uber Uber is an innovator and early mover of the “gig economy,” having developed disruptive technology creating new forms of employment and on call services competing with taxi and limousine services. The founding CEO Travis Kalanick however stepped down after revelations by a female engineer of sexual harassment, including discriminatory and retaliatory behavior, as well as a cut-throat organizational culture. Blog Susan Fowler Reflecting on One Very, Very Strange Year at Uber February 19, 2017 As most of you know, I left Uber in December and joined Stripe in January. I’ve gotten a lot of questions over the past couple of months about why I left and what my time at Uber was like. It’s a strange, fascinating, and slightly horrifying story that deserves to be told while it is still fresh in my mind, so here we go. I joined Uber as a site reliability engineer (SRE) back in November 2015, and it was a great time to join as an engineer. They were still wrangling microservices out of their monolithic API, and things were just chaotic enough that there was exciting reliability work to be done. The SRE team was still pretty new when I joined, and I had the rare opportunity to choose whichever team was working on something that I wanted to be part of. After the first couple of weeks of training, I chose to join the team that worked on my area of expertise, and this is where things started getting weird. On my first official day rotating on the team, my new manager sent me a string of messages over company chat. He was in an open relationship, he said, and his girlfriend was having an easy time finding new partners, but he wasn’t. He was trying to stay out of trouble at work, he said, but he couldn’t help getting in trouble, because he was looking for women to have sex with. It was clear that he was trying to get me to have sex with him, and it was so clearly out of line that I immediately took screenshots of these chat messages and reported him to HR. Uber was a pretty good-sized company at that time, and I had pretty standard expectations of how they would handle situations like this. I expected that I would report him to HR, they would handle the situation appropriately, and then life would go on - unfortunately, things played out quite a bit differently. When I reported the situation, I was told by both HR and upper management that even though this was clearly sexual harassment and he was propositioning me, it was this man’s first offense, and that they wouldn’t feel comfortable giving him anything other than a warning and a stern talking-to. Upper management told me that he

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“was a high performer” (i.e. had stellar performance reviews from his superiors) and they wouldn’t feel comfortable punishing him for what was probably just an innocent mistake on his part. I was then told that I had to make a choice: (i) I could either go and find another team and then never have to interact with this man again, or (ii) I could stay on the team, but I would have to understand that he would most likely give me a poor performance review when review time came around, and there was nothing they could do about that. I remarked that this didn’t seem like much of a choice, and that I wanted to stay on the team because I had significant expertise in the exact project that the team was struggling to complete (it was genuinely in the company’s best interest to have me on that team), but they told me the same thing again and again. One HR rep even explicitly told me that it wouldn’t be retaliation if I received a negative review later because I had been “given an option”. I tried to escalate the situation but got nowhere with either HR or with my own management chain (who continued to insist that they had given him a stern-talking to and didn’t want to ruin his career over his “first offense”). So I left that team, and took quite a few weeks learning about other teams before landing anywhere (I desperately wanted to not have to interact with HR ever again). I ended up joining a brand-new SRE team that gave me a lot of autonomy, and I found ways to be happy and do amazing work. In fact, the work I did on this team turned into the productionreadiness process which I wrote about in my bestselling (!!!) book Production-Ready Microservices. Over the next few months, I began to meet more women engineers in the company. As I got to know them, and heard their stories, I was surprised that some of them had stories similar to my own. Some of the women even had stories about reporting the exact same manager I had reported and had reported inappropriate interactions with him long before I had even joined the company. It became obvious that both HR and management had been lying about this being “his first offense,” and it certainly wasn’t his last. Within a few months, he was reported once again for inappropriate behavior, and those who reported him were told it was still his “first offense”. The situation was escalated as far up the chain as it could be escalated, and still nothing was done. Myself and a few of the women who had reported him in the past decided to all schedule meetings with HR to insist that something be done. In my meeting, the rep I spoke with told me that he had never been reported before, he had only ever committed one offense (in his chats with me), and that none of the other women who they met with had anything bad to say about him, so no further action could or would be taken. It was such a blatant lie that there was really nothing I could do. There was nothing any of us could do. We all gave up on Uber HR and our managers after that. Eventually he “left” the company. I don’t know what he did that finally convinced them to fire him. (source: https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strangeyear-at-uber)

Several of Susan Fowler’s complaints and experiences with her managers and HR resonate as common themes among complainants: protecting (male) high performers; failure to conduct a full and fair investigation by HR; offers of transfer to the complaining party, rather than the transfer of the higher ranked manager; and threats and retaliation against the complaining parties (Google also had to deal with complaints of bad behavior by “high performers.” Google terminated some high performers, including the lead creator of the Android mobile software and the director of “Rapid Evaluation and Mad Science”; but they received significant severance packages, $90 million dollars in the case of the lead creator of the Android mobile software (Kimelsesser 2018; see also Wakabayashi and Benner 2018).

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Even after the disclosures of toxic behavior and widespread harassment within Uber, HR failed to pursue the investigation because the allegations were against a “high performer.” To the credit of the company and of CEO Travis Kalanick, after Susan Fowler’s blog was posted, the CEO sent a letter to all employees and established a hot line for complaints, and two independent investigations were commissioned by the board, one to investigate the specific complaints of sexual harassment and the other to investigate Uber’s corporate culture. Additionally, new management and board positions were created. Later CEO Travis Kalanick resigned as CEO but retained his position on the board. The recommendations of the investigation into Uber’s corporate culture, conducted by former attorney general Eric Holder, were very broad ranging. They included recommendations about board oversight (Arianna Huffington, the founder of Huffington Post, was appointed to the board); the re-configuration of HR; mandatory management training; implementation of an effective complaint system; and change to the organizational culture, particularly regarding diversity and inclusion, practically applied as a performance management system, a pay system addressing inequities based on gender and race, and an executive compensation system that incorporates Uber’s code of conduct into the performance evaluation system. Each of the complaints raised in Susan Fowler’s blog, including her complaints of the toxic and competitive, dysfunctional culture, was addressed by the inquiry conducted by former attorney general Eric Holder and his law firm, Covington & Burling; broad-ranging recommendations targeting to change the corporate culture were made, as per the following: June 13, 2017 The position [of diversity officer] should be renamed the “Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer,” and the position should report directly to the CEO or the COO. This action is intended to reflect the elevated status of this role and demonstrate the company’s commitment to this issue. Addition of more independent board members, an independent chair of the board, an oversight committee. The Board should consider incorporating ethical business practices, diversity and inclusion, and other values from Uber’s Business Code of Conduct into its executive compensation program. Experience shows that compensation provides a powerful tool for creating incentives for behavior, and reinforcing a company’s values. Senior managers should be able to track whether certain organizations or managers give rise to multiple complaints such that intervention with the manager is needed. Uber should enhance communication to employees concerning how and to whom they can raise complaints about harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. Uber should develop and communicate multiple avenues for lodging a complaint, including an employee’s immediate manager or next-level manager, the organization’s Human Resources Business Partner, or the Integrity Helpline. This encourages employees who may otherwise fear retaliation to come forward, knowing that there are multiple avenues they can utilize if they have a concern. To achieve this reformulation of the values (to “reflect more inclusive and positive behaviors”) there are several steps Uber should undertake: work with an established and respected organization that is experienced in organizational change to restate the values with significant input from employees; consider further defining the values in a manner more accessible to and more easily understood by employees; adopt values that are more inclusive and

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contribute to a collaborative environment, including emphasizing teamwork and mutual respect, and incorporating diversity and inclusiveness as a key cultural value, not just as an end in itself, but as a fundamental aspect of doing good business; reduce the overall number of values, and eliminate those values which have been identified as redundant or as having been used to justify poor behavior, including Let Builders Build, Always Be Hustlin’, Meritocracy and Toe-Stepping, and Principled Confrontation; and encourage senior leaders to exhibit the values on a daily basis and to model a more collaborative and inclusive Uber culture. Uber should utilize the “Rooney Rule” [affirmative action] for women and other underrepresented populations for key positions, wherein each pool of candidates interviewed for each identified position includes at least one woman and one member of an underrepresented minority group, thereby ensuring that members of the populations currently underrepresented in Uber’s workplace are interviewed with appropriate consistency. Alternative and non-traditional sources of recruiting [including] historically black colleges and university and Hispanic-serving institutions, and blind resume reviews. No special treatment should be given to any employee, regardless of level, tenure, or past performance. Uber should consider adopting a zero tolerance stance for violations of the anti-harassment, anti-discrimination, and anti-retaliation policies no matter the level or performance of the perpetrator. Prohibit romantic relationships among employees in cases where one party reports directly to the other party. Take steps to eliminate bias and misuse of the performance review process Engage a consultant or undertake internal surveys to identify and address attrition that is higher than expected, across the company or within specific organizations. To ensure that Uber truly appreciates the value of equitable pay, members of senior management and the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors should be tasked with participating in this review, and overseeing and responding to the recommendations of the outside law firm on pay, to ensure a tone of support and a culture of compliance for the work that is being done. Source: Uber Report: Eric Holder’s Recommendations for Change (June 13, 2017).

The way Uber upper management and the board ultimately addressed broad issues of sexual harassment and toxic organizational culture can serve as a model for other organizations addressing systemic issues of harassment and toxic culture. However, Uber not only had a culture of harassment vis a vis employees but has an identified problem of sexual assault of passengers by drivers. The sexual assault of passengers by drivers come to the fore in 2018 (Vagianos 2018; see also Palmer 2018). The protection of customers/riders from sexual harassment and sexual assault remains an area to be addressed. This is an organizational issue for CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who succeeded Kravis, even though Uber takes the position that its drivers are independent contractors. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced the initiation of certain changes to protect riders: adding the ability of riders to install five “trusted contacts” on the Uber app who can track their trips and adding a new emergency button that connects riders directly with 911. The 2015 version of the driver code of conduct was silent on background checks (Uber 2015), but in April 2018, Uber started to require annual background checks of its drivers (Mak 2018). However, Uber’s background checks do not include fingerprinting of drivers, a procedure required, for example, of teachers in many states. Although Uber

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implemented procedures to transform its internal culture with respect to employees, it has not implemented similar transformative procedures to protect the interests of Uber riders/customers.

Movement from Legalistic Approach to Focus on Leadership and Culture Change Within Corporations There are several problems with a legal approach to sexual harassment litigation. Employers invoke the Faragher defense, which requires the victims of harassment to complain promptly of the harassment. Complaints after statutes of limitations on harassing behavior, a form of sex discrimination, have run, typically 2 years, leaving the victim of harassment without recourse. Plus, the practice of mandatory arbitration and nondisclosure agreements keeps the incidence of sexual harassment secret and allows the bad behavior to continue (Nunez 2018; see also Harris 2017). As companies deal with festering issues of sexual harassment, companies would be well advised to avoid a strictly legalistic approach as they reconstruct their corporate culture. Sexual harassment settlements typically have utilized mandatory arbitration and nondisclosure agreements. A fundamental problem with mandatory arbitration and nondisclosure agreements is that they are contrary to transparency and exploit imbalances of power between the parties (Amoroso et al. 2019; see also, New Jersey Law Journal Editorial Board 2018). Moreover, nondisclosure agreements, embodying the settlement of discrimination claims via mandatory arbitration, enable the continuation of the discriminatory and harassing conduct, by keeping it secret (Covert 2017). When the settlements and their underlying behavior finally come to light, the covered-up information impacts perceived fairness in the organization. Thus, mandatory arbitration and nondisclosure agreements play a role in worker alienation and disengagement as result of sexual harassment. This happened egregiously at the Weinstein Company and at Fox News, as described above.

Developments 2018: Challenge to Mandatory Arbitration and Nondisclosure Agreements Legislative Initiatives in NY, NJ, and CA New York State passed legislation prohibiting mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment claims and nondisclosure agreements unless the complaining party prefers to include a nondisclosure agreement. Governor Cuomo signed the law on April 18, 2018, and it took effect on July 11, 2018 (National Law Review 2018a). NYC also passed a similar law, the Stop Sexual Harassment in Employment Act, on May 9, 2018 (NYC.gov n.d.).

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The New Jersey state legislature bills, New Jersey Senate No. 121 and Assembly No. 1242, prohibit mandatory arbitration of discrimination charges and nondisclosure agreements. The NJ Senate passed No. 121 on June 11, 2018. It provides that any “provision in an employment contract that waives any substantive or procedural right or remedy relating to a claim of discrimination, retaliation, or harassment shall be deemed against public policy and unenforceable” (National Law Review 2018b). It also prohibits nondisclosure agreements “relating to a claim of discrimination, retaliation, or harassment.” The bills were passed by both houses of the NJ legislature on January 31, 2019 (NJLEG.state.nj. n.d.). Governor Jerry Brown vetoed California’s law prohibiting mandatory arbitration and nondisclosure agreements in cases involving sexual harassment, on the grounds that it conflicts with the Federal Arbitration Act (see Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, 584 U.S. 2018; Koseff 2018).

Developments in Tech: Voluntary Relinquishment of Mandatory Arbitration and Nondisclosure Agreements Microsoft, Facebook, Google, and Uber have dropped mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment claims in their employment contracts (MacMillan 2018). The voluntary relinquishment of the binding arbitration of employment disputes thereby obviate the issue whether state laws prohibiting mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment claims violate the Federal Arbitration Act and are thereby subject to the doctrine of federal pre-emption. The Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal (FAIR) Act has been proposed in both houses of the US Congress. It provides “no pre-dispute arbitration agreement or pre-dispute joint-action waiver shall be valid or enforceable with respect to an employment dispute, consumer dispute, antitrust dispute, or civil rights dispute.” The FAIR Act, if passed, would prohibit mandatory arbitration of employment and civil rights disputes as well as consumer disputes and antitrust disputes, well beyond the scope of legislation passed in NY, NJ, and CA (National Law Review 2019).

Change in Leadership and Corporate Culture Required The abolition of sexual harassment in the workplace requires the achievement of real gender equality at work. The Global Commission on the Future of Work prioritizes the need for gender equality in the workplace among its strategic initiatives: Implementing a transformative and measurable agenda for gender equality. The world of work begins at home. From parental leave to investment in public care services, policies need to foster the sharing of unpaid care work in the home to create genuine equality of opportunity in the workplace. Strengthening women’s voice and leadership, eliminating violence and harassment at work and implementing pay transparency policies are preconditions for gender equality. Specific measures are also needed to address gender equality in the technology-enabled jobs of tomorrow. (ILO 2019)

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The achievement of gender equality in the workplace requires changes in leadership and corporate culture. Changes in leadership from the top, and perhaps changes of leadership at the top, as happened with Uber, are required for changes in corporate culture to become enacted in the workplace and for healing in the workplace to occur. After incidents of egregious sexual harassment, sexual harassment policies, training, and investigation procedures must be examined and likely revised. Some companies have demonstrated what not to do in investigating sexual harassment complaints. In fact, Fox, CBS, NBC, the Weinstein Company, and Uber all conducted investigations about multiple incidents and complaints of sexual harassment over time, without rectification of the toxic leadership and toxic culture rampant at those organizations. Ultimately, however, to their credit, the companies confronted the systemic nature of harassment in their organizations, sometimes with board involvement. With the recognition that some organizational cultures and leadership are toxic, the question arises, how might be sexual harassment policies and training be different in workplaces with toxic leadership and toxic cultures? This author previously developed recommendations for sexual harassment policies and training in spiritually grounded workplaces (Becker 2018).1 However, are there nuances and differences in organizational policies in circumstances where harassment is entrenched in the culture? Sexual harassment policy, training, and investigations after incidents of egregious sexual harassment must recognize the previous failures in investigations, often by human resources and sometimes by general counsel, even outside counsel, and the toleration of sexual harassment as part of the organizational culture (Covert 2017). Uber’s investigations by Covington & Burling under the leadership of Eric Holder, discussed above, provides an instructive example. Effective investigations of sexual harassment complaints require involvement of leadership at the top, and if high-ranking executives are involved in harassment, board involvement is required. HR may be inclined, as has allegedly happened at Uber, to protect upper executives, discounting complaints, failing to adequately investigate, and failing to recognize pattern and practices of harassment. Effective sexual harassment policies include policy about whether consensual sexual relationships are permitted within the chain of command and, if not, what happens if parties within a chain of command undertake a sexual relationship. Google developed a corporate policy, after the termination of the creator of the Android mobile software application, that vice presidents and senior vice presidents must disclose the existence of sexual relationships with employees, even if those employees are not in the same department or division (Kimelsesser 2018). Other companies may wish to adopt a similar disclosure policy, perhaps with a follow-up interview by HR with the partner in the relationship to verify the relationship is free of coercion. The Holder Report to Uber recommended that a company’s board consider prohibiting sexual relationships between supervisors and subordinates in their chain of command. Texas Instruments enforced a prohibition of sexual relationships within an executive’s chain of command, resulting in the resignation of the

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CEO at the time (Casselman 2018). Absent an absolute prohibition, if both parties wish to engage in a sexual relationship, the partner lower in the hierarchy will be transferred out of the chain of command. The transfer out of the lower-ranked partner in a consensual relationship might be experienced as an adverse employment condition for the subordinate; however, if the policy is clear-cut and uniformly enforced, then the impact on the partner’s job will be understood and become part of the calculus in deciding whether to undertake a sexual relationship. Even if the parties were comfortable remaining within the chain of command, other people would be impacted by the special relationship between the parties, opening the supervisor to allegations of favoritism and possible retaliation if or when the relationship ends. Complaints of sexual harassment referred to HR and general counsel should be compiled in an audit report and disclosed to HR, general counsel, and the board. A chief diversity and inclusion officer should be added, or upgraded, and that individual should report to the executive team, and to the board, as recommended by the Uber’s Holder Report. An outside watchdog should be added to the board. Uber added Arianna Huffington to its board, after the hostile culture at Uber was revealed. An outside expert in HR should be added to the personnel committee of the board, similar to the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act with respect to audit committees of publicly traded companies. The personnel committee of the board should go beyond executive compensation and performance management for CEOs and top executives beyond exclusively financial indicators, to include culture issues and values, including collaborative environments and teamwork. The Holder Report specifically named certain initiatives at Uber which undermine teamwork and collaboration, “Let Builders Build” and “Always be Hustlin’” and recommend that those initiative be discontinued. Sexual harassment policy should be revised, to ensure that all complaints are followed up and investigated. HR has often protected individuals, particularly top executives, who are alleged to engage in harassment. Investigations might well be done beyond initial stages of reporting complaints, to outside counsel specialized in investigations of sexual harassment and other types of discrimination. Multiple complaint avenues must be developed and publicized within the company, so that individuals feel safe to make good faith allegations and that their allegations will be thoroughly investigated. Harassment training should be developed and distributed throughout the company, and the training should be repeated annually. Remedial training should be developed and delivered to harassers. The right to confront one’s accuser is fundamental to due process, so that allegations of harassment must be disclosed to the alleged harassers and the harassers must be given opportunity to rebut and explain their conduct. However, retaliation training and standards must be developed, and performance management should measure changes in the employment status of the individuals who alleged harassment. Peer mentoring programs should be developed for all levels of the organization, and peers should include mentoring pairs of males and females. A key component of the mentoring and training is the perspective of the “reasonable victim”; the target of harassment is

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the perspective of whether harassment happens and whether the work environment has changed, not the perspective of the harasser. Case and role-playing training is essential, in addition to mentoring. Moreover, HR should lead corporate conversations about harassment and culture, which cross hierarchical levels, inviting leaders of the #MeToo movement and outside survivors of harassment to speak about incidents of harassment and hostile environment work culture. Consequences of verified harassment should be proportionate to the harassment. Due process concerns for the target of harassment and the alleged harasser must be carried forward into discipline for harassment, possible “bad faith” complaints, and importantly, retaliation for complaints of harassment. The chief diversity and inclusion officer should lead the culture of diversity and inclusion, recognizing the risk of political correctness and a possible chilling effect on relationships between co-workers and career mentoring of women in lower levels of the organizational hierarchy. Recruitment must also be addressed under the leadership of the chief diversity and inclusion officer, and the pipeline for diversity breaking the glass ceiling for minorities must be developed. The Holder Report for Uber recommended that the candidate pool for every position include a qualified racial minority and a female candidate. Developing qualified labor pools to include racial minorities and sexual diversity may require recruitment going outside traditional recruitment channels. Some companies have apparently mastered the art, and science, of managing so as to create a culture that welcomes women and provide policies that promote worklife balance, regarding such things as childbearing and return to work without diverting a woman’s career into the slow lane on the “mommy track.” The following are the set of companies which were recognized as “best companies for women” in Fortune, Glassdoor, Forbes, Forbes’ Best Places for Women, Working Mother, and Fairygodboss 2019: Best Places to Work for Women 2019 Company Name AbbVie Accenture Adobea Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America American Express Bain & Company Boston Consulting Groupa Boston Scientific Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Cisco Systems Crowe Deloitteb Delta Airlines (continued)

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Best Places to Work for Women 2019 E. & J. Gallo Winery Edward Jones EYa, b Facebook FedEx Hilton Goldman Sachsa, b Google HPb HubSpot Intuit In-N-Out Burger IBM Johnson & Johnson Keller Williams Kimpton Hotels & Restaurant Kronos KPMG LinkedIn Marriottb McKinsey & Companyb Morgan Stanley Navy Federal Credit Union Procore Technologies Protiviti Quicken Loans Ryan, LLC Salesforce SAP Americab Slalom St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital Texas Health Resources T-Mobile Texas Instruments Ultimate Software World Wide Technology Zoom Video Communications Source: Companies that were on at least two of the best places to work 2019 lists: Fortune, Forbes, Forbes Best Places for Women, Glassdoor, Working Mother, Fairygodboss a Included on three lists of best places to work 2019: Forbes, Glassdoor, and Working Mother 2019 b Recognized as top 100 Diversity by MIT SMR Glassdoor Diversity Top 100, Culture 500 Report (Suss et al. 2019)

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Real Gender Equality Sexual harassment can be defined as “the unsolicited nonreciprocal male behavior that asserts a woman’s sex role over her function as worker” (Farley 1978). Sexual harassment makes a woman’s gender and sex role salient in the workplace and gives it priority over her “function as a worker.” However, the essence of nondiscrimination is to make employment decisions about individuals based on their performance rather than by their ascriptive characteristics, including sex, race, color, national origin, and religion (Title VII 1964; Wolcott 2017). Real gender equality must lie in the answer to the question: how is gender in the workplace relevant? The answer relates to the social definition of gender in the workplace. The tenor of civil rights and nondiscrimination law is that performance is what counts, not ascriptive characteristics, and that gender and other ascriptive characteristics are irrelevant to hiring, firing, and promotion in the workplace. Although gender, and age, can be a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ), the EEOC defines gender and age as BFOQs in only very limited employment situations. Is a future possible, when individuals are judged on their performance irrespective of gender or other ascriptive characteristics? How could such an organizational culture be created? What is real gender equality? Not sexual “neutralization” or the denial of gender differences certainly. Our species, and indeed all of the animal kingdom, is “gendered,” and gender is one of the cognitive categories we use to classify individuals when we perceive other persons (Mackie and Hamilton 1993). The French celebrate gender as “vive la difference!”. What is the role of sexuality in the workplace? Does real gender equality mean that sexual overtures are prohibited in the workplace? Recently the CEO of Texas Instruments resigned over a sexual relationship with an employee which was consensual, but which was against corporate policy (Casselman 2018). What does a “zero tolerance” policy mean? What does “one strike and you’re out” mean? Sexual harassment involves unwelcome sexual advances. How is an individual to discover whether a sexual advance is unwelcome without the overture, testing the waters so to speak (Becker 2018)? Does the key lie in the distinction between an invitation to genuine mutuality or to ego and power-based gratification?

Lessons for Leadership Leaders who are unfair and who bully are toxic leaders. Sexual harassment by managers is a form of bullying. Sexual harassment, particularly by those with higher power in the organizational structure, manifests toxic leadership and creates toxic organizational culture. Moreover, perceived unfairness and lack of transparency on

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the part of leadership spread within the organization and can rise to the level of a generally hostile work environment. Since toxic organizational cultures are derived in significant part by toxic leadership at the top, toxic leaders and toxic behaviors must be challenged if toxic leadership is to be eradicated in organizations. Performance assessment of leaders should include dimensions of leader performance other than financial performance, including specific leadership behaviors and measures of organizational culture (Becker 2013; Becker 2015; see also Sull et al. 2019). There is evidence of corporate culture change occurring, spurred by the wave of complaints of sexual harassment and toxic work culture, made internally within companies and their investigations, amid the consciousness raising of the #MeToo movement. Organizations and top leadership are not taking a predominantly legalistic approach, rather they are conducting investigations of complaints, even of allegations well in the past, which might not pass muster as viable legal complaints, then taking remedial actions such as the termination of harassers or other organizational corrections (Ember 2017a, b). Evidence of change is given by the resignation of the CEOs of Uber and Intel on account of sexual harassment and toxic culture or inappropriate behavior relative the company’s code of conduct (Clark 2018). Additional evidence of change is illustrated by Under Armour’s new policy that entertainment at strip clubs is not a reimbursable business expense (Safdar 2018). Models of leadership not based on ego, but rather on leadership as service, are required (Becker 2018; Dhiman 2017a, b; Dhiman and Amar 2019). Such models are indeed being developed, including servant leadership (Greenleaf 1977; Roberts 2013), positive leadership (Dhiman 2019), and the identification of Level 5 leaders in the leap “from good to great” (Collins 2001). The goal of servant leadership is the flourishing of the employees of the (servant) leader (Becker 2018). Each of these models of leadership legitimizes a focus on the well-being of employees as within the proper domain of leaders.

Beyond Sexual Harassment Allegations of racial harassment have followed allegations of sexual harassment (Tillet and Tillet 2019). Additional challenges for the near future include LGBTQ+ concerns in employment settings, especially in education and the military.

Cross-References ▶ Fostering Workplace Well-Being Through Servant Leadership ▶ How Wakeful Leaders Create Flourishing Workplaces ▶ Toxic Leadership and Workplace Bullying: The Role of Followers and Possible Coping Strategies

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▶ Toxic Leadership: Managing Its Poisonous Effects on Employees and Organizational Outcomes ▶ Working for Inclusion: Addressing Legal and Ethical Safeguards for LGBTQ Employees

Notes 1. How would a spiritually aware workplace and managers deal with the thorny issues of diversity and inclusion, particularly focusing on including gender discrimination (e.g., Silicon Valley and the glass ceiling for women see The Atlantic, April 2017), racism, homophobia, age discrimination, disability accommodations, and sexual harassment in the workplace? 5 Sexual harassment in the workplace has emerged as an important, if not a central, issue, with the emergence of complaints and the #MeToo movement. Indeed, the “silence breakers” were named by Time as Person of the Year 2017 (see Time special issue: Person of the Year, December 18, 2017). What will a sexual harassment policy at a spiritually grounded workplace include? At minimum, spiritually aware managers and spiritually grounded workplaces will have both a sexual harassment policy and training. For example, apparently in response to allegations raised by one of the silence breakers who was a lobbyist in California, the State of Illinois implemented a requirement effective January 1, 2018, that all registered lobbyists in the state of Illinois engage in sexual harassment training. A key element in the harassment training is that harassment is defined from the perspective of the target/victim of harassment, not the perspective of the harasser. This standard is embodied as the viewpoint of “the reasonable victim,” in defining whether sexual harassment has occurred, not that of the (“reasonable” or unreasonable) harasser (EEOC Policy Guidance on Current Issues of Sexual Harassment, March 19, 1990, N-915-050. https://www.eeoc. gov/policy/docs/currentissues.html). This standard is critically important because it requires the individual who makes a sexual overture or engages in sexual conduct to be aware that sexual harassment can occur when “such conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.” (25 ILCS 170/4.7(d)). Those who make sexual advances must recognize the risk that their conduct will be considered unwelcome sexual harassment and manage that possibility or risk accordingly. The spiritually grounded workplace and spiritually intelligent leaders will confront difficult issues, rather than ignore or deny them, and give voice to their employees and stakeholders, particularly to people lower in the power structure and individuals who allege wrongdoing. Active listening, to both the victims of sexual harassment, their co-workers as well as the alleged harassers, and their supervisors, should be the common practice in a spiritually grounded workplace. Talking “at” each other is not the process, and likely a

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facilitator of the discussion would be necessary or helpful to prevent the conversation from deteriorating into an argument when the topic is emotionally charged. Following the principle of collaboration, a sexual harassment policy should be constructed not only by counsel but also in consultation with employees and managers, so that acceptable, consensus-based norms for behavior and reporting procedures are developed for the workplace. A peer mentoring system for both those who allege workplace harassment and those who are the targets of the allegations should be developed, with a view to coaching and developing sensitivity and awareness of the other. A sexual harassment policy in a spiritually based workplace might choose to distinguish between legalities of criminal and civil law and acceptable behavior from the employer’s point of view. Does the employer wish to implement a strictly legal standard, or alternatively develop standards, clear to all parties, preferably based on consensus, which go beyond strictly legal definitions of sexual harassment? Does an employer want to have a “higher standard,” than, for example, the technicalities of whether the victim’s consent to quid pro quo harassment possibly removes the conduct from criminal liability, for purposes of employee’s discipline and termination? However, a warning about the risks of developing “higher standards” has been raised by the discrimination lawsuit brought by the Google employee and a colleague, who was terminated after posting a blog on the Google employee website, in August 2017, who state that Google’s policies constitute illegal reverse discrimination and suppress free speech rights (see Wakabayashi and Bowles (2018) and Wakabayashi (2017)). Due process must be incorporated into the sexual harassment policy with a view to procedural justice and fundamental fairness to all employees and other stakeholders. Employees have the right to be free from sexual harassment, and the correlative right to be free from being falsely accused is recognized and implemented. Due process and fundamental fairness is not a failure to investigate. And it is not protecting powerful (predominantly male) leaders (EEOC, Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace: Report of Co-Chairs Chai R. Feldblum & Victoria A. Lipnic, June 2016. The full report can be found at https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/task_force/harassment/report.cfm). What about anonymous accusations? What about the right to confront one’s accuser, central to due process and a US constitutional value? Anonymous or undisclosed complainants, as opposed to confidential/withheld from press, as a result of which some individuals have lost their jobs and their careers, are problematic from the point of view of the right to confront one’s accuser. Sometimes complaint and investigation procedures internal to a company, often conducted by the human resources department or general counsel, permit complaints to be filed out of the chain of command, when complaining in the chain of command would require the harassed individual to complain to the alleged harasser. This is different from the accused harasser not learning of the identity of the complaining parties.

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What about statutes of limitations (SOLs)? What about conduct complained of long after it occurred and when there was a remedy available at the time of the occurrence? (Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57 1986, defining quid pro quo, and hostile environment sexual harassment was decided by the US Supreme Court in 1986. The EEOC posted early guidance about sexual harassment in 1980.) For example, some of the complaints of sexual harassment occurred 10 years ago or more and some when the individual complained of was not employed at the workplace where he, or she, is, or was, currently employed. What is the obligation to complain in a timely manner? (For example, the Pingry School is dealing with the issue of statute of limitations issues of men who allege they were sexually abused as students when they were 11 or 12 years old, by the same teacher and in the same year. Some complaints were recognized as within the SOL, but other individuals have complained outside of the legal SOL. See Harris (2017)). The silence breakers complained “We didn’t know where to go.” Time reports that a whistleblower of Harvey Weinstein, queried, “Were we supposed to call some fantasy attorney general of moviedom.” “There wasn’t a place for use to report these experiences” (Time at p. 36). Plus there were concerns about retaliation and loss of jobs and careers. The delay in complaining is troubling. Sexual harassment law was well developed at the time of much of the conduct complained of. The development of the #MeToo Movement and the onslaught of disclosures, whereby one whistleblower encourages another, lead this writer to reflect whether a “feminist” theory of sexual harassment is required, akin to care ethics developed by Carol Gilligan (1982) (see also a 2011 interview with Carol Gilligan, at https://ethicsofcare.org/carol-gilligan/). Care ethics was developed by Carol Gilligan in response to research she was conducted with women who were considering abortion. At the time of her research, abortion was considered a right, grounded in a constitutional value of privacy, under Roe v. Wade ((410 U.S. 113) 1973). However, her respondents did not consider their right to an abortion, rather they were oriented to relationships. Similarly, the “silence breakers” have come forward as a social movement, #MeToo, rather than individually based on their rights to complain to EEOC or to sue the alleged harassers. Proportionality and Differentiation of “offenses.” Matt Damon posted on social media differentiating “offenses” under the general rubric of sexual harassment and assault. He got a lot of pushback on social media, including from a female co-worker. In addition, others have entered the fray. The New York Times carried an editorial by Bret Stephens, entitled “When #MeToo Goes Too Far” (OpEd, Stephens (2017)). Punishment must be proportional relative to conduct. This is an established workplace mediation and arbitration, as well as a more general principle of justice. Should all instances of harassment lead to discharge, so-called “capital punishment” in an employment context? For example, the New York Times suspended and required training of a reporter accused of sexual harassment prior to his employment at the NYT (see Ember 2017a, b). How to differentiate permissible persistence from harassment and stalking? Some alleged harassers, for example, have stated that they thought, mistakenly, that they were “pursuing mutual feelings.” Others, including Harvey Weinstein,

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have denied that their acknowledged sexual relationships were nonconsensual. What about training? (In addition, what about including, for example, seminars to help individuals recognize when a sexual advance is welcome through body language? For example, psychologists have found that women who are attracted to a man stand closer than the arm’s length 3 ft. typical of American culture; they touch the man they are interested in on the arm or shoulder; they touch their own hair and smile a lot. See also Moore (1985) and Moore and Butler (1989)). Assertiveness training might be beneficial for women (and men), so that the response to an unwelcome sexual advance might be “I’m not comfortable” with this conversation, with your behavior, or “this (conversation/conduct) is not work related.” What about settlements? Settlements have the advantage to individuals alleging sexual harassment that the problem with the harasser becomes resolved without a public trial and the individual alleging harassment is compensated for their injuries. However, among the problems with settlements, and the nondisclosure agreements that are part of the settlement, is that the problematic behavior and obscene workplace culture are perpetuated. For example, some of the law firms and attorneys working on behalf of Harvey Weinstein used very aggressive tactics against women alleging sexual misconduct (see Goldstein and Liptak (2017)). Lead a collective discussion. It is important to have a collective discussion about appropriate conduct between sexes at work. Is all sexual contact prohibited? (It is noteworthy that much of the complained of conduct involved egotistical sexual conduct and gratification, for example, masturbation and invitations to engage in masturbation, not serious invitation to a mutually gratifying sexual and interpersonal relationship. See Sexual misconduct: the accused. People 88(25):116–117, 2017; Almukhtar et al. 2017). Sexual relationships between the direct chains of command might reasonably be prohibited, because it is clear that power differentials make the issue of consent questionable, and even where consent is given, a relationship between direct reports can be toxic for others. If individuals in a direct reporting relationship wish to undertake a consensual sexual relationship, then one party could be transferred out of the direct chain of command; the party transferred would be the individual lower in the hierarchy or with less seniority/tenure on the job. This policy would likely track and complement existing nepotism policies. What are considered “appropriate” and acceptable norms in the workplace? For example, orthodox Jews and Muslims separate sexes at worship services, and men do not touch women, e.g., shake hands, who are not family members. Vice President Pence reputedly does not go to dinner alone with a woman or attend any event where alcohol is served and where women will be present without his wife, following the so-called Billy Graham rule (Mayer et al. 2017). What are the norms of interaction between coworkers at work? Ban all sexual overtures and sexual relationship? How can individual employees and managers/leaders of an organization manage the risks of sexual harassment if a fundamentalist approach is not adopted?

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What is zero tolerance? Is it realistic? Sexual harassment defined as “unwelcome” sexual advances presumptively allows room for testing the waters. What is permissible persistence? “Three strikes and you are out”? But what about sexual conduct that alters the workplace environment; for example does asking for dates, up to three times, for example, although arguably permissible as testing the waters whether a sexual advance is “unwelcome,” make sexuality salient to the point where it alters the target’s workplace environment? Since the initiator of the sexual overture may not be able to predict whether the invitation would be perceived as altering the workplace environment, does appropriate risk management discourage or prohibit all sexual overtures at work? Catherine Deneuve and 100 prominent figures and social leaders published an open letter in Le Monde on January 9, 2018, expressing the point of view that “clumsy” sexual overtures should not be conflated with Harvey Weinstein’s conduct (Safronova 2018). Workplaces grounded in spirituality should engage in these discussions internally as well as participate in a much-needed national dialogue, perhaps leading in their industry in developing and managing workplace harassment policies and participating courageously in “high-profile” discussions on the topic. Source: Becker (2018).

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Impact of Workplace Bullying on Employees’ Mental Health and Self-Worth

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Susmita Suggala, Sujo Thomas, and Sonal Kureshi

Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Understanding Bullying at Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bullying and Harassment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Understanding Why Bullying Exists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bullying and the Effects on the Workplace and Employee Self-Worth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing Workplace Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Organizational Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Policies and Legislation Regarding Workplace Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Framework and Concluding Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

800 801 802 803 806 808 808 809 811 814

Abstract

This chapter will highlight the detrimental effects of workplace bullying which includes the range of problems like absenteeism, loss of productivity, stress, mental health issues, and suicides. Over the years, workplace bullying, incivility, teasing, mistreating, and harassment have become widespread and need to be addressed. Bullying can range from being harmless to impolite demeanor and abusive conduct to other more damaging forms of torment where one weak person humiliates, threatens, or intimidates another person by keeping him or S. Suggala LJIMBA, Gujarat Technological University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India e-mail: [email protected] S. Thomas (*) Amrut Mody School of Management, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India e-mail: [email protected] S. Kureshi Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_30

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her on tenterhooks. Workplace bullying exists in organizations between the boss or a person with authority and his subordinate or between the co-workers. It manifests in many forms leading to mental stress, unproductivity, loss of talented resources, and harming the self-esteem of the targeted individual. Many organizations have policies to curb bullies but find it hard to detect bullying as the bullies smartly carry on within the lines of the organization. This chapter will explore and understand the concept of workplace bullying and the reasons that basically lead to this behavior. It is quite essential for workplaces to nip workplace bullies at the budding stage to ultimately promote a healthy workplace environment. The chapter will further discuss the policies regarding workplace bullying across the world. On the whole, this chapter will deliver an encompassing outlook over the concept of workplace bullying and its impact on employees’ mental health and self-worth. Keywords

Bullying · Harassment · Employee mental health · Employee self-worth · Managing bullying · Policies regarding workplace bullying

Introduction Over the past few decades, bullying is acquiring attention from researchers and practitioners due to its detrimental effects from an employee as well as an organizational perspective (Trépanier et al. 2015). According to a research study done at the University of Phoenix, 75% of employees surveyed had been the target or a witness of workplace bullying (Christine 2016). Eighty percentage bullies have a negative effect on co-workers leading to a loss of 200 h of productivity and 400 h of absenteeism, an outcome of being bullied (Blackburn 2018). From the point of organizational efficiency, over and above employee’s productivity, conducive and safe workplaces should be a prerogative. In any organization, tasks or projects may demand individual inputs of employees or require working in teams, and an employee has to depend on its leaders, co-workers, and the organizational policies for efficient task/project completion. The work dynamics include the characteristics of the team members, the managers’ traits, inadequacy, and fear of being undermined and ignored. Bullying is represented across the world in the variety of terms such as “workplace bullying” in countries like the USA as well as the UK, “mobbing” in Germany, and “moral harassment” in France. Bullying is considered a long-term, repetitive vindictive behavior, which is cruel and malicious and undermines the respect of an individual, team, or group of employees. Bullying comprises of constant verbal and nonverbal antagonism and hostility at work that includes personal assaults, snubbing, painful and hurting remarks, and hostile reactions. The repeated actions for a longer period of time leave the person/employee into a mediocre position which eventually leads them to be a target of consistent negative social exploits. The helplessness perpetuates into the conscience, and fear creeps in,

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hampering the progress. This chapter is aimed at gaining insight into the workplace bullying which is a repetitive behavior unlike other forms of hostile behavior.

Understanding Bullying at Workplace Bullying, a term common since 1900, was researched, extensively for its mediators and moderators. The term “workplace bullying” was first used in 1992 by a British journalist, to describe adulthood misery. Gary Namie and Ruth Namie pioneered the use of the term “workplace bullying” in the USA in 1998 and defined workplace bullying as “status-blind interpersonal hostility that is deliberate, repeated and sufficiently severe as to harm the targeted person’s health or economic status” (Namie 2003, p. 1). Due to the complex nature of this phenomenon, there is nonexistence of agreement regarding the exact definition of workplace bullying (Saunders et al. 2007). Several academicians and practitioners have attempted to define bullying. Bullying is widely considered as harassing, affronting, and socially eliminating an individual repeatedly. Workplace bullying is accounted as persistent interpersonal mistreatment due to power inconsistencies and nurturing with an intention to harm an individual (Einarsen et al. 2011). Workplace bullying indicates a setting in which a member of an organization is exposed to frequent and constant negative actions at the workplace leading to disgrace, resentment, and suffering (Einarsen and Raknes 1997; Einarsen et al. 2011). The researchers, Timo et al. (2004), labelled workplace bullying as internal violence, emotional abuse, harassment, and lower-level violence. Lutgen-Sandvik (2007) notes that workplace bullying is associated with various tactics consisting of several forms of hostile communication and behavior. Hastie (2001) discussed the other factors or descriptors of group bullying as horizontal violence, mobbing, hostile, and aggressive behavior of the individual or group member behavior toward a single individual. According to Einarsen (1999), the bullying encompasses mistreatment ranging from coming in contact to verbal hostility to acts of social exclusion or being the laughing stock of the department. These acts sound trivial individually, but collectively the incidents could range from mildly offensive, destabilizing, less tolerable to highly distressing. In other words, the person is considered to be victimized from bullying when he feels threatened as his sense of belongings and his physical and psychological needs are challenged or compromised. The same feelings persist when the person finds his cognitively controlled environment threatened or lingers a feeling of worthlessness (Hoel et al. 2002; Aquino and Thau 2009). Bullying is not uncommon in organizations, and multiple negative consequences are financially impacting the organization due to accompanying costs due to turnover rate, less productivity, absenteeism, compensation claims, grievance mechanisms, and legal hassles (Rodríguez-Muñoz et al. 2009; Nielsen et al. 2011, 2012; Hauge et al. 2010; Ortega et al. 2011). A negative act questionnaire established by Einarsen and Raknes (1997) indicated that bullying can exist both directly and indirectly and further states that the stress levels were higher for individuals who were bullied. The respondents expressed their anguish about workplace bullying through statements

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and words expressing stress at work. Moreover, Beehr (1998) reveals his understanding of adverse physical and psychological changes that effect the health of the employees. Studies on cognitive activation theory relate all the cognitive stresses in the form of worry and rumination which may result in impaired health (Ursin and Eriksen 2004). It is a general observation that people with mental issues are against the general expectation which leads to irritation and violation of norms for casual social interactions, and hence such behavior results in the negative work environment. This study also has been supported by the Finnish hospital employees, who perceive workplace bullying as an essential reason for strained or unhealthy work environment (Kivimäki et al. 2003). However, bullying is explained as the destructive leadership which constantly mistreats the employees through negative interpersonal behavior at work by an individual at the managerial position (D’Cruz and Rayner 2013). Schyns and Schilling (2013) have observed that such type of supervisory behavior is considered as the darker side of leadership. Therefore, from the above discussion, workplace bullying can be broadly comprehended based on three dimensions: Firstly: A workplace bullying is a recurring and specified attack of one individual on another individual exercising adverse actions, words, and behavior which are emotionally and psychologically disturbing. Secondly: The personalized attack is deliberate and purposeful with the attitude of breaking the self-confidence, self-esteem, and reputation or undermining the competence of the employees to discharge their work efficiently. Thirdly: The degree of using bullying behavior to handle relationships with employees varies. (Oade 2009)

Bullying and Harassment The International Labour Organization, Public Services International, and the World Health Organization term bullying or mobbing as consistent long-lasting behavior which is hurtful or cruel efforts to embarrass or demoralize an individual or group of individuals in a corporation. Repeated negative interaction, harassment, offense, or harmful work tasks are termed as bullying, and this confrontation leaves the person feeling inferior and continuously ends being the target of damaging and undesirable social acts (Einarsen et al. 2003). According to Einarsen et al. (2011, p. 22), workplace bullying is defined as “Bullying at work means harassing, offending, socially excluding someone or negatively affecting someone’s work tasks. In order for the label bullying (or mobbing) to be applied to a particular activity, interaction or process it has to occur repeatedly and regularly (e.g. weekly) and over a period of time (e.g. about six months). Bullying is an escalated process in the course of which the person confronted ends up in an inferior position and becomes the target of systematic negative social acts. A conflict cannot be called bullying if the incident is an isolated event or if two parties of approximately equal ‘strength’ are in conflict.” Workplace bullying is considered both as a direct and indirect behavior where it is more considered as a spectrum of violence, which necessarily need not be any one

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type of misconduct, violence, or rude behavior. It could be unfriendly behavior, impractical deadlines by superior, mocking, separation, dismissal, unachievable goals, sabotaging carrier, threats, professional elimination, condemnation, and humiliation (Rayner and Hoel 1997; Leck and Galperin 2006; Tepper 2007; Baillien et al. 2009). Namie (2003) has opined that the impact of workplace bullying cuts across gender, race, and organizational hierarchy. Harassment, on the other hand, is differently classified on the basis of race, gender, religion, age, color, disability, political beliefs, or association with minority and birth and another status that is unwanted (Hastie 2001). Workplace bullying in addition to harassment has been interrelated with physical, emotional, and psychological symptoms, in many cases bullying and harassment overlap in organizations which makes it imperative to understand the difference between the two terms. Although bullying and harassment often encompass relatively similar behaviors, harassment is considered as an activity based on age, gender, sex, sexual orientation, color, religion or trade, or disability or nationality which is unrequited or unsolicited having the effect on the self-worth of men or women at work (Taniguchi et al. 2016). Both harassment and bullying have physical stress and have an adverse effect on the health of an individual. In other words, “harassment” consists of an undesirable and unfitting verbal or physical behavior or coercive behavior where the behavior is supposedly recognized or reasonably recognized to be undesirable and unfitting and is basically centered on a protected ground or personal harassment. Protected grounds include age, race, gender, place of origination, status of family, marital status, income source, color, physical or mental disability, religious beliefs, ancestry or sexual orientation, or any other form of discrimination specified under the legislation. Personal harassment means unwelcome remarks, behaviors, or communications directed toward an individual or group where (a) there is a misuse or abuse of power having the effect or purpose of severely abusing, threatening, demeaning, or intimidating the individual or group of individuals, or (b) such behavior has the consequence of hindering daily work or educational accomplishment, or (c) such behavior leads to the existence of nerve-racking, unsympathetic, or aggressive working and/or educational atmosphere. Harassment may be a single or series of incidents and can occur on-site or off, during working hours or not. Harassment may comprise of individuals or members coming together and includes various forms such as written, verbal, graphic, or physical modes and further includes sexual harassment. This definition basically ensures the boundaries in which harassment exists and does not restrict the managerial functioning in the workplace environment but not limited to (a) evaluation of performance which is based on your job performance, (b) adherence to discipline, (c) directive from a manger or supervisor, and (d) refusal to allow to take time off on work.

Understanding Why Bullying Exists Academic literature has identified several antecedents to bullying. Broadly speaking we can classify reasons for workplace bullying into two – individual characteristics and organizational characteristics. The individual characteristics can be further

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divided into bullies at workplace and victims at workplace. Bullying behavior is influenced by societal pressures of the peer, family, friends, neighbors, and teachers besides the individual characteristics. The Scandinavian researchers Mikkelsen and Einarsen (2002) have found adult bullying an extension of the school and childhood behavior. The workplace bully could be a co-worker, supervisor, subordinate, or the employer. People have the choice to bully their colleagues and justify their actions as necessary, imperative, justifiable, and deserved (Oade 2009). The bullies mostly believe that their efforts were situational and intrapersonal. The bullies portray themselves as harmless and blameless by showing that their actions were consciously not to hurt anyone. They use aggression and persistent, unreasonable behavior against workplace targets and justify their actions as necessary to fulfill departmental goals and objectives. They believed that a push was essential to have the people at work geared into action. Sometimes bullying was a way to camouflage the less talented people and hide their shortcomings, and in some cases, it was taken as a preventive measure to prevent failures of the underperformers. The proficient and competent colleagues sometimes encourage bullying with an objective to rapidly grow at work and get rid of their competitors from the workplace thereby leading to workplace bullying. Such insecurities lead to constant occurrence of bullying and negative actions in the workplace. Additionally, Oade (2009) observes that bullying behavior occurs because, at workplaces, employees are guilty of not being emotionally matured, lacking interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, less effective handling of workplace responsibilities, engaging in injuring, and undermining their colleagues instead of effectively handling their work issues. In addition to this, the underperforming employees resort to bullying and target their active co-workers, undermine their co-workers, avoid developing skills, scapegoat, and bad-mouth about their co-workers. This tactic helps them to deflect attention from themselves to their targets. Another factor that results in bullying is envy and jealousy that someone more capable will take away the role and importance and hence start to undermine them. Another type of bullying at the workplace occurs due to abusive supervision by supervisors or superiors, subordinates, and co-workers. Some notable characteristics of this form of bullying behavior are (a) verbal hostility, (b) made a laughing stock, (c) social exclusion, and (d) obstruction in one’s work. This type of supervision according to Zapf et al. (1996) is meant to strike personal attitude and value, social remoteness, attacking the private domain, verbal assault, physical pressure, and circulating rumors. However, it would be in a way quite inappropriate not to mention the reverse scenario where the bully is the subordinate and the victim the superior. Although it is not customary for an individual to report being bullied by a subordinate, there are sprouting research studies centering on unexpected behaviors at workplace such as hostility toward supervisors by subordinates who are bullied (Wang et al. 2012). Moreover, Lutgen-Sandvik et al. (2007) suggest that co-worker bullying may be not as much of psychologically detrimental to the bullied individual compared to the bullying by immediate supervisors; bullying by co-workers nevertheless accounts for almost a quarter of registered incidents. It is also found that

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bullies possess institutional superiority and have the mediocre ability to perform or execute inefficiently at work (Kelly 2011; Yamada 2000). Contrariwise, those bullied are most of the times considered as displaying low self-worth (Skogstad et al. 2007), low social competency, and adverse consequences (Braithwaite et al. 2008). Additionally, the findings do suggest that aggressiveness, impulsivity, cynicism, emotional reactivity, and less tolerance for ambiguity are the virtues that influence individuals to bully other individuals. As mentioned earlier, bullying is not limited to the team worker or the coworkers, sometimes the employers could become bullies. There is a fine line in strategic and constructive feedback to bullying, a onetime episode cannot be termed as the bully, and hence the employees are not aware of the bullying tactics used by the employer. The bad employers many a times adopt bullying approaches to thrust aside those employees who needed to be strategically removed, to forego legal obligations, or compensation claims, or overtime pay. The bullies in the workplace make the interactions all about the dynamics of power. It is about having power over the other. The behavior is not very welcome as it is dominating and intimidating. People are controlled by instilling fear instead of letting the relationship be characterized by partnerships or collaborations. Bullying happens since employers want to have as much power in their hands as they can. In other words, the employer bullies want to dictate their terms of working and do so by permeating a fear of the consequences making the victims to do what they want; it could also be because the person bullied does not want to fight back or is not assertive enough and gives in to the wishes of the others. The bullying colleague also does not respect the personal boundaries and individual’s choices. Some bullies on a regular basis erode the personal boundaries and leave the person exposed and treat them like an object than a human. On the other hand, a non-bullying employer ensures that the coworkers work constructively, discuss the viewpoints openly, respect each other’s view, and have the freedom to disagree without the fear of any fallout working together, which is characterized by exploration of freedom to choose, explore, and give opinions freely. Bully-prone organizations have been observed to possess traits like having targets focused on making the numbers, criteria adopted for staffing, promotion, and reward based on persons strengths and based on personality translated as fierceness in interpersonal interaction and disregarding importance of emotional intelligence. Personal friendships took precedence over organizational interest with narrowly defined illegal incidents with fear being the dominant emotion in the workplace environment (Namie 2003). The employee’s anxiety and burnout are related to the employee’s physical and mental energies. The negative behavior at the workplace is expected to be related more to the workplace conditions that cause humiliation, distress, and offense than personal conditions which are expected to be frequent and lead to systematic behavior (Einarsen and Raknes 1997; Einarsen et al. 2011). It is also suggestive that if the employee is targeted and the rest of the workforce together form a dominant coalition, then it makes it difficult for the targeted employee (Leymann and Gustafsson 1996; Matthiesen and Einarsen 2004). Rigotti (2009) indicates that

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different workplace practices get transformed into perceptions of workplace bullying that are demonstrated as adverse behavioral and attitudinal consequences. According to Brodsky (1976), the work culture mirrors the interpretation of behavior, and its acceptance by individuals is variable. In his study, Brodsky perceived bullies as manipulating for privilege, influence, and authority at the workplace and some supremacy to inflict harassment. Leymann (1990) asserted that bullying had a rippling effect, and it involved the friends and families, the victim was thereby stressed, and this stress could be considered as an outcome of bullying. The consequence of bullying at workplace differs from country to country. Compared to Scandinavia or other Nordic countries, the emphasis in the UK is only 12%. The primary violence at work focused on the aggressive verbal behavior or physical aggression which could be between strangers or between welfare officers, clients, or other people at the workplace similar to the violence encountered by bus drivers from passengers. Self-determination theory has been used to understand the underlying cause of workplace bullying (Deci and Ryan 2000). This theory explains the employee’s reaction toward the employer and the working conditions at work. According to this theory, relatedness, autonomy, and competence are the psychological requirements to be fulfilled to achieve the welfare of the employee and gain optimal functioning at work. Relatedness is the significant relationship and connectedness developed and the care for others. Autonomy or independence is the desire for freedom and preference (deCharms 1968) which satisfies the need to master the environment and the resulting outcome (White 1959). Thus it can be inferred that social framework performs a crucial role in the fulfilment of both psychological needs and better mental health. Thus, superior interpersonal dealings, inspiration, prospects to learn, and assistance for decision-making facilitate positive workplace social setting leading to the gratification of employees’ needs for relatedness, independence, and competency, which in the long run nurtures better mental health and better execution of bullying-free workplace (Deci and Ryan 2000).

Bullying and the Effects on the Workplace and Employee Self-Worth Bullying affects the individual being bullied and his mental and physical condition as well as the workplace environment which further affects the co-workers or the observers of the event. Bullying has adverse effects in the workplaces and the wellbeing of the employees. The physical and mental effects of bullying range from depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, stress disorder, and other mental disorders in individuals (Einarsen and Mikkelsen 2003). It is observed that people who are bullied have high irritation levels and significantly higher anxiety levels than the non-bullied individuals. Low self-esteem, depression, and stress disorder systems are other traits linked to bullied individuals (Bowling and Beehr 2006; Mikkelsen and Einarsen 2002). Bowling and Beehr (2006) concluded that anxiety and depression are the contrary acts experienced separately at work but correlate positively leading to higher desire to quit the job. Longitudinal studies point out the effect of

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bullying and the effects of stress on the physical well-being of the victim resulting in cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal, and other health disorders. According to Magee et al. (2017), health problems observed as a side effect of bullying were fear or nervousness while going to workplace feelings of irritation and/or vulnerability, loss of confidence, and low self-esteem. Further, it manifested in several other physical as well as psychosomatic disorders like sleeplessness, loss of appetite, stomach pains, headaches, inability to concentrate, anger, and disturbed family life. While observing at organizational level, bullying impacts the culture at the workplace, and the changing aspects of the workplace are neither beneficial nor healthy. A few observations made by Magee et al. (2017) indicate that it results in increased absenteeism, strain, and manpower turnover which are detrimental to the organization both in terms of increased cost and tarnishing of the corporate image. It mandates need for employee assistance programs and recruitment as bullying incidence reduces productivity and motivation due to low self-esteem. This in turn could further lead to inadequate customer service as well as higher likelihood of risk for accidents. The post-traumatic disorder is associated with workplace bullying, and the delayed reaction is characterized by long-term exhaustion and diminished interest (Leymann and Gustafsson 1996; Matthiesen and Einarsen 2004). The focus of the targeted employee is diverted to deducing ways to battle bullying and to get even which is a deterrent to performance. The other jobrelated effects of bullying observed are lower levels of satisfaction at workplace and commitment toward organization and the experience of ill-treatment and exhaustion (Quine 2001). Besides being considered as an occupational health hazard, bullying is also regarded as a safety issue. It disintegrates the employees’ self-esteem and confidence and has the capacity to damage companies, family relatives, and individuals and extracting psychosomatic, physical, physiological, and psychological reactions (Sheehan and Griffiths 2011). The occupational stress model expresses the adverse observable changes behaviorally, physically, and psychologically resulting from workplace bullying (Bliese and Jex 2002). Researchers Rai and Agrawal (2018) have studied the other effects of workplace bullying which are subdued innovative behavior. A defensive silence is one such impact of workplace bullying which leads to neglected work behavior and less innovativeness in the workplaces. According to the theory of conservation of resources, it is observed in workplaces that employees adopt defensive silence as a coping mechanisms or the passive response for bullying which results in concealment of data worries, ideas, and views associated to workplace and company (Brinsfield 2013). Namie (2003) observes that witnesses are aware of bullying incidences even behind closed doors. When an employee who is performing high is unceremoniously asked to leave, suddenly atmosphere of fear develops with scared employees and low morale affecting commitment and productivity in the organization. This kind of reputation makes future recruitment and retention difficult. The employee or the victim of bullying may find any individual act as a menace, but when exposed to all acts simultaneously, the behavior gets intolerable and traumatic due to heavy stress (Leymann 1990, 1996). Jex (2002) in his research

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explains the effect of the negative behavior which results as occupational stress and the outcome at the workplace manifests as the psychological and behavioral changes affect the work due to reduced performance, bad health, and job dissatisfaction. The diminished well-being and growth of the employee can be attributed to either the poor, deprived interpersonal interactions, controlling behavior, or deprived psychological needs leading to adverse outcomes. According to Deci and Ryan (2008), need satisfaction is assumed to be the necessary condition for effective output and well-being of an employee. Effective employee functioning is associated with satisfaction on work, performance, and engagement. It is adversely correlated with job burnout and revenue earning intention (Fernet et al. 2013).

Managing Workplace Bullying Organizational Measures It is important for employers to have mechanisms to prevent workplace bullying due to high incidence and high cost in terms of time, money and energy for addressing the bullying instances. Namie (2003) has recommended preventive actions that an employer can take to prevent bullying. At the onset, organizations could have a policy clearly stating the unacceptability of workplace bullying in the organization by modifying the preexisting polices related to antiviolence and anti-harassment along with threshold for taking action. These could include credible third-party inspection and adjudication process to boost the employee confidence and expectations. Bullying is many times neither reported nor confronted with by the colleagues who observe it or a victim or by the manager who is a witness to such behavior. Sometimes the senior manager ignores bullying and turns a blind eye to such behavior. The possible reasons for this could be first, they do not want to be involved in the matter, or second, the manager believes that only weak people are bullied, and they should learn to stand up for themselves. The human resource manager also occasionally avoids taking action with respect to repetitive bullying acts by the same person since they believe that such bullying behavior cannot be stopped by mere conversations and would require emotional investment. Moreover, the magnanimity of the work involved stops them from undertaking the task. Managers are challenged to control bullies in their team. Bullies realization and awareness of their acts offending or hurting other individuals at the workplace is very low, and therefore their chances of stopping are less. Bullies justify their actions by pointing fingers and bringing out the weak points of their target and suggesting their bullying tactics as a way to ensure performance. The other is sometimes might be a low capability or unskilled labor. Some managers continue their penalizing behavior as they realize their behavior to be more rewarding to get the desired output from people. The workplace bullies should be confronted with clear and accurate feedback with as many observations as possible. The manager must, therefore, have to stop the bullies through their acts conveying a consistent message that the bullying behavior is not acceptable, it must end, and

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the bullies need to replace their behavior with better people-handling skills. Human resource professionals perform a significant role in managing the sensitivities of bullying at workplace. It is found that when workplace bullying is taken into consideration, the USA human resource professionals are elemental actors in bullying situations at the workplace. In most cases, the studies are about the victims or the target, the reasons, and the impact of workplace bullying. In workplaces it is the role of the human resources to manage a conducive work atmosphere to make employees effective and efficient; hence researchers should give human resources the liberty to identify, respond, and deal with the bullies, bullying behavior, and victims (Fox and Cowan 2015). There also have been studies which aim to study the relationship between the employee well-being and the modifying factors of the personality (Einarsen 1999; Zapf and Einarsen 2003). The supernatural nature and the versatile descriptiveness of the characteristics are predictors of individuals who resisted the occupational stressors. Fox and Stallworth (2010) described direct bullying as observable, explicit, and direct confrontation leading to a public embarrassment. On the other hand, indirect bullying is camouflaged and a masked episode where supervisors make goals that are unattainable by employees, override decisions, suppress information, or provide specific employees an insignificant job below their proficiencies or credentials. The types of bullying vary from country to country seeking different measures to manage to bully. In the USA, bullying involves weapons like guns and knives, and due to this, the administration has to ensure different measures to curb the usage of weapons. Similar studies have also been noted in the Japanese and German literature, where attention is paid to understand the individual and group bullying to handle both situations where different strategies are applicable in both cases. As bullying and the criteria satisfying the act as a bully are different from country to country, situation to situation, hence some measures have been developed for consistency and uniformity of the actions in managing to bully like the Olweus Bullying Index (Olweus 1978).

Policies and Legislation Regarding Workplace Bullying As per Cobb (2017), the meaning of the term harassment may alter depending on the country as well as the legislation ranging from bullying to mobbing, sexual harassment, dignity, discrimination, violence, and/or stress. While observing the policies regarding workplace bullying, it is found that there has been no definition of bullying that has been formulated in the European Union, although several European countries have defined laws related to workplace bullying such as Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Serbia. Similarly, the relevant legislation is seen to a lesser extent in the Middle East and African countries. According to Barmes (2017), the understanding of bullying and the behavioral conflict between people is grasped under various provisions as in under statutory as well as common law and provisions incorporating sacking, prejudice, violation of contractual terms, and several unlawful acts and harassment.

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There is no one jurisdictional compartment of law. The author in the book Bullying and Behavioral Conflict at Work has meticulously explained the dichotomy of the individual rights and the equality at the workplace and the different legal provisions made in different countries (Barmes 2017). The research by Barmes hypothesizes that there is more support for individual rights, and the focus is on supporting individualization to maintain relations at the workplace. Bullying at workplaces is a shift from the traditional collective workplaces and emphasizing a need for increased provision of individual rights. The social, interactive conflicts have a common law and separate statutory provisions for breach of contractual terms, discrimination, unfair dismissal, protection from harassment, and more. Loh et al. (2010) believed that the employee’s tolerance to negative acts at the workplace is the person’s endurance which comes naturally from the atmosphere where the employees have grown up. This level of endurance varies from country to country. Bullying at workplace and satisfaction on the job concentrate on the organizational contextualization taking into consideration the cultural and social aspects (Parzefall and Salin 2010). The satisfaction index of the employees is directly relational to the negative and positive aspects of the workplace (Johns 2006). The people of Australia and Singapore negatively relate job satisfaction bullying. The Australians with lesser tolerance to power differences view the same act more negatively than the Singaporean employees. Italy, which is a male-dominated work culture, has more tolerance to workplace bullying behavior (Escartín et al. 2011; Power et al. 2013). In Australia, bullying at workplace is considered as safety and health subject; therefore, it is signified in the regulatory human resource policies (Chan-Mok et al. 2014). Here, Fair Work Commission has been developed to educate the parties being unfairly treated before it is sent to the commission for judgment (Hampton 2016). The fair work act facilitates technology both for bargaining meetings and approval of meetings. The Fair Work Commission collects information, and at the initial stages, itself can dismiss cases not qualifying for unfair behavior or help the other grieved parties to resolve issues mutually. This operation has been very successful as the number of claimants seeking justice for unfair treatment is high. Bullies never self-identify themselves as bullies; they term the victims as sensitive people who are not able to understand a joke (Andrea 1996). The definition by Einarsen (1999) throws light on all the sociological aspects like harassing, offending, affecting others work negatively, or socially excluding the others, though this may sound wrong, there is not much legal support on the sociological terms as the law is about enforcing the rights of the people. The Equality Act 2010 categorizes the victims of bullying in two ways. Firstly, it categorizes the people bullied from the race, religion, faith, and sex. These groups of bullied people are also termed as the protected group and its right. The tradition protection of the act is also extended for sexual orientation, gender, age, religion, and belief besides the traditional protection for race and sex. The second categorization is for those bullied people for reasons other than the first reason. The other actions were categorized as harassment, and the two words were interchangeably used. The laws in the UK characterized any discrimination as harassment or bullying. According to the

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Equality Act 2010, bullying is not about any one person, the victim or the bully, it is the relationship status involving the bully and the victim. In the USA, there is absence of any particular law to grant justice to the sufferers of workplace bullying (Davidson and Harrington 2012). The victims, however, had the option of seeking justice and claimed compensation for the physical, mental, and financial damages through the tort laws or the discriminatory suits (Olive and Cangemi 2015). A few common words and actions to describe workplace bullying in the USA are unwanted, repeated, uninvited, deliberate, offensive, and/ or actions which damage the health and monetary well-being of the sufferer (Einarsen 1999). The other accepted behavior as workplace bullying is demeaning workers, bullying, demeaning which are like a school bully (Vega and Comer 2005) or sexual harassment (Namie 2014). Abusive conduct is an alternative word suggesting workplace bullying in many states (State of California 2014; State of Utah 2015 and State of Tennessee 2015).

Framework and Concluding Thoughts The conceptual framework in Fig. 1 represents a road map which indicates the necessity of understanding the meaning of workplace bullying in the first quadrant. It is mandatory for organizations to understand the concept of workplace bullying to further grasp its existence in the next quadrant. Organizations consider workplace bullying to be a serious threat due to which it becomes important to conceptually understand this detrimental phenomenon. The understanding of workplace bullying becomes even more important because employees have different viewpoints about this concept, and it would be good for organization to explore the concept from employees’ perspective to attain resolution and comprehend the severity of the act (Escartín et al. 2011). For instance, the meaning and interpretation of workplace bullying would be differentiated on the basis of gender which has been found in the

Conceptual Understanding of Workplace bullying

Understanding Existence of Workplace Bullying Individual Characterstics Organizational Characterstics

WORKPLACE BULLYING

Managing Workplace Bullying External Level (Policy & Legislation) Internal Level (Organizational Measures)

Effects of Workplace Bullying Individual Effects Organizational Effects

Fig. 1 Conceptual framework for understanding workplace bullying in organizations

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various studies in the public domain (Notelaers et al. 2010; Escartín et al. 2011). Crothers et al. (2009) found that the organizations where men were holding higher positions compared to women, were differently behaving with respect to workplace bullying. Moreover, Montgomery et al. (2004) state that women in organizations have greater sensitivity toward various forms of bullying. Salin (2008) asserted that male managers in human resource departments were more prone to take less action against the grievances booked for bullying as well as harassment. The organizations usually would have contact points who would have a general understanding of the workplace bullying phenomenon. It is vital to have representatives who possess conceptual awareness because they become the pathways toward achieving longterm solutions in such critical situations. Hence, this depicts the role of variables like gender in organizational framework of workplace bullying and also eventually exhibits the significance of the conceptual understanding from organizational perspective. Here the second quadrant classifies the existence of workplace bullying into individual and organizational characteristics. The understanding of the existence of bullying becomes crucial from an organizational perspective because at an individual level it helps to comprehend the victim’s psychological needs and at an organizational level it helps to promote a bullying-free work environment (Trépanier et al. 2015). For instance, authors in the studies have suggested that lack of conflict management strategies in organizations finally lead to the survival and growth of workplace bullying (Leon-Perez et al. 2014; Leon-Perez et al. 2015). Due to this fact, it becomes imperative from the organizational point of view to understand the existence of workplace bullying so that timely conflict management strategies such as problem-solving could be designed and implemented. The third and the fourth quadrant represent largely the effects and overall management of workplace bullying. The third quadrant represents the effects of workplace bullying and considers both individual and organizational effects. The effects of workplace bullying become a crucial area to concentrate so that the psychological mechanisms could be put into place to retain employees in the organization over time (McCormack et al. 2009). The organizations need to effectively manage in terms of developing, implementing, as well as promoting antibullying policies (Richard and Daley 2003; Rayner and Lewis 2011). In any organization it becomes mandatory to finalize and communicate the ideal procedure to deal with complaints about workplace bullying as well as the penalties of deviating from the norms established (Vartia and Leka 2011). Many a times the organizations benefit a lot by managing training programs and workshops to develop and increase awareness about the fundamentals of workplace behaviors (Avolio and Gardner 2005; Xanthopoulou et al. 2007). The timely intervention of providing adequate resources to employees would lead to curb workplace bullying and manage at internal as well as external level (Harvey et al. 2007). Therefore, the last and the fourth quadrant represents the last mile connectivity for an organization which is effectively managing workplace bullying at internal as well as external level which eventually leads to employee retention and healthier organizational environment in the long term.

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There are lots of individuals who are affected by workplace bullying across countries. In several countries the constitutions do contain specifications on dignity, discrimination, and harassment which eventually form the subject basis for formulating the laws in these countries. As mentioned in the earlier section, harassment is often prophesied on a person being a participant of a protected group, while bullying is lawfully distinct as it is not grounded on membership in a protected category. On the basis of discussion so far, workplace bullying is definitely an unpleasant and horrible experience which can leave you frustrated, irritated, angry, and susceptible. Bullying as elaborated in the earlier sections does affect the health of individuals and could be a traumatizing experience in life. On the other hand, bullying could also sometimes empower you to ascertain and mature leading to possess a confident state of mind to deal with bullying behavior and acquire self-confidence and self-belief (Oade 2009). The above aspect of workplace bullying is less researched area, and it is an important domain to explore for understanding the positive effects, if any, of bullying for individuals under certain circumstances. Moreover, it is also significant to note that different entities will react differently to bullying and the impact of bullying will vary accordingly. One thing prominent in the nature of workplace bullying is that almost 70% are considered hierarchical in nature. It originates from the immediate supervisor who starts bullying the individual in most circumstances (Burton and Hoobler 2006; Tepper 2007). The various aspects of bullying may range from designation of menial tasks, hindering promotions of individuals, adjudging work faultily, unacceptable performance evaluation, rendering unmerited criticism, too much monitoring, and denying leave (Bartlett and Bartlett 2011). While the levels of bullying as understood by different gender were conducted and examined, it was found that, when asked to define bullying, female employees displayed emotional abuse and professional dishonor more than the male employees, whereas men stressed on negative working conditions more than women. In another study, women were found to take the bullying more severely than men. The abovementioned study was advantageous to companies especially the human resource departments as it carves a path for bringing in corrective interventions to address the adverse effect of bullying at workplace. An important insight of studies investigating the bullying outcome relationship is that current research has constantly concentrated on certain group of variables and has completely neglected many other significant variables as outcomes of bullying at workplace (Rai and Agarwal 2016). Bullying also exaggerates when an individual post experiencing the difficulty finds no support or help from others around him/her and therefore feels lonely and isolated from the rest of the world. As mentioned in the earlier sections, workplace bullying might lead to anxiety and negatively affect health in terms of depression which many a times leads to physical, emotional, and psychological consequences. Moreover, it leads to losing self-worth or self-esteem which slowly heads to an individual losing confidence in his abilities and capabilities. Losing motivation to perform and doubting yourself increase due to the pressure built by workplace bullying, thereby affecting both mental and physical health. As mentioned in the earlier sections, the physical health further ranges from nauseous feeling, migraines,

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palpitations, sweating or shaking, and losing appetite to skin conditions (Oade 2009). Workplace bullying leads to isolation which adversely affects an individual, and some do not confide in people around them. Isolation or keeping distance from others or not interacting with anyone during such situations would only worsen the state of affairs. The human resource department in any organization has the responsibility to act as a liaison between employees, resolver of dispute, as well as enforcer of policies and regulations (Bohlander and Snell 2007; Fox and Cowan 2015). The work climate in an organization also plays a crucial role in facilitating or reducing the level of workplace bullying behavior (Samnani et al. 2013). Studies have stressed on the need for good human resource practices, and they further emphasize on concentrating toward the competence of human resource managers rather than just relying on high-quality human resource policies (Woodrow and Guest 2014; Catley et al. 2017). In an organization, the management should consistently monitor employee interactions for avoiding conflicts and bullying (Ambrose et al. 2013; Hon and Lu 2016). From time to time, it is important in such situations to consult or seek professional help which would help those subject to bullying to cope up with the situation (Tehrani 2013; Trépanier et al. 2013). Professional help could include either going to doctors, therapist, and psychiatrist or visiting trained counselors. Nevertheless, workplace bullying is certainly not a good experience, and it is imperative to handle the bullying behavior effectively for an employee’s well-being. Henceforth, workplace bullying as an approach remains an area for future discussion and interrogation.

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Improving Engagement During Times of Change

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Challenge of Organizational Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Establishing a Model for Work Meaningfulness, Engagement, and Successful Organizational Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Defining Work Meaningfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating Meaningful Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Impact of Work Meaningfulness on Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Engagement Drives Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summarizing: Why Work Meaningfulness Matters in Organizational Change . . . . . . . . . . . . Appreciative Inquiry as an Approach to Enhanced Work Meaningfulness, Engagement, and Organizational Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Case Study: Gridmax Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gridmax Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gridmax Energy’s Approach to Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gridmax Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gridmax AI Summit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Measuring Work Meaningfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gridmax Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discussion: Exploring How Appreciative Inquiry Supports the Creation of Work Meaningfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Connecting Reality to Aspirations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Supporting Mindfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Unlocking New Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating a Shared Vision and Strengthening co-Worker Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating Greater Voice, Empowerment, and Commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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M. A. Norcross (*) Ad Lucem Group, Goshen, IN, USA e-mail: [email protected] P. Farran University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_70

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Improving Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836 Implications for Practice and Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838

Abstract

The vast majority of change initiatives fail to meet their objectives, and most decimate their organization’s levels of engagement in the process. The effect of plummeting employee engagement during turbulent times creates a downward spiral that can result in permanent damage to the organizational culture and capabilities. This phenomenon has led some to believe that change can only be achieved at the cost of employee engagement and that engagement can only be improved during periods of stability. Our work suggests that this is a false dichotomy. Through careful planning and active management, some organizations utilize these times of change to deploy strengths-based, positive approaches to successfully deliver their change agenda while simultaneously cultivating greater work meaningfulness and engagement. In this chapter, we examine a case study that demonstrates, through the use of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) as one such approach, how taking on aggressive change initiatives in this manner can be leveraged as an opportunity for widescale reinvention of the organization, enabling greater work meaningfulness, engagement, and flourishing. Keywords

Organizational change · Appreciative Inquiry · Work meaningfulness · Inspiration

Introduction We begin this chapter by looking at the challenge that organizational change poses to employee engagement. Further time is spent unpacking work meaningfulness, exploring how it is developed, and considering how it relates to and shapes organizational engagement. From there, we build on this foundation by discussing how engagement presents at each level of the organizational structure and how it improves outcomes. Through the examination of a representative case study, we demonstrate how specific organizational change approaches can be used to foster greater work meaningfulness and, we assert, increase engagement which contributes to more successful implementation of the change initiatives at hand. Organizational change is a notoriously challenging endeavor, as anyone who has spent any portion of their career as a manager knows. Yet, one certainty about all organizations is that in order to thrive over the long term, they must change and grow. Unfortunately, decades of research confirm that, despite our best efforts, failure is the most likely outcome for any given change initiative (Beer et al. 1990; Beer and Nohria 2000; Pasmore 2011; Kotter 1995; Kritsonis 2005; Lippitt 1958)

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with some estimating failure rates at 70% or above (Burke 2011). Additionally, even if an organization does manage to deliver against their financial, strategic, and productivity objectives, it is highly likely that it has come at a huge cost to morale (Huy et al. 2014). This has led many practitioners and researchers alike to presume that you can have either change or engagement, but not simultaneously. Our work, which draws heavily on the work of positive organizational scholars such as Cooperrider and Srivastava (1987) and Cameron and Quinn (2011), suggests that this is a false dichotomy. When undertaken mindfully, change can provide the platform for building greater engagement, and vice versa. Engagement and the factors affecting it can be difficult to isolate within an organization. Organizational culture is complex and can both affect engagement and be affected by it. Further, unique cultures and subcultures can exist within a single organization (Bunker and Alban 1997; Cameron and Quinn 2011; Lippitt 1958; Pasmore 2011; Schein 2010). The complex and nested nature of most organizations requires change to be simultaneously managed at multiple levels – organization, department, group, unit, team, and individual (Kotter and Cohen 2002; Lippitt 1958; Schein 2010). Positive organizational approaches, such as Appreciative Inquiry, that are designed to engage a wide swath of the organization in building upon the organizational strengths to co-create a desired future state have the greatest chance of delivering sustainable change by simultaneously increasing engagement.

The Challenge of Organizational Change Organizations that fail to evolve and change find themselves overcome by competitors when there are external changes in market forces, technologies, or customer expectations. Tumultuous markets, changing customer demographics, cultural shifts, regulatory changes, financial swings, and workforce changes reshape the competitive landscape. Effectively adapting, however, is significantly more complex when their environment is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA), a situation faced by more and more organizations given the speed at which innovation and market changes happen in today’s world (Bennis and Nanus 1985; Horney et al. 2010). In order to survive long term, organizations must successfully navigate not only a single change initiative but the regular waves of change necessary to remain competitive while minimizing cynicism, lethargy, complacency, and other manifestations of change fatigue among employees. Unfortunately, as the high failure rates demonstrate (Burke 2011), mastering change is not easy, and traditional approaches to managing change have not proved the panacea that their proponents might suggest. Consequently, organizations must consider new ways of facilitating change, including approaches that engage a broader cross-section of the organization in ways that increase their commitment and decrease the potential for change fatigue. Engaging workers in change initiatives rather than simply issuing top-down change mandates allows employees to authentically participate, improving their levels of commitment and engagement. Genuine involvement in decision-making processes significantly improves the potential for successful change outcomes.

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Earlier and more meaningful engagement should happen in a phased way, progressing from (1) understanding the need for change to (2) framing the change, then (3) understanding the change process, and finally (4) sustaining change outcomes (Pasmore 2011). Allowing individuals to participate in architecting change efforts increases the likelihood that they will feel ownership and potentially be inspired by them (Morgan 2001). Higher levels of inspiration and ownership drive positive energy and action and ultimately improve work meaningfulness (Avey et al. 2009). Furthermore, they reduce levels of change fatigue and cynicism associated with mandated or poorly managed change efforts (Brown and Cregan 2008; Leiter and Harvie 1997).

Establishing a Model for Work Meaningfulness, Engagement, and Successful Organizational Outcomes Defining Work Meaningfulness People inherently seek meaningfulness in their lives (Frankl 1959; Yeoman 2014). However, most people struggle to achieve and sustain a sense of meaningfulness in their work, particularly amidst a barrage of change initiatives, often imposed from the top-down within an organization. This is troubling given the amount of time we spend at work and the prevalence of failed change initiatives. A lack of work meaningfulness and failed change initiatives tend to become a self-feeding cycle that perpetuates both conditions. Our research suggests that there is a better way to execute change that results in improved meaningfulness and higher success rates for change initiatives. Before going further, it is helpful to establish the definition for work meaningfulness that we use for this chapter. We also want to note that we use work meaningfulness and meaningful work synonymously to describe the level of purpose and significance that work holds for an individual (Rosso et al. 2010). Because individuals themselves attribute work meaningfulness, personal values, and priorities, many factors can impact its assessment. These factors may include a combination of attributes associated with the work, the organization, the culture, the organization’s mission, or the organization’s customer (Pratt and Ashforth 2003).

Creating Meaningful Work Because of this, work meaningfulness can be developed in a variety of ways in and across an organization. In some organizations, the mission may provide an inherent sense of meaningfulness for some members. Other organizations may find that their employees experience meaningfulness via relationships with co-workers, common goals, or the ability to balance time at work with other meaningful activities. Because meaningfulness is something that is attributed by each unique individual (Wrzesniewski et al. 2003), there are many different sources of work meaningfulness

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(Lips-Wiersma and Wright 2012; Rosso et al. 2010). Even workers in the most stigmatized or unpleasant situations can find a sense of meaningfulness in their work (Ashforth and Kreiner 1999; Lips-Wiersma et al. 2016). Regardless of their missions or the type of work they undertake, organizations can cultivate an environment which nurtures meaningful work context (Yeoman 2014) and builds positive relationships between the workers and the work (Wrzesniewski 2003). While corporations would like to provide meaningful work to their employees, the intensely personal and individual nature of connecting to a task means that what may be engaging or meaningful to one worker may not be to another (Wrzesniewski et al. 2003). Furthermore, the multidimensional factors associated with making work meaningful, even at the individual level, result in it being difficult to understand and influence, much less to manage (Both-Nwabuwe et al. 2017). Despite being highly personal, job meaning is most frequently derived through an interactive, interpersonal sensemaking process at work that involves interaction with others (Wrzesniewski et al. 2003). The sensemaking process draws upon collective storytelling and visualizing (Baumeister and Vohs 2002; Maitlis and Lawrence 2007; Rosso et al. 2010; Sonenshein 2006; Weick 1995). Meaningful work can be a challenge to both create and sustain, and it is a shared responsibility between individuals and the organizations of which they are a part (Farran 2018). Lips-Wiersma and Morris (2018) provide a model suggesting that meaningful work is created via four primary pathways: Integrity of Self, Unity with Others, Serving Others, and Expressing Full Potential. In their model, these pathways are held in tension to maintain balance between Self and Others as well as Being and Doing and manifest themselves within the context of Inspiration and the Reality of our Self and our Circumstances (Lips-Wiersma and Morris 2018). Because inspiration is a powerful life force with significant prospective benefits, it is no surprise that, within their model for experiencing greater meaningfulness, it serves as the central magnetizing core that “breathes life into, stimulates, animates and lifts us up” (Lips-Wiersma and Morris 2018, p. 85). Our research and theorizing explore how to support the creation of greater work meaningfulness and corresponding engagement within the context of a case study using Appreciative Inquiry, which we will discuss further in a bit.

Impact of Work Meaningfulness on Engagement Organizations that cultivate work meaningfulness find that it improves their ability to successfully execute organizational change initiatives (Steger et al. 2012). However, building meaningfulness during times of change must be undertaken judiciously, as there is also the potential to erode rather than enhance work meaningfulness. Because meaningful work has significant impact on a variety of organizational outcomes, there are important implications and benefits for the organization as a whole (Rosso et al. 2010). As meaningfulness rises, so do prosocial behaviors (e.g., helping others) which strengthen relationships (Hooper 2016; Van Tongeren et al. 2016; Weinstein and Ryan 2010), leading to richer organizational

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networks. As individuals, when we experience work meaningfulness, we find it easier to make a connection and truly engage. On an individual basis, high levels of work meaningfulness contribute to individual job satisfaction (Wrzesniewski et al. 1997), job performance (Hackman and Oldham 1980; Wrzesniewski 2003; Allan et al. 2018; Grant 2008), personal fulfillment (Kahn 2007), and worker identification with the organization (Pratt et al. 2006), all contributing factors to employee engagement. The direct impact of work meaningfulness upon engagement has been confirmed empirically via multiple studies, in a variety of contexts (May et al. 2004). Worker engagement was found to rise with increasing work meaningfulness and act as a conduit for the effects of empowering leadership in multiple geographic and organizational contexts (Kindipan 2017; Lee et al. 2017). A similar relationship between engagement and meaningful work was observed in a study of ethical leadership, supporting the case for meaningful work as a pathway by demonstrating the strengthening effect it had upon engagement (Demirtas et al. 2017). Furthermore, there is an established relationship between engagement and contributing factors of work meaningfulness, including self-efficacy (Prouty 2017) and calling (Hirschi 2012). Further supporting the meaningfulness-engagement connection, meaningful work allows employees to be more tolerant of distress and less likely to experience burnout (Leiter and Harvie 1997; Williams 2017), both factors associated with engagement.

Engagement Drives Performance Engagement has long been a popular construct for human resources professionals globally. However, it has been only in the last decade that consistent definitions and research on the constructs have allowed us to begin to develop a shared understanding of engagement and its impact (Kahn 1990; Macey and Schneider 2008; Shuck and Wollard 2010). In their detailed analysis, Macey and Schneider (2008) moved our understanding of employee engagement forward by demonstrating how engagement can be expressed as a trait, state, or behavior: 1. The trait of having a positive disposition toward work that facilitates the tendency to be positive, adaptive, and energetic at work (Macey and Schneider 2008) 2. The psychological state of feeling connected, affirmed by their work connected to people’s personal satisfaction (Towers-Perrin 2003) 3. The observable behavior in which individuals expend discretionary effort (Kahn 1990) Each person is affected differently by his/her work attributes and environment (Macey and Schneider 2008). As a result, an individual may experience a particular state of psychological engagement that differs from his/her peers’, despite experiencing the same stimuli. As a result, understanding levels of psychological engagement requires observation of each individual and a

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deeper understanding of their current state (Macey and Schneider 2008). The complexity of understanding engagement requires studying all three of the above elements in order to fully grasp an employee’s true level of engagement (Kahn 1990; Macey and Schneider 2008; Shuck and Wollard 2010; TowersPerrin 2003). Because increasing or decreasing any one of the three elements of engagement will have a resulting effect on the others (Macey and Schneider 2008), it is possible to establish the relationship between engagement and other constructs such as performance and work meaningfulness. Therefore, let us turn to the connection between engagement and performance, leveraging data from studies of engagement to do so. Engagement has been shown to positively impact organizational performance (e.g., Crumpton 2018; Luthans and Peterson 2002; Young and Steelman 2017). Furthermore, studies in a wide array of organizational climates and cultures show that performance and retention improve with engagement (Crawford et al. 2010; Harter et al. 2002; Idris et al. 2015; Kindipan 2017; Kompaso and Sridevi 2010; Lee et al. 2017; Saks 2006). Additionally, during times of significant organizational change, engaged employees are more likely to be receptive toward change initiatives (Leiter and Harvie 1997). Unfortunately, workplace engagement is in a sorry state, with Gallup (2017) reporting levels hovering at 33% on average, which have real financial impacts associated with absenteeism, profit, sales, and productivity. Therefore, organizations that can cultivate meaningfulness and effectively impact engagement stand to dramatically impact performance at levels that have strategic impact. Employee voice has been shown to contribute to higher levels of engagement (Rees et al. 2013). Therefore, organizations should consider employee voice as a factor in contributing to more meaningful work experiences when architecting their work methods (Bailey and Madden 2016; Srivastava et al. 2006; Wood and De Menezes 2011). Participative organizational practices that engage worker participation and voice, such as Appreciative Inquiry, can increase work engagement (Kwon et al. 2016).

Summarizing: Why Work Meaningfulness Matters in Organizational Change In addition to the moral, ethical, and humanistic arguments for the importance of organizations in supporting work meaningfulness and engagement, it simply makes good business sense to do so. As we have discussed, work meaningfulness has the power to drive improved employee engagement (Hirschi 2012; Lee et al. 2017; Steger and Dik 2010). In turn, engagement impacts organizational outcomes, including improving the likelihood of success for change initiatives (Pratt and Ashforth 2003; Rosso et al. 2010; Leiter and Harvie 1997). This process is illustrated in our working model (Fig. 1) which depicts the impact of meaningfulness on organizational outcomes via engagement.

826 Fig. 1 Meaningfulness, engagement, and improved performance

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Work Meaningfulness

Engagement

Improved Performance

Appreciative Inquiry as an Approach to Enhanced Work Meaningfulness, Engagement, and Organizational Outcomes Appreciative Inquiry offers one such method to achieving greater work meaningfulness, engagement, and organizational outcomes through the process as outlined above. An appreciative mode opens up our ability to discover new “possibilities that can enrich our existence and give it meaning” (Cooperrider and Srivastava 1987, p. 164). Contrast this with traditional problem-solving approaches in which practitioners execute against standard diagnostic checklists and processes which lay the foundation for “ameaningful” thinking (Cooperrider and Srivastava 1987; Koch 1981). This limits the potential of positive impact of change efforts, and as Cooperrider and Srivastava (1987) summarized, it is: . . . important to recognize that the problem-solving method of organizational inquiry . . . paints a picture of organizational life in which a whole series of colors are considered untouchable. In this way the totality of being is obviously obscured, leading to a narrowed conception of human nature and cultural possibility. (p. 155)

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is an alternative approach to orchestrating change that has the potential to create meaningfulness and generative possibility. Research on AI summit interventions supports their effectiveness in cultivating opportunities for greater work meaningfulness (Farran 2018). In AI, organizational changes are considered opportunities to be embraced rather than problems to be solved, which opens up a new set of possibilities for working together (Cooperrider and Srivastava 1987). This way of framing the situation creates the conditions in which people can experience a greater sense of unity with others, allowing participants to work together to create a more engaging future (Ludema et al. 2003) and improve organizational outcomes by cultivating greater work meaningfulness. Furthermore, because AI is a bottom-up rather than a topdown organizational change practice, it enables employees to have a voice and feel empowered. Given the comprehensive nature of AI and its ability to span multiple pathways to work meaningfulness, it is an effective forum in which to facilitate widespread change while improving employee engagement. Let us now take a look at a specific case study and corresponding outcomes of an organization (Gridmax) that employs this approach.

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Case Study: Gridmax Energy Gridmax Background Gridmax Energy is a multistate energy distribution company located in the United States. Their information technology (IT) services group has struggled to innovate and provide the level of service expected by their internal stakeholders, resulting in frustration across the company and dissatisfaction inside the IT services department. There is frustration with both the work processes and the progress they have made, and it has begun to affect morale. Some employees are even considering leaving the company. A new executive, Anne Jones, has recently taken on leadership of the group and has been tasked with turning the situation around, fundamentally changing how IT does business. Faced with low levels of engagement inside the department and such a major organizational change on the horizon, Anne knows that she needs to both deliver change and improve engagement in order to succeed long term. Anne heard “complaint after compliant, with no one saying anything positive.” In fact, Gridmax had even stopped measuring employee satisfaction: They decided that they need to stop measuring employee satisfaction because the results they get is still consistently not good [sic]. If you’re not going to do anything about it, stop asking them because it actually makes employee satisfaction worse. If I’m going to give you my valuable feedback, do something with it. They’ve decided that until they actually start making a change, they’re not going to measure it again. – Gridmax manager

Many of Anne’s fellow executives, both inside and outside Gridmax, have suggested that she may need to choose between making the changes and employee engagement, believing that both are not simultaneously possible. However, Anne believes that she must do both, “lowering my expectations is unacceptable, so we have to fix this together.” In an effort to achieve this, she decides to engage the entire organization in an Appreciative Inquiry summit facilitated by a small group of change consultants.

Gridmax Energy’s Approach to Change The Gridmax Energy case brings to life many of the concepts we have discussed thus far and provides a foundation for subsequent points. It is a particularly impactful case study because of the rich perspectives we were able to garner both during and after the summit. This rich set of data illustrates the significant impact Appreciative Inquiry had on both organizational results and improving employee engagement. At an individual level, one employee shared that participating in the summit transformed his work experience. He now feels that work is “different”:

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I’m expressing my full potential, I’ve found some passion in the work that I’m doing now just from looking at it in a different positive lens. I do realize that there is a good opportunity to make an impact and that’s what leads me to view it in a positive manner. I felt that everybody really needed me, in a sense, if you will, right? If I’m making a difference, that’s when I really shine. That’s why I come to work. I come to work to make a difference and to feel valued. That’s my tagline – feeling valued, making a difference. When that stops happening, it’s time to do something different.

Beyond the individual impacts observed at Gridmax, the AI summit had a lasting impact on its culture. As one Gridmax manager describes: It’s phenomenal what the teams are presenting. It gives me goosebumps to think about what I hear, and how excited they are, and how much of a difference the appreciative inquiry approach really makes. I’m a firm believer in it. I want to be on that team, and I want to be right behind them, throwing my arms up, going ‘Yes!’

As these Gridmax employees highlight, positive organizational approaches such as Appreciative Inquiry allow work meaningfulness and engagement to flourish. Utilizing it during times of change enables employees to better engage with the organization while actively changing it for the better. In addition, it removes much of the risk associated with non-acceptance of the change (Leiter and Harvie 1997).

Gridmax Planning Working together with the consultants, Gridmax Energy’s senior IT leaders and Anne establish a common understanding of the overall objectives and create the affirmative topic around which the group will coalesce. While the group originally viewed their objective as finding a “sustainable fix” for the “broken” automation and compliance processes, the AI process reframed this into the positive topic which would be the focus of the summit – “Amped-up automation: empowering our people to reimagine how we deliver secure and compliant service and value.” With this focus agreed upon, a team of 20 people from different levels and parts of the organization is selected to plan and design the summit. Together with the consultants, this team plans and designs a summit agenda that meets the needs and aspirations of the “whole system” of stakeholders. This approach to architecting and executing the AI summit sets the stage for a positive focus and widespread participation that creates the foundation for this unique approach which can simultaneously deliver both change and engagement.

Gridmax AI Summit The AI summit itself was attended by 66 participants over the course of 3 days during which the participants themselves unpacked their own experiences inside the company, assessed their strengths, envisioned a new future together, and architected a change plan complete with teams and objectives. One leader

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described the hopefulness and positive energy in the room, “Everybody seemed to work together. I think everybody is on board with the summit and hope that it will have some really positive results. That is making everybody working together for [the same] end goals.” There was also a sense that leadership was willing to support change in ways that had not been the case before. One participant commented: There’s a lot of buy-in and willingness to try what would be non-traditional methodologies. That’s a willingness to fail. Especially in my personal experience, when you get higher up in the food chain, I tend to see a lot of risk aversion, and not that that doesn’t exist here to some extent, but at least in the powers that be that are involved with this one, they’re much more on the, “let’s try it and see if it works,” side. So, I guess there’s backing. There’s a lot of positivity around it.

This perception of leadership’s commitment to doing things differently affected the openness of summit participants, making them more willing to take risks and make changes themselves. As a result, they shared experiences and embraced the potential for positive change across the organization. Employees who participated in the summit experienced greater individual and collective work meaningfulness as they laid a new and stronger cultural foundation. The AI four-step process of discovering their positive core, dreaming about the future, designing a new reality, and putting a plan together to deliver it (Cooperrider and Srivastava 1987) was not a dry or mechanical exercise. The design of the AI process creates a dynamic in which participants are able to tap into deeper levels of their own experiences and share them with others. As a result, participants are less guarded with one another and more open to embracing new possibilities. Beginning with exercises focused on what has contributed to success in the past changes the conversation in the room, as it is very different from the typical way most change is tackled – by trying to better understand past problems. This method of focusing on past successes often allows individuals to tap into different experiences and consider new ways of thinking. An added benefit of the approach is that, because there is a perceived lower risk of sharing successes than failures, participants more readily open up. As one employee commented, “It’s a lot easier to get people to talk about what they’ve enjoyed and what they liked.” Participants engaged in a high-energy, creative, and joy-infused set of exercises that allowed them to create their own future. In one session, participants doubled over with laughter as they watched members perform skits highlighting potential initiatives that ranged from game shows to catwalk comedy. Typically rigid managers showed off their playful sides and brought the group to their knees as they danced, impersonated, and did any number of ridiculous things, much to the shock and delight of their compatriots. But it was the positivity and energy in the room which translated to thinking and acting differently that made the most significant impact. One participant commented, “This has been the most meaningful experience. Employees were taught to think differently. I see behaviors changing.” In fact, it was so impactful that those same behaviors continued long after the summit and could be observed as a part of their new norms:

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People that were at the summit that aren’t in management will quickly speak up and then grab a pen and paper or a market and get up on the whiteboard and just jump in and say, “Let’s document that.” That’s been an encouraging thing. I also think that people are looking at collaboration differently and not so much the silos that we had before. They’re saying, “Hey, how do I impact this group?” Because they really liked the atmosphere of the summit where we had so many different groups come together and talk about the ideas so they could all be on the same page. I’ve seen that collaboration increase since the summit.

The summit also had an impact on individual perspectives and behaviors which prompted one participant to observe: I’ve been more conscious of [being positive and keeping an open mind] since the summit. It really can show a difference with people when you are more positive in every situation even if it’s a bad situation. . .. . . . when you are more positive, you can find the passion in the work that I’m doing or find the good in things that leads to a better outcome of work. When you we go into a task with a pessimistic attitude then your work is probably not going to be good as going in with a good attitude. Then just all around I start appreciating the job that I do have and the opportunity for growth and impact for the organization as a whole. [It is about] expressing full potential. . . . . . service to others and uniting with others was really was fully listening to other’s needs and understanding what they need out of the process and not trying a solution without them.

Another employee built on this observation of the summit’s long-term impact, describing how it drove meaning and passion: There was a lot of post-summit excitement, which is good . . . all of the energy and focus seems to be continuing as if we were in the summit still. It’s been meaningful to be part of the team and see that everybody’s passion for the project and cooperation and respect of everybody’s input is still going.

Measuring Work Meaningfulness In order to measure the meaningfulness that participants described, we utilized the quantitative Comprehensive Meaningful Work Scale (CMWS) developed by LipsWiersma and Wright (2012) that measures the eight dimensions mentioned earlier in this chapter (i.e., integrity of self, unity with others, serving others, expressing full potential, balance of self and others, balance of being and doing, inspiration, and reality of our self and our circumstances). These same dimensions comprise the Map of Meaning model (Lips-Wiersma and Morris 2018) that can be used for qualitative reflections. Both of these instruments were used within the Gridmax case study to measure the effects of Appreciative Inquiry on work meaningfulness for the participants in this study. The CMWS was administered before the study to establish a baseline and once again following the AI intervention. The interviews that utilized the Map of Meaning were conducted after the AI intervention as well and supplemented the quantitative findings.

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Gridmax Results Following the AI summit, the participants’ CMWS total scores, measuring experienced work meaningfulness, improved. The components of the scores that improved most notably were along the dimensions of unity with others, inspiration, and expressing full potential (Farran 2018). Participants were energized – some even reported returning to their day jobs feeling refreshed despite facing piles of accumulated work (Farran 2018). They also returned to their jobs having built measurably stronger working relationships that transcended organizational functions, roles, and levels. Furthermore, they adopted new practices that enabled greater collaboration: We’re involving all of our customers or all the people that are supposed to be involved that could be impacted through that process. Also, we’re finding out that [being more inclusive] is eliminating duplication of work. After going through this exercise, the big thing that I see is that the collaboration, . . . it’s really increased a lot. – Gridmax summit participant

In fact, the culture change pre- and post-summit was dramatic. Prior to the summit, when the IT staff gathered to discuss the 3-year strategic plan, the meetings turned into complaint sessions in which the lack of trust for managers and empowerment of staff was palpable. Fast forward to a few months post-summit, those same meetings were now productive sessions absent the negativity that had previously plagued them. According to one participant, “Before the summit it was complaint after complaint. Afterward, people reported better relationships with managers, and the tone in the meetings changed.” The summit experience had fundamentally transformed the culture of the group. In addition, it facilitated a completely different level of acceptance for and participation in the 3-year strategic plan. There was tangible progress made on the 3-year strategic plan during the summit, as change initiatives that were identified at the summit began moving forward almost immediately. The teams that were working on them presented the initiatives and their progress just a few weeks later to executive sponsors during a company-wide meeting for integration into the organization’s strategic plans. The teams that presented them had made extraordinary progress and exhibited a level of buy-in and energy that one individual described as “phenomenal.” In addition, what participants learned about how to approach challenges impacted nearly everything they did. They were so transformed by their experiences with the optimal positive-tonegative ratios suggested by the summit facilitators citing Gottman and Levenson (1999) that they made and posted “5:1” placards on all of their office spaces as a reminder. They even went as far as to hang a “45:9” placard on the conference room. In post-summit interviews, participants cited the brainstorming sessions and the strategic opportunity map creating among the exercises that improved their work meaning the most. One participant shared that the AI summit has been the single most meaningful experience in her career. When asked what had made it so impactful, she shared:

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. . .. Watching the employees transition from who I know they are to them being excited about work and providing value. The new leadership that I saw emerge. Just the positivity that was in the room compared to what it was before the event. That hit me for so long. I’ve still been excited about that event [weeks later] and can’t stop talking about it. In my entire life, that was probably the most meaningful [career experience].

Several participants commented on the unprecedented levels of participation and collaboration achieved during the summit and how it led to better-quality results. They noted how the experience drove awareness of the benefits of collaboration and improved the work environment for the better: It’s the frequency of people being inclusive and collaborating [that] has increased. They saw the benefit [of both] at the summit [learning that] when we collaborate we can come up with better ideas and everyone is aligned. We can actually execute quicker on our ideas.

This more collaborative environment led to observably better results: We get along famously, but we provide that separate viewpoint and check and balance against each other in our function that is very symbiotic, and I think that any organization that’s truly going to be successful in the long term has to have that diversity. Diversity of thought, diversity of vision, diversity of personnel, of culture. Everybody brings their own viewpoint to the table. A really good way to get where you want to go is to get all those disparate viewpoints to come to a singular conclusion.

Beyond getting work done, collaboration had an impact on employee development and growth. When one employee was asked what gave work meaning, they described the impact collaboration had beyond merely improved organizational results. Improved collaboration allowed them the opportunity to make connections, gather new knowledge, learn how others think, and interact. In short, it was an opportunity to develop, learn, and grow. He describes the impact below: The opportunity to interact with people outside my normal scope and learn from them. It’s not just the socialization part, but there are a lot of subject matter experts up and down the organizational scale. Even if I don’t get to ask them questions, to see how they provide feedback or view any topic of discussion, you can learn things just from that. For me, what I’m getting out of it is a development opportunity [from] that interaction.

The correlation between diversity of thought and improved results is well supported by research on organizational and team performance (McClelland et al. 2014; Srivastava et al. 2006; Edmondson and Roloff 2009). It also creates an environment in which all contributors feel that their input is valuable and being embraced by others (Edmondson and Roloff 2009). Because AI summits bring together a broad swath of the organization with a diverse set of experiences and actively engage them in highly participative exercises, Gridmax summit participants spent 3 days immersed in extreme cross-functional collaboration. Unsurprisingly, both during and after the summit, Gridmax’s participants commented on how impactful it was, highlighting how engagement rose to unprecedented levels. One employee shared:

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. . . I’ll say that the off-site [summit] that we had was one of the more engaging activities that I’ve been involved in my 12–13 years at Gridmax . . . I felt like I’ve not seen that [level of engagement and energy] at Gridmax [before] . . .

Yet another employee, with one foot out the door, having already interviewed for a position outside the organization, decided to stay following the summit. There can be no clearer statement about the validity of an approach to change than to be able to say that it effectively created career high points and transformed the experiences of disengaged employees to the point that they were actively engaged with newfound work meaningfulness.

Discussion: Exploring How Appreciative Inquiry Supports the Creation of Work Meaningfulness Appreciative Inquiry creates a fertile environment in which meaningfulness can grow by balancing inspiration and reality. Within the Map of Meaning, inspiration serves as the central magnetizing core, but it must be bound by reality, allowing us to stay grounded (Lips-Wiersma and Morris 2018). Inspiration in the absence of reality results in lack of credibility, while reality in the absence of inspiration results in cynicism, apathy, and disengagement. Therefore, the appropriate balance between inspiration and the realities of self and circumstances is critical to any initiative meant to develop meaning and, in turn, engagement.

Connecting Reality to Aspirations Participants in Gridmax Energy’s summit had the opportunity to take stock of the organization’s positive core and embrace its untapped potential, all while acknowledging the need for organizational change. Appreciative Inquiry allowed participants to balance inspiration and reality, thereby creating a space within which meaningfulness could flourish (Farran 2018). Unlike most strategic planning and organizational change exercises, AI does not place participants in the uncomfortable position of requiring them either to (1) dive so deeply into the problems that there is feel as if there is no hope or (2) focus so much on successes that it feels disconnected from reality. Instead, AI creates an environment where reality is embraced and inspiration can be generated. This, in turn, allows participants to enhance performance, generate more creative options, and improve problem solution generation (An and Youn 2018; Smith and Futrell 2014).

Supporting Mindfulness Certain aspects of Appreciative Inquiry support intentional mindfulness at both the organizational and the individual levels. For instance, setting aside day-to-day business for a large group of participants to come together to take time to recall,

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reflect, and share high point experiences is, in itself, a mindful practice. In addition, many of the AI practices themselves are mindful, including the reflective process associated with the discovery phase. Because mindfulness has been demonstrated to improve engagement and create immunity to burnout at work (Geller et al. 2010; Hülsheger et al. 2013; and Leroy et al. 2013), AI’s impact on mindfulness must not be underestimated.

Creating Energy Appreciative Inquiry employs both left- and right-brain activities, allowing participants to be creative, experience moments of joy and fun, and embrace their own humanity. Many of the skits and activities brought creative energy into the room and broke down walls that had existed for years. It allowed participants to be more “human” and gave them permission to engage more fully and authentically at work. The ability to unlock this side of themselves allowed them to embrace an additional generative and innovative capacity that had not been present before.

Unlocking New Solutions The brainstorming process, which builds on creative exercises and skits and applies the principles of design thinking, creates an environment in which new solutions emerge. As previously noted, participants often cited the brainstorming sessions and the strategic opportunity map exercises as experiences that affected their work meaningfulness most significantly. The process supports an environment that is rife with greater creativity and innovation. This ultimately leads to greater expression of full potential, a significant pathway to increased work meaningfulness, increased engagement, and improved organizational outcomes in the form of more robust business solutions. One Gridmax employee shared that “solving problems” and making changes that improve performance were what gave work meaning. Another Gridmax employee described how important group problem-solving was to them: I’m driven internally to help. I get satisfaction from knowing that I’ve helped somebody else do something. So that goes back to that whole collaboration, and the environment that we talked about. I really enjoy working with others and having an outcome or getting something done. Being able to tangibly see that.

Creating a Shared Vision and Strengthening co-Worker Relationships AI summits allow participants to engage with the group in order to set a new direction and co-create a shared vision of the future. This approach to driving change

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also has the added benefit of strengthening relationships between co-workers as they focus on common goals. At Gridmax, employees observed there was, “Less siloing, more collaboration. More impact put on relationship building. Not just at the personal level, but even between the groups.” This made it more reflective of their most engaging work experiences: [It was] laid back, very collaborative, very engaged, lots of . . . brainstorming lots of forward thinking. . . . You’re given an idea and you go run with it however you want. You’re given an end goal and that’s it, and it’s your job to find the path. A very culture-driven, exciting, rewarding workplace where people actively collaborate, feel good about their work, that it’s meaningful work, that it’s just not turn the crank work, that there is trust and support in the organization.

Bringing together large portions of the organization and allowing them to work together in nontraditional but meaningful ways improves the acceptance of new perspectives and styles, promotes inclusivity, and improves the sense of belonging. This cultivates a stronger collaboration that extends beyond the summit itself and begins to build stronger bonds and break down silos. This theme relates to the particular pathway of Unity with Others in the CMWS and Map of Meaning as a means for creating greater work meaningfulness.

Creating Greater Voice, Empowerment, and Commitment As any parent will attest, after having negotiated with a toddler or a teenager, children tend to embrace the things that are their ideas and resist those things that are forced upon them. This is simply how we are wired as people and is not something we outgrow. As such, the very practice of allowing participants to take a hand in shaping their change initiative allows them to embrace rather than resist or simply accept change and feel that it matters not just to them but also to the organization. One employee described how doing work that matters both to them and the organization was more engaging: I think to be doing work that matters, and not just busy work. And then also the opportunity to continuously improve or learn additional skills. With that increased knowledge then there’s the ability to move up the ladder or even laterally to some other department that may be of interest. The biggest thing for me is to see something I’m doing translate to somebody else’s dashboard.

Because AI facilitates change through identifying initiatives and allowing participants to self-select where they spend their time and energy, it also provides an opportunity for job crafting. In addition, the group-level dynamic also allows for collaborative job crafting that strengthens the organizational culture and builds a greater sense of work meaningfulness (Luu 2017; McClelland et al. 2014; Mäkikangas et al. 2016; Mäkikangas et al. 2017; Tims et al. 2013). Built into the AI process is a heightened level of voice and empowerment experienced by participants. This, in turn, leads to greater commitment to the change

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initiative. Team members who participate in change initiatives that include AI summits express sentiments of being heard and valued while also feeling as if leadership was being transparent and trustworthy. For example, one Gridmax participant shared: [It] was good to have the backing but it also was good to have their trust. Our team had the full responsibility of getting this from A to Z and there wasn’t really much pushback, the trust [was] there to get it accomplished. Also, it was great because I learned a lot.

Part of this stems from the fact that all levels of the organization participate as peers in these sessions, working side by side as a single team. Furthermore, because individuals choose the initiatives they will work on during the summit, they leave the room caring about and fostering a deep commitment to enacting these changes. One participant described how work meaningfulness was created for them: A meaningful experience to me [involves] problem solving. It’s like a puzzle. It keeps the mind busy. You have things to figure out. The other piece was the human interaction. Even though we were all under a lot of pressure, people were very considerate of one another. There wasn’t finger pointing, or people getting angry with each other. For the most part, it was like a band of brothers, kind of. It was very positive and meaningful in that way as well. Then the leadership interaction was more along the lines of, okay, we trust you. We’re going to knock down walls, but we don’t want to get in your way. We’re going to check in, but we’re not going to be overly involved in a way that we interfere. There’s no micromanagement and we trust you. They really did stick to that. That was a big part of why it was meaningful as well.

The themes described above contribute to the Expressing Full Potential, Unity with Others, and Inspiration dimensions within the CMWS and Map of Meaning as a means for cultivating greater work meaningfulness.

Improving Performance Appreciative Inquiry engages individuals in the change process, allowing them to consider their current reality while embracing an inspired future. AI has the ability to cultivate work meaningfulness by generating inspiration – “a trait or state, triggered by internal or external stimuli, which is characterized by evocation, motivation, and transcendence” (Thrash and Elliott 2003, p. 871). Recent research highlights enhanced outcomes linked to inspiration, including the ability to enhance performance, generate more creative options, and improve problem solution generation (An and Youn 2018; Smith and Futrell 2014). Adopting the AI mindset and practices can have overarching impacts on performance and fundamentally change the way in which organizations operate. These approaches involve the entire organization, encouraging those at all levels to actively participate. In practice, it means that staff is more likely to “opt in” because they were engaged both early and deeply. As a result, participants typically report a

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greater sense of community, the management observes an energized workforce, and the culture typically shifts toward one that supports greater work meaningfulness. The net result is that change initiatives in which AI summits or similar positivist approaches are used provide an opportunity to connect to a greater sense of hope, purpose, or inspiration. As demonstrated in the Map of Meaning (Lips-Wiersma and Morris 2018), inspiration can not only directly impact work meaningfulness in and of itself but can also drive meaningfulness indirectly via each of the other pathways. This resulting improved meaningfulness, as we have already discussed, positively impact engagement (Avey et al. 2009; Demirtas et al. 2017; May et al. 2004), which in turn can positively impact performance (Bailey et al. 2016).

Implications for Practice and Research Organizational change typically creates disengagement in a workforce, often making leaders feel as if they must choose between necessary change and workforce engagement – a “no-win” choice if ever there was one. Appreciative Inquiry, and its ability to deliver both change and improved engagement, allows the choice to be seen for the false dichotomy that it is. AI’s potential to generate change while improving Inspiration, Unity with Others, and Expressions of Full Potential demonstrates the multiple paths through which AI can positively impact meaning. Work meaningfulness, in turn, has been shown to drive higher levels of engagement, higher levels of commitment, an increased sense of accomplishment and growth, higher levels of morale and well-being, greater job enjoyment, lower levels of intention to quit, and improved performance (Bailey et al. 2016). AI can improve work meaningfulness, engagement, and ultimately performance through the process shown in Fig. 2. The above model provides a construct supported by both theoretical and empirical published works and organizes the concepts of meaningfulness, engagement, and performance. As the Gridmax case study highlights, Appreciative Inquiry is an approach to architecting organizational change that has the potential to building meaning and engagement among the workforce. Given the increased demand among workers for the opportunity to experience meaning at work and the VUCA world in which organizations operate, better understanding how to create meaning while meeting the strategic demand for change is critical. Comparative and empirical

Appreciative Inquiry - Based Change Programs

Work Meaningfulness

Engagement

Improved Performance

Fig. 2 AI’s contribution to work meaningfulness and performance during organizational change

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studies that unpack the effect of AI summits on work meaningfulness, engagement, and ultimately performance would be valuable to both practitioners and researchers alike. As a next step, large-scale quantitative testing should be performed at several different points in time with organizations undertaking change initiatives. Consistent measures for work meaningfulness, engagement, and organizational change measurements should be implemented as part of the methodology. Appreciative Inquiry is but one option in a whole range of positive organizational interventions that can be tested, each of which may have a similar positive effect on meaningfulness and engagement. Further study of these alternate approaches that provide significant promise in positive organizational practice is worth pursuing as a basis for comparison and a deeper understanding of their impact to employee engagement and organizational outcomes. Ultimately, the supposition that organizations must choose between engagement and performance is false. Meaningfulness at work may be the key to understand how engagement and performance can be achieved simultaneously, and positive organizational change initiatives such as AI may just be the key to driving it. Organizations must evolve in order to survive, but they also must attract, retain, and energize their workforce. If they can only do one at the expense of the other, there is no hope for their survival. It is up to us as researchers to better understand how this process works and better equip them. We must add detail to our understanding of the mechanics of meaning and AI in order to help create high-performing environments in which workers thrive.

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Clive R. Boddy, Ellis Malovany, Aylin Kunter, and Gregory Gull

Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Toxic Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Employee Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Psychopaths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Corporate Psychopaths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Corporate Psychopaths and Employee Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Research Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Method of Identification of Corporate Psychopaths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Research Samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Findings and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Public Bullying and Humiliation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Anxiety and Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Engagement, Commitment, and Withdrawal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Self-Doubt and Uncertainty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Declining Organizational Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Depression and Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hopelessness and Helplessness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Human Resource Reactions to Reportedly Abusive Managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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C. R. Boddy (*) Business School, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] E. Malovany Access Global Partners, New York, NY, USA e-mail: [email protected] A. Kunter Middlesex University, London, UK e-mail: [email protected] G. Gull Capella University, Minneapolis, MN, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_74

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Mechanisms Influencing Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Research Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Practical Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

This chapter reports on 21 in-depth interviews in the UK and USA with corporate employees who were currently working or had previously worked with a toxic leader in the form of a corporate psychopath. This is thus a chapter that is concerned with the impact on well-being of working with a corporate psychopath. Corporate psychopathy was defined using a measure of psychopathy involving prototypical characteristics such as lying, cheating, egocentricity, emotional unresponsiveness, and grandiosity. A contribution of the chapter is that it answers the call for research which links the destructive leadership literature with employee well-being. Research participants in both countries reported that their well-being was affected by psychopathic leadership, with reports of stress-related illnesses and depression, including suicidal thoughts. The chapter concludes that corporate psychopaths, in both the UK and USA, appear to have a similar protocol for achieving their objectives and achieve similar results. This protocol involves using loud, regular, public bullying combined with threats of violence to create a fearful, cowed, and compliant workforce who can the more easily be manipulated and controlled by the abusive corporate psychopath. Research participants in both the USA and UK suffered from severely reduced well-being because of this common experience.

Introduction The effects of employee well-being are perhaps more important than they first appear because they cascade outward from the individual to both the organizational and societal levels (Kowalski et al. 2015). An antecedent of high well-being is good leadership, and leadership has thus been identified as a key ingredient in employee well-being (Hogan and Kaiser 2005; Zineldin and Hytter 2012). Supporting this finding, recent research has also established that there is a close relationship between leadership and well-being (Perko et al. 2016). Indeed, there is consistent evidence from academic and practitioner studies that employee well-being and engagement are important for organizational performance and that managers are important for the health, well-being, and engagement of employees (Lewis et al. 2014). For example, organizational leadership and the way employees are managed is reported to be a key determinant of employee well-being, health, and engagement (Kowalski and Loretto 2015). On the other hand, toxic leadership, in the form of corporate psychopaths, has been found to correlate with

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low levels of employee affective well-being (Mathieu et al. 2014; Boddy et al. 2015). A challenge to HR practitioners is therefore to minimize leader psychopathy to help sustain and even maximize employee well-being. In the following pages, we briefly discuss toxic leaders and corporate psychopaths as examples of such leaders and then describe employee well-being. This discussion sets the scene for what is the main subject of the rest of the chapter, which is an examination of how the presence of corporate psychopaths influences well-being in employees.

Toxic Leadership Commentators such as Mehta and Maheshwari (2014) argue that toxic leadership has not been assigned the value or consideration it deserves. Adhering to Lipman-Blumen’s definition, we describe toxic leaders as those who, through their destructive behavior and dysfunctional characteristics, generate a poisonous effect on the individuals, organizations, and societies which they lead (Lipman-Blumen 2005). Such toxic leaders, writes Lipman-Blumen, promise magnificent illusions of success but are nevertheless not committed to the well-being of their followers but rather to the advancement of their own power. Toxic leadership is therefore of great consequence because such leaders put selfinterest ahead of organizational interest and in so doing they cause serious injury, including psychological damage to employees and to organizations (Mehta and Maheshwari 2014). Corporate psychopaths have been identified as one type of dark, toxic leader or psychopathic leader (Boddy 2017) and as leaders who cause destruction to organizations and distress to employees (Mathieu et al. 2014; Boddy et al. 2015; Boddy et al. 2014; McCleskey 2013). McCleskey reports that these leaders can have a substantial influence over their follower’s lives. It is claimed that there is therefore a need for more research into such leaders, including those who are psychopathic (McCleskey 2013). A senior UK psychiatrist goes further and, writing about psychopathy and bullying in the National Health Service, argues that in order to help organizations avoid the adverse effects of employing psychopathic people, then leadership development should include learning the art of managing psychopathic employees (de Silva 2014). Similarly, psychologists are increasingly recognizing the relevance of psychopathy to organizational outcomes (Johnson et al. 2015). Toxic leadership is also important because of the influence of leadership on organizational behavior. Toxic leadership is likely to develop a dysfunctional organizational culture. Leaders influence mores through their impact on organizational values and norms (Van Fleet and Griffin 2006). Leaders are thus argued to be one of the most important determinants of organizational customs (Van Fleet and Griffin 2006). Followers notice whether leaders are truthful, honest, and respectful and then tend toward espousing these standards in their own behavior. If corporate psychopaths are in leadership positions, then this influence will be negative (Boddy 2017) and well-being can be expected to suffer. Well-being is discussed below.

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Employee Well-Being As discussed elsewhere in this book, well-being at an emotional level constitutes a situation where a person is content and pleased with their life and when their occupational, home, spiritual, and emotional lives are perceived to be balanced (Boddy et al. 2015). At an individual level, such a situation promotes mental and physical health; collectively it promotes a healthy and stable society (Wright and Cropanzano 1997). In the workplace, well-being facilitates a steady and efficiently operating organization. Further, employee well-being in terms of happiness and relationships is congruent with organizational performance (Van De Voorde et al. 2012). There are thus both moral reasons for, and business benefits from, increased well-being in the workplace (Kowalski and Loretto 2015). Studies of well-being have grown over the past two decades to encompass well-being within a social context, while research has also moved increasingly into the corporate realm (Ilies et al. 2015a). Employees have a sense of what kind of leader will provide them with contentment and happiness at work, and they desire leaders of integrity whom they can trust to treat them fairly and equitably and who have the interests of their subordinates at heart (Smothers et al. 2012). In line with the expectations of reciprocity from social exchange theory, employees who feel that their employer cares about them are reportedly three times more likely to go the extra mile in working for their organization (Morris 2015). Followers want leaders who are compassionate, empathetic, democratic, good communicators, and respectful of others (Smothers et al. 2012). Corporate psychopaths have none of these qualities of fairness and respect, and further, they have been found to engender the sorts of work environments which are extremely pressured because of bullying and abusive management (Boddy et al. 2015). Employees who feel under excessive pressure commonly associate this with management style or their relationship with their line manager (CIPD 2014). Such excessively pressured employees report that their line manager is less likely to coach them, allocate resources to them, treat them fairly, or recognize them for a job well done (CIPD 2014). Corporate psychopaths also display this behavior. Employee well-being is valuable to organizations because it predicts job performance (Wright and Cropanzano). The colloquial version of this is the saying: “a happy worker is a productive worker” (Wright and Cropanzano 2004). Employee affective well-being is also important because it foretells employee turnover, which is expensive for organizations in terms of time and money (Wright and Bonett 2007). Employee well-being is additionally important at an individual level, as it is a precursor of good health, including cardiovascular robustness (Wright et al. 2009). Further, because it excludes stress, which is a main cause of unhealthiness (Giacalone and Promislo 2010), well-being also stimulates the production of “feelgood” chemicals (e.g., dopamine, oxytocin, endorphins) in the brain, which assist healthiness. Excessively pressured employees report that they are more likely to take time off for sick leave, they are less patient with clients, and they feel anxious or depressed

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(CIPD 2014). To aid an understanding of how well-being and psychopathy may be connected, the chapter now discusses who psychopaths and corporate psychopaths are, as below.

Psychopaths Psychopathy is a personality trait within the threesome of narcissists, psychopaths, and Machiavellians which together constitute a “dark triad” of personalities (Paulhus and Williams 2002; Furnham et al. 2013). These are related personalities, and a full description can be found in the following references (Book et al. 2015; O’Boyle et al. 2012; Schyns 2015). In organizational research, it is Machiavellianism, subclinical levels of narcissism, and subclinical/sub-criminal psychopathy that tend to be identified within management and leadership (McHoskey et al. 1998; Scherer et al. 2013). Psychopaths are approximately one percent of the population (Coid et al. 2009). They have no conscience and demonstrate an egotistic and ruthless approach to living characterized by a lack of respect or care for the wellbeing of others (Hare 1994, 1999). If their lack of conscience is manifested in violence and antisocial acts, then their behavior may be found to be criminal by societal legal systems (Hare et al. 1991). While Widom and others pointed out that psychopaths could be studied in other settings, most early studies of psychopaths took place in institutions such as prisons, thereby confounding antisocial criminality with psychopathy, resulting in popular confusion between the two (Widom 1977; Hercz 2001). Non-imprisoned psychopaths came to be known by different terms, inter alia sub-criminal psychopath, subclinical psychopath, industrial psychopath, executive psychopath, successful psychopath, organizational psychopath, and corporate psychopath (Clarke 2005; Babiak 1995; Morse 2004; Babiak and Hare 2006; Boddy 2006). The latter term is used here.

Corporate Psychopaths Corporate psychopaths were originally recognized in Cleckley’s book The Mask of Sanity (Cleckley 1941/1988) as psychopaths who lived and worked among the rest of society in occupations such as engineering, medicine, and academia. The acknowledgment that these subclinical psychopaths may have some social interaction advantages over normal people was then made (Ray and Ray 1982). Such psychopaths live openly in society (Stout 2005a, b). Thus, the difference between a criminal psychopath and a corporate (or successful) psychopath could be that the latter avoids criminal prosecution because of a greater ability to control their impulsivity or because of a modified (less severe) expression of their psychopathy. See especially Lilienfeld and colleagues for a thorough review of these differences (Smith and Lilienfeld 2013; Lilienfeld et al. 2015; Smith et al. 2014). Corporate psychopaths are nevertheless likely to demonstrate high levels of severe bullying and abusive behavior and to generate negative workplace outcomes,

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particularly at the level of the individual well-being of those who work closely with the corporate psychopath (Mathieu et al. 2014; Boddy 2011a, 2015). The presence of corporate psychopaths theoretically affects everyone, but at any one time, only 5% to 15% of employees are working closely enough with a corporate psychopath to recognise their disagreeable character traits. Research appears to confirm this because the incidence of currently working with a psychopath has been reported at levels of about 5%, 10%, and 13% (Boddy 2011b; Boddy et al. 2015; Caponecchia et al. 2011). Around 30% of employees will ever experience working closely enough with a corporate psychopath during their careers, to notice their abhorrent behavior and personalities. However, indications are that HR professionals are much more likely to knowingly come across corporate psychopaths than other employee groups are (Boddy et al. 2015). Auditors have also been found to knowingly encounter corporate psychopaths at high levels of incidence, and 69% of senior auditors report having come across a corporate psychopath in their careers, frequently in association with attempted fraud (Jeppesen et al. 2016). This makes the study of corporate psychopaths of relevance to human resource management and to accountants. The connection between corporate psychopaths and employee well-being is made in the next section of the chapter.

Corporate Psychopaths and Employee Well-Being Employee affective well-being has been found to decline with increasing levels of incivility and employee mistreatment (Lim and Cortina 2005). Corporate psychopaths may therefore be presumed to influence employee well-being because of their own workplace behavior, which is abusive and bullying. Corporate psychopaths as organizational leaders are described as creating a culture in which bullying is practiced, allowed to flourish, and even encouraged (Boddy 2011a). Corporate psychopaths have further been identified as agents of organizational chaos and abuse, and therefore overt behavior like rudeness and levels of conflict are higher in the presence of corporate psychopaths than would otherwise be the case (Roscigno et al. 2009). In line with the characterization of psychopaths as bullies, people with high scores on a psychopathy measure have been found to be more likely to engage in bullying than other people (Nathanson et al. 2006). Corporate psychopaths are also strongly associated with bullying. Indeed findings from both quantitative and qualitative research (Boddy 2011a; Boddy et al. 2015; Boddy et al. 2014) suggest that the presence of corporate psychopaths may be the biggest single contributor to conflict and bullying and thereby to job satisfaction (Boddy and Taplin 2016). It has been suggested that the definition of bullying should include practices like the taking of credit for another’s work (McInnes 2006), which is reported as a common practice of psychopaths in the workplace (Boddy et al. 2015; Babiak and Hare 2006). For example, such taking credit for another’s work by corporate psychopaths has been reported in qualitative research in the UK (Boddy et al. 2015).

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Further, in the literature on psychopathy and bullying, it is theorized that bullying can be used to intimidate others and make them afraid to confront the corporate psychopath involved, allowing them more leeway. Bullying is also used by corporate psychopaths to humiliate (Clarke 2005) subordinates, possibly because many psychopaths enjoy hurting people (Porter et al. 2003). Bullying is also used as to confuse and disorientate those who may be a threat to the psychopath’s activities (Clarke 2005). The stress of working with a corporate psychopath may be expected to increase cortisol production in the brain and thus impair the brain’s executive functioning. Bullying also distracts employee’s consideration away from the corporate psychopaths’ deeds, which a more typically operational and less emotionally distraught set of employees may otherwise be more cognizant of (Boddy 2011a). When corporate psychopaths are present, conflict and bullying occur more frequently and affect more employees than when they are not present. In response to this, social learning theory implies that subordinates learn negative behavior from their managers, and in correspondence with this, it has been found that subjects who are bullied, and who experience interpersonal conflict at work, may, in turn, become involved in the bullying of others (Hauge et al. 2009). This provides a further rationale for the study of well-being involving bullying in relation to the presence of corporate psychopaths. Workplace conflict and bullying are also associated with stress (Alper et al. 2000; Abdel-Halim 1978). Stress, in turn, is a main cause of sickness absence in the workplace (Morris 2015). Andersson and Pearson (1999) describe how workplace incivility has the potential to spiral into increasingly belligerent behavior. This helps in establishing the important link between uncivil behavior like yelling, arguments, and outright conflict (Andersson and Pearson 1999). Clarke discusses the conflict that psychopaths can create between employees and how they can seek to manipulate workplace events to cause conflict and bullying (Clarke 2005). Boddy found a high and significant correlation between the presence of corporate psychopaths and conflict at 0.504, in his research (Boddy 2011a). This supports the idea that corporate psychopaths are key contributors to conflict and bullying and through this to low employee affective well-being (Boddy et al. 2015). In Boddy’s research 35.2% of all bullying was associated with the presence of corporate psychopaths (Boddy et al. 2015). The same calculation from an Australian study provided a figure of 26% of all bullying being associated with the presence of corporate psychopaths (Boddy 2011a). Importantly, at zero levels of psychopathy, there is almost no bullying, whereas at high levels, there is daily bullying. Recent findings from qualitative research underscore the veracity of these findings (Boddy et al. 2015) which support Babiak, Hare, and Clarke’s theoretical contention that corporate psychopaths are major organizational instigators of bullying and of the development of a culture of bullying. Levels of employee well-being reduce where a manager is not trustworthy (Kelloway et al. 2012), and as corporate psychopaths are characterized as being liars, manipulators, and deceivers, they can be assumed to be untrustworthy.

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Corporate psychopaths may also be presumed to influence employee well-being because they impact the workplace environment as a whole, creating an atmosphere of rudeness, lowered friendliness, and lessened cooperation (Boddy et al. 2015). The presence of rudeness in the workplace is a measure of uncivil behavior and conflict, and it correlates with decreased levels of employee helpfulness (Porath and Erez 2007). In line with these findings connecting corporate psychopaths with bullying, employee affective well-being has been found to be lower in the presence of corporate psychopaths. In terms of employee affective well-being, when corporate psychopaths are present, then employees are significantly ( p 75% were taken to show corporate psychopathy.

Research Samples A sample of nine white collar employees from the USA was used based on doctoral research conducted there (Malovany 2014). UK research participants were a purposive sample of 12 managers in the UK who were interviewed in an exploratory, face to face (9) or telephone (3), in-depth manner using a semistructured interview guide. Research involving six of the UK corporate psychopaths has been reported on elsewhere in terms of the extreme work environment they create. In this chapter these transcripts, together with the new interviews, were interrogated for comments relating to employee well-being. In terms of sample demographics, apart from there being one female teacher in the US sample, other US participants were four female and four male corporate executives, all aged 31 and older. US participants were recruited via an online call for participants in a survey of abusive supervision. UK research participants were recruited in-person at networking events (9) or via a call (3) for participants made online. These US and UK participants were then further screened to establish the psychopathy of the managers they were reporting on to determine their eligibility. All participants scored their manager as a corporate psychopath on the psychopathy measure used. Research participants asked that they

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remain completely anonymous as they regarded the information given as sensitive, embarrassing, and upsetting. For example, research participants asked that their industry sector and/or sex, age, and job titles be disguised or changed to protect their anonymity. Therefore, only a general description of participants is given here. This also protects the identity of the managers who were reported on as corporate psychopaths. This anonymity is needed for ethical reasons because of the sensitive nature of the research and because of the potentially negative implications of labelling someone a psychopath. In general terms therefore, research participants were mainly managers and in their 30s, 40s, and 50s in terms of age. They were speaking of events as long as up to 30 years ago or events still taking place at the time of interview. Interviews were mainly carried in neutral settings such as private offices, libraries, coffee bars, or hotel lobbies. Interviews were voice-recorded and transcripts made.

Analysis Transcripts were read repeatedly to identify the general ideas and rudimentary themes that emerged from the research. From these, more categorical topics became apparent and were described, and these led to the identification of overarching or global themes. This process is illustrated in Fig. 1, at the end of this chapter.

Declining ethics Social learning Negative reciprocity Social contagion

Direct conflict Bullying and abuse Corporate Psychopaths in Leadership

Reduced Well-being Workplace stress Strong affective events Weakened selfconfidence/self-esteem Depression Little organizational redress Perceived injustice and unfairness

Fig. 1 Mechanisms influencing well-being

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As one example of this coding and thematic development, the lying of corporate psychopaths was a basic theme identified early in the research analysis. This lying was linked to an organizing theme of declining organizational ethics and to a global theme of diminishing emotional well-being.

Findings and Discussion We acknowledge the oversimplification that labelling entails; nevertheless in this chapter, for the sake of conciseness, each supervisor who scored highly on the psychopathy measure used will be referred to as a corporate psychopath. A contribution of this chapter is to put some qualitative “flesh” on the bare bones of the quantification studies already conducted with respondents who had worked with corporate, workplace psychopaths (Boddy 2011a; Boddy et al. 2015; Mathieu and Babiak 2016). Qualitative research arguably contributes a deeper insight and richer understanding than that which can be gained from statistics alone. A contribution of this current research is to show that corporate psychopaths are associated with various forms of employee well-being and with stress-related ill-health. The chapter contributes to answering the call for a linking of the destructive and toxic leadership literature with the well-being debate (Kowalski et al. 2015). Another contribution is that this is the first report to make a direct comparison of the influence of corporate psychopaths on employees, across two countries, the UK and USA. Furthermore, there have been important calls for new and interesting research on employee well-being (Ilies et al. 2015b). This current research answers these calls because it is the first reported qualitative investigation of the specific effects of corporate psychopaths on employee well-being. The following subsections in this chapter concentrate on what organizational outcomes influenced well-being. This starts with an examination of how overt workplace bullying affected employee well-being.

Public Bullying and Humiliation Bullying and abuse were commonly reported from the research participants and in both the UK and USA; with two exceptions, this was delivered for maximum effect – in public. One exception was a (UK) female corporate psychopath who had been taken to an employment tribunal for bullying her colleague. After the tribunal hearing, the corporate psychopath only bullied her victim in private, when nobody else was present. In public the female corporate psychopath acted in a deferential and apologetic manner toward her victim, whereas in private she remained bullying and abusive. The other exception to all bullying being in public was of another UK corporate psychopath who did bully in public but also made death threats to more than one employee, in private. This caused suicidal feelings in one victim, and this employee was later hospitalized for mental trauma. This reportedly caused great distress to

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other family members and is evidence that corporate psychopaths can cause decreases in well-being among the families of those who work with them, as well as among the employees themselves. A typical comment about the hostility of the work environment under a corporate psychopath follows below: There was no support. . .just shouting very loudly and telling people to come in to an office without any niceties, any basic pleasantries, it was hostile. That is probably a better word, it was a hostile environment from the beginning and there was no attempt to make it anything other. (UK Research Participant 4)

All but two of the corporate psychopaths reported on in this current study were male, and all the males bullied quite publicly and vocally as illustrated in the verbatim comment below. When mistakes were made, it didn’t matter the level of the mistake, (the corporate psychopath) would. . .rain down the stream of expletives, most of it being about how stupid you were. The CP did this to a lot of people. . .it was very shameful and public. . .no regard for the person’s dignity. (US Research Participant 9)

In many cases, once started, the bullying experienced under a corporate psychopath was reported to continue unabated: (The) corporate psychopath would speak at you very loudly, it wasn’t technically yelling, but it was very threatening, authoritative and abusive. . . .condescending, always telling you that you didn’t know what you were doing or if you did it wasn’t anywhere near what CP wanted. (US Research Participant 7)

The bullying resulted in a climate of fear within the organizations affected by the presence of a corporate psychopath: (They) didn’t think twice about belittling you. If it was a one-on-one situation, CP would degrade you but in front of others, you never knew if CP was going to be Dr. Jekyll and all smiles, or Mr. Hyde and tear you a new one. (US Participant 3)

Leadership conflict and bullying have been found to be associated with negative emotions at work (Kessler et al. 2013), and the fear, shame, reduced self-esteem, and loss of dignity reported on in the research presented in this chapter support this reported connection. Bullied employees have also previously been found to have greater levels of stress and more reported symptoms of depression, anxiety, and negative affectivity (Hansen et al. 2006). The current research also found depression among those who worked with a (typically abusive) corporate psychopath. Corporate psychopaths are reported to lie to achieve their ambitions and this was reported in this current research. In both the UK and USA, lies were used to gain advantage by the corporate psychopath claiming that the work of other employees was actually the work of the psychopath. Furthermore, in both the UK and USA, lies were used to humiliate people in public:

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(The corporate psychopath) lied in particular incidences for the sole purpose of making people feel bad and humiliating them in front of others. (US Research Participant 4) The CP was extremely good in covering behavior. CP would lie by omission to the Board of Directors and appears to feel no threat of being found out. (US Research Participant 2)

Workplace Anxiety and Stress A great deal of stress and anxiety was reported because of working under a corporate psychopath. Two of the UK research participants reported that they had sought psychological counselling because of this. One of these people did not, while being interviewed, display the usual body language signs of fear, anxiety, and distress and, in the case of male participants, of embarrassment that those who have worked with a corporate psychopath display. At first this lack of anxiety appeared incongruous as the participant described daily criticism, bullying, and fear. However, the participant later reported that several years of psychological counselling had facilitated a return to confidence and normality. The conclusion of the researcher who conducted the interview was that this prolonged counselling accounted for the lack of visible trauma in this participant. A strong emotional reaction to engagement with a corporate psychopath, including anxiety, shame, and crying, was commonly reported in the research. This included an occurrence within a board room meeting where a corporate psychopath had openly lied about a series of important workplace events: When we were going through the bullying phase, which lasted quite a long time, I would be very uptight and anxious. (UK Research Participant 9) When CP gave me the ‘silent treatment’, there was a lot of anxiety and shame flooding my brain. I recall feeling very small, not wanting to be in the way or to be seen or acknowledged. (US Research Participant 9)

According to affective events theory (Weiss and Cropanzano 1996), such strong affective reactions at work would be expected to be correlated with job satisfaction and performance at work. This is very much what was found in this current research. Employees were so severely emotionally affected by the cold, unemotional, uncaring, and abusive behavior of corporate psychopaths that they vividly remembered the events for many years afterward. In line with the presumption of a strong influence from such highly emotional maltreatment, stress-related illness was also reported, by both the UK and US participants, to be due to working under a corporate psychopath as a manager: Then what happened was the officer at my level went off sick with stress. . ..This person was off for six months. . .That was very common. There’s been a number of people off long term. (UK Research Participant 8)

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The early stage of stress was almost immediate, and the problem with stress is that you don’t get relief. Over time it becomes a physical illness. I knew the mental stress caused my physical ailments. (US Research Participant 4)

Workplace Engagement, Commitment, and Withdrawal Both under corporate psychopaths and while working in close association with them, people came to hate their jobs rather than to enjoy working. Workdays were described as unfriendly, tense, abusive, and lacking in everyday social exchanges: They saw (the corporate psychopath’s) abusiveness every day. They would have to interact. . .. That (the CP) could actually touch other people’s departments and make them just hate their jobs as well as our department was terrible. (US Research Participant 7)

There have been calls for a greater understanding of the lived experience of employees in terms of engagement (Truss et al. 2013). The research reported in this chapter provides such an understanding of employee’s experiences through the analysis and reporting of participant’s comments, which illustrate high levels of disengagement under toxic and psychopathic leadership. As in other research, a desire to exit the situation was evident from research participants. In the recessionary environment that was evident in the USA and the UK at the time of the interviews, other jobs were reportedly hard to find, making withdrawal from the workplace difficult to accomplish: In (this area) there isn’t a great deal of work. . . I’m really stuck by the economics of the situation. If I could I would jump out of there. (UK Research Participant 9) I felt very trapped. I felt like every day changing jobs, but I thought about the house and the people telling me that there were no jobs out there. (US Participant 8)

Research participants lost respect for and disengaged with their employer because of the situation they found themselves in with a corporate psychopath supervisor. Others began to actively dislike their employer because the organization was not doing anything about the psychopathic manager who was widely known to be abusive. This supports earlier findings that demonstrated a rise in counterproductive work behavior (negative reciprocity under social exchange theory) in the presence of corporate psychopaths (Boddy et al. 2015). One UK research participant (a HR manager at the time of the experience) reported that on his first day in a new job, he began to doubt the correctness of his decision to move to this new post, when he experienced how other employees were treated under a corporate psychopath: . . .on the first day. I suddenly thought, ‘what have I left myself in for here? (UK Research Participant 3)

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This research participant started to envisage an exit strategy from his first day in the new job, such as his level of disengagement after experiencing psychopathic leadership for the first time.

Self-Doubt and Uncertainty Feelings of self-doubt, self-directed blame, embarrassment, and weakened selfconfidence were reported to be the outcome of working with a corporate psychopath, because of the consistent level of abuse experienced: When you have somebody in such authority, you are so weak that the only thing you can do is just kind of take it like a punching bag. (You) felt inadequate. (US Research Participant 4) The stream of bullying . . .until I was fired, destroyed my self-confidence and for two years I was frightened of seeking work, mentally and emotionally I was in tatters.... It took me many hours of psychotherapy. . .to regain the minimum self-esteem to go back to work (UK, Research Participant 10)

Self-esteem has been correlated with job satisfaction and performance in the literature (Judge and Bono 2001), and so this finding in the current research corresponds with previous findings from the literature. However, that self-esteem may be so affected as to act as a barrier to a return to work after an abusive experience may be an addition to knowledge as this finding was not uncovered in the literature. Research participants reported that they felt undermined because of the changeable nature of the positions apparently taken by the corporate psychopaths who would say one thing in private and then quite another in public. The corporate psychopaths were not trusted by other employees: He could have got the grandmother in to do the HR job actually after that, because quite honestly it undermined us, and it meant that whenever you needed to get something done there was always this nagging thought that he would undermine you. (UK Research Participant 3)

Declining Organizational Ethics A decreasing ethical culture has previously been related to increased cynical attitudes toward work and to decreased work engagement among employees (Huhtala et al. 2016). The research described in this chapter supports this because research participants reported a decline in the ethical behavior and values of their organizations when corporate psychopaths were present, together with lessened employee commitment to the organization. Notably, one UK research participant reported a decline in ethics originating from the new psychopathic leader, while simultaneously that same leader was given a

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prize for ethics from the main board of the corporation concerned. This incongruity supports the view that corporate psychopaths are adept at upward impression management and present an ideal persona to their superiors while those below them regard them as toxic and deeply unethical leaders (Boddy et al. 2015).

Depression and Health Research participants in both the USA and UK described their experience of working with a corporate psychopath as being a terrible one. It was said to be like working under a reign of terror. Sleeplessness was reported in one case to have led to health concerns which prompted the research participant to resign from employment. Sleeplessness among other colleagues who also worked under the same corporate psychopath was reported: A manager told a colleague that she had not slept for the last two nights of her holiday, thinking about coming back (to work). (UK Research Participant 8)

Others reported stress-related illnesses including panic attacks, headaches, and chest pains requiring a cardiologist’s attention. The findings in this current research correspond with reports of the effects of stress and strain which can cause sleep problems, stomach upsets, and increased blood pressure (Cooper 2015). Stressful aspects of an occupation are referred to as stressors, while the effects of those stressors on employees are normally referred to as strains (Spector and Jex 1998). Sleep problems are particularly related to stress at work (Nixon et al. 2011). In the UK, even senior employees like corporate directors, working alongside corporate psychopaths, were reported to have been off-work, in stress-related absences in this current research: (I) came home at night and felt depressed. Almost every night there were tears or lots of discussion and (I) was trying to figure out how to get through this. . .. It was a terrible experience. (US Research Participant 2) I was exhausted when leaving the office. It was sheer emotional exhaustion (US Research Participant 8)

The stress encountered at work was reported to influence behavior and relationships at home as well as at work, and research participants reported feeling shorttempered, stressed, and disconnected with family members. This aspect was more reported by US than it was for UK research participants. This difference in reporting may have been because of a greater reluctance of UK participants to talk openly about their feelings. There was a sense that UK respondents were embarrassed, and even ashamed, about what had happened to them. However, stress was reported across both countries as was stress-related illness and workplace absence: (I) felt like I would probably have a heart attack or some serious health issue that (I) wouldn’t have recovered from. (US Research Participant 7)

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I feel she has chipped away at my self-esteem and I have been ill as a result of the treatment. She has tried to sack me for being off ill. (UK Research Participant 8)

In the medical literature on stress and strain at work, stress has been related to high blood pressure and potential heart problems (Schnall et al. 1990). The findings in this current research that research participants linked stress with health problems and cardiovascular illness are therefore not exceptional.

Hopelessness and Helplessness Research participants reported feeling that they were helpless and exhausted by their ordeal, as well as being de-motivated. A feeling of being unable to counter the situation was evident from employees in both countries under corporate psychopaths. Employees felt as if there was no one they could effectively appeal to for a remedy to the abusive situation they found themselves in: (I) felt helpless, like a victim. . .like all the work I did for the company didn’t matter. (US Research Participant 3)

This also made research participants report that they felt unsafe in their positions because they felt expendable and unimportant, insignificant to the (psychopathic) supervisor of the organization that employed them. Employees, to whom the corporate psychopath took a dislike, were reportedly dismissed from their jobs, with no sense of remorse or regret: (I) was demoralized and definitely not motivated. . .not focused on work. . .. confrontational behavior (by the corporate psychopath). . ..was demeaning and de-motivating. (US Research Participant 5)

Research participants in both the USA and UK reported that working under a corporate psychopath was not worth the salary they were getting. A UK research participant reported that she would not return to that job even for double the remuneration, while another said she would not return for any amount of money. A US participant said that she resigned to get away from the situation of working under a psychopathic supervisor, even though it was financially risky for her to do so. After suffering constant abuse, some UK employees reportedly left on the spot and never returned. Others visited HR first, wept, and then left and never returned.

Human Resource Reactions to Reportedly Abusive Managers Several research participants in both the UK and USA said that they reported the abusive manager to HR or higher executive levels such as to main board members. However, only in a case where fraud was proven did the corporate

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psychopath lose his job. Otherwise no action was taken that satisfied the sense of justice of the reporting employee. Both UK and US participants resigned once their complaints had been heard and dismissed. For example, one US participant was given a week off by HR and then decided to resign. Another was given the impression that the corporate psychopath was deemed to be more important than the complainant, while another felt that the complaint was not being given due consideration: I was really mad at the organization. I realized they (HR) was not willing to do anything about this. They wouldn’t do what was right and I realized there was just too much politics. (USA Participant 1)

HR was described as “useless” by another research participant, and no one was satisfied with the hearing they received from their employer: I reached out to Human Resources (HR). . ..(the) CP was in a senior position that meant more towards the company I did. That’s when I realized there was an uphill battle. So then I looked for an exit strategy. (USA Participant 3) I ended up taking all that stuff to HR. Nothing ever happened. I got mad at the whole company because it was obvious that the CP was a manipulator and abusive. So many people were telling stories, including going to HR and nobody did anything about it. (USA Participant 7)

This finding corresponds with the literature which finds that HR is often evaluated negatively by employees who report bullying at work (Cowan and Fox 2015). HR professionals feel that their roles clash between the expectations of employees who feel victimized and the expectations of the senior managers who are called upon to deal with the reported bullying (Cowan and Fox 2015). Even when a corporate psychopath was removed from the abusive situation, this was done by promoting the psychopath, which the research participant (the bullied victim) was not enthusiastic about. Another research participant was also told that the corporate psychopath was “like that (abusive) to everybody” as if this was some sort of adequate explanation: I would talk with the HR Manager about it, and the HR Manager would commiserate with me, (saying) ‘Yes, you know, CP does that to everybody’. It’s swept under the carpet, it’s ignored. (USA Participant 9)

Mechanisms Influencing Well-Being The main mechanisms through which corporate psychopathy has an influence on well-being are discussed below. These are also shown diagrammatically in Fig. 2. This discussion is meant to be a summary of the influence of corporate

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Organizing Themes

Global Themes

Corporate psychopaths lie to employees Trust in management and in the organization declines Employees lose respect for the organization

Organizational ethical norms and values decline

Emotional well-being suffers

Employees are undermined and demotivated Employees are unsupported from above and feel helpless Humiliation replaces commitment

Self-confidence diminishes Employee stress levels increase Self esteem and commitment to the organization decline

Employees leave with no job to go to Public shouting at employees from supervisors takes place Private threats are made, and a hostile climate develops

Psychopathic leadership replaces authentic leadership, happiness deteriorates.

There are no everyday pleasantries in the unfriendly workplace. Employees feel victimised

Sickness absence increases, often long term

Capricious bullying occurs. Employees are fearful and loose sleep Employees are exhausted from constant abuse. Headaches, panicattacks, tearfulness and anxiety manifest

Physical well-being suffers

Self-confidence suffers, Stressinduced illness increases

Employees are belittled in front of their peers

Fig. 2 Example of the thematic coding used in this research

Employees Resign

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psychopaths on well-being. Declining organizational ethics are mirrored and replicated through negative reciprocity and social learning as employees adapt to and are influenced by the toxic environment created. Corporate psychopaths also have a strong effect on bullying, and this reduces well-being and influences the other mechanisms effecting well-being. The strong affective events encountered have a negative influence and weaken the self-confidence of employees who become depressed and hopeless; this, in turn, has the impact of reducing employee well-being. Finally, there is little perceived redress to the problems encountered by those working under corporate psychopaths, and this leads to the perception of organizational injustice and unfairness. This perceived injustice and unfairness influences employee well-being as described below. Following below is a brief description of some of the limitations, conclusions, and practical implications from the research findings we presented in this chapter.

Research Limitations Research was conducted in two culturally similar (e.g., highly individualistic) countries (USA and UK), and therefore the results may not apply to the experience that people have of working with corporate psychopaths in other cultures. Further, although sample size is not an issue in constructivist qualitative research because it is the depth of information that is primary (Boddy 2016), issues of theoretical saturation (a point in the research where additional interviews are merely repetitive and provide no additional findings or theoretical insights) were not sufficiently addressed in recruiting for the two samples. Additional interviews may have been fruitful.

Practical Implications Where there is a desire for maximum employee well-being among organizations, then a consideration of the psychopathy of those appointed to or managed within leadership positions will have to be made. Because of their role in managing people and dealing with situations of conflict, HR personnel may be the employees who are the most likely to come across corporate psychopaths in the workplace. This means that HP professionals, like the health service workers mentioned by de Silva (de Silva 2014), could benefit from some training in recognizing and dealing with problematic employees such as corporate psychopaths. In terms of how to manage situations involving corporate psychopaths, this can be informed by the Cowan and Fox (2015) finding that HR professionals tend to want to side with senior management, while Truss and colleagues (2013) remind us that HR managers are concerned with improved organizational performance.

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Taken together, these findings imply that a way of dealing with corporate psychopaths could be for HR personnel to report on their behavior to senior managers not in terms of stress and emotional impact but rather in terms of the financial costs to the organization. However, only some of these costs can be quantified, while others probably cannot. For example, staff turnover, which is higher under corporate psychopaths, has definitive associated costs of recruiting and retraining. The legal costs and personnel time costs associated with dealing with tribunals or lawsuits concerning cases of legally questionable redundancies or employee bullying can also be quantified. On the other hand, reduced productivity due to low morale, stress, and reduced job satisfaction may be harder to quantify but may still be reported on by HR managers as sources of financial costs to the organization due to the presence of workplace psychopaths. Thus, the most effective manner to deal with corporate psychopaths may be for HR managers to report on the costs to organizational financial performance and on other measures of organizational performance. This focus on organizational performance may evoke more effective managerial interventions than would otherwise be the case.

Summary This chapter contributes to the understanding of well-being and to the literature on corporate psychopaths by delineating the association between corporate psychopaths as toxic leaders and employee well-being. Corporate psychopaths create stressors such as conflict and bullying in the workplace and employees feel the strain, resulting in apprehension about coming to work, depression, and greatly diminished well-being. This is in line with findings from a meta-analysis of workplace stressorstrain relationships (Spector and Jex 1998). This association is so strong that discussing corporate psychopaths merely in terms of reduced well-being does not completely capture the severe consequences that working under a psychopath can have for followers. These consequences include personal trauma and depression as well as reduced organizational ethics and performance. Toxic leadership, in the form of corporate psychopaths, corresponds with low levels of employee affective well-being and with stress-related ill-health. Corporate psychopaths and elevated levels of bullying, employee stress-related illness absenteeism, and staff turnover are evident in the research presented in this chapter. Stress has previously been identified as being among the top causes of sickness absence in organizations (Morris 2015). Current findings support this finding and identify corporate psychopaths as a main cause of such stress and related employee absence. In terms of country differences, we find that there was little discernible difference between the reports of corporate psychopath behavior from the USA and from the UK. One difference was that in the UK severe (death) threats were made in private, alongside the public abuse that was common in both countries. Furthermore, corporate psychopaths in both countries appear to have a common modus operandi.

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This modus operandi generally involves publicly staged bullying, yelling, belittlement, and abuse of those employees who are under the control of the corporate psychopath (Boddy et al. 2015; Boddy). Corporate psychopaths are disruptive to the effective running of organizations because they engender lowered well-being through conflict and abuse. As was found in this current research, conflict can lead to depression, anxiety, unpleasant exhaustion, and insomnia and increase the risk of physical health problems (Kinman and Mcdowall 2015). This lowered well-being results in lowered performance as employees come to doubt their own workplace abilities and to have lowered levels of pride in or enthusiasm for their jobs. Employee’s lessened commitment leads to withdrawal behavior and in many cases to the decision to find alternative employment and leave their positions, even before alternative employment had been secured. Findings support the contention that employee well-being is more important than it first appears because influences cascade outward from the individual to both the organizational level, via other colleagues, and societal levels, via family members and reduced economic productivity (Kowalski et al. 2015). In this current research, we found that stressed employees were affected in their nonwork relationships among family and friends as they became depressed, bad-tempered, withdrawn, and ill, in the face of the constant abuse suffered under corporate psychopath managers.

Cross-References ▶ Fostering Workplace Well-Being Through Servant Leadership ▶ Impact of Workplace Bullying on Employees’ Mental Health and Self-Worth ▶ Toxic Leadership and Workplace Bullying: The Role of Followers and Possible Coping Strategies ▶ Toxic Leadership: Managing Its Poisonous Effects on Employees and Organizational Outcomes ▶ What Are the Key Components of Workplace Well-Being?: Examining Real-Life Experiences in Different Work Contexts

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Part V Workplace fulfilment, Flourishing, and Mindfulness at Work

Women in Leadership and Work-Family Integration: Strategies for Fulfillment and Well-Being

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Theoretical Framing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Life Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Research Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Qualitative Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Theoretical Framework and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reliability and Validity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Population and Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Data Collection: Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Data Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Semi-Structured Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thematic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusions and Recommendations for Future Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

For decades, women in leadership have been trying to “reimagine the future of workplace well-being” in order to instigate human flourishing. In 2009, a research team formed at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and K. Heath (*) · M. J. Weber Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA, USA e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_35

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Psychology to better understand the issues that women in leadership face regarding work-life balance. This group formed a qualitative research study to investigate the phenomenon of women leaders who are juggling the demands of multiple roles at work and at home. The research team, led by Dr. Margaret J. Weber, is now in its tenth year and has grown to be more than 25 researchers working with a dataset representing over 600 women in various age groups, ethnicities, geographic regions, global perspectives, cultural thoughts, and professional expertise. The team has evolved and produced a series of books, articles, conference presentations, and friendships. As a result of this research project, women are reimagining ways to integrate work and family in order to reach human flourishing. The results from the study are shared in this chapter. Keywords

Women in leadership · Work-life balance · Work-family integration · Women studies · Feminism · Feminist

Introduction Women in leadership have been trying to “reimagine the future of workplace wellbeing,” in order to instigate human flourishing. In 2009, a research team formed at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology to better understand the issues the women in leadership face regarding work-life balance. This group formed a qualitative research study to investigate the phenomenon of women who kept asking how they could have a family while working. The research team, led by Dr. Margaret J Weber, is now in its tenth year and has grown to be more than 25 researchers working with a dataset representing over 600 women in various age groups, ethnicities, geographic regions, global perspectives, cultural thoughts, and professional expertise. The team has evolved and produced a series of books, articles, conference presentations, and friendships. As a result of this research project, women are reimagining ways to integrate work and family in order to reach human flourishing. The results from the study are shared in this chapter. Imagine a world where working parents do not feel torn between family and job but can enjoy the integration of responsibilities related to both. A future where parents feel comfortable to leave work (without guilt or fear of consequences) whenever they are needed at home, for a parent-teacher conference, a school play, or an extracurricular activity. These parents and caregivers would leave issues at home whenever the workplace needed an extra hand on a committee or late night event, because they’d know that they could come in late the next day or take off whenever needed at home. These types of working environments, that value the entire life structure of an employee, can create an environment where workers thrive. So why are they so very rare to find? Modern day working couples are in uncharted territory as they seek to attain workfamily integration in order to lead lives of balance and well-being. Parker and Wang

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(2013), indicate that of the two-parent households with children under the age of 18, roughly 60% have two working parents (Pew Research Center). Giele (2008) describes the dual-career family as the norm, in which both husbands and wives are working. The workplace composition is shifting, and the division of family labor is changing. There are few institutionalized norms or policies in place that support two-earner families in managing their work and domestic responsibilities. Although women have worked for several decades, in most instances, they did not pursue a career (an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life and with opportunities for progress). With the higher level of education and career goals, women today are wanting the space to combine work and family responsibilities. As we reimagine human flourishing in the workplace, we need to explore ways that couples and single parents are integrating work and family that is conducive to health and well-being. Recent themes found in the literature will create a context for understanding this study of women in leadership and work-family integration. This issue is important to a large number of women who are balancing duals roles. According to the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (2012), over 70% of moms are in the workforce. They are taking on the roles of mommy and provider in greater numbers than ever before. This era of dualcareer families and single-parent families introduces a fresh new set of demands for the women and men who seek to work while raising a family. A significant amount of pressure is still placed on families to choose between work and family life, rather than equipping them to pursue both simultaneously. Many studies focus on the advantages or disadvantages of working women, however, few studies analyze how women can succeed at work/life balance. This study explores strategies that can be utilized to respond to the duplicity of roles in order to claim a life of wellbeing at work. Data collected from interviews with over 600 women through the Digital Women’s Project are analyzed and shared.

Literature Review Molloy (2004) shares that employees who have a sense of work-life balance are “more productive, stay in their jobs longer, have reduced absenteeism, and increased rate from parental leave, experience less stress-related illness and record higher morale and commitment to the company” (p. 7). Work-family integration has tangible benefits for individuals and for the companies they work for (Pless 2006). Pless encourages women to find ways to integrate work and family into components of life that mutually add value to each other, which starts by clarifying values and priorities (2006). The strategies for work-family integration include creating a personal definition of success, purposefully establishing productive habits, and eliminating destructive habits which are all proactive strategies for balance (Pless 2006). It is also important to have a strategy to make sure that every day tasks align with these priorities, values, and goals. There are financial benefits for work-family integration as well. According to Storm (2009), “The world needs capable women to run our companies and bolster

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our economy. The world needs talented women to raise our children and produce the next generation” (p. 4). “Women in developing economies have made substantial gains in the workplace during recent decades” (Desvaux et al. 2008, p. 4). According to Desvaux et al. (2008), research shows that companies with senior-level women tend to perform better financially. Bird (2006) found that “accelerated on and off-thejob stressors and expectations are adversely affecting top and bottom-line growth, unnecessarily driving down productivity,” but work-family integration can reduce both “the real and perceived overwork and out-of-balance pressures that hamper productivity, producing a dramatic positive return on investment” (p. 1). This literature review demonstrates how important this topic is to many people who want to reimagine the workplace for human flourishing. There are countless studies on work-life balance which demonstrate the importance of supporting the “whole person” both at work and at home. This literature review will seek to summarize some of the data that has already been collected on this topic.

Gendered Perception of Work and Family “Gender” is a word that has multiple meanings. Gender as “sex” translates into biological differences between men and women. Gender is also an ascribed status that affects life outcomes – opportunities and possibilities. The stratification system associated with gender may be formal but is more often informal bias that allocates some positions and opportunities to men and others to women (Moen 2016). Embedded into the work careers of women are also the family careers and vice versa. Men over time have traditionally had opportunities to consider career achievement because they had wives who took care of the home. This support system allowed men to focus primarily, if not solely, on their jobs. Moen (2016) discusses the dynamics of processes that are interrelated: socialization, allocation, and strategic selections. These dynamics route men and women into various labor markets and differing occupations. Socialization occurs at an early stage in life, teaching either directly or indirectly by example what is expected for all workers, fostering gendered work identities. Allocation refers to the structural arrangements and power differences in groups that open opportunities for men or for women, while closing others. Strategic selections are made throughout the life course as men and women move in and out of the workforce. This theory helps us understand the stratification that has happened with gender roles and the division of labor in the workforce. An understanding of the gendered division of labor for the individual and society is critical in the perception of work and family. Many people still hold a gendered view – that work and family are separate spheres. Successful transitions between education and work suggest that educational attainment for women prepares them differently for the work environment than it does for men (Wyn et al. 2017). Women must adapt to the workplace and embrace the opportunities that are afforded them outside the home. Many still hold the view that a woman’s primary role is in the home and that the workforce is male territory. “Women have spent a lifetime being socialized into caregivers” (Filipovic 2013, p. 1). Currently, most strategies for work advantage the family, but disadvantage women’s occupational positions. There is an

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assumption that men have wives to help them with the demands of work and family integration, yet women, no matter what else they do, are just wives.

Education Despite higher levels of education, and increased numbers in the workforce, women consistently lag behind their male counterparts in the work sector when it comes to promotions, representation in leadership, and pay equity. This appears to be a problem worldwide. Kupfer (2011) documents this in the UK, while Stier and Yaish (2014) have similar findings in Israel. Leuze and Straub (2016) indicate that although women are graduating at higher numbers, they are earning less than the males in Germany. Many researchers agree that education is an equalizing experience for men and women. Opportunities for learning are very similar for men and women in today’s environment for achievement of educational goals, especially in industrialized countries. The assumption that equity will continue in the transition from education to the work environment is particularly prevalent among young adults. However, there is a stark difference in the equity opportunities between men and women in the workforce. As westerners enjoy the progress that has been made regarding opportunities for education among men and women, a similar transition into the workforce needs to be reimagined for human flourishing. Cuervo et al. assume that the ideal worker is free of any care duties, which means that women, who tend to be the primary caregivers, are disadvantaged. Women Identities at Work Research studies have treated work and family as competing entities. This duality has served to classify women as “work-centered, family-centered, or (in the middle) work-and-family-centered” Gersick (2013, p. 6). These contributions to our understanding have typically stemmed from studies conducted on selected women at one point in time rather than longitudinal studies that were able to track women over a period of years. Scholars have rarely studied individuals for the longer term or considered a larger set of elements when it comes to work-family integration. Weber and Heath (2016) share different perspectives on work-family integration through structured interviews of over 600 women leaders through narratives of their lives. Flexibility in schedules has proven to be great for women who work and juggle family responsibilities and should be considered in the reimagination of the future workplace. The “time economy” (Bourdieu 1998) in the workplace is highly gendered even when flexibility within the workplace is heralded as the new norm. With the competition for time within each person’s life, and its scarcity, many women are opting to “choose” relationships, caring, and reproductive labor over the intractable policies of the institutional environments of work. Joan C. Williams, Distinguished Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Center of WorkLife Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, states that, “if institutions are serious about advancing women, they’ll have to address the hours problem — that’s the only way to get a critical mass of women

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poised for leadership” (2013, p. 1). Men are able to work longer hours than women in most instances. A study done by Harvard University using data from the US Census Bureau found that men are working more than 50 h per week, while women are lagging behind (Williams 2013). Here is a glimpse of the data that was reported: THE WORKING PARENT HOURS GAP Men who are fathers log longer hours at the office; but mothers work fewer hours than chidless women. THOSE (AGED 25-44) WHO WORK MORE THAN 50 HOURS PER WEEK

29% Fathers who live with their children

21% Men who have no children

9% Mothers who live with their children

SOURCE ALISON GEMMILL’S ANALYSIS OF DATA FROM THE 2011 AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY (US CENSUS BUREAU)

14% Women who have no children HBR.ORG

Ny and Feldman (2008) suggest that strong situational demands to work hours should be related to one’s identity (work identity or family identity). Working longer hours is usually consistent with a strong work identity, while working fewer hours is more consistent with a family identity. However, their findings indicate that although work hours are discretionary for most professionals, individuals perceived that long work hours are required and, therefore, not related to their sense of identity. The decision of women (and men) to work longer or shorter number of hours has significant implications for work and family lives (Mainiero and Sullivan 2006). As we reimagine the workplace for human flourishing, we should look at what is expected for men and women regarding the amount of time spent at work. If the work can be done in a shorter amount of time, and the quality of life will increase, there may be good reason to shift expectations regarding time management. Women (and men) construe their work identities in different ways. “Women’s careers cannot be separated from the larger context of relationships, especially relationships outside the work domain” (Greenhaus et al. 2012, p. 29). Women view their work within a larger context that includes goals and concerns about balance, interdependence, and relationships with others – the consequences on the lives of others. Therefore, women may not be as driven by work identity and compelled to work the longer hours. On the other hand, men hold an agentic orientation of independent action and achievement. They emphasize the attainment of money, power, and advancement in their careers. Their work outcomes are thought to be related to working longer hours particularly for those with a strong work identity. Arthur et al. (1999) suggest that the literature around career management where individuals, not organizations, have greater control for career fulfillment through individual agency and the pursuit of personal meaning does not conceptualize the individual in the broad life context. This has major implications for women who may

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be constrained by family and personal life factors that may be outside of an individual’s control. While men may also enjoy greater flexibility in their working lives, they may not need it or value it as much as a woman who is balancing the demands of family and work, while her spouse is also working. Rarely do women contest employers’ requirements for succeeding in a career. Rather they accept the job requirements and figure out a way to accommodate or work around the requirements. Women typically feel they need to prove “they could play the game than with challenging the rules” (Gersick et al. 2000). When a woman cannot meet expectations, rather than suggesting flexibility or a new strategy for success, a woman may opt out of her career altogether. The context of the workplace supports the concept of the situation. Women observe the expectations of the professionals in the workplace and make decisions accordingly. Over the last few decades, those in leadership roles were primarily men, so these observations were made related to men with strong workplace identity roles. Few women served as models in the workplace for one to consider the context from any family-related perspectives. For the future of human flourishing, role models need to be available for helping men and women understand identities at work and home. The findings of Lee et al. (2011) portray the individual as a relational being that acts in response to the actions and structures around them. They suggest that actions are communal for both family and work. If the focus is on helping individuals construct their careers with a life process in mind, this may be advantageous for women (and men) in the workplace. Clark 2000 states: “work and family systems, though different, are interconnected” (p. 748). If an individual is unhappy or disappointed at work, it will spill over into life at home. Integration is an important concept, as people crossover between the world of work and the world of family throughout each day. This construct of the workplace with women adapting their professional and personal lives to their work/career roles suggests that their strategies for navigating are important indicators for their well-being. Work-family life strategies for women are complex and suggest that balance may be a trade-off.

Work-Life Strategies In a survey by Pew Research Center (Parker and Wang 2013) parents report feeling stressed with juggling work and family. Fifty-six percent of working moms and 50% of working dads find it very or somewhat difficult to balance these duties. Research suggests strategies to create better balance between work and home life. A study by Molloy (2004) found that the greatest challenges for work/life balance include time management (39%), being organized (16%), financial pressures (10%), lack of energy (9%), emotional management (9%), childcare (7.5%), saying “no” (7%), and living with a focused partner (2.5%). Moen and Yu (2000) investigated predictors in life quality of two-earner families. They utilized three theoretical concepts: life course, social construction of gender, and structural lag. Their findings indicate that gender plays a significant role in how families shape strategies for managing their lives. Women are more likely to report

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their spouses’ job as more important than their own, to have jobs with low autonomy and high demands. Public and scholarly discourse refers to balance as explicitly gendered with the women doing the balancing. Current policies and strategies that are utilized by families tend to advantage the family but disadvantage the women’s occupation. This calls for a new way of thinking about women in the workplace. The work/life dilemma is not a simple problem with a single solution. Gersick (2013) suggests that women do not break into coherent groups according to their strategies. The choices that may at first glance look the same have different meanings externally for women and are influential in how they navigate their live paths. She suggested there are three emerging strategies for managing the trade-offs: prioritize and limit (“I cannot have it all, but I can have what is most important to me”), sequencing (“I can have it all, just not all at the same time”), and add and delegate (“I can have it all, by delegating some of the tasks needed to make it all work”) (Gersick 2013). Increased scrutiny of women working raises questions about both the performance of the individual in the workplace and the woman’s ability to raise children. Critics say that moms who work outside the home instead of raising children fulltime will have children who suffer the negative consequences of such a choice. The argument is that children of stay-at-home moms have a better upbringing than children of working moms. Despite these accusations, there is research that shows children of working and homemaking moms do equally well (Eagly and Carli 2007). According to the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce, 58% of women and 46% of men who had working mothers while they were growing up “strongly agree” that working mothers can have relationships with their children that are just as good as stay-at-home moms (Galinsky et al. 2008). Children who grow up watching their mothers work hold more egalitarian gender role ideology and have more egalitarian views toward the roles of men and women (Barnett and Rivers 1996). Hattery states that “women can be successful professionally as well as in their roles as mothers when they are supported by partners, family, friends, child care teammates, and those in their work place in their efforts to seamlessly weave work and family” (2001, p. 187). Having a partner to share domestic responsibilities makes a difference for balancing the multiple roles professionally and personally. Wirth (2001) suggests strategies that provide flexibility for women to balance career and personal life. One strategy allows females to work at home or work parttime and have flexible hours to support their careers and their home lives. The study also suggests that women employ domestic help, use childcare services, and develop networks in support of their employment. Gersick (2013) suggests that the question, “Can I have it all?” implies strategies for managing trade-offs. It suggests that if one commits to any one choice, then one needs to sacrifice the other choices. Eagly and Carli (2007) found that women who juggle multiple roles in life (professional, parent, spouse, etc.) have a better overall mental and physical health and superior feelings of well-being. Although balancing dual roles can be stressful, each can provide opportunities for learning and mastery, which leads to increased satisfaction. Every role can increase “social support and build social capital” (Eagly and Carli 2007, p. 176).

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Hewlett (2002) found that women are happiest when they have both a career and a family. “Professional activity, it turns out, provides mental stimulation, financial resources, self-confidence and adult friendship” (Hewlett 2002, p. 294). Employed women have been found to have higher levels of satisfaction, self-esteem, and less depression than unemployed mothers (Molloy 2004). “Integrating work and life adds value to our daily lives, reducing stress and improving relationships in all areas of life” (Molloy 2004, p. 7).

Theoretical Framing Life Course Life course was used as the foundation for this phenomenological research about women in leadership and issues pertaining to work-family integration. The field of life course research is evolving and recognizes that powerful influences on women come from past experiences and the experiences of their partners. Giele and Elder (1999) have shown the delayed effects of early experiences on later life patterns. The life course perspective suggests that women may be similar or different in many aspects of their life (age, education, socioeconomic status, race) which might make them more interested in a career. Using the life course approach elicits a rich tapestry of a women’s life that allows for one to develop a systematic approach to analysis. There are four factors that shape the life course (Elder 1998) which are derived from systems theory (Parsons 1966). Giele has utilized these for a theoretical framework of life stories and gender role (2002). Therefore, the Giele life course framework was utilized as a guide for this study (Fig. 1). This framework contributes significantly to the direction of a life path. These function as requisites of living systems: individuals, social groups, or whole societies. These areas are critical in shaping individuals’ adult gender roles described above in Giele (2002). Definitions for the life story method (Giele 2002) utilized by this study include the following: Life Course Framework Elder, 1998 Historical and Cultural Location Linked Lives

Life Course & Gender Roles Giele, 2002 Identity

Agency

Motivation

Timing

Adaptive style

Relationship style

Fig. 1 Factors that shape the life course. (Adapted from Giele 2008)

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Identity: Being different versus conventional – is associated with a person’s location in time, space, and cultural milieu Relationship: Shaped by social networks and loyalties Motivation: Achievement versus nurturance – reflects the individual’s goals and motivation Adaptive: Innovative versus traditional – sums up the accommodations and changes how a person has learned to negotiate while living through changing conditions and life transitions Human agency – relates the human being as actor on the larger life stage of society within the world Lee et al. (2011) suggests that life course researchers understand the broad life context as they focus on the changes in human lives. Life course considers not only the individual but also the couple and the family. These are framed in context with individual action and institutional and structural conditions. This includes the timing and ordering of life events.

Research Design Research Questions The research questions that guided the study were as follows: 1. What experiences (identity, relationship style, drive and motivation, and adaptive style) shape the life course of women that impact work-family life balance decisions? 2. How do sociodemographic variables (education, age, ethnicity, family composition, profession, marital status, and spouse education) influence work-family life balance decisions? 3. What are the relationships between influencers (family background, mentoring, and faith) and career goals on work-family life balance decisions?

Qualitative Design Qualitative research occurs in a natural setting where the researcher(s) are assuming the role of data collection, focusing on the meaning of the information collected by the participants, and then forming analysis (Creswell 2007). Denzin and Lincoln (1994) define qualitative research as: .... is multimethod in focus, involving an interpretive, naturalistic approach to its subject matter. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of or interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them. Qualitative research involves the studied use and collection of a variety of empirical

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materials - case study, personal experience, introspective, life story, interview, observational, historical, interactional, and visual texts - that describe routine and problematic moments and meaning in individuals’ lives. (p. 2)

Creswell (2007) defines research less on information sources but with similar ideas. .... is an inquiry process of understanding based on distinct methodological traditions of inquiry that explore a social or human problem. The research builds a complex, holistic picture, analyzes words, reports detailed views of informants, and conducts the study in a natural setting.

Qualitative researchers work with many variables and few cases as opposed to quantitative research that works with a few variables and many cases. Creswell suggests that qualitative inquiry is for the researcher that wants to: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Commit to extensive time in the field. Consider the time-consuming process that is often complex of data analysis. Substantiate claims to show multiple perspectives by detailed written responses. Understanding that the lack of firm guidelines is evolving and changing in the social and human research field.

In qualitative research, the question often begins with how or what to describe the phenomenon that is ongoing within an individual within a social context. The intent is to understand each individual case within their natural setting with a detailed view of the information gathered. The qualitative approach allows the researcher to play an active role who can tell the story from the participants’ perspective and does not pass judgment on the participants. Assumptions help to guide the study for an understanding of knowledge. Knowledge is created from the meanings people make of their lives and/or the phenomenon being researcher. Knowledge is laced with personal biases and values which emerges to the context in which the issues are studied. Often, the findings are situated within a social-political perspective aimed at creating change and action. Qualitative studies may take different forms. All have a strong inquiry-based approach and engage those in the field. Creswell suggests there are five forms of qualitative research and include biographical life history, phenomenological study, grounded theory study, ethnographic study, and case study. The particular form that guided the work-life balance study is a phenomenological study. A phenomenological study (Rieman 1986) begins with philosophical ideas about the themes to be studied and guides this research study. In this case, the themes to be studied are identity, relational style, motivation, and adaptive style. The problem of work-life balance is studied by entering the lives of the participants, seeking to understand how they experience their own lives, that of their families of origin, their current families, and their work environments within a historical context. The researcher makes meaning of the participants’ experiences through a careful and detailed analysis.

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The qualitative method is multi-method in focus and involves an interpretive approach to the in-depth study of a subject. The subject is studied in their natural environment to build a complex, holistic picture through analysis of words and detailed interpretation to discover meaning in an individual’s life (Creswell 2003). One type of qualitative method is the life course.

Theoretical Framework and Definitions Various studies regarding work-life balance utilize the narrative and life story approaches, such as Elder and Giele, which stand as the models for this particular study. Giele also refers to the foundation of systems theory (Parsons 1955). Systems theory encapsulates the concept of all parts working together, embedded in human behaviors. This psychosocial framework suggests an emphasis on the social implications as well as unique psychological differences. This perspective, contributed by Parsons, offers insight to the sociology of personality, creating a fusion for a framework that can adequately address such questions as, “why do women choose to stay home”? Some argue that feminist thought and systems theory are incompatible. It can be argued that systems theory can be part of the feminist analysis because marginalizing it from intellectual feminism is internally contradictory, and it offers purposeful thoughts toward feminism. Used in a broader range, systems theory can be applied to feminist thought on families (Hanson 2009). A life course perspective suggests that women who may be similar in age, education, economic position, and race may have different values, attitudes, or personal characteristics that might contribute to their decision to seek a career and/or become a homemaker (Elder 1994, 1998; Giele 2002). Giele (2008) suggests that the life story method provides a way to consider issues of gender role from the combined perspective of systems theory and the life course framework. The life course method enables a framework to question what enables a “minority” individual with inferior, ascribed status to enter a higher “majority” status that has been achieved. An adaptation of life course theory will guide the study (Weber 2016). Over the last couple of decades, life course theory has been applied to the study of human lives which places the context of the study across the social and behavioral sciences (Elder 1994). Humans exist within changing societies and have choice making controls over their lives. The concept of life course theory has made time, context, and process dimensions of study, along with the cultural and intergenerational variables (Elder 1975). Life course has been applied to the interweave of work careers and family pathways that are subject to cultural changes with future options. Life course is defined as a field of inquiry that provides a framework for research on problem identification and conceptual development that provide insight into the impact of changing societies on developing lives (Elder 1985).

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Reliability and Validity Qualitative researchers have different approaches to understanding validity and reliability than quantitative researchers. Krathwohl and Smith (2005) suggest that reliability is dependent on the design. There is differing types of evidence for both validity and reliability, including “construct validity,” “content validity” (curricular validity), “face validity,” “stability reliability,” “internal consistency reliability” (homogeneity), and “equivalence reliability” (Krathwohl and Smith 2005). Golafshani explained that the terminology that has been applied to quantitative studies may not apply to qualitative research. Golafshani argues that the concept of reliability is irrelevant for qualitative research unless it is defined as quality information. Patton (2002) suggests that qualitative research uses a more naturalistic approach to understand phenomena. Hoepfl (1997) summarizes the unique perspective for qualitative research. He suggests that qualitative researchers seek illumination, understanding, and extrapolation of similar situations while quantitative research seeks causal determination, prediction, and generalization of findings. Reliability is defined in terms of replicability of the results. Validity seeks to verify that the means of measurement are accurate (Golafshani 2003). Patton (2001) notes that when one is seeking credibility in quantitative research it involves the instrument, while in qualitative research “the researcher is the instrument” (p. 14). The role of the researcher thus becomes much more important in qualitative research for issues of reliability and validity. The researcher must be trained to maintain the credibility of the study. In this project, research team members participated in a training that included practicing the interview experience in a group meeting with other researchers, where the lead researcher demonstrated the interview process. Training in “how to create rapport” and “put the participant at ease” was discussed by reviewing the informed consent form and answering any questions the participant may have had. An emphasis on maintaining objective was stressed as the researchers also reviewed the questions for themselves prior to interviewing to be mindful of any biases that they may have had. This study utilizes Giele’s (2008) qualitative narrative questions, which served as the initial pilot for these questions.

Population and Sample In 2009, Weber began a study of women and work-life balance with a group of graduate students. The original study invited women students in a doctoral leadership program at a private university on the West Coast to participate in the study. The women represented a cross sample of geographical locations, racial/ethnic diversity, age ranges, socioeconomic levels, and many different occupations. Therefore, they were an excellent population to sample. As the work progressed, the project expanded to include women that were in leadership roles and listed in magazines (i.e., Orange County Magazine of Top Forty Women) and newspapers in the larger

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Los Angeles region. A snowball sampling process was used to identify further subjects, so women would nominate other women in professional positions. Snowballing is a purposeful type of recruiting subjects which supports variation and diversity among the experiences and perspectives of the subjects (Stone 2007). Using the snowballing sampling, this study expanded within the USA and the globe with women participating from many states in the USA and some women internationally. There are over 600 interviews in the database and the database continues to grow. These women ranged in age from 26 to 81 and are in occupations that are very diverse (professors, corporate leadership, nonprofit management, church leadership, law partner, to name a few). The sample includes women of many racial/ethnic groups, social class, geographical location, and marital/parental status. Of the sample, approximately 72% are married with children, 20% were single or divorced or widowed, and the rest of the sample uncategorized.

Data Collection: Interviews The semi-structured interviews for each individual subject uses the four general questions from the work of Giele based on the life course framework. These questions center on the period of life and include early adulthood; childhood and adolescence; and adulthood, current, and adulthood, future. Basic sociodemographic data will be collected to provide a context for the data analysis and to place the subject in the life story framework. An additional question focuses on coping strategies. The interviews were conducted in person or via the telephone. The interviews are recorded to provide for consistent review and transcription of the interview. To maintain anonymity of each subject, the interviewees are asked to use their mother’s maiden name for coding purposes. A matrix was developed to allow for matching between the first series of individual interviews and the second set of focus group interviews. The matrix lists the maiden name and allows for assigning a numerical value to each subject. The numerical value is used in coding the data. Once data are entered for the interview, the matrix is destroyed. This allows for complete confidentiality of responses. The Graduate Research Assistants participated in training in preparation for the data collection. Dr. Yuying Tsong (Research Methodologist for the Graduate School of Education and Psychology) provided support for the interview training. The assistants read information in preparation for the interviewing process (Rubin and Rubin 2005). They completed pilot interviews to further develop their skills for listening, recording, probing, and establishing rapport with the subjects. The interviews last approximately 1 h and were scheduled at the convenience of the subject. These interviews are scheduled one-on-one. The data from these interviews are then transcribed and coded and analyzed for emergent themes.

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Data Analysis From the breadth of the questions, a variety of themes emerge that provides many possible ways for the analysis. The analysis for this study utilizes the theoretical framework from the life course themes: identity, relational style, level and type of motivation, and adaptive style. Graduate assistants and dissertation students transcribed each interview and prepared it for analysis. Then the graduate assistants, dissertation students, and the principal investigator read the interviews thoroughly to code for the themes.

Semi-Structured Interview The interviews were conducted in person, via telephone, and online through Skype. These interviews were audiotaped and lasted between 1 and 2 h. Each interview was transcribed and coded along with an analysis of basic sociodemographic information (age, education, race, number of children, spousal and parental education and occupation). Five sets of questions were asked of each participant (Questions 1–4 were adapted from Giele 2008, p. 401). The interview questions are summarized briefly: Question #1. [Early adulthood] About the period in your life immediately after college or. . .your early 20s. What was your major, name of your college, and year of graduation? What did you think you would like to become in terms of occupation and type of lifestyle or family life. . .What were you thinking then, and how did things actually turn out? Question #2. [Childhood and adolescence] Thinking of the period in your life before college and the goals that you and your family held for you, what was your family’s attitude toward women’s education and you’re going to college and what you would become? What was the effect of your parents’ education, presence of brothers, family finances, family expectations? How was your education different from or similar to that of your parents and brothers and sisters? Question #3. [Adulthood, current] Since college, what kinds of achievement and frustration have you experienced? What has happened that you didn’t expect-in employment, family, further education? Has there been job discrimination, a separation or divorce, health problems of yourself or a family member? What about moves, membership in the community, housing problems, racial integration, job loss? And feelings about yourself ? Have there been good things such as particular rewards, satisfaction, or recognition. Question #4. [Adulthood, future] Looking back at your life from this vantage point, and ahead to the future, what are your main concerns at the moment? What are your goals for the next few years?

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What problems do you hope to solve? Looking further out, where do you hope to be a few years from now with respect to work or in graduate school, in family, community, health, finances, etc.? Question 5 was added to gather direct information from the subjects on strategies utilized in balancing their personal and professional lives. Below is a summary of that question: Question #5. [Strategies] What coping strategies do you use. . .Have you felt pressured to choose between work and home? Do you feel that your family life or work life have suffered because of your involvement in work or family? Are there times that you felt successful at juggling the demands. . .? Were you prepared for the demands of work and life balance? What strategies do you implement in your own life. . .?

Thematic Analysis Each of the interviews was transcribed and the NVivo qualitative analysis software was utilized for evaluating the responses. NVivo supports the organization of the interview responses and allows for a systematic analysis. For this study, the narratives provided rich content for reviewing the strategies for managing the women’s personal and professional lives. The responses were reviewed and highlighted for each strategy listed. These strategies were all listed and major themes were noted. Many of the strategies listed were discussed through multiple perspectives which allowed the thematic constructs to develop organically. Through multiple iterations, the themes begin to merge together into three major constructs. The figure below provides an overview of the constructs: meaning, boundaries, and relationships.

The findings will develop these constructs in greater detail with excerpts from the narratives.

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Findings Each of the three constructs will be discussed with a description of the construct and illustrations of the way the respondents in this study defined each construct. The comments and quotes below are based on the personal interviews with the participants (names are pseudonyms for the participant to protect their anonymity) in the study as illustrations of each of the constructs.

Meaning A major construct that women referenced in this study was to find meaning in their work and home lives. This is significant in that women who choose to work and raise a family usually do so because of the purpose and meaning associated with that work. If they find work meaningful, the children will benefit from moms that are contributing to making a meaningful difference. There is a famous saying that exemplifies this thought which states that if you “choose a job you love; you will never have to work a day in your life.” Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple, gave a memorable commencement speech in 2005 at Stanford University where he addressed the importance of meaning. He stated that “your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” (Silverman 2011, p. 1). A majority of the women in this study on life balance referenced the need for meaning in work and family life (Weber 2017). Meaning is described through two themes: internal and external. Internal meaning is defined as the way in which one processes who they are as a person and gives voice to their own goals, needs, and interests. It refers to one’s identity and the way in which one see themselves both at home and in the workplace. External meaning refers to the contributions that one makes in all aspects of their lives. It is the joy of being able to manage the workplace activities and bring balance to their home lives. Internal Meaning Louella: “Identity, to give voice to who you are, who you want to be, your goals in life.” Inner strength Mariam: “Letting go of the guilt – [I was not] ‘less of a mother because I was working.’” “One day I realized, I can’t do geometry, so couldn’t help even if I was home full-time.” Marletta: “I wanted a career, I feel the need to work, I want to work, I like to work.” Melissa: “You only get one life. We need to figure it out. . . so that we have the most joyful life we can have.” Amy: “For me, not climbing the ladder is related to guilt. I needed to step out and give voice to my goals and how I could make a difference.” External Meaning Susan: “Joy, contributions, feeling like I am contributing – using my brain.”

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Monique: “Don’t presume that if a woman is engrossed in work that she doesn’t have balance.” Kyrsten: “. . .Fulfilling my purpose in life.” Kim: “So, I always knew that I wanted to help people and everything that I’ve done since college, that I’ve really enjoyed, has been helping people in some capacity.” Ola: “I think I’m meant to work. And I think I’m meant to be creative and to provide that energy and to share that with others.”

Boundaries Individuals or females in this study talked about boundaries as the ability to set guidelines and limits for themselves. Setting boundaries is important and gives permission to respond to requests, interact with the workplace environment, and set limits for interactions with others. Boundaries are usually developed through one’s beliefs, opinions, past experiences, social learning, and attitudes about both personal and professional ways to act. White states that “boundaries are the limitations we set for ourselves and others. They can be both physical and emotional” (2013, p. 1). She also says that boundary setting can actually increase assertiveness and will benefit all parties involved (White 2013). Personal boundaries can help an individual define themselves as to their biological and social status. These include physical, mental, psychological, and spiritual boundaries that involve the beliefs, emotions, intuitions, and self-esteem of the individual. Personal boundaries assist females in finding the time for themselves, their home/family life, and their professional careers. One interviewee asked, “is balance giving 100% to your home and 100% to your work?” This might suggest that one does not feel they have the ability to set boundaries either at home or at work. In exploring this construct, the quotes below illustrate some of the ways in which the women in this study considered boundaries. Self Multiple narratives shared time for “exercise,” “Bible reading,” “prayer,” and “mediation”: Louella: “Decided not to do Christmas cards one year, my husband was shocked! I realized it wasn’t about the cards, it was my feeling of empowerment.” Christina: “While I am here, I am here.” Suella: “Putting me first – relax, get a massage, stereotypical girlie things.” Organization Many interviewees discussed their need for “planning and prioritizing.” Making lists for tasks at home and goals for their work accomplishments. Carla: “Having a family doesn’t mean your time is any more important than mine. Even as a single person I need the weekend off.”

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Delegation Elyn: Discussed the idea that the division of labor at home needed to be reshaped and others needed to take some responsibility for the work. Susan: “Hired outside help” and multiple interviewees indicated they had nannies to help with the children, domestic support for the home. Denise: “Ask for help with cleaning, laundry, cooking.” Heather: “My husband cleans up after the meals which leaves me time to read to the children and help them start getting ready for bed.” Nancy: “My significant other does the laundry and ironing.”

Relationships A significant finding from this study was the reference to support systems and relationships. Good relationships support all aspects of one’s life. They strengthen one’s health, the mind, and especially important – the connections with others. Strong, healthy relationships can be one of the best supports in one’s life. Relationships exist with many different connections in our lives. These include family (significant other, children, parents), friends (acquaintances, neighbors, community), and colleagues (mentors, sponsors, co-workers). Three concepts about relationships include the following: Relationships are unique and individuals find connections for many different reasons. Relationships that stand the test of time through great need and great joy are meaningful and fulfilling and offer excitement and mutual support. Communication is an important and critical component of establishing strong relationships[HK2]. Family (Spouse, Significant Other, Children, Extended Family) Susan: “They hate hot dogs because that is one of the things he cooked all of the time.” Humor mixed with understanding of the need to support the spouse in their decisions of household duties when one is at work. Maryann: “Spouse that really supported me.” Francie: “Equipping your children to be independent and do things for themselves.” Pauletta: “Saturday is daddy day; Sunday is family day; Monday is mommy day.” Ramona said that her career advancements were significant in the breakup of her marriage because her husband felt threatened as his career wasn’t advancing. Friends (Acquaintances, Neighbors, Community) Maryann: “I called my friend when I would get in a jam at work, and they would rescue Alex, my son.” Wanda: “My neighbor and I took turns taking the kids to basketball practice. That way, I could stay at work longer on many days.” Suella: “My friends and I take time to treat ourselves to ‘girlie’ stuff.”

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Colleagues (Mentors, Sponsors, Co-workers) Sarah: “My grandmother was always encouraging me – she was the best mentor and told me that I could do things I never dreamed possible.” Ivana: “Co-workers were always there for me, so when I had a sick little one, I could count on them to support some of my work that had to get finished that day.” Susan: “I had a boss that really looked out for me and would share my accomplishments with his boss. The result was that I was promoted.”

Discussion Women are navigating the world of family and work to build lives that contribute to society in many ways. This study takes a closer look at the issues that working women face on a daily basis in their quest to balance multiple roles at home and work. As Emily stated: “I can have it all, I just can’t have it all at once.” She commented that through the struggles of responding to the needs of her family and that of the workplace, she was often stressed but kept the end goal in mind which helped her through each day. This supports the statement by Molloy 2004 (p. 6): “Balance is much more than dividing time between separate compartments of our lives. Success or failure in any one part of your life will naturally impact on the quality of other parts of your life.” Women are looking for ways to better structure their lives to achieve balance, yet there is complexity in the decision process. What is right for one woman could be wrong for another. There is not one way to do things – each area of life is handled differently by women and they are adept at changing strategies to fit the needs of the family and work. The women in this study were successful at navigating challenging situations in their lives to find solutions that mattered and contributed to their growth, that of their families and to their workplace. All peoples need to have the freedom to live their lives more completely and contribute their talents to the world in a way that enriches themselves and the world around them. Schwartz (2007) said: “People tap into the energy of the human spirit when their everyday work and activities are consistent with what they value and with what gives them a sense of meaning and purpose” (p. 68). Consistent with this message, the results from this study suggest that women find success in careers that they find meaningful. When the work they do aligns with their passions and talents, they are able to flourish. This was a very highly valued contribution to work-life integration and balance. Women in this study have found ways to establish boundaries that work for them to support their home and work life. Without boundaries, women tend to take on a lot of tasks that are priorities for other people rather than themselves. By identifying boundaries, women can select the things that are important for them and let go of the rest. Setting boundaries is an important psychological tool for growth and liberation. The results from this study suggest that creating this system of boundaries can result in an empowered working mom with increased strength and power.

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Finally, another significant result from this study was the power of support systems and relationships for working women. The relationships support them personally and professionally which allows them to live complete and fulfilled lives. Their lives are described as purposeful and have the ability to make a difference in the world. Women can succeed at balancing various roles at work and at home if they have the right support system in place. This project looked closely at the lives of women from a variety of age groups, ethnicities, professions, and family status and found that their lives varied in many ways. However, they aligned in three important ways: relationships, meaningfulness, and boundaries. As we reimagine a workforce where all people can flourish, consideration needs to be given to these three areas which allow women to create work-family integration.

Conclusions and Recommendations for Future Studies In conclusion, this study has led the researchers to three important ingredients which can be replicated by working professionals who seek to live an integrated life. Women from this study find meaning in their work, set boundaries for themselves, and have relationships to support their dual roles. Future studies could see if working men are also utilizing these three major strategies for work-family life integration or could develop a set of questions around these three topics to dig deeper into the practicalities of its application. Currently, we can let these be the guiding principles for the creation of work-family life integration. Janet said “when you’re a child and you look at what you’re going to be, you don’t picture yourself leading an organization or I didn’t. And so here I am, so far as fulfillment of life, I have a wonderful family; I’ve had a wonderful work experience; I pretty much have had everything.” The research team that conducted this study recently concluded another project that focused on comparing and contrasting women from around the world, pertaining to issues around work-family integration. Women from eight countries were selected from the data base, and findings were consistent with what surfaced from this study. There were a few distinctions in that not all countries have the same understanding of the concept for work-family integration (Weber and Cissna-Heath 2020). It was difficult to interview women about this topic when the language barriers seemed to imply that not all women have an understanding of work-life balance or work-family integration. However, the passion that women feel regarding the juggling of multiple roles seems to be a universal thing about women worldwide. Future studies should seek to continue explore this framework and how it might assist women across the globe in creating lives of integration. Future studies should also seek to explore the role of men in regard to workfamily integration. As this chapter started out with, men and women have become dual-working families in more frequent numbers than any prior generation. Men are struggling with issues regarding work-family integration as they are no longer the sole provider with a caregiver at home taking care of domestic responsibilities.

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Future studies that interview men on the issues they face would help to create a more balanced reality for a new world of dual-earners. This is crucial for the field of research on work-family integration, yet not many researchers have taken this topic on. As women and men continue to level the playing field for workplace equality, more work-family integration will be a result. Women and men need each other and should capitalize on their differences in order to make a stronger work environment for everyone. We need more women in leadership, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need men in leadership roles. We need a fair balance of both in order to create equilibrium in the work environment, just as we need both at home. As men and women explore ways to work together both at work and at home, and work-family integration is established, there will become a stronger world for all.

Cross-References ▶ Efficient Diversity Management for Workplace Well-Being ▶ Purpose, Meaning, Joy, and Fulfillment at Work

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Meaningfulness and Meaningful Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Process of Making Sense and Deriving Meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Predictors of Meaningful Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Outcomes of Meaningful Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion and Future Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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The pursuit for finding purpose, meaning, fulfilment, and joy at work has proved to be an important consideration for the employees, the organization, and the society at large. Certain theories have focused on how people experience a calling or spiritual endeavor through a journey of self-transcendence. Various predictors of meaning at work arise from factors including the self, work orientation, task significance, and job crafting. Other predictors may be found in the development of interpersonal relations, while these relationships may have a profound effect on people’s impact at work and their personal well-being. Furthermore, meaning at work may be derived via the organization itself through factors such as its culture, values, purpose, and leadership. Purpose, meaningfulness, joy, and fulfilment at work come high on the agenda of both employers and employees. Overall, employees may be longing to fulfil a purpose concerned with reaching the ultimate level of happiness in a virtuous manner. The emphasis may also extend

E. Savvides (*) · E. Stavrou University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus e-mail: savvides-syrimis.effi[email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_36

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to the organization in terms of the value that the organization is offering to the society. Employees could then evaluate whether their personal lifelong purpose aligns to that of the organization and whether efforts portrayed in their work contribute toward their wider goals.

Introduction Work that is considered meaningful is perceived to have a purpose and feels important to the individual conducting it (Feldt et al. 2000). Meaningful, fulfilling, and purposeful work implies that employees feel they are adding value to their organization, having a strong sense of drive, and deriving a sense of significance through their work (Robertson-Smith and Markwick 2009). Nowadays, purpose and meaning at work have become a strongly desirable goal for both employees and organizations (Pratt and Ashford 2003). The search for purpose, meaning, joy, and fulfilment has captured the minds of early philosophers such as Aristotle, Aristippus, and Epictetus as well as different disciplines with influential figures such as Nietzsche, Sartre, Durkheim, and Weber. Seligman (2002) postulates that “meaningful life” is the ultimate level of happiness, while Taghipour and Dezfuli (2013, p. 153) state that meaningfulness “represents the sense of a return on investing the self-exerting energies into a task, and occurs when people feel are valued and are making a difference.” They add that it is key for the task to be inspiring, ensuring there is a certain degree of ownership and autonomy as sources of motivation. As Benett, Weaver, Senft, and Neeper (2017, p. 570) claim, such purpose, meaning, and fulfilment can unfold at many levels of human functioning, from meeting basic needs (Hoffmeister et al. 2015) to the emergence of virtues/ strengths (Kaufman 2015), self-actualization, spirituality (Cunningham 2014), and satisfaction achieved through, among other factors, a meaningful job (Miliman et al. 2003). It encompasses optimism, relevance, meaningfulness, and flourishing (Dodge et al. 2012). Carton (2017) stresses the importance of the study of meaningfulness at work, as it not only provides positive outcomes; it empowers employees to overcome challenging situations (Locke and Latham 1990) and counteract the negative feelings of stigmatized work (Ashforth and Kreiner 1999, as cited in Carton 2017). Our understanding of what constitutes meaningful work has evolved over the years. For example, back in the seventeenth century, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, work has been transformed in a way that machines took over repetitive tasks in lines of production, and though one could only contribute to a small part of the bigger picture, the role of humans in production became more positive and constructive in the workplace (Steger 2017). Another impactful piece of work on the need of finding meaning has emerged through the consequences of unemployment. Durkheim’s (1897) seminal work on suicide brought to light the phenomenon of people left to feel as non-value adding in life or benefiting the society, due to not being employed (Steger 2017). The lack of opportunity to be productive and contribute to a greater cause has rendered people to fall into depression resulting, in some cases, in committing suicide (Durkheim 1897, cited in Steger 2017). In the 1940s, we

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have seen the introduction of electronic autonomous robots in the UK while certain studies focusing on increasing productivity have taken pioneering steps. Specifically, a noteworthy influential study in the context of the work environment’s effect on productivity has been the Hawthorne studies (with interpreters such as Landsberger 1958 and Mayo 1945). In these studies, levels of productivity changed due to overall changes in the employees’ working environment. Chalofsky and Krishna (2009) describe the revival of the interest in intrinsic motivation at work that has driven the attention of researchers and practitioners to meaning, purpose, spirituality, and engagement. Other influences on the angles of studying meaningfulness have been several catastrophic events that redefined the purpose of work and of the organizations. These were the chemical contamination at Bhopal (1984), the Chernobyl environmental and humanitarian tragedy (1986), and the significant oil spills in Europe and Canada (1990s), which drove our attention to a different purpose at work, such as corporate social responsibility initiatives (Chalofsky and Krishna 2009). As Chalofsky and Krishna (2009) describe during the 1990s and early 2000s, due to increased levels of insecurity at work, the search for meaning and spirituality at work rose. The lottery test which involved asking people whether they would continue to want to work if they won the lottery demonstrated that people would continue to work for reasons beyond their financial needs (Overell 2008, cited in Bailey et al. 2016). Another study also looking at meaningfulness conducted by Šverko and Vizek-Vidovic (1995) demonstrates how increasingly more employees strive to find meaningfulness at work, as they are not just interested in getting paid at the end of the month to cover ends meet. In more recent years, other phenomena that influenced how we derive purpose and meaning at work are the increase of technology and the effects of globalization. We are witnessing the emergence of new ways of working through the rise of virtual work, the gig economy, and the other types of employment. Meaningful work has become “the next big thing” in maximizing organizational performance (Dik et al. 2013).

Meaningfulness and Meaningful Work According to Rosso et al. (2010), the terms meaning and meaningfulness have been used interchangeably in several occasions. There has been a distinction between “meaningfulness” and “meaning” with the former focusing on the process of trying to make sense of something (Pratt and Ashford 2003) and the latter being concerned with what something indicates or suggests (Wrzesniewski et al. 2003). Wrzesniewski et al. (1997) define work meaning as the way in which employees perceive their work in terms of its content and importance. They add that both elements of work meaning are linked to the beliefs about what their role serves in life (Roberson 1990) which, in turn, is affected by the social setting in which individuals live (Brief and Nord 1990). Moreover, meaning at work refers to the way in which individuals perceive their work subjectively, in that their jobs are aligned with their overall life purpose and via their work effort they positively contribute to the “greater good” (Steger 2017). Purpose entails the notion of the internal processing of why

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someone works and what they would like to achieve via their work (Brief and Nord 1990). Rogers (1961) considered that purpose is realized with the existence of the feeling of freedom and tolerance of being able to be their true self, while Ackoff (1981) posits that purpose and meaning are part of a journey in the pursuit of an archetype that transforms sheer existence into a meaningful life (as cited in Chalofsky and Krishna 2009). Meaningful work has been defined as “work experienced as particularly significant and holding more positive meaning for individuals” (Rosso et al. 2010, p. 95). In Rosso et al.’s (2010) definition, the emphasis is on the meaning derived from working by individuals with an emphasis on themselves and the expectations they set for themselves. Bunderson and Thompson (2009) define it as work perceived to be important, while Khan (1990, p. 705) defines it as “a sense of return of investments” from an angle that entails the cognitive, physical, and energy related to sentiments. Steger et al. (2012) outline the core facets of meaningful work to be “psychological meaningfulness,” “meaning making through work,” and “greater good motivations.” Lieff (2009) describes meaningful work as the extent to which an individual’s core values, talents, and interests are at interplay in their work (cited in Rosso et al. 2010). Similarly, meaningful work has been described as entailing both an emotional and cognitive evaluation about the existence of purpose and significance which emerges from both a social and individual angle (Wong, 1998; Park, 2010, as cited in Martela and Pessi 2018). Martela and Pessi (2018) posit that meaningfulness is concerned with engaging in work that is both intrinsically important and provides a feeling of “worth” performing. They describe their definition as entailing a more extensive manifestation of the self, derived from both selfrealization and the engagement in the greater goods with a lens over and above the person. In the same vein, Bailey and Madden (2016, p. 17) define meaningfulness arising through the congruence of one’s greater, transcendent purpose and their work. Steger (2017) finds that the various definitions of meaningfulness at work are based on the notion that for someone to experience his/her work as meaningful, they must be able to understand the value added by their specific contribution. In defining meaningfulness at work, Lepisto and Pratt (2017) describe the distinction between the realization perspective and the justification perspective. The realization perspective is the extent to which we derive fulfilment through our work and counteract alienation through belongingness (Lepisto and Pratt 2017). The justification perspective is concerned with counteracting anomie-like situations concerned with “what is my work worth” (Lepisto and Pratt 2017, p. 111). Lepisto and Pratt (2017) describe anomie as the degree to which individuals feel doubtful about values, beliefs and norms, and outsets of worth (Durkheim 1893/1984; Seligman 1985, as cited in Lepisto and Pratt 2017). The interest in anomie in relation to meaningfulness came from the need to redefine our existence, while the more we feel we do not fit in with social norms and group standards, the more we alienate ourselves (Dean 1961, as cited in Lepisto and Pratt 2017). Lips-Wiersma (2002) found some principal reasons/purposes in determining meaningfulness for individuals holding spiritual beliefs. The first one is “developing and becoming self” whereby one’s self-awareness process touches on a more profound search for

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meaningfulness. Another purpose is concerned with a process of searching for meaningfulness beyond one’s role. Alternatively, purpose may be concerned with persevering to individual moral obligations while being exerted with pressure to conform to the firm’s norm (Lips-Wiersma 2002). Psychological meaningfulness at work is linked to how people evaluate their work in terms of the end contribution of their work (Steger et al. 2012). “Meaning making through work” as described by Steger et al. (2012) is concerned with the spillover effect of the meaning derived from work and its alignment with the overall life meaning and vice versa. “Great good motivations” is concerned with the extent to which one’s work positively contributes towards the welfare of others (Steger et al. 2012). Though no consensus exists as to the definition of meaningfulness, a pattern seems to develop with certain dimensions that should be part of the definition: the self, the higher purpose, a need to belong and fit in, and a need to be contributing to the greater good.

The Process of Making Sense and Deriving Meaning In order to examine whether work is meaningful or what meaning of work really is, it is important to first understand how people make sense and derive meaning in the first place. The process of deriving meaning emerges from an individual perspective, as a result of an individual’s own interpretations formed socially or from norms or from a combination of both (Pratt and Ashford 2003). Pratt and Ashford (2003) describe how meaning is derived through a process of sensemaking which is the process of finding the importance/purpose of a certain stimulus by looking at it through a cognitive framework (Starbuck and Miliken 1988). Sensemaking is “the capacity to perceive, judge, and discover the intelligibility of beings, actions and things” (Morin 1995, p. 44). It entails a procedure in which a person develops cognitive maps of their surroundings, encompassing rules and standards of identifying, sensing, understanding, believing, and taking action (Lips-Wiersma 2002). In the process of trying to make meaning, Louis’ (1980) model of sensemaking explains how meanings are formed through social encounters and are based on specific interpretive “schemas” (Harris 1994). Markus (1977) defines schemas as “the dynamic, cognitive knowledge structures regarding specific concepts, entities, and events used by individuals to encode and represent incoming information efficiently” (cited in Harris 1994, p. 310). Louis (1980) sees the process of sensemaking as a cycle that starts with the anticipations of a person and acts as a precedent for the next event to occur. Events that are not up to the anticipations of the person give rise to the search of a reason behind the mismatch and to take appropriate action. Rosso et al. (2010) describe the process of making meaning to be unfolded through the psychological and sociological perspective. The psychological perspective refers to the forming of perceptions of meaning through the individual’s subjective analyses of encounters at work (Allan et al. 2014; Brief and Nord 1990; Wrzesniewski 2003). The sociological perspective stresses the

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influential role played by society and culture in deriving meaning through personal experiences, sentiments, and cognitions (Rosso et al. 2010). Furthermore, it is argued that the way in which an individual makes sense is directly affected by one’s identity (Ashforth 2001; Weick 1995). According to Kahn (1990), work turns out to be meaningful when one’s “preferred” self can be externalized via one’s work and being part of a firm. Erez and Earley (1993, p. 28) argue that sensemaking emerges through the desire to preserve one’s identity based on three core needs. These are the need of self-enhancement and self-consistency and the need for self-consistency (Erez and Earley 1993). Self-enhancement is concerned with finding and sustaining a positive sentimental and cognitive stage about ourselves (Erez and Earley 1993). Self-efficacy is concerned with the need to feel capable and effective. Self-consistency entails the need to feel consistent and to establish continuity (Erez and Earley 1993). Therefore, within each particular situation, meaning is derived by the perception of one’s self in a specific setting/ situation.

Predictors of Meaningful Work Wrzesniewski et al. (2003) bring to our attention the important question raised in the literature as to whether meaning at work is affected by either external or internal factors. Steger and Dik (2010) and Steger et al. (2012) explore the factors affecting meaningful work at the personal, interpersonal, and workplace characteristics perspective, while meaningful work forms part of a journey through which people explore, identify their talent, and externalize their dreams, values, and strengths. At the level of the individual, meaningful work is derived via employees’ genuine interest about and identification with the organization. This is accompanied by feelings of motivation, stewardship, engaging in the welfare of others, and alignment with the organization’s mission and vision (Steger 2017). From the interpersonal perspective, meaningful work is experienced via meaningful relationships and channels to benefit others and benefit from others, as well as a sound knowledge of the organization’s external environment (Steger 2017). Workplace characteristics refer to domains within the workplace that may affect meaningful work, such as leadership characteristics, management support, and corporate social responsibility (Steger 2017). Chalofsky and Krishna (2009) describe meaningfulness as a deeper level of intrinsic motivation and have pointed out the role of motivation as an antecedent to meaningfulness. Earlier studies of motivation have given rise to the need of understanding the differences between different types of employees, differences in the prioritization of their needs, and differences in the value placed on those needs (i.e., Maslow 1943; Alderfer 1972; Herzberg et al. 1957; McGregor 1960). Herzberg’s et al. (1957) seminal piece on motivation at work enabled us to distinguish between motivators and hygiene factors with the former resulting in the existence or not of motivation and the latter in the existence or not of dissatisfaction. Factors that were intrinsic to the work itself included the feeling that one’s work is

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recognized and appreciated and that the person is progressing on the career ladder. Factors that were extrinsic to the work include company policies, work environment, and pay. Paul et al. (1969) added that motivation is enhanced through enriching jobs to encompass more challenge, a better view, and involvement with tasks enhancing the bigger picture of the company’s long-term goals. Lucas and Kornhauser (1966) and Seeman (1967) originated the discussion around the negative effects of mundane tasks on employee well-being. These negative effects on employees have turned the attention of research toward work that becomes more interesting for the employees, benefiting their well-being. The conversation on intrinsically meaningful work opened up with the publication of the Hackman and Oldham’s seminal work with the job characteristics inventory (Beadle and Knight 2012). The job characteristics model (Hackman and Oldham 1976) outlines the conditions that need to be in place to enhance intrinsic motivation and employee performance. The model implies that job meaningfulness, among other outcomes, is enhanced via five job dimensions, namely, skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback (Hackman and Oldham 1976). The self-determination theory adds to the picture by proposing that motivation is enhanced when people feel autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Ryan and Deci 2001). The literature on meaning of work posits that when intrinsic motivation is experienced, there seems to be an alignment between their self-concepts and work which further enhances meaningfulness (Cardador et al. 2006; Shamir 1991). Reflecting on the research on motivation that emerged in the 1960s (Alderfer 1972; Herzberg et al. 1957; McGregor 1960), an emphasis has been placed on this essential need for a work life that is perceived as meaningful (cited in Chalofsky and Krishna 2009). Beadle (2015) posits that several studies have demonstrated that the motivational impact of the job characteristics model seems to be evident with people having a strong growth orientation related to the desire for personal development. Beadle (2015) explains that, considering the theories of motivation, no matter how well a firm designs a job, not everyone experiences meaningfulness. Specifically, Beadle (2015) argues that jobs prescribed to achieve high levels of meaningfulness in line with the job characteristics model – enhancing the development of skills, feeling as an important contributor to the bigger picture – have not always resulted in achieving the intended meaningfulness (Fried and Ferris 1987; Behson et al. 2000). Beadle (2015) attributes this problem to the fact that the design of jobs has the needs of the firm in mind, primarily and most importantly. If meaningfulness is enhanced for the employee, then this is a lucky occurrence. The argument here is related to the perception of meaningfulness at an individual level, and at the role that virtue, and the development of virtues, play in deriving meaningfulness from a certain role. In experiencing meaningfulness, virtue plays a role of paramount importance. Beadle (2015, p. 2) argues that virtue traditions provide evidence that the achievement of human goods depends upon the acquisition of virtues that would suggest living a good life. Beadle (2015) argues that we as individuals need to first understand what is important to ourselves in terms of our personal values and then how our work contributes for the good of others. Reference is also made to the notion of the “self-concept” (Bono and Judge 2003; Shamir 1991, cited in Rosso et al. 2010,

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p. 95) which is “the totality of an individual’s thoughts and feelings that have reference to himself as an object” (Rosenberg 1979, p. 7). Focusing on the self, Rosso et al. (2010) postulate that the way people experience their work, and hence meaningfulness, is highly driven by their underlying values, beliefs, and motivations. They add that the way in which individuals perceive themselves together with their work ethic, mentality, and orientation affects tremendously how meaningful they perceive their work to be. Similarly, Pratt and Ashford (2003) argue that meaningfulness is enhanced via actions that enrich the goals, values, and beliefs of the firm and actions that aim at changing the relationships among employees. This is also in line with the studies of Demerouti (2006) who argued that work designed to enhance motivation and meaningfulness abiding to the characteristics of personal growth through enhanced skills and enriched jobs did result in the experience of “flow” (feeling immersed in one’s job) provided that the subjects demonstrated a high degree of conscientiousness which is related to both virtue (Hernández and Mateo 2012) and growth orientation. Therefore, work that is designed purely on the basis of our values, our strife for personal growth, and virtue does not necessarily become meaningful for everyone. Virtues are developed based on the life and experiences of individuals that enable us to make meaningful distinctions between intrinsic rewards and standards of excellence (Beadle 2015). Overall, values play a role of paramount importance in predicting purpose, meaning, and fulfilment at work through the way we understand and perceive our environment and the equivalent actions we take (Rosso et al. 2010). Work values are “the end states people desire and feel they ought to be able to realize through working” (Nord et al. 1990, p. 21). Basic human values are seen as aspirations for the future, which are unique to each individual and influence the way in which people lead their lives through the choices they make (Kluckhon 1951; Rokeach 1973, cited in Ros et al. 1999). The concept of values in a work context has been sometimes used interchangeably with meaningfulness as the distinction between the two has not always been clear (Rosso et al. 2010). Chalofsky and Krishna (2009) refer to values as intrinsic motivators in performing an action and gaining a feeling of achievement through the fulfilment of the particular action. A key objective in studying values at work has been to understand how individuals’ setting of priorities is linked to their actions, the stance they take in life, and their roles, social encounters, and conduct (Ros et al. 1999). According to Rosso et al. (2010), the literature on values has examined values on a wide scale of continuums, such as the intrinsic/extrinsic value ends (Roberson 1990), to more explicit types of values such as personal growth vs. monetary rewards vs. self-actualization vs. achievement (Locke and Taylor 1990; Rokeach 1966, 1973, cited in Rosso et al. 2010), to a single predominant cultural value system like the Protestant work ethic (Roberson 1990) or other philosophies such as the Nicomachean ethics (Aristotle) or Kantian ethics (Kant). Locke and Taylor (1990) describe that our values affect how we perceive work encounters through a process of evaluating what values are in place at the organization and what values are expected by employees to be in place. For employees to feel fulfilled, their values need to be fulfilled (Locke and Taylor 1990). If the

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experiences they have do not meet their expectations (related to their values), then they tend to feel unease and experience stress (Locke and Taylor 1990). This uneasiness triggers a process of reassessing their role in the work context and coming up with certain conclusions about themselves at work (Locke and Taylor 1990). Such conclusions could be considering to leave the organization, to change behaviors, or to change their overall outlook with regard to the firm. Locke and Taylor (1990) propose that employees engage in a cyclical process where values have an effect on options taken with regard to their occupation and the experiences gained on the specific occupations enhance those values. In the context of moral values, certain individuals find meaningfulness in positively contributing through their work in the lives of others. These values are known as prosocial values and are defined as the degree to which the welfare of others is encouraged as an essential goal in life (Schwartz 1992; Schwartz and Bardi 2001, cited in Grant 2008). Individuals who perform tasks that are aligned to such prosocial values tend to experience greater meaningfulness (Cable and Edwards 2004). Fagermoen’s (1995, 1997) study on meaningfulness in the nursing practice found that both moral and other work values come at play. Their study confirmed that the highest impact on the nurses’ personal growth at work was their interactions with patients, the patient’s relatives, and their relationship with their own coworkers. Relationships at work are seen as a strong antecedent of meaningfulness in the literature. A large part of the literature stresses the importance of the formation of relationships in finding meaningfulness at work (Barry and Crant 2000; Bradbury and Lichtenstein 2000; Cersick et al. 2000; Wrznesiewski, Dutton and Debebe, cited in Grant 2007). Interpersonal relationships between coworkers, supervisors, and all other important internal and external stakeholders play a significant role in finding meaningfulness at work (Grant 2007). Rosso et al. (2010) and Grant (2007, 2008) show how meaningfulness is enhanced through the relationships built at work and through the development, with others at work, of a common goal (i.e., identifying with the corporate identity, affiliation to the firm), feeling part of something together (May et al. 2004). Furthermore, when employees feel that their job benefits others, their job meaningfulness is also enhanced. Individuals at work derive meaningfulness through their desire to have a positive impact on the welfare of their coworkers they have good relationships with (Grant 2007). The intensity/strength of such relationships is defined by the frequency, physical proximity, degree of expressiveness, and the depth experienced between the two parties (Grant 2007). The stronger the relationship, the more meaningfulness is enhanced (Grant 2007). In the context of interactions made through such relationships, another study found that job meaningfulness is also affected by social cues employees receive by others at work (Wrzesniewski et al. 1997). They add that this process takes the form of distinguishing and reading cues sent by others and revealing others’ assessment of them. Bailey et al. (2017) posit that positive “interactions allow the feelings of belongingness and intimacy with others and the firms to emerge” (Rosso et al. 2010). The assessment of such interactions affected the way in which employees made meaning of their selves, roles, and actual jobs (Wrzesniewski et al. 1997).

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Βeliefs held by individuals about their role and themselves, also play an important part in deriving meaning at work. Nicholson (1991) adds that in a work context, beliefs are formed through the employees’ perception of significant entities, stakeholders, and relationships. Adler (1997) posits that beliefs are a wide cognition formed by individuals’ emotions and stance toward teams, personal growth, outcomes at work, ethics, and the pleasure derived from their personal life. Beliefs tend to be determined by the individual’s culture and related to the attitudes employees hold about their work (Buchholz 1976, 1978). One type of belief important to the study of meaningfulness is that of moral beliefs at work. Moral beliefs enable individuals to distinguish between a person’s true self (the deeper essence of one’s self) and false self (a more superficial interpretation of one’s self) (Johnson et al. 2004). Schlegel et al. (2009) hold that moral beliefs and the distinction between the true and false self may have an impact on beliefs about the meaning of life. In the context of the self, Wrzesniewski et al. (2003) describe the concept of self-meaning, which defines the self-understanding that employees hold in the work context. Certain parts of the literature refer to selfmeaning as self-identity, denoting the attributes that individuals ascribe to themselves (Gecas 1982; Schenkler 1985), together with the more detailed self-narratives that define their identity (Gergen and Gergen 1988). The self is, to some extent, a result of the experiences employees have at work (Wrzesniewski 2003). Rosso et al. (2010) postulate that there are three key domains in which beliefs at work can directly influence meaningfulness at work, namely, orientation toward work, career, and callings. First, research on orientation toward work explores mainly the way in which employees’ dogmas about work have an effect in the meaning employees form about their work (Bellah et al. 1985; Wrzesniewski et al. 1997, cited in Rosso et al. 2010). Kalleberg (1977) described workers’ orientations as individual values that encapsulate what outsets the individual wants to achieve. Wrzesniewski (1999) depicts orientation toward work as the goals and reasoning behind the choice and perception of employees’ work and the meaning that they derive from their job. Kalleberg (1977) notes that work values play a role of paramount importance in how individuals perceive rewards at work, as it depends on their individual values and beliefs and where they place higher emphasis on. A person’s orientation toward work acts as a reference criterion as to what their work means, the way in which they will perform their role in line with these meanings, and the reasoning behind actually working (Rosso et al. 2010). Second, employees that possess a career orientation tend to be motivated by the recognition and other intrinsic and extrinsic rewards accompanied by advancement (career progression) which is also linked to increased self-confidence and privileged social status (Bellah et al. 1985 cited in Wrzesniewski 1999). Third, calling is related to meaningful work while it is seen as work that is meaningful to the individual and involves striving for prosocial longings (Steger 2017). It has been defined by Dobrow and Tosti-Kharas (2011, p. 64) as “a consuming, meaningful passion people experience toward a domain.” Wrzesniewski et al. (1997, p. 22) define calling as fulfilment that a person experiences, from simply performing the work. In the same

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vein as Wrzesniewski et al. (1997), Dik and Duffy (2009, p. 427) describe calling as a “transcendent summons, experienced as originating beyond the self.” Dobrow and Tosti-Kharas’ (2011) definition focuses on personal passion, while the other two focus on intrinsic fulfilment (Lepisto and Pratt 2017). Wrzesniewski et al. (1997) explain that the word “calling” was initially derived from a religious perspective, as individuals felt to be “called” by God to perform ethically and at a social level, important work (Weber 1956, 1963, cited in Wrzesniewski et al. 1997). Grant (2007) adds that employees who perceive their work as a calling truly want to make a difference. This may be attributed to the fact that an employee with a calling is driven by the fulfilment derived from the work to themselves and the value to the society or a higher cause (Wrzesniewski et al. 1997). In the work of Hagmaier and Abele (2012), calling has been captured in three core dimensions: transcendence guiding force, identification with one’s work, and sense and meaning combined with valuedriven behavior. Pratt and Ashford (2003) postulate that callings emerge when an employee perceives his/her role as having high task significance (Hackman and Oldham 1980). When individuals feel they have been called to perform their work for the greater good, they perceive their work as socially important, regardless of the degree of satisfaction they derive from the work itself (Wrzesniewski et al. 1997). Employees with callings may find it hard to separate their work and personal life (Wrzesniewski et al. 1997). Bunderson and Thompson (2009) study that zookeepers may possess a strong sense of calling, but, at the same time, they are also enticed to feel a moral obligation to perform at a high standard at the expense of their own pay and private time. The findings of this study have been described by the authors as a situation of a double-edged sword, since deeply meaningful work may present some trade-offs. For the individual, the meaning of work acts as a strong motivational factor which results in a strong will to exert discretionary behaviors and exert efforts toward the benefit of the firm (Bunderson and Thompson 2009), but at the expense of their own personal lives. Pratt et al. (2013) broke down the calling orientation initially explored by Bellah et al. (1985) into three further work orientations mainly based on the social work environment. These are the craftsmanship orientation, service orientation, and kinship orientation. The craftmanship orientation refers to the tendency to perceive work with pride, by utilizing their know-how and skills (Pratt et al. 2013). Meaning is found via the satisfaction of job well done (Pratt et al. 2013). Baumeister (1991) posits that jobs requiring a certain skillset and specialization tend to boost the selfconfidence and morale of those performing them, more in comparison to lowerskilled jobs. Similar to prosocial values, service orientation refers to the case whereby employees find meaning in their jobs through the value added to other people’s lives (Pratt et al. 2013). Through the service orientation, employees derive satisfaction through knowing that they are contributing in positively changing other people’s lives or an overall greater cause (Pratt et al. 2013). Lastly, Pratt et al. (2013) describe the kinship orientation as finding meaning at work through the deeper “quality” relationships formed. These types of relationship render one’s job as more meaningful due to the formation of such relationships that are similar to close family ties.

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Other predictors of meaning at work are seen to be spirituality, work centrality, task significance, and the organization itself. Spirituality is a desire to connect with the sacred, entailing a superior power, providing guidance or vitality, or a belief system (Hill and Pargament 2003). As Maslow (1971) notes, spiritual endeavors encompass self-transcendence, while individuals connect to something greater or superior to themselves. They tend to make meaning and interpret their work aspiring to something of greater force, linked to a superior goal (Lips-Wiersma 2002). LipsWiersma (2002) explain how people with high degree of spirituality tend to align their careers with perceived spiritual orderings beyond themselves. Spirituality has been linked to a strong desire to have an impact on the bigger picture which is aligned to a person’s value, in a strive to have an impact to the world (Kinjerski and Skrypnek 2004, as cited in Cartwright and Holmes 2006) and therefore be remembered after leaving life for the difference made, becoming immortal (Handy 1998, as cited in Cartwright and Holmes 2006). Rosso et al. (2010) describe the study of work centrality in relation to meaningfulness, by looking at the degree to which work is central to an individual in comparison to other aspects of their life such as their private life. Morse and Weiss (1955) found that the motivation for working, in the majority of their sample, was beyond just the monetary reward gained, though they noted differences between social classes in terms of how they perceive their work. Their findings suggested that working-class individuals sought employment in order to keep occupied and physically active. Middle-class individuals sought to gain a sense of purpose through their work and a way in which they could externalize their inner thoughts and ambitions (Morse and Weiss 1955). The Meaning of Work (MOW) study, conducted between 1981 and 1983, explored the work centrality and work values in the context of meaning at work. The findings of the study confirmed the lack of strong differences between the cultures of eight countries with regard to work centrality and the perception of employees about intrinsic and extrinsic rewards (England and Whitely 1990; Harpaz and Fu 1997; MOW international Research team 1987; Snir and Harpaz 2006; as cited in Rosso et al. 2010). Another strong predictor of meaning at work are tasks. Tasks have been defined as “the set of prescribed work activities a person normally performs during a typical work period” (Griffin 1987, p. 94, cited in Bailey et al. 2017). Tasks that have a motivational effect on the individuals that perform them tend to be more meaningful. This is supported, among other theories, by Bandura’s (1977) self-efficacy theory, the self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan 2012), and Grant’s (2008) prosocial motivation theory. What these theories share in common is that when performing a task that has a higher value toward a higher purpose positively enhances the way individuals feel about what they serve and how much of a difference they can make. Allan (2017) distinguishes between task significance and the job characteristics model. On the one hand, task significance is determined by the impact of one’s work on other people within and external to the organization. On the other hand, in the job characteristics model, meaningfulness is derived by the impact of one’s work on the well-being of others. This is an important distinction while seeking to maximize meaningfulness at work. In both terms (job characteristics model and task

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significance), the emphasis is on the outcome of the work conducted and specifically the positive impact portrayed on others. In line with these studies, Grant (2008) posits that the particular type of meaningfulness tends to be perceived as an incentive for employees to dedicate more time and energy toward task completion (Fried and Ferris 1987; Parker and Wall 1998). A longitudinal study by Allan (2017) in line with the job characteristics model (Hackman and Oldham 1976) found that meaningful work was predicted by task significance. This relationship has also been confirmed previously through cross-sectional studies (Humphrey et al. 2007; Schnell et al. 2013). According to Beadle and Knight (2012), for work to be experienced as meaningful, the tasks that form part of a role need to be designed in a way that the output provides a feeling of being good to both the individual producing it and the greater good. Roles have been described as “explicit and systematically enforced prescriptions for how organizational members should think and feel about themselves and their work” (Sveningsson and Alvesson 2003 cited in Bailey et al. 2017, p. 418). This definition entails the perception of one’s self in the context of work. According to Scroggins (2008), meaningfulness is enhanced when the role someone performs is consistent with how that person perceives him /herself or even more so is aligned to their perceived “ideal” self. Bailey et al. (2017) postulate that in line with the selfverification theory and identity affirmation theory, by Swann (1983) and Elsbach (2003), respectively, meaningfulness is enhanced through roles that are congruent with one’s self-perception (Kahn 1990). Meaningfulness is also enhanced through roles that are perceived to be adding value to the wider society (Scroggins 2008). Virtues developed through such roles, aligned with the greater goodness, developed as part of being part of leading a positively meaningful life (Beadle and Knight 2012). “Meaningful work is not only a particular good for the individuals who possess it but, if the foregoing argument is sound, comprises a good whose just distribution should be an object of common concern” (Beadle and Knight p. 445). In the same vein, Steger (2017) describes the importance of the encouragement of employees to participate in charities (linked to the common concern) and other voluntary work contributing to the greater goodness. Raub and Blunschi (2013) found support for a positive relationship between CSR initiatives and sense of meaningfulness. Yet, another predictor of meaningful work is job crafting (Tims et al. 2016). Wrzesniewski and Dutton (2001, p. 179) developed also the job crafting model and define job crafting as “crafting a job involves shaping the task boundaries of the job (either psychically or cognitively), the relational boundaries of the job, or both.” While the individuals have more control over an ongoing process of changing both the way in which they do their job and also the relationships they would like to pursue and grow, they tend to find meaningfulness in their work (Wrzesniewski and Dutton 2001). This enhances work identity and the way in which an individual’s job is performed is continuously forming and reforming (Wrzesniewski and Dutton 2001). Beyond the self, a factor exogenous to the self, affecting meaning at work, may be the organization itself. Weick (1995) posits that firms have an effect on the way in

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which employees view their work as meaningful. Rosso et al. (2010) argue that firms play a role of paramount importance in how employees interpret their work as meaningful via certain characteristics and actions that convey particular cues to employees. For example, management support is seen as an important predictor in meaningfulness at work (Rosso et al. 2010). Tummers and Knies (2013) found that when the relationship between leadership and employees is strong, work becomes more meaningful. Strong evidence supports the relationship between leadership and meaningful work, while there is evidence of the relationship between transformational leadership style specifically and meaningful work (Judge and Piccolo 2004; Tummers and Knies 2013). This evidence could be attributed to the qualities of transformational leaders who are able to challenge the status quo and provide vision to take things forward and enrich the purpose of work as perceived by organizational members (Judge and Piccolo 2004; Steger and Dik 2010). Carton (2017) also found that leaders may have a positive impact on meaningfulness at work, which may also benefit the overall productivity levels of the firm. More specifically, Grant (2007) and Carton (2017) postulate that leaders have a significant role to play with creating a link between daily tasks and a greater purpose and vision. Barrick et al. (2012) stress that the importance of employees’ alignment to the firm’s vision and mission may be the answer to employees’ need for status and recognition. In line with the self-concordance theory, employees feel authentic and fulfilled when they work for a firm whose values are aligned to their own (Bescharov 2008; Brief and Nord 1990). Other studies found that leaders can play an important role in enhancing meaningfulness at work (Carton 2017), and, as a result, productivity and the sense of responsibility are enhanced among employees. Podolny et al. (2005) posit that the way in which leaders react to events, interact, and communicate with others also affects meaningfulness. They add that leaders tend to be setting the direction and mission of the company and affect the way in which employees identify with the firm (Podolny et al. 2005). Leaders have a key role to play in enhancing trust and meaning at work (Andersson 1996) and to enhance the bond people feel with their work (Boverie and Kroth 2001). Leaders may also have an impact on meaningfulness through the impact they may have on emotions, through emotional intelligence (Goleman 1998; Sawaf et al. 2001, cited in Cartwright and Holmes 2006). In the context of leadership, another skill that has an important role on solving problems of meaning and value is that of “spiritual intelligence” (Zohar and Marshall 2001). This has been related by Cartwright and Holmes (2006) to servant leadership (Greenleaf 2008), which is linked to ensuring that the needs and concerns of individuals are taken care of, and employees are enabled to grow. Further to the above, Vlachos et al. (2013) argue that leaders with charismatic attributes may have a significant impact on how employees interpret the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and the underlying motives for which firms undertake such initiatives. Vlachos et al. (2013, p. 579) borrowing from Wieseke et al. (2009) work argue that leaders “anthropomorphise the abstract existence of the firm” that signifies their impact on the ways in which employees perceive the actions of the firm, which, in turn, may influence how employees experience meaningfulness at work. For example, given the leader’s influence, CSR initiatives may be perceived

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as cynical, marketing initiatives to build a firm’s reputation or on a more adverse note as initiatives that have been created with ulterior motives on the expense of shareholders (Schneider et al. 2005). However, if the leader’s see such initiatives as positive, employees may also experience these initiatives through feelings of pride, identification with, and dedication to the organization (Schneider et al. 2005). Apart from leadership, the organization may positively contribute toward work meaningfulness by paying attention to its employees’ work-life balance (Cartwright and Holmes 2006). The organization has a role to play in ensuring that employees who use work-life balance initiatives are not treated in a disadvantaged way in terms of career progression (Bellavia and Frone 2005). Finally, in terms of predictors of meaning at work, a more recent study conducted by Bailey and Madden (2016) describe five characteristics that rendered work as meaningful in their research. The first one was work that is considered as “selftranscendent.” This transcendence occurs when individuals feel their work is important to others and not just to themselves. The second characteristic was work that is “poignant” in that meaning could be derived even at moments while people experienced pain or less positive thoughts. Third, they found that higher levels of meaning could be derived in an “episodic” way rather than occurring on a continuous basis. While meaningfulness could be felt on an ongoing basis, the feeling of meaningfulness peaks at specific highlights or moments. Fourth, people tended to experience meaningfulness in a “reflective” manner, after a significant project or output was completed and meaningfulness was derived upon reflection. Finally, they found that meaningfulness was also derived through people’s “personal experiences” such as relating work events to personal life events and aspirations.

Outcomes of Meaningful Work Meaningful work can prove to be very beneficial toward organizational performance. Meaningfulness has also been related to reduced employee turnover, increased employee and organizational fulfilment, and increased levels of productivity (Geldenhuys et al. 2014). Employees who report increased levels of meaningfulness at work tend to report higher organizational commitment (Duffy et al. 2014), decreased levels of absenteeism and intention to leave (Bunderson and Thompson 2009; Scroggins 2008), and higher intrinsic motivation (Steger et al. 2012). More often than not, positive emotions lead to better performance in more complex jobs by enhancing creative problem-solving (Estrada et al. 1997) and enhance the firm’s sustainability through future proofing the firm via the accumulation of resources (Fredrickson 2001). In turn, positive emotions, of which job meaningfulness forms part, contribute toward future productivity. Employees who find meaningfulness, purpose, and fulfilment at work tend to display positive behaviors resulting from positive feelings such as employee engagement (Bailey et al. 2017). With respect to engagement, Kahn (1990) initiated much of the subsequent theory and research on engagement. Kahn (1990) argued that meaningful work is a necessary prerequisite to the experience of work engagement.

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Firms that embrace a culture of meaningfulness tend to have engaged employees (Lockwood 2007). Meaningfulness becomes the reward from the efforts exerted into a task, while the employees involved feel valued and contributing in a positive way, thus making a difference (Taghipour and Dezfuli 2013). Indeed, engaged employees feel that they are capable and enabled to fulfil the requirements of their job (Llorens et al. 2007). Meaningful work is a strong predictor of employee engagement (Kahn 1990), and firms that embrace a culture of meaningfulness tend to have engaged employees (Lockwood 2007). The sheer absence of meaningfulness has an adverse effect on the levels of employee engagement, as work is perceived as not important (Kahn 1990 as cited in Carton 2017). Kahn (1990) defines engagement as “the simultaneous employment and expression of a person’s ‘preferred self’ in task behaviours that promote connections to work and to others, personal presence (physical, cognitive, and emotional), and active, full role performances” (p. 700). This definition provides an emphasis on the social aspect of happiness at work and the emotional connection with work which drive positive effort at work. For Kahn (1990, p.700), self and role “exist in some dynamic, negotiable relation in which a person both drives personal energies into role behaviours and displays the self within the role.” Such engagement enables the human spirit to be fulfilled in the work context (May et al. 2004). The emphasis on the self and fulfilment and the importance of the role may be seen as aligned to certain elements of meaningfulness. A more recent definition that adds to the one provided by Kahn (1990) is the one that work engagement is “. . . a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption” (Schaufeli and Bakker 2010; Schaufeli et al. 2002, p. 74). Engagement is usually linked to increased levels of energy and the resonance of employees with their work (Schaufeli et al. 2002). Csikszentmihalyi (1982) described employee engagement as a process of flow, whereby flow is described as a holistic experience when one is deeply engrossed in their work (cited in Bedarkar and Pandita 2014). Nakamura and Csikzentmihalyi (2014, p. 239) refer to flow as “providing an understanding of experiences during which individuals are fully involved in the present moment.” Rothbard (2001) also provided two key constituents of employee engagement. Attention is the first constituent, which is related to the duration in which individuals reflect about their role and is linked to the mental energy sacrificed toward one’s role. Absorption is linked to the degree to which one is engrossed or caught into their role. Similar to flow, absorption describes the degree to which individuals are deeply engrossed in their work, to the extent that they feel part of the job itself, with no clear boundaries between the person and the job (Csikszentmihalyi 1990). Bakker et al. (2008) propose two interconnected dimensions of engagement, namely, the energy dimension and the identification dimension. These dimensions touch upon the existence of a solid identification with one’s work together with increased levels of energy (Bakker et al. 2008). Engagement is not seen in the literature as a state experienced momentarily but as a more sustainable deeper affective cognitive state that perseveres in a work environment. Chalofsky and Krishna (2009, p. 198) state that “meaning at work implies a relationship between the person and the organization or the workplace, in terms of

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commitment and engagement.” Engagement tends to contribute to the feeling of fulfilment contrary to being sunk in to the complexities of life that may render people feeling empty (Bakker et al. 2008). Fulfilment is derived from a sentiment that our actions in this life have an impact on people’s lives (Chalofsky and Krishna 2009). Looking at the dimensions of engagement as being vigor, dedication, and absorption, Bakker et al. (2008) explain that vigor is described as increased energy levels and mental resilience and the desire to exert effort at work even when employees are faced with a difficult situation (Bakker et al. 2008). Dedication is described as feeling important, enthusiastic, proud of one’s workplace, and enjoying the challenges (Bakker et al. 2008). The final aspect of engagement is absorption, described as being so absorbed in one’s work thus losing the notion of time, due to the enjoyment experienced (Schaufeli et al. 2001). Other outcomes of work meaningfulness experienced by employees are having a sense of purpose, a tendency to enjoy work more (Steger et al. 2010), and a tendency to feel more “confident” about their work (Duffy and Sedlacek 2007) and demonstrate a clearer direction with regard to their career decisions (Steger et al. 2010). Lobene and Meade (2013) found that work performance increases when employees perceive their work as having strong meaning, since supervisors tend to rate themselves higher, which acts as a sign of positive performance at work. Furthermore, when employees feel that their work is part of a higher purpose, increased attachment and commitment to their work and job satisfaction have been reported (Sparks and Schenk 2001). Similarly, when job meaningfulness is enhanced, organizational performance is also positive (Neck and Milliman 1994), talent tends to stay with the firm, and new initiatives are more positively embraced. Organizations benefit from employees who demonstrate organizational citizenship behaviors since evidence suggests that that they are more friendly than other employees (Steger 2012), with a tendency to receive higher performance ratings due to mainly their positive behaviors in teams and positive relationships with management (Wrzesniewski et al. 1997). Tummers and Knies (2013) also reported benefits beyond their work role, as they are becoming more positive in their role within their families and achieve “work-to-home enrichment.” Work-to-home enrichment is seen as an effect that provides synergistic benefits to one’s work and private life (Russo 2015). As a result from the experience of positive emotions, meaningful work has been linked to reduced levels of stress (Steger et al. 2012), greater life satisfaction (Douglass et al. 2016) increased levels of well-being (Arnold et al. 2007; cited in Steger et al. 2012), and increased levels of job satisfaction (Kamdron 2005; Allan et al. 2016). Reinstating lost meaningfulness may also be seen as a way in which to enhance the individual’s motivation and attachment to work, since meaningless work is linked to apathy and detachment from work (Thomas and Velthouse 1990, cited in May et al. 2004). Maslow (1971) posits that those who do not sense their role in their workplace as meaningful and purposeful will not maximize their potential. Other studies have found that meaninglessness may result in employees feeling cynical (Andersson 1996; Holbeche and Springett 2004) and the “quarter-life crisis” (Robbins and Wilner 2001) which results in younger employees between the ages of

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25 and 35 quitting their employment in the search for more fulfilling careers (as cited in Cartwright and Holmes 2006). Meaningfulness has also been linked to eudaimonia (Ryff 1989; Seligman 2002, Turban and Yan 2016). Eudaimonia at work is defined as “the subjective experience that work helps one grow, provides a sense of purpose and contributes to a larger community” (Turban and Yan 2016, p. 1007). Steger et al. (2012) add that meaningful work has a rather eudemonic direction, while it is more in line with personal growth and finding purpose rather than the avoidance of pain and the search of pleasure (hedonia). Purpose in life from a eudemonic perspective has been seen to exist when individuals have a sense of directedness, have certain aims in their lives to which they strive for, and hold certain beliefs that provide a purpose in life (Ryff 2013). Goals that are aligned with eudemonic well-being tend to enable individuals to change toward where they would like to be. In summary, meaningful work is work that is considered as valuable to the individual, the firm, and the society at large (Rosso et al. 2010). A large number of employees value significance and meaningfulness more than most material or extrinsic rewards (Caudron 1997; Towers Perrin 2003, cited in Scroggins 2008a). Many studies have demonstrated its great impact on work motivation (Hackman and Oldham 1980) and engagement (May et al. 2004), increased levels of employee well-being (Arnold et al. 2007) and reduced levels of stress and depression (Steger et al. 2012). Yeoman (2014) adds that meaningful work plays a role of paramount importance in enabling individuals meet an essential human need, that of “liberal neutrality” (an inevitable need to satisfy the needs of freedom, dignity, and autonomy), while society has a key role to play in facilitating this process. A healthy environment should be increasing the likelihood that as many individuals as possible are encouraged to find meaningfulness at work through the growth of significant competences and the maximization of potential (Yeoman 2014). Allan (2017) posits that all holistic references to well-being, positive psychology, and happiness emphasize the importance in finding a sense of meaning.

Conclusion and Future Direction Finding purpose, meaning, joy, and fulfilment at work may be a lifelong journey for some striving to find themselves, their purpose in life, and what makes them and others truly happy. As previously discussed, organizations that embrace a philosophy of meaningfulness tend to have a workforce with high levels of engagement, even eudaimonia (Lockwood 2007). Aristotle and early philosophers turn our attention on the eudemonic perspective, while the emphasis is on experiencing life in a more complete and deeply satisfying manner, suggesting perhaps that finding purpose, meaning, and fulfilment at work touches more upon a eudemonic perspective of employee well-being (Turban and Yan 2016). The organization and its leadership also play a role of paramount importance in enhancing meaningfulness, engagement, and fulfilment at work (Robertson-Smith and Markwick 2009). Steger (2017) calls for a need to look beyond engagement and commitment and

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dig deeper in finding meaningfulness at work. In doing so, Martela and Pessi (2018) suggest for a new definition of meaningfulness touching upon the broader purpose, significance, and self-realization. They call for research to challenge whether there could exist more dimensions to meaningfulness, whether these three constructs (broader purpose, significance, and self-realization) are connected and how they can be measured. Carton (2017) calls for research on the way that leaders may convey a compelling vision and whether the process of communicating the firm’s long-term goals should be segregated from the communication of short-term goals. Carton (2017) provides a new dimension in the role of leaders describing them as architects creating a cognitive blueprint linking the firm’s short- and long-term goals. It would be interesting to explore this role of leaders in different contexts as this provides a paradigm shift from their traditional roles as “overseeers” and “visionaries” to “architects.” Here, we see a paradigm shift moving away from identifying with a task to identifying to a wider goal. Carton (2017) also points our direction toward exploring whether it would be more impactful to transform a set goal into symbols in order for a goal to be more easily visualized. For example, in his study with NASA, the moon, being a bright symbol in the sky, conveys a strong message of a higher purpose. Bailey et al. (2018) set out five essential paradoxes of meaningful work that call for new research domains. They raise questions as to the valid measurability of the meaningfulness construct, while great variations exist between the different tools utilized. The first paradox they outline is that humans have a strong drive to find meaning; however this same drive may lead to adverse outcomes such as negative excesses (Bailey et al. 2018). This paradox, resulting from excess in meaningfulness, according to the authors, raises questions as to how to find a balance around this search for meaningfulness and the types of meaningful-longing activities that may lead to such outcomes (Bailey et al. 2018). This also raises questions around the impact of work meaningfulness in life meaningfulness such as overworking at the expense of one’s personal life (Bailey et al. 2018). The second paradox lies in the distinction or interrelationship between deriving meaningfulness either through one’s self (the desired self- De Boek as cited in Bailey et al. 2018) or by making a contribution that has an impact on others (Lips-Wiersma and Morris 2009) (Bailey et al. 2018). If meaningfulness is derived from a lens focusing on the self, then it is paradoxical to measure work in terms of its impact on others. The third paradox is whether meaningfulness is indeed a subjective or an objective evaluation (Bailey et al. 2018). The argument here lies in that while it is seen as a subjective evaluation, at the same time it is conceptualized through exogenous factors that form what is perceived as meaningful by the individual. The fourth paradox is that “meaningfulness is subjectively ‘found’ (Thompson and Janigian 1988 as cited in Bailey et al. 2018, p. 13) and is not amenable to managerial control, yet it is also normatively regulated.” On the one hand, meaningfulness is seen as a personal process, while on the other hand, it seems to be “moldable” or affected by factors such as the organization and management providing certain work conditions that could enhance it or diminish it (Bailey et al. 2018). Normative controls may have an impact in creating a feeling of “obligation” on employees to tolerate weak working

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conditions while participating at work pretending that it is indeed meaningful (Bailey et al. 2016; Cartwright and Holmes 2006; Lips-Wiersma and Morris 2009, cited in Bailey et al. 2018). The fifth paradox outlined by Bailey et al. (2018, p. 18) is that meaningfulness is not just a short-term state of mind but a rather “pervasive attitude” toward an individual’s work. This paradox lies in that on the one hand, as outlined by Bailey and Madden (2016), meaningfulness may be seen as more of an evaluation of episodic events while, on the other hand, parts of the literature (De Boeck and Stolorow 2013; Bailey and Madden 2017, cited in Bailey et al. 2018) refer to an ideal future self in a long-sought journey of finding meaningfulness (Bailey et al. 2018). Finally, Lepisto and Pratt (2017) call for a need to explore further the justification perspective of meaningful work as it is generally underexplored in the academia. The authors describe that the decline of “account granting institutions” such as religion has led individuals to search for this higher purpose in different routes while overcoming “anomie” from work. In addition to the above paradoxes, the journey to finding meaningfulness may seem even more complicated in view of how the world is changing toward a gig economy or technological advancements and new ways of working. With the rise of new ways of working such as telecommuting, virtual teams, coworking spaces, and side hustles, the way that work is perceived tends to change. Each of these options carries a number of different characteristics, and hence, their effect is expected to be different. While job and physical presence are no longer seen as being side by side, we are expecting to see some fascinating paradigm shifts in making and deriving meaning, purpose, fulfilment, and joy at work.

Cross-References ▶ Employee Engagement: Keys to Organizational Success ▶ Hedonic Versus (True) Eudaimonic Well-Being in Organizations ▶ Improving Engagement During Times of Change ▶ Meaningful Work and Human Flourishing: Communication Lessons from the Judeo-Christian Tradition

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Patricia Grant and Peter McGhee

Contents Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being in Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Organizational Context: Employee Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Philosophy and Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HQT Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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This chapter explores well-being as understood by the field of psychology and organizational studies and argues that employees and organizations could benefit from adopting an understanding of well-being grounded in Aristotle’s notion of eudaimonia. The implications for management practice are discussed. The first section will outline the hedonic and eudaimonic approaches to well-being adopted by psychology scholars and highlight some associated issues. The second section will explain how the approaches in psychology are reflected in organizational scholarship. Both hedonic and eudaimonic approaches have been adapted to account for the psychological aspect of employee well-being through the constructs of job satisfaction on the one hand and meaning and engagement on the other (De Simone, Int J Bus Soc Sci 5(12):118, 2014; Grant et al., Acad Manag Perspect 21(3):51–63, 2007). In the third section, the authors argue that eudaimonist psychology scholars in particular have misinterpreted Aristotle’s P. Grant Kenvale College of Hospitality, Cookery and Events, Sydney, NSW, Australia e-mail: [email protected] P. McGhee (*) Business and Law, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_37

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understanding of eudaimonia by divorcing it from its philosophical foundations (Sison and Ferrero, Bus Ethics 24:S78–S98, 2015). The authors propose a more comprehensive notion of well-being which acknowledges its dependence on philosophical roots. The implications for the practice of managing employees are discussed in the fourth section based on the work of Melé (J Bus Ethics 120(4):457–471, 2014). Domènec Melé places human persons and their flourishing at the center of managing in organizations, but his notion of wellbeing differs from eudaimonic psychologist and organizational scholars because of his understanding of the human person. In the final section of the chapter, the authors demonstrate how the adoption of a truly neo-Aristotelian understanding of eudaimonia would be more beneficial to employees and organizations in the long run. Keywords

Eudaimonic wellbeing · Hedonic wellbeing · Aristotelian Eudaimonia

Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being in Psychology Everyone wants to be happy; however, the meaning and way to happiness remain highly debatable topics particularly in the field of psychology. Well-being is considered to be key to being happy, although scholars acknowledge that economic status, physical health, and freedom are also needed (Steptoe et al. 2015). Well-being is said to consist of evaluative, hedonic, and eudaimonic well-being (Kahneman et al. 2003). Evaluative refers to a person’s judgment about how satisfied they are with their life (Steptoe et al. 2015). This can be measured using the Cantril Ladder, an 11-step ladder where participants are asked to place themselves on one of the rungs, ranging from worst to best possible life (Cantril 1965). The Satisfaction with Life Scale is also commonly used (Diener et al. 1985). Hedonic well-being essentially consists in maximizing one’s feelings of happiness (Deci and Ryan 2008; Diener 2000). The term hedonic refers to moods or feelings experienced on a dayto-day basis; respondents can be asked to assess and record these through affect adjectives such as sadness, anger, or happy (Kahneman et al. 2004). A recent review found that 12 instruments have been developed to measure hedonic well-being (Cooke et al. 2016). Positive and negative affect can be assessed using Russell et al.’s (1989) conceptual model which includes an activation or arousal component and Diener et al.’s (2010) 12-item Scale of Positive and Negative Experiences (SPANE). For instance, SPANE can be used by asking participants to record how much they experienced a specific list of feelings based on a scale of 1–5 when doing certain activities over a certain period of time (Diener et al. 2010). Eudaimonic well-being is not so clearly defined as will be discussed below but focusses on the subjective dimension of engaging in eudaimonic activities (Waterman 2008). However, Ryff and Singer (1998) are said to focus on the objective dimension of eudaimonia (Waterman 2008). Ryff interprets eudaimonia

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as flourishing rather than happiness and sets out the six dimensions of a fully functioning or flourishing life. She calls this state psychological well-being (PWB). Cooke et al. (2016) reviewed five instruments for the assessment of eudaimonic well-being. They noted although all measures emphasized optimal functioning or self-fulfilment, there was little agreement about the specific components of eudaimonic well-being. The items of environmental mastery, life purpose/ meaning, and positive relationships (Ryff’s dimensions) were common to only three of the five instruments. The items of self-esteem and achievement were only found in one instrument. Diener et al. (2010) developed an eight-item flourishing scale based on the conceptual work of Ryff (1989), Ryff and Singer (1998), and Ryan and Deci (2000). The instrument consists of eight statements each representing a component of a flourishing life. Participants are required to rank on a scale of 1–7 the extent they agree with the statements as applied to their own life. The Meaning in Life Questionnaire measures how meaningful one’s life is currently (presence of meaning) and how motivated one is to search for meaning, rated on a seven-point scale ranging from absolutely true to absolutely untrue (Steger et al. 2006). Scholars can be classified according to whether they hold a hedonic or eudaimonic view of happiness (Diener et al. 1998; Ryan and Deci 2001; Ryff and Singer 2008; Vittersø 2016). The hedonic approach is predominantly found in the subjective well-being (SWB) scholarship. Although SWB is sometimes used interchangeably with hedonic well-being (Waterman 2008), the term subjective wellbeing contains the understanding that each individual has the right to judge for themselves whether a good life is being lived (Diener 2000). SWB combines evaluative well-being and hedonic well-being, and so it consists of judgments about life satisfaction and net positive feelings (Diener et al. 1985; Grant et al. 2007; Ryan and Deci 2001). Thus, subjective well-being has a cognitive and emotional component (Diener et al. 2003). The emotional component was first analyzed by Russell (1980) who developed the circumplex model of affect. Each emotion is a combination of varying degrees of pleasure and activation (Bakker and Oerlemans 2011). Others only focus on positive and negative moods omitting the arousal component (Fisher 2014). The term hedonic highlights the fact that the pleasure aspect predominates in descriptions of affective experiences (Watson et al. 1988). In contrast eudaimonic well-being emphasizes a life well lived rather than the pleasant life and is the fulfilment of one’s nature or potential, an idea which is taken from Aristotle’s book Nicomachean Ethics (Haybron 2016; Lent 2004). Eudaimonists take issue with equating happiness with pleasure because it suggests humans are the same as animals (Koprowski 1981; Ryff 1989). They also argue that the hedonic approach reflects a misunderstanding of Aristotle’s notion of eudaimonia (Koprowski 1981; Ryff 1989). Eudaimonic well-being is closely related to psychological well-being (PWB) which focuses on positive functioning rather than feelings. It emphasises growth, virtue, meaning and self-fulfilment, and right action (Sheldon and Elliot 1999; Warr 2007). One of the most well-known models of eudaimonic well-being is the psychological well-being model which proposes six dimensions of a life well lived: self-acceptance, fulfilling one’s purpose,

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environmental mastery, positive relations with others, autonomy, and personal growth (Ryff 1989; Ryff and Keyes 1995). Ryan and Deci’s model (2001) argues that eudaimonic well-being is based on self-actualization and attempt to specify what this involves. Scholars differ on how hedonic and eudaimonic well-being contribute to one’s overall well-being (Fisher 2014). Ryan and Deci (2006) assert that they are based on two different views of human nature. The hedonic approach assumes the human mind is a blank slate and everything is learned, and the eudaimonic accepts that human nature contains an inbuilt purpose. Ryff (2018) does not consider feelings to be relevant to being happy and believes that what is essential is to live in accord with one’s nature and to live a life of virtue. Others argue that hedonic pleasure is an effect of eudaimonic well-being (Deci and Ryan 2008; Ring et al. 2007; Waterman et al. 2008). Waterman’s (1993) eudaimonia consists in how one feels when they engage in activities which involve actualizing our best potential, while hedonia is pleasure from doing something one enjoys, and he accepts that they can be both experienced concurrently. Deci and Ryan (2011) argue that fulfilling the psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness produces eudaimonic consequences, such as the elements proposed by Ryff, and hedonic consequences, such as positive affective and life satisfaction, but not all hedonic enjoyment can be attributed to eudaimonic living. Empirical studies demonstrate that eudaimonic behavior is predictive of hedonic effects (Kashdan et al. 2008). King et al. (2006) found a strong relationship between meaning in life and positive affect. In contrast Thorsteinsen and Vittersø (2018) hold that hedonic well-being is operationalized as felt pleasure and overall life satisfaction, while eudaimonic well-being is felt engagement and personal growth. Keyes’ model (2006) seeks to unite the hedonic and eudaimonic streams of research by presenting them as two aspects of well-being rather than different, mutually exclusive types of well-being. As well-being is evidenced by positive feelings and positive functioning, then hedonic refers to feelings and eudaimonic to functioning (Keyes 2007). A number of scholars consider well-being to be a multidimensional construct which contains hedonic and eudaimonic aspects (Grant et al. 2007; Ryan et al. 2008). Page and Vella-Brodrick (2009) also propose that hedonic and eudaimonic are two core constructs of employee well-being. Another source of controversy in the field of psychology is the relevance and meaning of eudaimonia. Some believe it is a judgment about how meaningful one’s life is (Steptoe et al. 2015), while others hold that it involves living well, or a process of realizing one’s full potential (Ryff and Singer 2008). Although scholars agree that nature fulfilment is a source of happiness, these and other authors in the field cannot agree on what that nature is and what it means to fulfill it (Haybron 2016). The fact that Vittersø’s (2016) review of eudaimonic well-being literature produced 30 different definitions of eudaimonia illustrates the problem. Accordingly, some scholars have questioned the utility of such a confused concept (Kashdan et al. 2008; Sheldon 2016; Thin 2016; Ward and King 2016). Philosophers object to the misinterpretation of Aristotle’s eudaimonia. He does not separate the hedonic and eudaimonic well-being which is common in the psychology literature. His is a more holistic notion where pleasure and satisfaction

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are inseparable from eudaimonia (Annas 1993; Nussbaum 2008; Vittersø 2016). Furthermore, eudaimonia consists of virtuous living which is ignored by the psychology literature. Hirata (2016) argues that the eudaimonic well-being is a normative or evaluative construct which enables one to judge whether one’s life is actually a good life. Accordingly, he asserts that ethics is intrinsic to eudaimonic well-being. These issues will be discussed in more depth in section “Philosophy and WellBeing.” The next section will illustrate how these theories have been translated into the organizational context, specifically in the understanding of employee well-being.

Organizational Context: Employee Well-Being Management of human resources can have a big impact on the success of an organization. “This means that you have to consider their needs, understand what makes them feel good” (De Simone 2014, p. 118). Employee well-being can greatly affect turnover and overall performance (Page and Vella-Brodrick 2009). This section outlines the constructs and sub-constructs which make up employee/workplace well-being. Fisher’s (2014) review of the well-being at work literature concludes that workplace well-being has three components: subjective well-being (job satisfaction and positive/negative affect at work), eudaimonic well-being, and social well-being. Fisher’s (2010) model of well-being (see below) at work depicts subjective wellbeing as the inner circle and comprises (1) the positive emotional state due to evaluating one’s job, denoted as job satisfaction (Locke 1976); (2) organizational commitment, identification with, and feeling part of the organization (De Simone 2014); and (3) positive and negative moods arising from working (De Simone 2014). The outer circle is made up of eudaimonic well-being and social well-being (Fig. 1). Fisher (2014) attempts to explain how the psychological concepts of eudaimonic and hedonic well-being translate into a variety of organizational constructs and measures which combine to represent overall well-being at work. He suggests that the constructs of job satisfaction and work commitment and positive and negative emotions are linked to hedonic or subjective well-being, while job involvement,

SOCIAL WELLBEING

job satisfaction and similar attitudes

EUDAIMONIC WELLBEING

Positive Affect at Work

Fig. 1 Well-being at work (Fisher 2014)

Negative affect At work SUBJECTIVE WELLBEING

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work engagement, thriving, flow, intrinsic motivation, vigor, dedication, absorption, and meaning represent eudaimonic understanding of well-being (Fisher 2014). If general subjective well-being is composed of a cognitive and emotional component (Diener et al. 2003), employee subjective well-being refers to the emotional experiences and judgments about satisfaction related to one’s work (Bakker and Oerlemans 2011). Job satisfaction is the most researched construct of organizational behavior (Wright 2006). It is conceptualized and measured as both a judgment and affect (Bakker and Oerlemans 2011). There are a number of instruments which reliably measure cognitive job satisfaction (Field 2002). The Job Satisfaction Survey includes nine pairs of items about salary, promotion, supervision, fringe benefits, contingent rewards, operating procedures, co-workers, work, and communication (Van Saane et al. 2003). Typical statements include “There is really too little chance for promotion on my job” and “When I do a good job, I receive the recognition for it that I should receive.” Responses are based on a sixpoint Likert scale, (from disagree very much to agree very much). Work commitment according to Fisher (2014) is “affectively tinged judgement” (p. 4) about one’s identification with the organization or embeddedness within the organization. It is often closely associated with job satisfaction; combined they capture subjective attitudes about one’s job. This can be measured using the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (Mowday et al. 1979). This is a 15-item instrument with 5 possible responses from very dissatisfied to very satisfied. Some items are “I would accept almost any type of job in order to keep working for this company” and “Deciding to work for this company was a definite mistake on my part.” Affect at work is a popular area of research, and much of it is built on the affect complex principle that emotions are composed of pleasure and arousal. The affective circumplex model originally developed by Russell (1980) categorized affective experiences into unpleasant/pleasantness and more or less activation. Bakker and Oerlemans (2011) utilized this model to help understand the affect aspect of job satisfaction. They also assert that work engagement is a type of positive affect as well as having a eudaimonic component. Job satisfaction is characterized by pleasantness and low-level motivation, while engagement consists of high-level motivation and pleasure in the pursuit of goals. Workaholism, for example, can be understood as a high level of motivation combined with unpleasantness with working excessively (Schaufeli et al. 2002). Burnout is a state of emotional exhaustion and cynicism, classified as a high level of unpleasantness and low level of motivational energy (Grawitch et al. 2018). Vigor is a combination of feeling physically strong, mental alertness, and energetic affect (Shirom 2011). Several instruments are based on the affect circumplex and include the Job-Related Affective Well-Being Scale (JAWS) (Van Katwyk et al. 2000) and the Job Affect Scale (Brief et al. 1988). JAWS is typically a 20-item instrument consisting of questions such as “My job makes me feel angry, satisfied, depressed, or inspired” with five possible responses of never, rarely, sometimes, quite often, and extremely often (Van Katwyk et al. 2000). The organizational scholarship is uncritical of the term eudaimonic well-being as defined by well-being scholars in psychology. Most organizational scholars believe that it is manifested in meaning and engagement due to realizing one’s potential or

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purpose, improvement, growth, or self-realization (Grant et al. 2007; Grawitch et al. 2018; Macey and Schneider 2008; Warr and Inceoglu 2012). Moreover, other studies suggest that not achieving desired outcomes dampens motivation and negatively impacts well-being (Carver and Scheier 2004; Grawitch et al. 2006). The organizational literature focusses mostly on how to create meaning and engagement. Fisher (2014) points to job involvement, work engagement, thriving, flow and intrinsic motivation, meaning in work, and calling at work as manifestations of eudaimonic well-being at work. Job involvement refers to basing one’s identity and self-esteem on one’s role at work (Lodahl and Kejnar 1965). Work engagement reflects notions of meaning, motivation, and flow (Kahn 1990). Meaning refers to doing something important or self-actualizing (Fisher 2014). The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale is commonly used to measure eudaimonic well-being at work (Schaufeli et al. 2002). This instrument is built on the constructs of vigor (six items), dedication (five items), and absorption (six items). It includes questions such as “When I get up in the morning, I feel like going to work”; “I find the work that I do meaningful and purposeful”; “When I work, I forget everything else around me.” There are seven possible responses from never to always. Social well-being at work refers the health of one’s work relationships. Keyes’ (1998) five-component model of well-being focuses on the social activity of a person in their work context. The five components are social integration, social contribution, social coherence, social actualization, and social acceptance. These are used to measure the extent to which a person is functioning well in their social sphere. The social aspect of Fisher’s (2010) workplace well-being model represents the shortterm and long-term relationship established at work and the extent a person feels embedded in the organization. This includes satisfaction with peers and leaders. This third aspect of workplace well-being is less developed (Fisher 2014). Key constructs include satisfaction with peers and leaders, exchanging relationships with leaders, and emotional and instrumental support (Fisher 2014). Shakespeare-Finch and Obst (2011) found that giving as well as receiving support is important for well-being. For example, the quality of the supervisor-subordinate relationship can be measured by a seven-item unidimensional scale developed by Graen and Uhl-Bien (1995). Questions include: How would you characterize your working relationship with your leader? How well does your leader (follower) recognize your potential? There are five possible responses: extremely ineffective, worse than average, average, better than average, and extremely effective or not at all, a little, moderately, mostly, and fully. This section has shown how psychological theories of well-being have been adapted to conceptualize employee well-being. The next section undertakes to evaluate eudaimonic well-being, in particular in light of Aristotelian and neoAristotelian eudaimonia.

Philosophy and Well-Being As discussed in section “Organizational Context: Employee Well-Being,” some well-being psychology scholars acknowledge they have been inspired by Aristotle’s notion of eudaimonia and utilize the term eudaimonic or psychological well-being

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(Ryan and Deci 2001; Ryff 2018; Waterman 2008). This section will analyze the three big eudaimonic psychological theories of well-being to illustrate they are eudaimonic in name only. Waterman (2008) begins with acknowledging the Greek origins of hedonia and eudaimonia. The former is happiness based on the pursuit of pleasure, while the latter is happiness due to a life of virtue. In Waterman’s theory of well-being, hedonic well-being is the subjective pleasure experience from doing things we enjoy, while eudaimonia is the feeling arising from self-realization such as a sense of rightness, purpose, and meaningfulness. These eudaimonic experiences are based on “expressing our ‘personal’ potentials” (Waterman 2013, p. 30). He holds that hedonia and eudaimonia can be experienced at the same time. Eudaimonic wellbeing involves aiming to bring “forth the best within us through the actualization of our potentials” (Waterman 2013, p. 30) not seeking to have the subjective experiences of eudaimonia. He defends the eudaimonic nature of his theory by adopting modern philosophical interpretations of eudaimonia rather than Aristotle’s (Waterman 2008). Specifically he relies on Norton’s (1976) understanding of eudaimonia, “living in truth to one’s daimon” or “true self” (Waterman 2008, p. 235). Norton’s approach can be described as ethical egoism (Den Uyl and Rasmussen 1987). He does link eudaimonia to morality, but what is good is what we decide is good: the necessity here introduced is moral necessity, deriving from his choice: “He is where he wants to be, doing what he wants to do,” or “He is where he must be, doing what he must do” (Waterman 2008, p. 222) which is very different from Aristotle’s notion of eudaimonia. The latter moves beyond just making the best use of one’s talents to striving for virtue; human nature itself provides ethical goals (Annas 1993) in the form of virtue. Carol Ryff (2018) also acknowledges that her thought originates in Aristotle’s notion of eudaimonia. She focusses on his idea that one should strive to realize the best in one’s nature and so to live according to virtue. Three decades ago, Ryff (1989) sought to challenge the dominant view at the time that subjective well-being or happiness consisted of feeling good and satisfied. She has argued ever since that Aristotle meant eudaimonia and distinguished it from hedonia (Ryff and Singer 2008). She developed a model of psychological well-being which is concerned for personal development and self-realization of the individual (Ryff 1989). She also points to Norton’s (1976) interpretation of Aristotle’s eudaimonia, and this is how she comes to understand eudaimonia to mean “we all should be reaching was the task of self-realization, played out individually, each according to his or her own disposition and talent” (Ryff and Singer 2008, p. 17). Ryff develops her idea of selfrealization by specializing in developmental psychology. This is because she explains Aristotle did not provide much detail about developing one’s talents and potentialities; he spent much time on describing how virtue is a mean between excess and deficiency. Drawing from clinical, humanistic, and existential psychology, she formulates the six dimensions of eudaimonic well-being as discussed above (Frankl 1985; Jahoda 1958; Lazlo 1993; Maslow 1968). She also relied on J.S Mill and Bertrand Russell to support Aristotle’s view that feeling happy is not the aim of life (Ryff and Singer 2008). To be healthy, well, and fully functioning, one needs

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self-acceptance, purpose in life, autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, and positive relationships. So just as with Waterman (2008), Ryff ignores Aristotle’s fundamental building block, human nature, and his very specific understanding of virtue. She glosses over this by interpreting the good life as developing one’s own talents. Ryan and Deci (2001) outline the theories of Waterman (1993) and Ryff (1989) and reiterate the importance of eudaimonia for well-being, interpreting it as selfrealization. Adopting a Ryffian understanding of eudaimonia, they go on to explain their self-determination theory (SDT) of well-being. This theory seeks to concretize the meaning of self-realization and how it can be achieved (Ryan and Deci 2001). SDT suggests that the three psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness must be met for “psychological growth, integrity, wellbeing, and experiences of vitality” (Ryan and Deci 2001, p. 146). So the theory prescribes the conditions for cultivating well-being. All of these theories discussed above have begun with a correct but naïve understanding of Aristotle’s eudaimonia but are silent about why they have left out key and basic elements: human nature, the good, and virtue. This could be out of ignorance or bias. As scientists, it is perfectly valid they seek to measure well-being, but they must be consistent with the chosen paradigm. The field of psychology adopts a scientific approach and so seeks to test theory by measuring the phenomena under study. In contrast philosophy, which is the guiding foundation of all the sciences, deals in abstract reasoning and so is not amenable to the scientific method. But as with every research project, there must be alignment between ontology, epistemology, and methodology and method. Every scientific theory needs to acknowledge and conform to its philosophical roots. If a theory of psychology is rooted in a particular philosophical paradigm, it can only seek to measure the material/physical consequences of the philosophical assumptions, not the assumptions. But a scientific theory which claims to be based on a particular philosophical worldview cannot reinterpret the philosophical assumptions without a reasoned justification. These scholars have divorced eudaimonia from its philosophical foundations without acknowledging they are adopting a reductive notion of human nature (Sison and Ferrero 2015). Kashdan et al. (2008) echo this point in their critique of eudaimonic constructs of psychology scholarship. “None of them fully capture the philosophical roots of eudaimonia as described by Aristotle (which is cited in nearly all papers that mention the word)” (Kashdan et al. 2008, p. 222). Both hedonic and eudaimonic scholars measure the subjective aspects of well-being, but hedonic scholars allow participants to define what makes their life good; eudaimonic scholars claim to be experts in what makes their life good (Diener et al. 1998). These eudaimonic scholars are imposing their own view of the good life based on a materialist interpretation of eudaimonia. Although there may be no explicit rejection of human nature and its final end, this essential component has all but disappeared from the discourse and as will be demonstrated in section “HQT Management” has significant consequences for managing the well-being of employees.

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According to Aristotle, the best way of life for the human being is founded on human nature and the proper functioning of the human being (Aristotle 1985, pp. 1097b–1098a). He defines the human being as a living creature which uses words (Aristotle 1971, p. 1037b). What is proper (ergon) then to the human being is rational activity (Aristotle 1985, p. 1098a). Rational activity is voluntary and so can be praiseworthy or blameworthy, good or bad with respect to the proper end of the human being (Aristotle 1985, p. 1111a). So “what is best” in human beings or arete (virtus in Latin) is to function according to fine and good reasoning (Aristotle 1985, p. 1098a). The repeated actions according to right reason develop virtues or good habits (Aristotle 1985, p. 1103b). Accordingly, the purpose or final end of the human being is to live a life of moral excellence or virtue. Reasoning well about how to live and putting this into practice can be referred to as a virtuous life. Living according to one’s final end is one of Aristotle’s conditions of flourishing or Eudaimonia (Aristotle 1985, p. 1094a). This is because virtue cannot be exercised in a vacuum and humans also require other certain basic external goods to be happy including wealth, family, friendship, security, and opportunity; ideally virtue should govern how one conducts oneself in all these facets of life. Thus, eudaimonia can only be completely achieved by living in society or the polis. So true Eudaimonic wellbeing as based on the work of Aristotle would differ from the three approaches discussed above mainly because of the Aristotle’s specific account of human nature and its end. True Eudaimonic wellbeing should be guided by human nature as to what makes life good not what Eudaimonic scholars consider makes life good. Eudaimonic psychology scholars take a reductive perspective of human nature. They speak of being true to oneself, one’s own nature, living in the most excellent way possible, actualizing one’s potential as in one’s abilities. This is not what Aristotle means. Using reason in an excellent way enables one to know what is best for the person based on human nature. We can develop dispositions or virtues which “shape our emotions, choices, values, attitudes, and actions” (Grant et al. 2018, p. 568). Virtues, on the one hand, strengthen the capacity to know the world in its deepest sense (wisdom), including what is truly human good in every specific action (practical wisdom). On the other hand, the human will is reinforced by virtues which favour human flourishing by moderating the desires to pursue one’s own interest without paying the due respect to other people’s rights. (Melé 2014, p. 461)

Emotions are fully incorporated into striving for happiness because the person gradually educates the emotions to desire what is excellent (Hartman 2011). “What moral virtues facilitate is not doing things but wanting things, learning to desire what is best for us, that is developing the quality of the motives behind actions” (Argandoña 2008, p. 440). But Aristotle’s model admits of a subjective element. Virtue accommodates to each person in the context of their lived life (Annas 2009). A virtuous act for one may not be so for another if they are more virtuous. Each person, when they think about ethics, realizes they could be better and so seeks to be better. “What I should do, in my situation, is what I would do if I was brave,

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where this is taken to mean: braver than I am, nearer the ideal of the brave person” (Annas 2009, p. 12). Eudaimonic psychology scholars do not deal with the good in Aristotle’s notion of the good life or virtuous life. Good in this sense means the intrinsic end/purpose of human nature. Perhaps eudaimonic psychology scholars should refrain from using this terminology to represent a more realistic understanding of their theory. This is particularly necessary because organizational studies rely on these theories to understand employee well-being. Papers on employee well-being or workplace wellbeing usually relate such constructs as job satisfaction, engagement, meaning, and purpose to hedonic or eudaimonic well-being. Consequently organizations and managers may be intent on increasing employees’ well-being when in fact they are shortchanging them by giving them a watered-down version of what they truly need and deserve as human beings. The organizational well-being literature does not refer to ethics. The following section will present the human quality treatment model which aims to foster humanistic management. It is built on an Aristotelian understanding of the human being and eudaimonia so that managing employee well-being entails fostering virtue.

HQT Management The humanistic management movement represents a growing number of business executives and scholars who place human persons and their flourishing at the center of managing in organizations (Melé 2016). Adherents differ in their understanding of “humanistic,” but all converge in their criticism of types of management focused on profits, while employees are a mere resource to achieve this goal. This latter approach reflects economism and the requirement for companies to maximize shareholder value (Friedman 2007; Jensen 2001). Instances of poor employee treatment in the name of higher profits are never far from the headlines such as Uber (Mahdawi 2017) and Amazon (Kantor and Streitfeld 2015). But also the drive to care for employee well-being can also be driven by this ideology. Humanistic management extends beyond merely respecting employee rights or helping employees be productive to fostering their human flourishing by promoting virtuous behavior. So this notion also becomes relevant for companies who treat their workers well but encourage them to place profit ahead of ethics such as was recently uncovered at Volkswagen (Ewing 2018). Melé (2014) has coined the notion “Human Quality Treatment,” which means to treat people according to their dignity as persons. This framework challenges management scholars and practitioners to consider the implications of conceiving the human being as more than just a resource whose utility must be maximized (Grawitch et al. 2006; Van De Voorde et al. 2012). The latter conception is responsible for the instrumental approach to management; investment in human resources is made to the extent where it enhances performance and productivity (Ogunyemi and Melé 2014). Of course, efficiency is important and necessary for the long-term

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sustainability of the organization. But why not enrich the practice of managing by adopting a more realistic notion of the human being? Employee well-being is a large and growing field of research, and yet it too is often instrumentally motivated (Grawitch et al. 2006; Van De Voorde et al. 2012). A humanistic rather than instrumental approach to management would be more effective in increasing employee well-being. Melé (2009) asserts that “Management is about human beings, which entails considering their intrinsic value and openness to flourishing” (Melé 2009, p. 1). This conclusion is inspired by an Aristotelian notion of human flourishing or eudaimonia. It assumes human beings sense the need to be a better person, which entails growing in the virtues, which reinforce the noblest capacities of the human being (Melé 2014). Melé developed the human quality treatment model of management (or HQT), which seeks to achieve such eudaimonic well-being. He notes that “management is about human beings, which entails considering their intrinsic value and openness to flourishing” (Melé 2009, p. 1). HQT consists of five levels which includes caring for psychological well-being (level 4) but also acting with real esteem and fostering integrity and the noblest human capacities of the capacities, virtue (level 5) (Fig. 2). The lowest level of maltreatment refers to abuse of power which leads to injustice, injury, and any type of abuse. This would include exploiting a person by paying them too little, imposing inhuman working conditions, or disrespecting other human rights. It also denotes bullying, discrimination, and misinforming or deceiving employees. The level of indifference captures legal but disrespectful behavior. People are seen as simply an input to achieve economic output, and the only guide for treatment of employees is to obey the law. No care is taken to speak to people with respect and courtesy, and there is little or no interest in their opinions or needs. Reporting lines may be unclear, and there is no opportunity to receive or give feedback. The justice level consists of treating people fairly and with dignity. There is more of a two-way communication process where performance is evaluated clearly and transparently with opportunities for employees to give feedback. Remuneration

DEVELOPMENT CARE

Level 5: Willingness for favoring people’s human flourishing, mutual esteem, and friendship-based reciprocity. Level 4: Concern for people’s legitimate interests and support for them in resolving their problems.

JUSTICE

Level 3: Respect toward persons and their rights.

INDIFFERENCE

Level 2: Disrespectful treatment through lack of recognition of people’s personhood and concern.

MALTREATMENT

Level 1: Blatant injustice through abuse of power or mistreatment.

Fig. 2 Five levels of human quality treatment (Melé 2009)

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reflects the quality of work and hiring and firing practices are done fairly. Employees are not subject to arbitrary decisions. The care level reflects a genuine concern for the person’s needs and interests. This involves detecting both work and personal difficulties and providing support for their solution. Effort is made to minimize any negative impacts of company decisions. Exercising tolerance in the face of error or conflict and endeavoring to help the relevant persons overcome or rectify these situations. The highest level is characterized by a willingness to identify and cater to a person’s real needs or to actively contribute to their human flourishing. This involves facilitating the development of their human talents and virtue, for instance, offering professional development which cultivates “the acquisition of professional competences, including those which are moral in nature” (Melé 2011, p. 132). As noted above, treating an employee in this way requires a manager to possess a deep understanding of the human person and a willingness to develop each individual according to their situation (Melé 2011). The effort to grow in virtue is an individual one, but the surrounding environment can facilitate this or not. Several scholars have found that managers influence their subordinates in the way they act and communicate values (Brown et al. 2005; Flynn 2008). Ogunyemi and Melé (2014) used these five organizational levels (FOL) to analyze the treatment of employees in four small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. This study confirmed the existence of the levels and identified specific concepts, which capture each level. This qualitative inquiry formed part of a larger project to develop a scale to measure HQT. Ogunyemi (2013) conducted a review of the literature to distinguish the notion of HQT and confirm that existing scales in this area were not broad or objective enough to capture the content of HQT as they only focus on say discrimination or on fairness as perceived by the employee. She also notes that HQT is distinguished from other constructs dealing with how to treat employees by its ethical component and that good treatment entails encouraging people to cultivate integrity. Melé’s (2014) original definition of HQT was enriched based on the literature review and the qualitative study. Human dignity was found to include caring for physical and psychological safety of employees as well as acknowledging their personhood and treating them fairly. Human quality treatment is a humanly appropriate behavior toward employees which entails respecting their dignity and rights and ensuring their physical and psychological safety, acknowledging their personhood, espousing fairness to all, caring for them as human persons, and promoting their personal integral development (Ogunyemi 2013, p. 10). Further research is needed to apply the scale to a variety of organizations and to conduct a comparative analysis. HQT is a novel concept for managers. As mentioned above, quality treatment of employees is typically associated with satisfaction, engagement, and fair dealing. HQT challenges business to aim much higher and to develop cultures of mutual and deep friendship, where employees flourish as human beings. This is particularly important for those organizations who claim to have ethical cultures. This scale can help the organization to identify the level of treatment prevalent in their company and to pinpoint areas for improvement. This could also

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support the authors’ assertion that the adoption of a neo-Aristotelian understanding of the human being and eudaimonia would be more beneficial to employees and organizations in the long run.

Conclusion A happy workforce is a productive workforce. This is a common theme in the employee/workplace well-being literature. There are multiple constructs which are used to understand and measure employee well-being. Probably the most common are job satisfaction, positive and negative affect, work engagement, meaning, commitment, and involvement. As discussed above, multiple instruments have been developed to measure these constructs. Based on this scholarship, organizations analyze how they can ensure their employees are satisfied and engaged and find meaning in their work. They seek to monitor this through different types of instruments to see if management practices are adequate to ensure employees are content. These notions in the organizational literature can be traced to theories of general well-being from the field of psychology. As outlined above some of these authors hold that well-being is hedonic or eudaimonic, and a third group assert that both contribute to well-being. A hedonic understanding of well-being leads to an emphasis on positive and negative affect in the organizational literature. Drilling down into some of the eudaimonic theories revealed a misinterpretation of Aristotle’s eudaimonia. Living according to the best use of reason, the highest power of human nature was interpreted to mean the best use of one’s potential, self-actualization, or being true to oneself. This interpretation of eudaimonia translates into organizational constructs such as meaningful or purposeful work and engagement. These are noble aims but do not reflect Aristotle’s understanding of eudaimonia, particularly the fact that the fundamental component of flourishing is living according to virtue, a way of living which affirms the good or purpose of human nature, harmonizing emotions with rationality into an integrated whole. Aristotle holds that a flourishing life consists in living ethically. If organizations really wish to cultivate the well-being of their employees, they need to have a more complete understanding of the human person. Then it will become imperative for managers to assist and encourage employees to grow in virtue. The HQT model provides a tool for managers and organizations to analyze how they treat their employees in light of a deeper understanding of the human being. It also provides a practical guide for those who wish to base well-being on an Aristotelian understanding of eudaimonia. The ultimate goal to strive for according to this model is to help employees live a life of virtue. Managers aspiring to reach level 5 would seek to show a real appreciation for their employees, try to develop their talents, and encourage creativity, a sense of responsibility, and commitment (Melé 2014). Above all they would be concerned to cultivate the moral competencies of their subordinates. It is possible that this treatment would “create a virtuous cycle of human flourishing” (Melé 2014, p. 465) and culture of service and cooperation, developing an ethical culture in practice

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not just in company slogans and policies. It is difficult for human beings to strive for virtue which in practices means prioritizing the well-being of others over personal reward – especially in business. Aiming for virtue leads and helps one to go beyond self-actualization to self-transcendence which is the cause of Aristotelian eudaimonia. The essence of ethics and Aristotelian eudaimonia is learning to make decisions, and in the process forging a disposition, to have more self-control which reinforces the disposition to always prioritize the well-being of people over economic gain and personal benefit (Argandoña 2008; Perez-López 1991; Rosanas 2008). Aspiring to level 5 of the HQT model challenges managers and organizations “to serve people’s real needs,” that is, those which contribute to their human flourishing, and so promoting the development of their humanity obtains the flourishing of the managers themselves. The development of such a culture could be supported by including key moral values in staff appraisals. It would be important that managers can be role models of the behavior they are trying to cultivate which could be achieved through the thoughtful design of recruitment practices/criteria and professional development activities.

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Ward S, King L (2016) Socrates’ dissatisfaction, a happiness arms race, and the trouble with eudaimonic well-being. In: Vittersø J (ed) Handbook of eudaimonic well-being. Springer, Basel, pp 523–529 Warr P (2007) Searching for happiness at work. Psychologist 20(12):726–729 Warr P, Inceoglu I (2012) Job engagement, job satisfaction, and contrasting associations with person–job fit. J Occup Health Psychol 17(2):129–138 Waterman A (1993) Two conceptions of happiness: contrasts of personal expressiveness (eudaimonia) and hedonic enjoyment. J Pers Soc Psychol Q 64(4):678–691 Waterman A (2008) Reconsidering happiness: a eudaimonist’s perspective. J Posit Psychol 3(4): 234–252 Waterman A (2013) The humanistic psychology–positive psychology divide: contrasts in philosophical foundations. Am Psychol 68(3):124–133 Waterman A, Schwartz S, Conti R (2008) The implications of two conceptions of happiness (hedonic enjoyment and eudaimonia) for the understanding of intrinsic motivation. J Happiness Stud 9(1):41–79 Watson D, Clark L, Tellegen A (1988) Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. J Pers Soc Psychol Q 54(6):1063–1070 Wright T (2006) The emergence of job satisfaction in organizational behavior: a historical overview of the dawn of job attitude research. J Manag Hist 12(3):262–277

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . States of Consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yoga Sutras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Transcendence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Entrepreneurship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yogic Entrepreneurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gandhi as a Yogic Entrepreneur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gandhi’s Relationship with the Yoga Sutras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maharishi Mahesh Yogi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Transcendental Meditation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Collective Consciousness and World Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Swami Ramdev: The Yoga Guru and Businessman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

Well-being is a multifaceted concept in the context of welfare for human enterprise. The Eastern spiritual traditions take a holistic approach to well-being that places human beings in an ecological/natural context. Maharishi Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras are an ancient scripture that provides a comprehensive, multilevel toolkit of principles and practices leading up to union with pure consciousness, or kaivalya. This chapter will describe the eight limbs of Yoga Sutras that provide well-being at the level of the individual as well as the society. It will then describe A. K. Maheshwari (*) · M. R. P. Werd Maharishi International University, Fairfield, IA, USA e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_38

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some famous case studies of yogis creating collective well-being using parts of the Yoga Sutras in unique entrepreneurial ways to achieve success for whole societies. Mahatma Gandhi raised the moral well-being of the Indian population through the practice of yamas and niyamas. Swami Ramdev is helping improve mental and physical well-being of millions of people using asanas and pranayama. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi helped relieve the stress and anxieties of millions of people, especially in the Western world, and gave them a taste of blissful living through the practices of dhyana and samadhi. We will explore how existing and new tools based on the Yoga Sutras can help unite humanity and address the complex challenges in the service of universal flourishing. Keywords

Yoga Sutras · Well-being · Transcendence · V-theory · Transcendental Meditation · Consciousness · World Peace · Entrepreneurship · Mahatma Gandhi · Maharishi Mahesh Yogi · Swami Ramdev

Introduction There are several ways of Yoga according to the ancient Indian scriptures (Maharishi 1969). Karma yoga places primacy on action, Jnana Yoga places primacy on knowledge of the Absolute, and Bhakti Yoga places primacy on loving surrender by the seeker to the God that one seeks. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is a short 196-verse scripture in the karma yoga tradition that offers a proven eight-limbed (or eightcomponents) path to union with pure consciousness. Yoga Sutras can guide an individual on how to attain union and to lead others in their spiritual journeys. A person who practices all the limbs of yoga and realizes the absolute nature of the higher Self is called a yogi. A yogi usually lives a quiet and personal, and yet blissful life. Some yogis also venture into the field of social action and assist others on the journey of experiencing bliss. Such yogis are examples of entrepreneurs. For instance, Mahatma Gandhi was a yogi who inspired and guided people in South Africa and India and raised their morality through truthful and nonviolent actions. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi helped people achieve relief from stress and develop greater brain integration for creativity and well-being. With seven million people around the world training in his Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique, Maharishi spawned a global empire that includes other related activities for world peace. Swami Ramdev is a yogi who is helping billions of people achieve health through physical and breathing exercises, and through his billion-dollar entrepreneurial venture of herbal medicines and consumer products. How do such yogis reconcile living like a recluse without any material attachments and yet scale up their service to millions of householders? How do they continue to be supremely inspirational figures and also deliver well-being in sustainable practical ways? They are at once yogis as well as entrepreneurial. An understanding of Yoga Sutras may help explain what drives these yogic entrepreneurs.

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The rest of this chapter is organized as follows. We first cover the literature on wellbeing and a self-developed measure for it. Then we describe the eight-limb model of Yoga Sutras to shine light on the richness and comprehensiveness of such knowledge and then describe the way of transcendence to achieve union with pure consciousness. After a brief overview of the literature on entrepreneurship, this chapter then describes the journey and accomplishments of three globally successful and highly creative Indian yogic entrepreneurs who created enormous well-being over the last 100 years. Finally, we will speculate on the possible beneficial social outcomes from an explosion in entrepreneurs seeking well-being through yoga sutras.

Literature Review Well-Being Well-being has its origin in a context of ecological support and welfare for human enterprise. Most of the world – the East, the South, Indigenous cultures – takes a much more holistic, Earth-centric approach that places human beings in that ecological/ natural context. These more holistic ways of thinking however are often shadowed by economics thinking. Well-being can be considered a positive concept flowing from the satisfaction of higher-level needs in the human hierarchy of needs. Human beings need meaning in life (Jung 1964; Frankl 1985). Once the lower-level needs of food, shelter, safety, and creature comforts are taken care of, there is a desire for the employees to develop themselves to the full extent of their inherent potential or self-actualization (Maslow 1962). The mainstream message around well-being is that one should control one’s mind and harness it in the direction of achieving one’s deepest desires. “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve,” says Napoleon Hill (2013). We are naturally blessed with full control over our mind, should take possession of our mind, and keep a positive mental attitude. Viewing our mind as both a broadcasting and a receiving station, we should set up a master mind composed of many minds working together in a spirit of harmony and alignment. Wellness and concern for the employee’s health go back at least to the Italian physician Bernardini Ramazzini (1633–1714) who sought to expose the effects of work on the occupational diseases of the artisan and guild workers of his time. The Industrial Revolution brought increased focus on worker health and injuries in company strategies (Gainer, 2008; Greiner 1987) and led to landmark initiatives such as the eight-hour workday adoption (Chalmers 2013). The US government mandated workplace improvement through the Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), Occupational Safety and Health (OHS), and the worksite health promotion movement (WHP) (DeJoy and Southern 1993). ERISA set the minimum standards for health care plans in the private industry (Call et al. 2009) while containing healthcare costs (Reardon 1998). By the 1990s, the OSH emphasized workers’ mental health with support from the Managing Depression in the Workplace program of the National Institute of Mental Health (Reardon 1998).

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Stress refers to the psychological perception of pressure and the body’s response to it, where multiple systems set off signaling of the perception of danger. “Anxiety states are characterized by subjective feelings of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry, and by activation or arousal of autonomic nervous system” (Spielberger 1983, p. 4). Stress is considered both a general attitude and a situational component. Over the last few decades, many studies have shown value to combat the stress response and reduce employee alienation and burnout. Various forms of yoga such as physical asanas as well as meditation are recommended (Maharishi 1976; OrmeJohnson 2000). Based on researching the extant literature, we devised our own well-being index using 11 dimensions for well-being: Creativity, Health, Energy, Enthusiasm, Mental clarity, Focus, Productivity, Success, Teamwork, Happiness, and Peacefulness. Each of these dimensions relates a whole picture for health and balanced wellness for the individual. With good health, the energy and enthusiasm engendered may help galvanize mental clarity with focus. With greater focus, production along with teamwork may lead to success in individual and group endeavors. Success backed by knowledge, action, and achievement leads to fulfillment (Maharishi 1972). Peacefulness is a quality that may pervade all aspects of action and goals of achievement. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts (Maharishi 1972). Each part of the index measures and indicates various aspects of well-being and quality of life for an assessment of total well-being. The inventory is shown in Appendix A. It contains 11 items using five-point Likert scale. The inventory was filled by 54 respondents who were employees of a company and showed high reliability scores. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.94. Ten out of 11 items loaded over 0.7 on the single factor. One item (health) loaded a little less. Here are the factor loadings: Wellness item W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 W11

Factor 1 loading 0.715 0.466 0.833 0.759 0.811 0.853 0.797 0.828 0.738 0.845 0.808

The path to total well-being can be through transcending the surface reality and experiencing the totality of existence or pure consciousness. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says: The crucial mistake that has dogged mankind for countless centuries is the loss of understanding of the primary importance of the field of pure consciousness. It is this field alone

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which is the field of all possibilities and the home of all the laws of nature. Unless thought and action are experienced from this field, life remains incomplete and plagued by ups and downs, plagued by imbalance. Only direct experience can re-establish the importance of pure consciousness as the field that we must contact before we can be successful in whatever interests us. (1978, p. 39)

Quantum physicists have discovered that consciousness is the unified field of all the laws of nature that exists prior to any material existence (Hagelin 1987; Goswami 1995). Barušs and Mossbridge (2017) reinforce this idea by describing eight categories of empirical psychological phenomena such as remote viewing, mediumship, and clairvoyance that seem magical unless one accepts the proposition that consciousness exists independently and prior to material existence. This discovery has been supplemented with another profound discovery that this unified field of all the laws of nature is accessible in the physiology of every human being (Nader 2000). Pavlovich (2019) conceptualizes this phenomenon as quantum empathy at the intersection of the objective world of quantum physics and the inner world of spirituality that can be developed by regular contemplative practices. Tsao and Lazslo (2019) present quantum leadership as a model of enabling transformation toward care and compassion, using contemplation as the key practice to access “Consciousness, the mother of all capital.”

States of Consciousness There are different states of consciousness in human beings (Maharishi 1962; Wilber 2014). There are three ordinary states of consciousness: waking, sleeping, and dreaming. (There are also impaired states of consciousness such as vegetative state and coma, and altered states of consciousness such as hallucinating and hypnosis. However, we are not concerned with them at this time.) In the sleeping state, there are no thoughts, and there is no awareness at all. In the dreaming state, there is awareness of thought but no awareness of the self. In the waking state, there are thoughts and there is also awareness of the self. Then there is transcendental consciousness (TC). In TC, the person is aware of oneself but is not aware of one’s thoughts. “Shivam Shantam Advaitam chaturtham manayante; sa atma; sa vigyeya.” Maharishi translates it as “the non-dual Absolute is pure peace and is called the fourth (state); it is the soul and is worth knowing.” In the transcendental state, Consciousness is aware of itself. According to Maharishi, there are many higher states of consciousness (Alexander and Langer 1990). In the next higher state of Cosmic Consciousness, there is an awareness of the transcendent even while operating in the relative world and engaged with the objects of waking consciousness. The blissful creativity of the transcendent seeps in while operating in day-to-day life. With continued practice of transcendence, one develops a finer ability of direct perception of the ultimate reality, reaching the refined Cosmic Consciousness state. This process of refinement of perception continues to grow until one reaches the ultimate, non-dual state of consciousness called Unity Consciousness. In this state, everything is seen as fluctuations within the field of the Self.

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Table 1 Seven states of consciousness State of consciousness Sleep state Dream state Waking state Transcendental consciousness Cosmic consciousness Refined cosmic consciousness Unity consciousness

Self-awareness None None Individual ego (lower self) Pure consciousness: (higher self) Pure consciousness: (higher self) Pure consciousness: (higher self) Pure consciousness: (higher self)

Content of experience None Illusory Perceptions, thoughts, feelings None Perceptions, thoughts, feelings Finest relative perception, brought about by most refined development of the heart Fluctuations within pure consciousness “. . .all things in terms of the Self.”

There is then no distinction between the self and the other even when operating in the relative world. These higher states of consciousness are subjective experiential states. People in those states report increased feeling of bliss, and there is also a measurable calming of the physiological processes. The experiences of the higher states can mostly be judged by qualified masters. All the states of consciousness are summarized in Table 1. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras can help transcend effortlessly and achieve these higher states of consciousness.

Yoga Sutras Yoga is defined as the cessation of the activities of the mind. This requires calmness at all levels of existence, from the social and behavioral level, to the physical body, to the mind, and intellect. Seekers who desire such a union can follow yoga principles and practices at all these levels to achieve their goal. Maharishi Patanjali cognized the Yoga Sutras in the Sanskrit language in about 500 BC to 400 CE. Yoga Sutras are a path to union through action or karma yoga. Yoga Sutras are terse, and they can be interpreted both as a state to be reached and as a process to be followed. Their pithy 196 verses are organized in four chapters. In the fourth chapter, they describe the ultimate goal of life as realizing the self or kaivalya where only Consciousness exists. Some spiritual seekers want to help others enjoy life. They may choose to help people with achieving better social and economic life, and they may help people improve their physical and mental health. Many people have therefore translated and written commentaries on the Yoga Sutras. Yoga Sutras (2:29) is a long phrase that provides a comprehensive eight-limb formula to facilitate a range of possibilities. यमश्चनयमासनप्राणायामप्रत्याहारधारणाध्यानसमाधयोऽष्वङ्गाश्चन (YS 2:29). Here we

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Table 2 Eight limbs of Yoga Sutras Limb # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Sanskrit term Yama Niyama Asana Pranayama Pratyahara Dharana Dhyana Samadhi

Area of focus Administrator Laws Physical Breath Senses Mind Intellect Being

will describe how Maharishi Mahesh Yogi interpreted it (Table 2). Briefly the eight limbs of Yoga are as follows: 1. Yama is the administrator that helps keep all limbs together. There are five yamas. 2. Niyama or the rules through which the administrator leads. There are five niyamas. 3. Asanas are the third limb that form the basis for stability, at the level of body and mind. 4. Pranayama is the fourth limb, which is activity or dynamism of the breath. 5. Pratyahara is the fifth limb and a subtle one. It is the process of digesting the experiences gathered through the sense organs. 6. Dharana means to hold or grasp a certain thought or state of Being. 7. Dhyana is a deeper value of holding and is usually translated as meditation. It is the silent field in which all holding and sustaining of the mind takes place. 8. Samadhi is the total stillness of mind, where all is Being. This is the state of Satchit-anand or bliss consciousness. The first two limbs of Yoga Sutras are sets of behavioral principles for social and personal conduct. The next two limbs relate to the health of the body and the breath. The next two limbs relate to calming and organizing the sensory and instrumental mind. The final two limbs relate to being in the Absolute with perfect equanimity. Yamas: The first limb of Yoga is characterized as the administrator role. The relative world can be thought of in terms of rules that govern relationships between individuals. The Yama, the master administrator, uses those rules to govern and see who has done how much good and should receive how much happiness. Yama has five sublimbs. The five yamas are Satya (truth), Ahimsa (nonviolence), Asteya (nonattachment), Brahmacharya (celibacy), and Aparigraha (nonpossession). These five yamas structure the unity of natural laws to govern (Table 3). Truth refers to realizing one’s own nature as being pure Consciousness. Nonviolence in thought and deed comes naturally when the Self is established in pure consciousness: there is no other, so hurting anyone else is hurting the Self. These two principles of truth and nonviolence were key to Mahatma Gandhi’s efficacy through

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Table 3 Five yamas of Yoga Sutras Yama # 1 2 3 4 5

Sanskrit term Satya Ahimsa Asteya Brahmcharya Aparigraya

English Truth Nonviolence Non attachment Celibacy Nonpossession

Table 4 Five niyamas of Yoga Sutras Niyama # 1 2 3 4 5

Sanskrit term Shauch Santosh Tapas Swadhyaya Ishawarpranidhan

English Cleanliness or purity Contentment, satisfaction Purification, glowing Self-learning God awareness

the technique of satyagraha or pursuit of truth using nonviolent noncooperation with untruth. Nonattachment to any objects comes easy when one realizes that even one’s body and mind are temporary and will pass. Brahmcharya (literally means living like a Brahman) means dissolving any temptation for materials and carnal pleasures. The desire to possess material things falls off with the realization of infinite inner bliss. It is notable that these five yamas are the same as five precepts required for Buddhist spiritual programs. Niyamas: The second limb is niyama or a set of rules for personal conduct. The five main niyamas are Shauch (cleanliness or purity), Santosh (contentment or satisfaction), Tapas (purification), Swadhaya (self learning), and Ishawarpranidhan (bringing God into one’s awareness) (Table 4). Cleanliness in thought and action is the first rule for a healthy life. To live with contentment is to enjoy life as a state of prosperity, fulfillment, glory, and grace. Tapas is to purify oneself through disciplined living. When something heats up, it glows and radiates brilliance, and the impurities fall off. Swadhaya means self-study or always working on realizing the higher self. Pranidhana means going deeper into bringing God deeper within oneself and living with humility. Almost all of the niyamas are also found in the Buddhist canon. Asana: This third limb of Yoga Sutras relates to the body. Yoga Sutras (2:46) simply says स्थिरसुखमासनम्, i.e., Steadiness in pose is asana. Yogis typically sit in a lotus pose for long periods without moving to concentrate their attention. However, asana can mean any pose whatsoever. Maharishi yoga asanas is a system of poses that help flexibility of the whole body and all muscle groups. Swami Ramdev has utilized yoga asanas to new levels to help provide relief from chronic diseases to people across India. He always acknowledges gratitude to Maharishi Patanjali for this knowledge. Pranayama: The fourth limb is about bringing attention to the Prana or flow of life energy through the breath. Pranayama literally means regulation of life breath.

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These are physical exercises where the inhalation and exhalation can be regulated in terms of their speed, holding, and choice of nostril to begin with. There are breathing exercises focused on inhaling and others on exhaling. These practices are used by hermits to control their physiological parameters such as heart rate, metabolic level, and hormonal system, etc. Prana flows more easily in a physical body made supple through the practice of asanas. Regular practice of Pranayama provides almost complete control of the body and can be used to heal the body and make it healthy and disease-free. Swami Ramdev has demonstrated that regular practice of specific pranayama practices can bring relief to those suffering from stress-related and other chronic diseases. Pratyahara: The fifth limb, Pratyahara, is a subtle activity that works on the sensory aspects of the mind. It is a largely mental activity of reversing the flow of inputs or sensory “nutrition.” In Western mode of thinking and doing, one’s attention is usually directed outside on acquiring sensations through the five senses of sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smell. Praty-ahara turns that attention inside. All the sense organs are shut off, and one sits in complete silence with eyes and ears closed. It helps the mind to digest and assimilate the accumulated sensory objects from worldly activity. It is akin to reflecting upon one’s impressions, perceptions, and thoughts. It is the first step in calming down the mind by bringing attention to the Self and not be controlled by the vagaries of the external world. Pratyahara also marks the transition of yoga practices from the external activity to the three internal limbs of Yoga – Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi – that are increasingly subtle mental practices for experiencing the infinite Self or pure consciousness. There is little equivalence for these steps in Western thought traditions, but they can be understood from a quantum field theory perspective. The intellect is involved in holding thoughts at many levels. Dharana is the sixth limb, and it means “holding the intellect” in the field of Being. This can be considered as concentration or holding the mind steady and keeping the mind focused on the here and now. Dhyana, the seventh limb, is popularly translated as Meditation. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says that the intellect has two values: the ego value, which is relevant for relative functioning, and Being value that is the Absolute restful state. The refinement of thought in the intellect happens due to the intellect itself. Dhyana can lead to complete control over the rational mind by the mind itself. Samadhi, or the eight limb, is being in the transcendental state. It means “evenness of intelligence” or complete balance between all opposites. This is an experience beyond time and space and is called the fourth state of consciousness or Transcendental Consciousness (TC). TC is different from the waking, sleeping, and dreaming states of consciousness. This state is considered the “Atma” or the Self.

Transcendence Maharishi (1978, p. 383) claims that “The transcendent is the absolute, non-changing, non-variable, eternal, infinite, unboundedness of life – which is the inner core of

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everyone’s life.” When Consciousness is left free to experience itself, then it leads to transcendence. The intellect becomes aware of itself through transcending itself. By direct unmediated experience, one can realize the true self as beyond time and form, beyond thoughts and objects. Universality and individuality are two simultaneous aspects of the intellect. There are impulses of the transcendent as much as there are impulses of ego. Our V-theory of transcendence (Maheshwari 2016) shows that the universe can be alternately experienced at two different levels: in its dynamic diversity of impulses of the ego at the top of the V, and in its silent transcendental unity at the bottom of the V (Fig. 1). The upper level is the level of diverse dynamic action. The bottom level is the level of the transcendent, the source of pure potential. The path to understanding and participating in the continuous transformation of the world at the top of the V is through experiencing the silent unity at the bottom of the V. The first step is to choose a path or practice to transcend surface reality and connect with the pure consciousness at the bottom of the V. It is called the inward stroke. Staying for a certain period of time at the bottom of the V helps bring deep rest and energy to the individual mind. The second step of the V is to return to the multivalued dynamic surface reality. This is called the outward stroke. We recognize that multiple practices may be considered in the context of a simple two-step Vmodel of an inward and outward stroke. Transcendence can be achieved effectively through Transcendental Meditation (TM) (Travis and Shear 2010). Other approaches from other traditions of transcendence too could be conceived through V-theory with the premise that the Consciousness at the bottom of the V is primary, self-referral, and independent of matter. V-theory is a more direct model of transcendence than Fig. 1 V-theory: a two-step model of transcendence

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Theory U (Scharmer and Senge 2016), which describes inner transformation as a gradual and curving motion from Absencing to reach the bottom of the ocean called Presencing and then up again, in a series of seven steps. Almost all spiritual traditions prescribe their own means of transcending (Wilber 2014). Some suggest prayer and devotion as a way of reaching God. Others suggest sacred practices to cleanse oneself and reach the transcendent states. There are many techniques of meditation coming from many Eastern traditions including Vedic, Buddhist, Chinese, Zen, and others. Some meditations are premised on their being an ultimate reality, for example, Vedic- and Yoga Sutras-based meditations.

Entrepreneurship The heart of entrepreneurship is a willingness to try out new ideas (Bhave 1994; Landes et al. 2012). Spiritual entrepreneurship has been described variedly as “business with a soul” (Sfeir-Younis 2002), “conscious capitalism” (Mackey and Sisodia 2013), “conscious enterprise” (Pavlovich and Corner 2014), “commercial activity with direct recourse to spiritual dynamics” (Morris 2019), and others. Alfredo Sfeir-Younis, the Special Representative of United Nations World Trade Organization, coined this term. The move from social entrepreneur to what I call a “spiritual entrepreneur” is not simply an extension of the continuum. It is a fundamental shift in the way to see the work of a business. A spiritual entrepreneur understands that business is not simply a material category. Business represents the collective energy of those with capital, those with ideas, those with specialized skills, a host community, and so on. When all those participating in the collective enterprise are fully aware, that is, when they are living in the most positive, generative consciousness possible, then the enterprise will be creating the greatest value in all currencies. Another way to think about this is that business has a soul. (2002, pp. 1–2) (emphasis added)

Pavlovich and Corner (2014) describe the journey of an entrepreneur who was a regular practitioner of Yoga Sutras in creating a small yoga clothing business. The entrepreneur reported her inspiration was not about making money, but to be part of creating a more ethical and conscious form of business. In a controlled experimental study of 40 entrepreneurs in India, Yogalakshmi and Latha (2015) reported that regular practice of select yoga asanas and pranayaams for 12 weeks led to statistically significant improvement of creativity. Yoga asanas studios have proliferated in the Western world and have become a US$12 billion fitness industry in the USA alone. There may arise serious property issues with appropriating a culture’s “spiritual capital” (Balog et al. 2014; Neubert et al. 2017) and ancient knowledge and using it for commercial use, with or without acknowledgement. Since this ancient Indian knowledge of Yoga Sutras belongs to no living author, who will fight for such precious ancient heritage. Hindu American Foundation asks all Yoga practitioners and teachers to acknowledge the ancient Indian roots of this knowledge. Shepherd (2019) also warns against the downsides of entrepreneurship such as one who might bring disrepute to or destroy the spiritual capital through malintention or poor execution.

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Yogic Entrepreneurs The following section describes the journeys of three spiritual gurus and their signature techniques from a perspective of utilizing the yoga sutras for the wellbeing of the world. These gurus include Mahatma Gandhi, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and Swami Ramdev.

Gandhi as a Yogic Entrepreneur Mohandas Gandhi was born in 1869 to an upper-middle class but spiritual family in the western region of India. He went to London to train as a barrister (or attorney). Unable to succeed as a lawyer in India, he went to Johannesburg to help some litigation between some Indian businessmen there and become the first nonwhite lawyer in South Africa. He soon spotted an opportunity in fighting the cause of the colored people against the British oppression. He organized the people of color in South Africa and won certain significant legal rights for them, during his 20 years of stay there. He returned to India in 1915 and jumped into the freedom movement. He assiduously followed the moral principles and practices of the Yoga Sutras to raise the moral self-worth of the Indian population and led them to freedom from colonial oppression in 1947. Gandhi was very creative and unpredictable, so the British government and the Indian people could not fully fathom him. He organized many boycotts against unfair laws. He also organized the public boycott and burning of imported machine-made cloth to create local business opportunities. He reinvigorated the simple spinning wheel as more than an economic device, but as the very symbol of self-reliance which continues till today. His view of economics was that unbridled growth and reckless consumption will bring disaster. Gandhi’s 1930 Salt March was a striking example of a yogi in action. He took on the injustice of colonial rule by focusing on a tiny but pervasive problem: the unjust law that forbade Indians from making and selling their own salt. This became an opportunity for him to lead more than 60,000 Indians to the oceanside where they defiantly made their own salt. Many were subsequently beaten badly by British soldiers. The activists refused to fight back but were defiant in their pursuit of justice. The images of dignified men and women being brutally clubbed by soldiers circulated around the globe and brought sharp condemnation for British colonialism. The British empire was hobbled and it could never recover from that blow. After that it was only a matter of when the British would leave India. Gandhi wrote articles in his newspaper which generated enough money for his daily expenses. He never asked for any handouts. Money simply appeared when it was needed. He made do with what was available to him and his family. Even during the long Salt March, he carried his own meager food of peanuts and jaggery with him so he would not have to depend upon the poor villagers on the way.

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Gandhi’s Relationship with the Yoga Sutras Almost all yamas and niyamas can be found in Gandhi’s life. He totally believed in the power of Truth. His was an active technique of noncooperation with untruth. His autobiography had the title The Story of My Experiments with Truth (Gandhi 1935). He uttered the truth as he discovered it through his experiments on his own behavior and health. He followed up truth with ahimsa or nonviolence. He practiced that in the Salt March and other marches. He practiced asteya or nonpossession. As a child, he stole some money from his father’s shirt, and was caught, and then vowed never to steal. Brahmcharya or celibacy was the mainstay of the second half of his life, after his four sons were born. He advised it to everyone including his sons. He experimented with Brahmcharya, testing his own inner mental strength and resolve, for which he was roundly criticized by his colleagues and supporters. Finally, he followed the principle of aparigraha or nonpossession. He believed in the dignity of hard work to earn money for oneself. He famously said there is enough in the world for everyone’s need but not enough for everyone’s greed. All the niyamas also applied to Gandhi’s life. He would clean toilets when in South African jails, and at Indian political conventions, upon seeing stinking toilets. Gandhi would practice cleanliness in thought too. No job was too low even when cleaning was reserved for the lower castes. The second niyama is santosh or contentment. He would not take advantage of any fortunate situation and suppress his opponent, even the British empire. The third niyama is tapas or testing oneself through holy fire. He would fast often to sacrifice pleasure of food for self-purification. He would work very hard – such that he needed three secretaries. Gandhi was always learning, or swadhaya, by reading books. Gandhi would always seek out the most brilliant Indian minds – be they Tagore or Vivekananda or Gokhale – to learn from them. The fifth one is ishwarparidhana – or praying to the One. He always held prayer meetings in the morning and evening every day. His staff was instructed to interrupt him in anything when the prayer time arrived. Gandhi would walk and exercise a lot. He would close his eyes, dive deep into his heart, and meditate. He would make decisions from a state of perfect purity or kaivalya. He would mystically create huge unexpected opportunities to achieve his main goal of making the Indian people ready to be their own masters. By foregoing lower-order opportunities such as taking advantage of moments when the British empire was in trouble, he was able to build a strong moral fabric and prove to the Indian society that they were capable of self-control and self-rule. Gandhi used V-theory as a model to transcend often even in the middle of the public meetings where he would be leading masses in spinning cotton fiber. He would transcend to develop a deep awareness of the moment, such as to see if people were following him out of their real deep feelings, or it was all a social show. In addition to Yoga Sutras, Gandhi spoke often about Bhagavad Gita (BG). He wrote a whole commentary on it. He credited BG for helping survive without any emotional scars from leading a very busy life through chaotic times. Bhagavad Gita is a manual for virtuous living in chaotic times. It speaks of living a life according to one’s dharma by first establishing oneself in the higher Self. This is the knowledge

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part, where one realizes that the true self is the transcendental awareness that is neither born nor dies. BG then speaks of focusing on action or karma but not expect the fruits. This is the realm of dispassionate action and doing one’s duty to its full capability. BG then speaks of bhakti or surrendering to God who loves and takes care of everyone. He discovered that his dharma lay in helping the Indian people achieve a respectful life in their new homes in South Africa. He was an incessant worker. He crafted legal agreements with perfect ease. He openly believed in God and tried to find it within his own Self. He was fearless because he did not fear for his body or for any worldly possessions.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Born in about 1918 near the Indian city of Jabalpur, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was a seeker from an early age. In his late teens, Maharishi found his guru when the Shankaracharya visited his hometown. He became a formal disciple of the Shankaracharya, the highest spiritual seat of Vedic tradition in India. Upon completing his college education in physics, he went to the Himalayas to spend many years in the service of his guru. After his guru passed away, Mahesh Brahmachari, as he was then known, continued to meditate in the Himalayas. On a nagging impulse to visit the spiritual southern tip of India, he left the Himalayas and went there. People asked him to give lectures on what he had learned in the Himalayas. The lectures proved popular. That led him to start the Spiritual Regeneration Movement (SRM) as a way of awakening the people to the value of their forgotten spiritual heritage. In the late 1950s, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created the Transcendental Meditation technique for the practice of Transcendence. SRM took him around the world including to the UK and the USA, where he found great success. Maharishi’s message appealed particularly to the Western youth that meditation practices based on Yoga Sutras can enliven that deep peaceful quality within oneself, which can lead to deep bliss and spontaneous feeling of lightness. Maharishi (1962) developed his signature invention of the Transcendental Meditation™ (TM) technique from Yoga Sutras for personal development and World Peace. TM is the practice of transcendence or Dhyana, the seventh limb of Yoga Sutras. He used additional instructions from the Yoga Sutras to create more advanced techniques called the TM-Sidhis to accelerate the evolution to self-realization. He would travel around the world many times, teaching TM on the way and training new teachers of the TM technique. More than seven million people have learned TM and advanced techniques. Later Maharishi would start many other branches of the Vedas and start Maharishi Ayurveda as a brand of herbs for medical treatment. ® Similarly, he developed his branch of Vedic architecture called Maharishi Vastu as a way to design fortune-giving homes and offices around the world (Maheshwari and Werd 2019). Ultimately, his most important and profound activity was the discovery of the super-radiance effect on the impact of group meditation to create coherence in collective consciousness and world peace.

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Transcendental Meditation Transcendental MeditationTM (TM) is a mantra-based meditation technique based on the ancient Vedic scriptures (Rosenthal 2009). The technique is easy to learn and requires no change in lifestyle or beliefs. It is normally practiced for 20 min twice daily sitting quietly with eyes closed. In this technique a specific sound or mantra is repeated to bring the attention inward. There is no intellectual effort involved in transcending. The TM mantra is a meaning-free Vedic sound that has the potential to transcend surface reality and lead one to the transcendent source of thought. The mantra is carefully chosen by a trained TM teacher according to a prescribed process. Effortlessly repeating the mantra begins to calm down the mind. It is not necessary to hold on to the mantra all the time; if the mantra goes away for some time that is ok. Surface-level thoughts come and go. One gradually drops down from the surface level of thoughts to a deeper, quieter, absolute state where the mind is totally at rest. At this bottom layer the mind is Pure Consciousness, the transcendent state “a state of inner wakefulness with no object of thought or perception, just pure consciousness aware of its own unbounded nature” (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 1976, p. 123). TM is a general-purpose technique for solving many problems. Research has shown benefits from TM at every level of body and mind. There are significant positive changes in physiology and psychology at the individual level. “No other stress management technique has anywhere close to this amount of hard data in support of its claims to reduce stress” (Rosenthal 2009). Over 700 research studies have been published documenting the many health and social benefits of practicing TM and advanced techniques. Regular practice of TM has been shown to help with reduction in stress and anxiety, total brain integration, improvement in cardiac health, and reduction in negativity in society (Wallace 1970; Orme-Johnson and Haynes 1981; Schneider et al. 1995; Chandler et al. 2005). TM is being used successfully to treat intense situations such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) syndrome (Nidich et al. 2018). Meditators tend to perceive the world more positively and holistically. They are better able to see another person’s perspective without being easily swayed by social pressure to do something which they judge to be wrong. Creativity increases, and perception becomes more accurate and less driven by preconceptions and misconceptions. In a longitudinal study of entrepreneurs who were long-term practitioners of the TM and TM-Sidhi program, Norlyk Herriott et al. (2009) found that their orientations toward spirituality significantly impacted their nature of work. Subjects reported that their meditation practice enabled them to cultivate unshakeable, transcendental inner experiences, which led to enhanced intuition and broad awareness that embraced the wider interests of the community and environment. Harung and Travis (2018) report that business organizations where a significant fraction of people engage in a group practice of TM have been shown to deliver employee well-being and higher performance.

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Collective Consciousness and World Peace The combined effect of many people meditating together on the environment creates a powerful force. When people practice yoga together from that transcendental state, the entire world comes into a state of least excitation, and the result can be defined as deep peace. Tat Sannidhau Vaira Tyagah (Yoga Sutras: 2:35) has been translated by Maharishi as “In the vicinity of Yoga (or unity) negative tendencies are diminished.” When a group of people transcend together, not only do they develop coherence individually, their collective coherence rises to the level of square of the size of the group. Scientific research has conclusively proven this “Super-Radiance effect” (Orme-Johnson and Fergusson 2018) or “societal transcendence” (Pavlovich 2019). This effect states that group transcendence by a few people practicing TM and TM-Sidhi techniques together can inject a dose of coherence into the collective consciousness to counter all negativity for the whole society. The formula is that only 1% of the population if the meditators are TM level, or only square root of 1% if the meditators are TM-Siddha level, needs to meditate together to generate collective coherence for the entire population. “The Super Radiance data could thereby be viewed as evidence that individual consciousness can access the scale of superunification, consistent with the proposed identity between pure consciousness and the unified field” (Hagelin 1987, p. 68). The statistical analysis of the nonintuitive Maharishi Effect is irrefutable and undeniable. The results have been replicated many times with a growing corpus of over 50 scientifically rigorous research papers published in peer-reviewed journals from researchers at many universities, and it has established the validity of this phenomenon beyond doubt. Furthermore, the Maharishi Effect is stronger nearer its source and diminishes further away from the source. There is thus a dosage effect: such that the larger the group, the greater the influence on social variables (OrmeJohnson and Fergusson 2018). In one of the latest experiments, almost 2000 TM-Sidhas meditated together regularly in Fairfeld, Iowa, from 2007 to 2011. This number is the square root of 1% of the US population. During that period, all the indicators of crime in the USA began to fall. Figure 2 shows the results from this multiyear prospective superradiance experiment in the USA (Dillbeck and Cavanaugh 2017). This study shows that crime, drugs, and mortality rates dropped when the meditating group size approached 2000, the square-root of 1% of the US population. Maharishi used a variety of approaches for finding opportunities for improving the well-being of the world. When someone suggested to Maharishi that the knowledge of transcendence and consciousness should be formally taught, he agreed with the idea of creating a university. Instead of building a new campus for Maharishi International University, Maharishi opportunistically bought for a small price an idled college campus whose streets were aligned to be cardinal directions for Vastu. In the spirit of bricolage, when Maharishi’s then confidante Deepak Chopra is said to have asked him where the money for all his world class projects would come from, Maharishi famously said “from wherever it is right now.”

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Fig. 2 Super-radiance effect: coherent collective consciousness improves quality of life

Swami Ramdev: The Yoga Guru and Businessman Born in about 1965, saffron-clad Swami Ramdev is one of the most recognized faces in contemporary India. Primarily known as a yoga guru, he expanded his activities to include Ayurveda, organic farming, educational institutes, research, and social and political movements. As a paralyzed boy from a poor family, he successfully healed himself through the practice of yoga asanas and pranayama (Deka 2017). That established his faith in yoga sutras. He shunned traditional education and went to spiritual schools to learn the scriptures under the tutelage of spiritual masters. He then spent 3 years in the Himalayas, meditating, studying herbs, and practicing yoga. There he saw hundreds of other sadhus in the Himalayas, lost in mediation – living a life of dependence upon alms and charity. He felt that the purpose of a self-realized seer was not to sit idle but to accomplish bigger tasks for the greater good. Before going to the Himalayas, he was focused on his own liberation. In the Himalayas his focus shifted to the collective good. He also realized that liberation is not achieved by just sitting in a jungle. He was experiencing liberation, but how could others benefit from his liberation? Ramdev found his answer in Yoga Sutras. As a yogi, he felt a duty to take a lead in eradicating poverty and illiteracy from the country. He started teaching yoga asanas to his friends and neighbors for free. His yoga was a simple 30-min morning routine that included pranayama breathing exercises coupled with physical asanas. He communicated in a language that the masses understood. Ramdev then turned to

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production of Ayurvedic medicine. He made small packages of his medicines and headed off to a remote region where the competition was less. He became popular because his medicines were working. He soon started delivering his yoga education through a devotional television channel. It soon became the most popular show of the channel. He held large yoga camps with over 50,000 attendees. Swami Ramdev then started a company called Patanjali Ayurveda, named after Maharishi Patanjali, the seer of the Yoga Sutras. Ramdev continued to introduce new Ayurvedic and consumer products, and the company’s revenue continued to double every year. Such incredible growth has been the hallmark of Ramdev’s ambitious journey. In less than a decade, Patanjali Ayurveda company had a revenue of $1.2 billion in 2018. It is the #1 trusted brand in the FMCG category and one of the most trusted brands overall in India. The company minimizes marketing expense by targeting the millions of followers of his daily yoga asanas television program. The company is privately held, and it reinvests everything into future growth. The company invests in farmers to support organic farming of herbs and other produce. It is continuing to set up new manufacturing plants around the country. It has invested in developing infrastructure and supply chain and has focused on system development for robust revenue growth in the future. There is thus a blurring between the identity of Ramdev and his company. His work extends beyond asanas and pranayamas in the pursuit of a healthy and confident India. Ramdev is a very successful entrepreneur and lectures at the top institutes of management in India. Ramdev draws no salary and owns nothing but controls every facet of the organization. From a leadership perspective, Ramdev is a self-realized person who brings high passion to his morning yoga program, even though the asanas and pranayama practices are repeated every day.

Discussion The yogic entrepreneurial actor in each of the three cases recognized the needs of the people internally and invented the tools appropriately based on available resources in a manner of effectuation (Sarasvathy 2001). Yogic entrepreneurs tend to set infinitysized visions unbounded by any physical or resource constraints; these are big audacious global goals with a clear and intuitive value that can ignite and harness people’s imaginations in magical ways. Resources flow automatically from many sources when their activities deliver real measurable benefits to the people. These infinity-sized goals set by such yogic entrepreneurs and their confidence in the yogic toolset are key to taking on grand challenges facing the world. Yoga Sutras provide a number of conceptual tools and practices for well-being (Table 5). Even when the entrepreneur-actor has full awareness and access to the Yoga Sutras and other scriptures, he/she chose the tools that match the opportunity. Mahatma Gandhi aligned his own living style on the behavioral principles from the first and second limbs of Yoga Sutras, the Yamas and the Niyamas. Those principles helped provide the inspiration for invention of powerful new tools such as satyagraha (peaceful noncooperation). Swami Ramdev focused primarily on the

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Table 5 Yoga Sutras limbs and spiritual entrepreneurship summary Yoga Sutras, limbs, and Yogic tools for well-being Limbs of Yoga Sutras Yogic entrepreneur Tools created 1. Yama Mahatma Gandhi Satyagraha; nonviolent civil disobedience 2. Niyama 3. Asana Swami Ramdev Asana and pranayama sequences for specific 4. Pranayama ailments 5. Pratyahara All of them Educational practices for focus and retention 6. Dharana 7. Dhyana Maharishi Mahesh Transcendental Meditation and TM-Siddhi 8. Samadhi Yogi techniques

midrange, third and fourth limbs of Asanas and Pranayama, to a rising middle class of India to take proper care of their physical and mental health through physical practices. Maharishi focused primarily on the subtle seventh and eighth limbs of Dhyana and Samadhi to enable the educated youth of the developed countries to meditate using TM and obtain freedom from stresses of nuclear cold war. It is perhaps open for a yogic entrepreneur to focus mostly on the fifth and sixth limbs of Pratyahara and Dharana, which might apply more directly to education and related fields. Gandhi’s model of yogic life based on yamas and niyamas remains relevant even today. He gave the world a soulful way to fight injustice without resorting to violence. His great moral insight was that nonviolence has a greater power (moral) than violence. His tools were satyagraha, or peaceful pursuit of truth through nonviolent civil disobedience. He also often called for prayer and fasting for selfpurification as an alternative to striking against the government. These tools were used later by Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela to win freedom for their peoples. He was always experimenting and willing to learn from other religions and countries. He famously said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Well-being can also be achieved by other holistic branches of Vedas such as ® Ayurveda and Vastu . A groundbreaking study found increased creativity in ® employees who worked in a building designed according to Maharishi Vastu architecture (Maheshwari and Werd 2019). In this first study of its kind, employees of an architecture and engineering firm, based in a major metropolitan city in the Eastern United States, moved into a Maharishi Vastu office building and scored higher on the standardized Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) compared to their score 4 months earlier in their previous location. In particular, they generated 50–80% more original ideas. The employees also reported feeling better. Every organization, big and small, could create well-being for their employees by moving from a conventional architecture building into a Maharishi Vastu building. These yogic tools for well-being could be applied to tough challenges by framing them suitably. If social inequality can be framed as a colonization of the vast numbers of poor people by the few rich, then Gandhi’s generative and empowering method of satyagraha could be utilized with suitable appropriate adjustment for the

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advancement of communication systems. New practices can be created from the yamas and niyamas that should guide ideal behavior for social harmony. Practices of meditation could be used to dissolve the negative feelings of social injustice and allow everyone to live freely from their highest potential. If climate change and global warming could be framed as a dereliction of duty by the older generation to protect the planet for the younger generation, then again the methods of satyagraha could be utilized. Swedish teenage activist Greta Thurnberg is a contemporaneous example of such an example of a satyagrahi. She has mobilized youth around the world using a basic truth-seeking question: Why world leaders don’t act with urgency in response to established scientific consensus on the existential threat from climate change. In particular, by utilizing the communication techniques of social media and shunning the gas-guzzling technologies of flight, Greta has been able to provide glimpses of solutions to these problems. If biodiversity extinction could be framed as the colonization of the environment by human beings to the disadvantage of all other life forms, including plants and animals, then who would do the satyagraha? How could the oceans polluted by plastics do it? Could elephants and plants do nonviolent noncooperation and appeal to the higher moral sense of the civilization? If nuclear proliferation can be framed as a fear-based action of developing strong weapons for self-defense, then the technologies of super radiance could be deployed to lower the “mental temperature” of the populations so that they do not fall into hysteria. Similarly, if majoritarian, nationalist, and tribalist movements are similarly framed as fear-based responses, then those fears too could be dissolved through meditation-based super-radiance initiatives. If growth in human populations beyond the carrying capacity of the earth, especially in “developing” societies, can be framed as ignorance-based systems of resource maximization, then the people can be educated to reframe their existence beyond the continuing of their family genes, which have greed built into them. If the abortion of the girl child, and the prevalent incidents of rape and incest, can be framed as sexism and exploitation, then similarly the technologies of satyagraha and peaceful noncooperation could work. TM can tame even biology through epigenetics by allowing switching of genes on and off to suit the adaptive needs of the organism. We are confident that more powerful tools based on the Yoga Sutras can be created to address those challenges.

Conclusion Yoga Sutras are an ancient tried and tested way to bring order and unity to an otherwise fragmented world that is increasing in entropy. The principles and practices of Yoga Sutras provide hope for addressing complex global challenges such as climate change, social inequality, and biodiversity extinction through yogic entrepreneurship. Yoga Sutras provide the intellectual understanding of various mechanisms to reach pure unbounded consciousness. By transcending, one can experience total peace and awareness within oneself. Enlightenment and bliss make it easier to continue to practice meditation and enjoy the enormous personal benefits of health and prosperity. Group practice of meditation creates the indirect benefit of more harmonious collective consciousness, which makes the world a better place and

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brings purpose and joy to everyone’s life. As the number of such yogic entrepreneurs grows, it should lead to synergies that may help effectively tackle grand management challenges. Ideally, all life on earth would be guided by the timeless and comprehensive principles of Yoga Sutras for a healthy and peaceful world.

Cross-References ▶ Enhancing Workplace Well-Being Through Understanding the Three Personality Types: Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas According to Samkhya ▶ Some Reflections on Achieving Happiness at the Workplace Through Practical Buddhism ▶ Sustainable Happiness, Well-Being, and Mindfulness in the Workplace ▶ Wellbeing and Spirituality: Insights from the World’s Wisdom Traditions ▶ Well-Being at Workplace: A Perspective from Traditions of Yoga and Ayurveda

Appendix (Well-Being Index) Please rate how you feel today in your current work location.

1. Creativity 2. Health 3. Energy 4. Enthusiasm 5. Mental clarity 6. Focus 7. Productivity 8. Success 9. Teamwork 10. Happiness 11. Peacefulness

Excellent 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Very good 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Good 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

Fair 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

Poor 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

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Norlyk Herriott E, Schmidt-Wilk J, Heaton DP (2009) Spiritual dimensions of entrepreneurship in Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program practitioners. J Manag Spiritual Relig 6 (3):195–208 Orme-Johnson DW (2000) An overview of Charles Alexander’s contribution to psychology: developing higher states of consciousness in the individual and the society. J Adult Dev 7 (4):199–215 Orme-Johnson DW, Fergusson L (2018) Global impact of the Maharishi effect from 1974 to 2017: theory and research. J Maharishi Vedic Res Inst 8:13–79 Orme-Johnson DW, Haynes CT (1981) EEG phase coherence, pure consciousness, creativity, and TM-Sidhi experiences. Int J Neurosci 13(4):211–217 Pavlovich K (2019) Quantum empathy: an alternative narrative for global transcendence. J Manag Spiritual Relig 1–15 Pavlovich K, Corner PD (2014) Conscious enterprise emergence: shared value creation through expanded conscious awareness. J Bus Ethics 121(3):341–351 Reardon J (1998) The history and impact of worksite wellness. Nurs Econ 16(3):117 Rosenthal N (2009) Transcendence: healing and transformation through transcendental meditation. Tarcher, New York Sarasvathy SD (2001) Causation and effectuation: toward a theoretical shift from economic inevitability to entrepreneurial contingency. Acad Manag Rev 26(2):243–263 Scharmer O, Senge P (2016) The theory U: leading from the future as it emerges. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Oakland, CA Schneider RH, Staggers F, Alexander CN, Sheppard W, Rainforth M, Kondwani K et al (1995) A randomized controlled trial of stress reduction for hypertension in older African Americans. Hypertension 26(5):820–827 Sfeir-Younis A (2002) The spiritual entrepreneur. Reflect SoL J 3(3):43–45 Shepherd DA (2019) Researching the dark side, downside, and destructive side of entrepreneurship: it is the compassionate thing to do! Acad Manag Discov 5(3):217–220 Spielberger CD (1983) Manual for the State-trait anxiety inventory STAI (form Y) (“self-evaluation questionnaire”). John Wiley, NY Spielberger CD (2010) State-trait anxiety inventory. In: The Corsini encyclopedia of psychology, 1–1 Travis F, Shear J (2010) Focused attention, open monitoring and automatic self-transcending: categories to organize meditations from Vedic, Buddhist and Chinese traditions. Conscious Cogn 19:1110–1119 Tsao FC, Lazslo C (2019) Quantum leadership: new consciousness in business. Stanford University Press, Redwood City, CA Wallace RK (1970) Physiological effects of transcendental meditation. Science 167:1751–1754 Wilber K (2014) The Atman project: a transpersonal view of human development. Quest Books, Wheaton, IL Yogalakshmi K, Latha G (2015) Effect of selected yoga-asanas, pranayama and meditation on creativity of entrepreneurs. Int Res J Bus Manag 8(9):59–62

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Definitions of Toxic Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dimensions and Measurement of Toxic Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Behaviors and Personal Characteristics of Toxic Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Destructive Behaviors of Toxic Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dysfunctional Personal Characteristics of Toxic Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dysfunctional Interpersonal Tendencies of Toxic Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Predictors and Poisonous Effects of Toxic Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Predictors of Toxic Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Poisonous Effects of Toxic Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Process of Toxic Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Coping with Toxic Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Potential Bright Side of Toxic Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Future Directions for Researchers and Practitioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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This chapter gives an overview of the research on toxic leadership with regard to its definitions and the different ways in which toxic leadership has been dimensioned and measured. The chapter describes predictors of toxic leadership, poisonous effects of toxic leadership on employees, and organizational outcomes as well as a toxic leadership process. The author describes possible ways

E. Laguda (*) Healthcare Leadership Academy, Lagos, Nigeria e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_71

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employees, HR personnel, and organizations may cope with and manage toxic leaders as well as the bright sides of toxic leadership with regard to its positive effects for individuals and organizations. Lastly, this chapter proposes future directions for researchers and practitioners.

Introduction The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly. (Jim Rohn)

According to Green (2014, p. 18), “Leadership matters.” The scholarly literature is graced with stories of organizational leaders who motivate employees to achieve their goals and inspire them to achieve collective goals that might have otherwise been unachievable (Pelletier 2010). On the other hand, scholars have also given examples of leaders who inflict serious physical and/or psychological harm on their employees by mockery, physical hardships, or even promoting discord between employees (Pelletier 2010). Interestingly, a majority of studies have focused more on the positive aspects of leadership than on the negative ones leading to limited studies on the negative aspects of leadership (Green 2014; Mehta and Maheshwari 2014). However, scholars have begun to realize that leadership does not always lead to positive behaviors since some leaders tend to express behaviors that are linked with their dark sides (Green 2014; Kurtulmuş 2019). Leaders are considered to express dark behaviors “when they cause harmful and enduring consequences for their followers by engaging in malicious and hard-todefend tactics” (Kurtulmuş 2019, p. 14). The dark side of leadership is associated with the words toxic and destructive, which scholars often use interchangeably (Kurtulmuş 2019). Even though there exists an overlap, distinctions have been reported between the toxic leadership and destructive leadership (Milosevic et al. 2019; Pelletier 2010). According to Milosevic et al. (2019, p. 5), toxic leaders tend to “interfere with other’s ability to perform work (similar to the way poison may interfere with individual’s ability to function, therefore being considered toxic) rather than successfully lead followers toward destructive goals as destructive leaders do.” Majority of studies on toxic leadership have been carried out in the military (Singh et al. 2018); however, the effects of toxic leaders in public and private organizations within the fields of business, education, religion, and politics have also received growing interest in business, leadership, and management literature (Cheng 2018; Dobbs and Do 2019; Reed 2004; Vreja et al. 2016). In fact, research suggests that one in every five leaders exhibits toxic behaviors (Veldsman 2016; Vreja et al. 2016). This has led organizational scholars to focus not only on the positive but also on the negative and dysfunctional aspects of leadership (Saqib and Arif 2017). Toxic leadership is a “unique” and “insidious type of dysfunctional leadership” (Schmidt 2008, p. 1) where leaders tend to have a poisonous effect

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on their followers and on the organizations in which they work (Kurtulmuş 2019). The hidden costs of toxic leadership have been described using an iceberg model, where toxic leaders’ behaviors are noticed in the narrow region above the waterline at the tip of the iceberg, while the human and financial consequences of these toxic behaviors are found in the larger area beneath the waterline at the bottom of the iceberg (Bourdoux and Delabelle 2013; Dobbs and Do 2019). These consequences do the most damage to organizations (Bourdoux and Delabelle 2013). In this chapter, the author proposes to examine toxic leadership, starting after this introduction with a section on its definitions, followed by sections on dimensions and measurement of toxic leadership. After these, the author will look at destructive behaviors, dysfunctional characteristics, and dysfunctional tendencies of toxic leaders as well as predictors and outcomes of toxic leadership, pausing to reflect on employee and organizational outcomes. Before suggesting future directions for researchers and practitioners and ending the chapter, the author includes sections on a process of toxic leadership, coping with toxic leaders, and potential bright sides of toxic leadership.

Definitions of Toxic Leadership According to the American Heritage Dictionary, toxic means, “Of, relating to, or caused by a toxin or other poison. . . capable of causing injury or death” (Mifflin 2000, p. 7521). The word toxic comes from the Latin word toxicum and Greek word toxikon, both meaning poison (Gangel 2007). Toxicity is “acutely sniping” (Singh et al. 2018, p. 3) and is often associated with “snake venom, alcohol or solvents” (Gangel 2007, p. 2). In spite of the increasing interest in toxic leadership, management and organizational scholars still find it difficult to define and explain the concept (Vreja et al. 2016). Specifically, defining toxic leadership can be puzzling because “one individual’s toxic leader is another’s heroic savior, given that context, history and perspective weigh heavily in such judgments” (Lipman-Blumen 2010, p. 214). In this chapter, the varied definitions of toxic leaders and toxic leadership can be grouped along three schools of thought, namely, definitions that focus on the harmful effect of toxic leadership on others; definitions that focus on the negative effect of toxic leadership on organizational climate; and definitions that focus on the motivation of the toxic leader as based primarily on self-interest (Reed 2004). Regarding definitions that focus on the harmful effect of toxic leadership on others, in biblical tradition, Ludwig and Longenecker (1993) described David as a king and a leader who displayed significant toxic leadership behaviors of deception, murder, loss of innocent lives, having an affair, and corruption of other leaders. Similarly, Gangel (2007) identified toxic leadership behaviors in another biblical patriarch, Jacob, who was deceitful and stole his brother’s birthright. Whicker (1996) linked toxicity with leadership by proposing three types of leaders within organizations, namely, “trustworthy (green light), the transitional (yellow light), and the toxic (red light)” (Tavanti 2011, p. 128). Furthermore, a toxic leader was described as a “maladjusted, malcontent, and often malevolent, even malicious” (Whicker 1996,

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p. 66) individual who progresses by “tearing others down” (Tavanti 2011, p. 128) as well as “fighting, and controlling others rather than uplifting followers” (Whicker 1996, p. 12). In the view of Walton (2007, p. 20), toxic leadership is a “behavior which is exploitive, abusive, destructive and psychologically—and perhaps legalistically—corrupt and poisonous.” In agreement, Schmidt (2008, p. 57) described toxic leaders as “narcissistic, self-promoters who engage in an unpredictable pattern of abusive and authoritarian supervision.” According to Goldman (2009, p. 139), toxic leadership may be defined as “destructive, disturbing, and dysfunctional acts of supervision that spread among members of the workforce.” Reed and Bullis (2009) defined toxic leadership as interpersonal behaviors by those in leadership positions that negatively impact followers. Veldsman (2016) defined toxic leadership as enduring, purposeful, intentional actions – the arrow – by a leader to damage the sense of dignity, self-worth, and efficacy of an individual, the poison, which result in exploitative, destructive, and demeaning work experiences. In the same vein, Singh et al. (2018, p. 4) described toxic leaders as “those narcissist, self-promoting leaders who by their derisive supervision, managerial incompetency and erratic behaviors intentionally tend to erode their self-esteem, burn out their employees, breed counterproductive performing subordinates and future overbearing bosses.” In addition, toxic leaders are “venomous and bad to the bones of the organizations” (Singh et al. 2018, p. 2). Morris (2019, p. 13) defined toxic leadership as a “form of leadership that harasses, belittles, and frightens employed persons, mainly followers, which causes undue stress or pressure leading to decreased performance and other undesired behaviors.” Green (2014, p. 24) described a toxic leader as “any person who as a manager, supervisor, or executive impairs the effectiveness of the organization (or unit) over which he or she has responsibility, whether directly or indirectly.” Furthermore, toxic leadership can be understood by “recalling the definition of a ‘toxin’ – an agent that, when introduced to a system, does systemic harm” (Green 2014, p. 24). Similarly, Pathak (2017, p. 62) suggested that toxic leadership refers to an “organizational cancer that undermines long-term organizational performance through self-centered motivation and dysfunctional behavior.” It could be seen as “maliciously intended leadership behaviors that spitefully burn down efficiency and enthusiasm of the subordinate in inevitable ways” (Singh et al. 2018, p. 4). According to Milosevic et al. (2019, p. 2), toxic leadership is “leadership focused on maintaining position of control via toxic influence attempts, whose harmfulness, although relatively unintentional (i.e., relatively low intent to cause harm), cause[s] serious harm by reckless behavior, as well as by their incompetence.” Combining the definitions from a separate focus on followers and organizations to include followers, teams, and organizations, Reed (2004) defined toxic leadership as “self-aggrandizing, petty, abusive, indifferent to unit climate, and interpersonally malicious.” Kusy and Holloway (2009, p. 4) argued that toxic leadership is reflected by “a pattern of counterproductive work behaviors that debilitate individuals, teams, and even organizations over the long term.” Similarly, Aasland et al. (2010, p. 439) defined toxic leadership in destructive terms as “the systematic and repeated

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behavior by a leader, supervisor or manager that violates the legitimate interest of the organization by undermining and/or sabotaging the organization’s goals, tasks, resources, and effectiveness and/or the motivation, well-being or job satisfaction of subordinates.” According to Aubrey (2012, p. 4), toxic leadership is “bad leadership that left unchecked compromises the organization’s values and norms, and promotes noncompliant behaviors.” Box (2012, p. 3) defined toxic leadership as an approach that “harms people and eventually the organization through the poisoning of enthusiasm, creativity, autonomy, and innovative expression.” Furthermore, Mehta and Maheshwari (2014, p. 19) defined toxic leadership as a “style of leadership in which leaders, due to their negative behavior and detrimental personal characteristics inflict long lasting and serious harm directly on their followers and indirectly to their organizations.” In agreement with earlier definitions, Vreja et al. (2016, p. 224) described a toxic leader as someone who “manifests mischievous behaviors and noxious characters and personal threats, inflicting serious and persistent harms on their subordinates and leading to dysfunctions of the entity they are leading (be it a group, organization or society).” Bhandarker and Rai (2019, p. 2) further explained that toxic leadership “spreads insidiously and undetected like a poison and contaminates not only individuals; it equally affects teams and ultimately the whole organization.” Dobbs and Do (2019, p. 5) summed up these definitions by stating that toxic leadership “corrodes the morale of personnel and the effectiveness of an organization.” Extending the definition to include nonfollowers, Lipman-Blumen (2010, p. 214) defined toxic leaders as “leaders, by dint of their destructive behavior and/or dysfunctional personal characteristics, inflict serious and enduring harm on their followers, their organizations and non-followers alike.” Going further, Singh et al. (2018, p. 150) explained that the authoritative and abusive impact of toxic leaders “not only present long-term risk for the organization but also trickledown to the society and the nation” (Table 1). For definitions that focus on the negative effect of toxic leadership on organizational climate, Reed (2004, p. 67) defined toxic leadership as the “cumulative effect of demotivational behavior on unit morale and climate over time.” Addressing cumulative effect at the individual level, Reed and Bullis (2009, p. 6) described toxic leadership “as a detractor from motivation, alignment, and commitment to organizational goals that serve as the hallmark of good leadership” (Table 2). Regarding definitions that focus on the self-interest motivation of toxic leaders, Schmidt (2008, p. 87) defined toxic leaders are those who “(1) display a wide range of extreme emotions in an unpredictable pattern (2) lack emotional intelligence (3) act in ways that are culturally and/or interpersonally insensitive (4) are primarily motivated by self-interest (5) influence others by employing negative managerial techniques.” Looking at the army, Steele (2011, p. 3) defined toxic leaders are those leaders who “work to promote themselves at the expense of their subordinates, and usually do so without considering long-term ramifications to their subordinates, their unit, and the Army profession.” Vreja et al. (2016, p. 224) defined toxic leaders as “mainly dominant-status holders, as they will usually become obsessed with power and superiority, being ready to overestimate their personal value, to feel entitled to enjoy special privileges, to break conventional rules and exploit others in other to get

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Table 1 Some definitions of toxic leadership and toxic leaders based on the harmful effects on others Scholar Whicker (1996, p. 66) Walton (2007, p. 20)

Schmidt (2008, p. 57) Goldman (2009, p. 139)

Reed and Bullis (2009) Green (2014, p. 24)

Veldsman (2016)

Pathak (2017, p. 62)

Singh et al. (2018, p. 4)

Singh et al. (2018, p. 4)

Milosevic et al. (2019, p. 2)

Morris (2019, p. 13)

Definition A toxic leader is a “maladjusted, malcontent, and often malevolent, even malicious” Toxic leadership is a “behavior, which is exploitive, abusive, destructive and psychologically—and perhaps legalistically—corrupt and poisonous” Toxic leaders are “narcissistic, self-promoters who engage in an unpredictable pattern of abusive and authoritarian supervision” Toxic leadership may be defined as “destructive, disturbing, and dysfunctional acts of supervision that spread among members of the workforce” Toxic leadership refers to interpersonal behaviors by those in leadership positions that negatively impact followers A toxic leader is “any person who as a manager, supervisor, or executive impairs the effectiveness of the organization (or unit) over which he or she has responsibility, whether directly or indirectly” Toxic leadership involves enduring, purposeful, intentional actions – the arrow – by a leader to damage the sense of dignity, self-worth and efficacy of an individual, the poison, which result in exploitative, destructive, and demeaning work experiences Toxic leadership refers to an “organizational cancer that undermines long-term organizational performance through self-centered motivation and dysfunctional behavior” Toxic leaders as “those narcissist, self-promoting leaders who by their derisive supervision, managerial incompetency and erratic behaviors intentionally tend to erode their self-esteem, burn out their employees, breed counterproductive performing subordinates and future overbearing bosses” Toxic leadership refers to “maliciously intended leadership behaviors that spitefully burn down efficiency and enthusiasm of the subordinate in inevitable ways” Toxic leadership is “leadership focused on maintaining position of control via toxic influence attempts, whose harmfulness, although relatively unintentional (i.e., relatively low intent to cause harm), cause[s] serious harm by reckless behavior, as well as by their incompetence” Toxic leadership is a “form of leadership that harasses, belittles, and frightens employed persons, mainly followers, which causes undue stress or pressure leading to decreased performance and other undesired behaviors”

what they assume they deserve.” By being self-centered, toxic leaders tend to focus on their own goals, make bad decisions for their followers as well as sacrifice the “good of the organization for their own good” (Vreja et al. 2016, p. 225) (Table 3). Reed (2004, p. 71) linked the three schools of thought together by arguing that toxic leadership is “more easily described than defined.” A toxic leader was described as “a poison to the unit – an insidious, slow-acting poison that complicates

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Table 2 Some definitions of toxic leadership based on the effect on organizational climate Scholar Reed (2004, p. 67) Reed and Bullis (2009, p. 6)

Definition Toxic leadership is the “cumulative effect of demotivational behavior on unit morale and climate over time” Toxic leadership is “a detractor from motivation, alignment, and commitment to organizational goals that serve as the hallmark of good leadership”

Table 3 Some definitions of toxic leadership based on the self-interest motivation of toxic leaders Scholar Schmidt (2008, p. 87)

Steele (2011, p. 3)

Vreja et al. (2016, p. 224)

Definition Toxic leaders are those who “(1) display a wide range of extreme emotions in an unpredictable pattern (2) lack emotional intelligence (3) act in ways that are culturally and/or interpersonally insensitive (4) are primarily motivated by self-interest (5) influence others by employing negative managerial techniques” Toxic leaders are those leaders who “work to promote themselves at the expense of their subordinates, and usually do so without considering long-term ramifications to their subordinates, their unit, and the Army profession” Toxic leaders are “mainly dominant-status holders, as they will usually become obsessed with power and superiority, being ready to overestimate their personal value, to feel entitled to enjoy special privileges, to break conventional rules and exploit others in other to get what they assume they deserve”

diagnosis and the application of an anecdote” (Reed 2004, p. 71). In addition, toxic leaders possess “(1) an apparent lack of concern for the well-being of subordinates; (2) a personality or interpersonal technique that negatively affects organizational climate; and (3) a conviction by subordinates that the leader is motivated primarily by self-interest” (Reed 2004, p. 67). Ulmer (2012, p. 48) described toxic leaders as “individuals whose behavior appears driven by self-centered careerism at the expense of their subordinates and unit, and whose style is characterized by abusive and dictatorial behavior that promotes an unhealthy organizational climate.” According to the Army Doctrine Publication (August 2012): Toxic leadership is a combination of self-centered attitudes, motivations, and behaviors that have adverse effects on subordinates, the organization, and mission performance. This leader lacks concern for others and the climate of the organization, which leads to short- and longterm negative effects. The toxic leader operates with an inflated sense of self-worth and from acute self-interest. Toxic leaders consistently use dysfunctional behaviors to deceive, intimidate, coerce, or unfairly punish others to get what they want for themselves. (p. 3)

Likewise, Mehta and Maheshwari (2014, p. 20) gave a working definition of toxic leadership as “a series of purposeful and deliberate behaviors and acts of a leader that disrupt the effective functioning of the organization and are intended to maneuver, deceive, intimidate, and humiliate others with the objective of personal gains.”

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To sum, toxic leadership describes the behaviors and qualities of a leader that enhance self-interest at the expense of others and inflict harm on followers, nonfollowers, organizations, society, and the nation at large. Toxic leaders show a lack of concern for the well-being of others; their style of leadership negatively affects the organizational climate; and their followers are convinced that toxic leaders are driven mainly by self-interest (Reed 2015). There are varied definitions of toxic leadership in the literature. However, no consensus has been reached on a specific and unambiguous manner of defining toxic leadership as scholars tend to craft and use their own definitions of toxicity to describe dysfunctional leaders (Reed 2015; Yavaş 2016). Furthermore, there exist differences in perceptions about how leaders are viewed by followers since a leader might be toxic to one follower and heroic to another (LipmanBlumen 2005; Mehta and Maheshwari 2014). More so, toxic leaders may not exhibit toxic behaviors all the time; these toxic behaviors, decisions, and actions tend to vary in degree, type, as well as impact on others (Mehta and Maheshwari 2014). The lack of specificity in defining toxic leadership makes it difficult for scholars to gain a clear understanding of the concept as well as to develop reliable scales that measure the concept. These scales could be used to conduct empirical studies to further investigate the poisonous effects of toxic leadership on individuals, organizations, societies, and nations (Yavaş 2016). A number of scholars have tried to promote the empirical investigation of toxic leadership by developing reliable scales for its measurement – these will be reviewed in the next section.

Dimensions and Measurement of Toxic Leadership This section gives a review of different ways that toxic leadership has been dimensioned and measured. Schmidt (2008) developed and validated the most popular scale for measuring toxic leadership – the Toxic Leadership Scale (TLS) (Lit‚ă 2018). The TLS is a 30-item multidimensional scale that describes toxic leaders as “narcissistic, self-promoters who engage in an unpredictable pattern of abusive and authoritarian supervision” (Schmidt 2008, p. 57). Using qualitative and quantitative methods across data collected from military and civilian respondents, a measure of toxic leadership containing five dimensions was developed. The dimensions include abusive supervision, authoritarian leadership, narcissism, self-promotion, and unpredictability. Pelletier (2012) developed an 18-item Perceptions of Toxic Leadership Scale (PTLS), which measured followers’ perceived psychological distress resulting from their leaders’ destructive behaviors. This scale consisted of the dimensions of “threat to self-esteem, psychological distress, psychological safety, toxicity (enduring, negative effect on the observer), and ideology of divisiveness” (Pelletier 2012, p. 417). Popa et al. (2013) developed a Romanian version of the TLS based on the same dimensions of abusive supervisor, authoritarian leadership, narcissism, self-promotion, and unpredictability (Schmidt 2008). Çelebi et al. (2015) also created a 30-item multidimensional Toxic Leadership Scale based on Schmidt’s study. The scale consisted of four subdimensions, namely,

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egoistic/self-interest, utilitarian/selfishness, unappreciativeness, and psychological dysfunction/negative mood (Özer et al. 2017). The egoistic/self-interest dimension corresponds to the self-promotion dimension of Schmidt (2008) and has been described as leaders who are motivated by and prioritize their own interests (Özer et al. 2017; Reed 2004). The utilitarian/selfishness dimension corresponds to the narcissism dimension of Schmidt (2008), which refers to the “lack of skill of developing empathy with others, underestimating other’s abilities and efforts” (Özer et al. 2017, p. 14). It describes a leader who believes that he/she is more talented than others (Çelebi et al. 2015; Özer et al. 2017). The unappreciativeness dimension describes the tendency to give employees feelings of inadequacy as well as to humiliate employees and unsympathetically remind them of their faults (Özer et al. 2017). The psychological dysfunction/negative mood corresponds to the unpredictability dimension of the TLS (Schmidt 2008). It describes the reflection of the leader’s mood on his/her tone of voice, which tends to keep employees away from the leader, and determines the climate of the work environment (Çelebi et al. 2015; Özer et al. 2017). There are very few scales for measuring toxic leadership in the literature (Burns 2017). Most of these scales are adaptations of the Toxic Leadership Scale by Schmidt (2008). Perhaps, identifying and understanding the behaviors, personal characteristics, and interpersonal tendencies of toxic leaders may provide a starting point for developing of additional measures of toxic leadership (Burns 2017) – these behaviors, personal characteristics, and interpersonal tendencies will be reviewed in the next section.

Behaviors and Personal Characteristics of Toxic Leaders Toxic leaders inflict harm on their organizations, followers, and even non-followers that exist beyond the toxic leader’s realm of authority (Lipman-Blumen 2011). They create these harmful effects through their “destructive behaviors,” “dysfunctional personal characteristics” (Lipman-Blumen 2011, p. 336), and “dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies” (Carson et al. 2012, p. 294).

Destructive Behaviors of Toxic Leaders Toxic leaders are self-serving and tend to display a wide range of destructive behaviors to achieve their personal goals rather than organizational goals (LipmanBlumen 2010; Pathak 2017). These destructive behaviors are characterized by “dramatic, histrionic, emotionally demanding and narcissistic behaviors” (Pathak 2017, p. 62), which are exhibited in a variety of ways and in different situations (Lipman-Blumen 2011). In studying behavioral classifications of toxic leaders, Steele (2011, p. 8) suggested that toxic leaders are individuals who display one or more of the following sets of behaviors: “micromanaging,” “mean-spirited/ aggressive,” and “rigid/poor decision-making” behaviors. These sets of behaviors

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will be used to categorize some of the destructive behaviors of toxic leaders identified and described by scholars in the literature. Micromanaging behaviors are “overly controlling behaviors such as restricting pertinent information and results in under-utilization of resources” (Steele 2011, p. 8). Toxic leaders “spread their poison through excessive control” (Özer et al. 2017, p. 13) and use “scarce resources to build monuments to themselves, rather than meeting their followers’ basic needs” (Lipman-Blumen 2011, p. 337). They purposely give their followers “illusions that enhance the leader’s power and impair the followers’ capacity to act independently” (Lipman-Blumen 2011, p. 337). Furthermore, toxic leaders weaken legal processes for selecting and supporting new leaders as well as present the “costs of overthrowing them as a trigger for the downfall of the system they lead” (Lipman-Blumen 2011, p. 337). They suppress constructive criticism and teach followers to comply with the toxic leader’s judgment and actions (Lipman-Blumen 2011). In addition, toxic leaders see others as being inferior to themselves, and so they tend to avoid situations that compel them to explain their decisions or actions to others (Joynt 2017; Özer et al. 2017). Therefore, toxic leaders cling to power and fail to nurture other leaders, including their own successors (Lipman-Blumen 2011). Mean-spirited/aggressive behaviors describe “inexcusable behaviors that are often illegal including intimidation, physical abuse, and sexual harassment” (Steele 2011, p. 8), which tend to affect the self-esteem of followers (Pelletier 2010). Toxic leaders are intentionally cold and distant, emotionally unstable, and prone to anger (Özer et al. 2017; Pelletier 2010). They tend to take perceived contraventions to their authority personally and react in a range of aggressive behaviors (Harris and Jones 2018). Toxic leaders tend to be “undermining, demeaning, seducing, marginalizing, intimidating, demoralizing, disenfranchising, incapacitating, imprisoning, torturing, terrorizing” (Lipman-Blumen 2011, p. 336; Singh et al. 2018). In essence, toxic leaders pose a threat to their followers’ security through physical acts of aggression, hardship, and threats to job security (Pelletier 2010, 2012). They tend to mock and ridicule their followers and violate the “basic standards of human rights” of their followers and non-followers (Lipman-Blumen 2011, p. 337; Pelletier 2010, 2012). Toxic leaders tend to be divisive and so maliciously set people against one another by identifying scapegoats and encouraging others to chastise them (Lipman-Blumen 2011, p. 337; Pelletier 2010). Furthermore, toxic leaders tend to be partial and promote inequity and social exclusion among their followers by treating “shabbily those followers at the bottom of the heap, while reserving ‘white-glove’ treatment for the elite” (Lipman-Blumen 2011, p. 337; Pelletier 2010, 2012). Sycophant followers, who flatter, agree with, and obey instructions without question, are rewarded and promoted to leadership positions, while those who think critically and ask challenging questions or disagree are kept away from the decision-making process (Joynt 2017; Özer et al. 2017). Toxic leaders are pessimists who kill the morale and enthusiasm of their followers by enhancing the negative side of projects or situations (Singh et al. 2018). Rigid/poor decision-making behaviors are displayed by a “closed-minded leader who ignores important information, sticks to a failing plan, and is incapable of adapting” (Steele 2011, p. 8). Toxic leaders can be rigid and disengaged; they tend

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to ignore comments and ideas that are counter to their own objectives and insist on doing things the old-fashioned way (Pelletier 2010). Further, toxic leaders can make decisions and change them at short notice without giving valid explanation for the unexpected change (Özer et al. 2017). This tends to result in incompetent behaviors from problem misdiagnosis as well as the failure to solve recognizable problems (Lipman-Blumen 2010). They focus on compliance issues and usually have a “powerful advocate” supporting them behind the scene in the organization (Harris and Jones 2018, p. 476). According to Pelletier (2010) and Pathak (2017), toxic leaders lack integrity and so use their positional power and authority to deceive others, blame others for their own mistakes, and bend rules to achieve their goals. They challenge organizational goals and mislead their followers through “deliberate untruths and misdiagnosis of issues and problems” (Lipman-Blumen 2011, p. 337). They carry out “unethical, illegal, and criminal acts” by ignoring or promoting incompetence and corruption as well as weakening systems and processes, which are meant to generate truth, justice, and excellence (Lipman-Blumen 2011, p. 337). Publicly, such leaders behave within “non-toxic bounds” but engage in morally questionable behavior in their private lives (Lipman-Blumen 2011, p. 337). To sum, toxic leaders engage in destructive behaviors, which can be classified into micromanaging, mean-spirited/aggressive as well as rigid/poor decision-making behaviors (Steele 2011). Micromanaging behaviors describe power-hugging and overcontrolling behaviors; mean-spirited/aggressive behaviors refer to nonverbal and verbal abusive and aggressive behaviors, while the rigid/poor decision-making behaviors describe inflexible and unethical behaviors exhibited by toxic leaders. Toxic leader behaviors are not easily identifiable and range from being unintentional through incompetence and the unawareness of their lack of the ability to lead to being intentionally negative, evil, and rejoicing in the destruction of others (Green 2014; Lipman-Blumen 2010). However, intentional or not, these behaviors tend to have harmful consequences in the long run (Pathak 2017). The harmful impact of these destructive behaviors on individuals and organizations is systemic and long lasting because toxic leaders tend to hide their destructive behaviors from others by maintaining a likeable persona with their closest friends and superiors (Elle 2012; Harris and Jones 2018; Pathak 2017; Saqib and Arif 2017). As a result, they are described as wolves in sheep’s clothing who tend to get away with their destructive behaviors for years because of their charming personalities (Joynt 2017; Singh et al. 2018). In essence, toxic leaders employ the “kiss up and kick down” approach, where the leaders act responsibly with their superiors but vindictively toward their followers (Singh et al. 2018, p. 3). They may appear extremely helpful but contravene basic standards of human rights by “consciously reframing toxic agendas as noble endeavors” (Singh et al. 2018, p. 4).

Dysfunctional Personal Characteristics of Toxic Leaders In addition to destructive behaviors, toxic leaders cause harm to individuals, organizations, societies, and nations through deep-rooted dysfunctional personal characteristics (Lipman-Blumen 2011). These leaders tend to display not just one but

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also a combination of these characteristic traits. Therefore, the more traits the leader exhibits, the more toxic the leader is considered (Williams 2005). Wilson-Starks (2003) defined the characteristics of a toxic leader as the tendency to prevent the development of creativity through strict methods; to have no penchant for communication; and to prevent the development of productive relationships. In a similar vein, Reed (2004) determined that toxic leaders have three main characteristics: a lack of concern for the well-being of their subordinates; a personality that negatively affects organizational climate; and a conviction by subordinates that the leader is motivated mainly by self-interest. Williams (2005) presented a compilation of personal traits of toxic leaders from the least severe to the most severe as incompetence, malfunctioning, maladjusted, sense of inadequacy, malcontent, irresponsible, amoral, cowardice, insatiable ambition, egotism, arrogance, selfish values, avarice and greed, lack of integrity, deception, malevolent, malicious, and malfeasance. Citing the military, Truhon (2006, p. 4) mentioned that toxic leaders tend to be “amoral, arrogant, cowardly, deceptive, discontented, greedy, incompetent, insecure, irresponsible, maladjusted, malfeasant, malfunctioning, malevolent, malicious, narcissistic, self-absorbed, single-minded, and untrustworthy.” In a similar vein, Gangel (2007) lists dysfunctional characteristics of toxic leaders as “deceptive, autocratic, egotistic, incompetent, ignorant, cruel, evil, demanding, and reckless” (Özer et al. 2017, p. 4). Lipman-Blumen (2011, p. 338) described dysfunctional personal characteristics of toxic leaders as questionable integrity in terms of being “cynical, corrupt, hypocritical, or untrustworthy,” insatiable ambition, enormous egos, arrogance, amorality, avarice, reckless, cowardice, limited cognitive ability and judgment as well as insensitivity to the needs and feelings of others. Ulmer (2012), while describing some specific characteristic traits of toxic leaders, stated that toxic leaders rarely take blame or share glory; they tend not to be toxic at all times or to everyone; they are rarely toxic when in the company of their superiors; they sometimes have good ideas and accomplish objectives; they can be charming when necessary; they are often termed as very bright and hardworking; they often have a following of faithful supporters; most have been identified as toxic by their followers at the beginning of their careers; their superiors either do not know or pretend not to know about their toxicity, and they almost never keep a record their abuse of subordinates (Lindsay et al. 2016). More so, Carson et al. (2012) examined dysfunctional personal characteristics of toxic leaders based on their ability to prevent the leader from developing relationships with others as being selfish, impulsive, indecisive, passive aggressive, emotionally volatile, a risk averter, mistrustful, vindictive, rigid, and overcontrolling. According to Ross et al. (2014, p. 24), toxic leaders possess the characteristics of “unethical or bad behavior, self-promotion, abusive and tyrannical supervision, downward hostility toward others, engages in destructive and demotivational behaviors, and narcissistic and authoritative tendencies.” Yapp (2016) described six characteristics of toxic leaders as autocratic, narcissistic, manipulative, intimidating, overly competitive, and cause the fragmentation of the organization. Extending these, Kim (2016) identified eight toxic personal traits of toxic leaders as unwillingness to listen to feedback, excessive self-promotion and self-interest, lying and inconsistency, lack of moral philosophy,

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rewarding incompetence and a lack of accountability, lack of general support and mentoring, cliquishness and surrounded by “yes” people, and bullying and harassment. Özer et al. (2017, p. 13) mentioned that toxic leaders display characteristics that are “egocentric, wants to rise over somebody else’s shoulders, displays personality disabilities and gives no confidence.” Singh et al. (2018, p. 4) mention common characteristics of toxic leaders to be “ethical failure, incompetence, and neurosis.” Scholars in different contexts have identified several characteristics, which leaders could exhibit at higher or lower levels (Lipman-Blumen 2006). This means that leader could show one of the identified characteristics, but not be seen as toxic; or a leader could display many of the above characteristics and create a toxic environment at work (Davis 2016). So, these characteristics might not individually make a toxic leader, but a combination of the identified characteristics are likely signs of toxic leadership (Beum 2015). In essence, “how much deceit, cynicism, corruption or ineptitude a leader must demonstrate to qualify as toxic is difficult to specify” (Lipman-Blumen 2006, p. 50). The challenging scenarios tend to be situations where there are toxic leaders who combine several, or even all, of these dysfunctional personal characteristics (Lipman-Blumen 2010). Even more complicated are situations where these dysfunctional personal characteristics are combined with excellent personal characteristics, such as intelligence and insensitivity, which often leaves followers in awe of their leader’s outstanding qualities but also overwhelmed by their toxicity (Lipman-Blumen 2011). Toxic leaders may also exhibit a combination of destructive behaviors and dysfunctional personal characteristics, which often generates an unstable effect that could be likened to “a powder keg simply awaiting a match” (Lipman-Blumen 2011, p. 338). These explosive combinations tend to trigger enduring poisonous effects on toxic leaders’ followers, non-followers, organizations, societies, and nations (Lipman-Blumen 2011, p. 338).

Dysfunctional Interpersonal Tendencies of Toxic Leaders Toxic leaders tend to exhibit dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies over time (Carson et al. 2012). Dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies “(a) co-exist with talent, ambition, and good social skills, and (b) prevent people from completing the essential task of leadership— building a team” (Hogan and Kaiser 2005, p. 176). These tendencies may help toxic leaders gain the admiration of their followers in the short-term, but over time, these tendencies may lead them to be seen as rigid and narcissistic (Hogan and Kaiser 2005). Dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies may be classified into three groups, namely, “moving against people (aggression and manipulation), moving away from people (withdrawal and intimidation), and moving toward people (compliance and ingratiation)” (Hogan and Hogan 2001). Toxic leaders who have the dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies to “move against people” tend to be selfish, impulsive, and ambitious. They tend to be bold, mischievous, imaginative, and desire to be the center of attention, but in the long run, they tend to be erratic in making decisions, to exhibit pride and narcissistic tendencies

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with a sense of entitlement, and to control and dominate others (Carson et al. 2012). These tendencies may eventually lead to betraying the trust of their followers and divisive behaviors. Toxic leaders who “move away from people” tend to be risk averse and emotionally immature (Carson et al. 2012). They tend to be cautious, skeptical, and difficult to please (Hogan and Hogan 2001). Toxic leaders with these tendencies likely withdraw from interpersonal relationships, and over time, they tend to be indecisive, vindictive, emotionally volatile, passive aggressive, and uncommunicative (Carson et al. 2012; Hogan and Kaiser 2005). Toxic leaders who “move toward people” are usually compliant and strive to gain the approval of others (Cooper 2003). In the short term, they tend to display the dysfunctional tendencies of diligence, attention to detail, and hard work (Carson et al. 2012). However, in the long term, such tendencies may become rigidity, micromanaging, and resistance to change (Carson et al. 2012). Toxic leaders are sometimes self-destructive due to their dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies, which tend to manifest as a lack of interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence (Singh et al. 2018).

Predictors and Poisonous Effects of Toxic Leadership According to Uhl-Bien et al. (2007, p. 314), “leadership is too complex to be described as only the act of an individual or individuals; rather, it is a complex interplay of many interacting forces.” It is a process between leaders, followers, and the environment, rather than the behavior or set of behaviors of a particular leader (Thoroughgood et al. 2018). Therefore, studies on antecedents and consequences of toxic leadership have increasingly paid attention to the concept as a process by taking into consideration toxic leader behaviors, followers of toxic leaders as well as contexts in which these relationships exist (Singh et al. 2018). In this section, the author reviews existing research on the relationship between toxic leadership and its predictors as well as its poisonous effects on employees and organizational outcomes.

Predictors of Toxic Leadership To gain an understanding of what predicts toxicity in leaders, Singh et al. (2018) suggested that toxic leaders have dysfunctional personal characteristics and destructive behaviors, which are developed over time. However, for toxic leadership to thrive in an organization, certain conditions need to be met (Singh et al. 2018). There should be an interaction of leaders, followers, and circumstances rather than just the characteristics of the toxic leaders (Padilla et al. 2007). Consequently, negative organizational outcomes associated with toxic leadership “are the product of dysfunctional leader behaviors and susceptible followers interacting in the context of a contributing environment” (Padilla et al. 2007, p. 179). The combination of leader’s characteristics, susceptible follower, and the environment is termed the “toxic triangle” (Padilla et al. 2007, p. 179). These three parts of the toxic triangle

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and the interactions with each other determine the level of toxic leadership that exists in an organization (Beightel 2018; Cheng 2018; Singh et al. 2018; Uhl-Bien et al. 2014).

Toxic Leaders The first component of the toxic triangle refers to toxic leaders with the main leader factors of charisma, personalized use of power, narcissism, negative life themes, and an ideology of hate (Padilla et al. 2007). The destructive behaviors, dysfunctional personal characteristics, and dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies of toxic leaders have been discussed in previous sections of this chapter. Susceptible Followers The second component of the toxic triangle refers to followers of toxic leaders. Although the role of followers in the toxic leadership process is important, followers of toxic leaders have less often been examined than their leaders, and so require additional investigation (Milosevic et al. 2019; Padilla et al. 2007; Thoroughgood et al. 2018). Toxic leadership depends on the followers to take place; however, many followers recognize the toxic process but still allow it to happen (Lipman-Blumen 2010). Followers are the “principle defenders” against toxic leaders; they play a significant role in controlling whether or not toxic leaders are promoted into positions of authority and the ability of toxic leaders to carry out their destructive plans in organizations (Thoroughgood 2013). Still, certain followers tend to obey or enthusiastically participate in the toxic leadership process by giving toxic leaders the authority and resources they require to lead, even though followers end up suffering majority of the consequences of toxic leadership (Milosevic et al. 2019; Padilla et al. 2007; Thoroughgood et al. 2018). According to Lipman-Blumen (2011, p. 334), followers have “an array of existential, psychological, sociological and psycho-social factors acting as inhibitors of followers’ resistance, (. . .), toxic leaders can go about their merry way quite unimpeded.” Susceptible followers, the second dimension of the toxic triangle, contribute to the dynamics of toxicity either as conformers or colluders (Padilla et al. 2007). Conformers Conformers tend to obey toxic leaders out of fear as a result of their unmet basic needs, negative core self-evaluations, and low immaturity (Beightel 2018; Padilla et al. 2007; Thoroughgood 2013). In line with these reasons for conformity, Thoroughgood (2013) listed four dimensions underlying conformers as unmet basic needs, low self-concept clarity, low core self-evaluation, and personal life distress. Conformers recognize the grave consequences for disobedience on their families, job positions, and life; so, they are driven to minimize these consequences by passively following the orders of their toxic leaders (Padilla et al. 2007; Thoroughgood 2013). Toxic leaders tend to be very generous in providing the basic needs of their followers such as safety, stability, and security as well as group acceptance, identity, belonging, and a sense of purpose and meaning in the

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short term, thus, making it easy for followers to overlook their toxic leader’s destructive behaviors out of self-interest (Padilla et al. 2007; Thoroughgood 2013). Thoroughgood (2013, p. 16) defined self-concept clarity as “the extent to which the contents of one’s self-concept are clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and temporally stable.” Followers with low self-concept clarity tend to be confused, disoriented, malleable, and look toward deriving a clearer sense of self and increased level of self-confidence from relationships with their leaders (Thoroughgood 2013). These followers lack a clear sense of self and tend to be vulnerable and dependent on the leader for direction; they are also easy to manipulate by their toxic leaders for personal gain (Thoroughgood 2013). Core self-evaluation is defined as “basic conclusions or bottom-line evaluations that individuals hold about themselves” (Judge and Bono 2001, p. 81). It comprises dimensions of self-esteem, “basic appraisal people make of their overall value as human beings” (Padilla et al. 2007, p. 183); locus of control, “belief that one determines one’s fate versus the belief that outcomes are determined by external factors” (Padilla et al. 2007, p. 183); and self-efficacy, “a judgment of one’s capability to accomplish a certain level of performance” (Bandura 1986, p. 94). Followers with low self-esteem usually wish to be someone more desirable, and so they are attracted to leaders who control and manipulate them, because they believe that they deserve to be treated that way (Padilla et al. 2007). Followers with low selfefficacy as well as those with an external locus of control are easy to manipulate and are attracted to leaders who wield power. Therefore, followers with low self-esteem, an external locus of control, and low self-efficacy tend to be susceptible to toxic leaders (Padilla et al. 2007). Followers who experience emotional distress in their lives are highly susceptible to the influence of toxic leaders (Shaw 2003; Thoroughgood 2013). Emotional distress may stem from stressful life events such as hostility toward family, coping with the death of a loved one, or job loss (Thoroughgood 2013). These events leave individuals feeling helpless, alone, and in need of friendship, authority, and meaning in their lives; they are therefore vulnerable to the influence of toxic leaders (Thoroughgood 2013). Thoroughgood et al. (2012) characterized conformers into three sub-types, namely, lost souls, authoritarians, and bystanders. Lost souls are the most cited category of susceptible followers (Thoroughgood et al. 2012). These followers are attracted to leaders “who they believe can provide them clarity, direction, and increased self-esteem; offer them a sense of community and belonging; and instill in them a clear sense of self” (Thoroughgood et al. 2012, p. 7). Therefore, the susceptibilities of lost souls to toxic leaders arise mainly from high levels of unmet needs to personal life distress as well as low levels of self-concept clarity and core self-evaluations (Thoroughgood et al. 2012). Authoritarians have rigid hierarchical attitudes, which tend to make them obey and accept the influence of toxic leaders simply because of the rank and position of such leaders in the organization (Thoroughgood et al. 2012). Authoritarians are characterized by high levels of (a) authoritarianism, which likely to display unconditional respect for and trust in legitimate authorities as well as engage in hostility toward others in the name of authority; (b) cognitive rigidity, which less likely to process information but more likely to submit to authority; and (c) just-world thinking which is tendency to believe

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that the “suffering of victims must have been deserved, leading to devaluation of the target and the creation of a new morality that justifies what they are doing” (Thoroughgood et al. 2012, p. 10). Bystanders are susceptible to a high level of selfmonitoring and low levels of core self-evaluations, extraversion, and dominance as well as courageous prosocial dispositions (Thoroughgood et al. 2012).

Colluders Colluders keenly participate in a toxic leader’s agenda due to ambitiousness, selfishness, and sharing the same values as their toxic leaders (Johnson 2019; Padilla et al. 2007). They participate in the toxic leadership process in order to gain some personal benefits from their toxic leaders (Thoroughgood 2013). Padilla et al. (2007) listed the dimensions of colluders to be ambition, congruent values and beliefs, and unsocialized values. Based on these dimensions, Thoroughgood (2013) proposed the dimensions of personal ambition, Machiavellianism, greed, and low self-control. Highly ambitious followers may sense the potential benefits of associating with toxic leaders and subsequently work to promote the leader’s destructive agenda. These ambitious individuals are sometimes very willing to exploit others to obtain status or further their own personal goals (Padilla et al. 2007; Thoroughgood 2013). Followers whose values and beliefs are consistent with those of their toxic leaders tend to commit to their toxic agenda (Padilla et al. 2007). Further, when followers associate their toxic leaders with significant parts of their own self-concept, emotional bonds are formed; the closer the leader is to the follower’s self-concept, the stronger the emotional bond and the greater the determination to follow (Padilla et al. 2007). Followers who endorse unsocialized values such as greed and selfishness tend to follow the agenda of toxic leaders and engage in destructive behaviors (Hogan 2017; Padilla et al. 2007). Machiavellianism refers to a “social influence process marked by the use of politics, power, and expressive behavior to achieve personally desirable ends” (Thoroughgood 2013, p. 24). Followers with high Machiavellian tendencies are likely to be sycophants who flatter their leaders while suppressing constructive feedback from them (Thoroughgood 2013). These followers may collude with toxic leaders in order to personally benefit from their relationships with these leaders (Thoroughgood 2013). Greed refers to a “selfish longing to personally accrue goods, status, or power beyond any reasonable limits and without any regard for others or the common good” (Thoroughgood 2013, p. 24). Greedy followers are strongly motivated by the excessive need to acquire wealth, power, and status through their associations with toxic leaders and with no regard for the welfare of others and the organization (Kellerman 2004; Padilla et al. 2007). Self-control describes the “tendency to avoid acts whose long-term costs exceed momentary advantages” (Gottfredson 2007, p. 1). Followers who display high levels of self-control show restraint from engaging in harmful behaviors because they tend to analyze and reflect on the long-term effect of their actions (Thoroughgood et al. 2012). Colluders tend to let their impulsive and short-sighted instincts get the best of them, especially when the behavior is linked to outcomes of personal value such as money, status, and power (Thoroughgood et al. 2012). As a result, they tend to display a desire for instant gratification, an indifference to punishment, and a lack of concern for the well-being others (Thoroughgood 2013).

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Thoroughgood et al. (2012) characterized colluders under two sub-types, namely, the opportunists and the acolytes. Opportunists regard their alliance with their toxic leaders as a medium for attaining personal gain and so voluntarily follow these leaders to attain financial, political, or professional results (Padilla et al. 2007). Opportunists tend to display high levels of personal ambition, Machiavellianism, and greed as well as a low level of impulse control (Thoroughgood et al. 2012). On the other hand, acolytes have a firm sense of self and pursue expression of their philosophical values and beliefs through the toxic leaders’ mission (Padilla et al. 2007; Thoroughgood et al. 2012). They are believers who do not require incentives from toxic leaders to support them in achieving toxic agendas because of their shared goals and values (Thoroughgood et al. 2012). The toxic leadership process requires the combined acts of dysfunctional leading and following, which take place in the work environment (Thoroughgood et al. 2018). For the process to take place, conformers and colluders must “grant” toxic leaders influence and “claim” their own follower roles in these processes (DeRue and Ashford 2010; Thoroughgood et al. 2018). Therefore, when conformers (through obedience) and colluders (through collaboration) permit toxic leaders to influence and allow them to pursue their harmful goals, these susceptible followers fail to fulfill their key role as “checks on their leaders’ power” (Thoroughgood et al. 2018, p. 642). In sum, the roles and behaviors of susceptible followers as well as their interactions with their toxic leaders play a more important part in the toxic leadership process than they have been granted (Thoroughgood et al. 2018)

Conducive Environment Environments are the “contexts, circumstances and conditions in which leaders and followers interact over time” (Thoroughgood et al. 2018, p. 643). Conducive environment, the third component of the toxic triangle, describes the environment or situation in which the toxic process occurs. Conducive environments envelop toxic leaders, their susceptible followers, and their interactions (Thoroughgood et al. 2018). Grouped broadly, the three environmental factors that tend to promote or constrain the toxic leadership process are institutional factors, macro-environmental factors, and cultural and societal factors (Thoroughgood et al. 2018). These factors play a significant role in “how conducive environments develop, become institutionalized, and shape dysfunctional forms of leading and following” (Thoroughgood et al. 2018, p. 643). Institutional factors describe elements that “define, influence, and prescribe certain practices and behaviors, including legal, political, government, and collective bodies and institutions” (Thoroughgood et al. 2018, p. 643). Weak institutional factors that promote toxic leadership processes and outcomes include a lack of checks and balances, which could be internal or external checks (Thoroughgood et al. 2018). Leaders are encouraged to have a certain degree of discretion or freedom from institutional constraint at work; however, unconstrained authority provides the opportunities for toxic leaders to abuse their power and for toxic leaders and their susceptible followers to engage in harmful behaviors (Padilla et al. 2007; Thoroughgood et al. 2018). Organizations are sources of internal checks because organizations that impose controls on their operations are likely to

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effectively regulate toxic leader-follower interactions (Thoroughgood et al. 2018). Other internal checks include governing boards, policies on ethics and monitoring systems (Treviño et al. 2006), as well as organizational processes such as “fraud control systems, interdepartmental crosschecking, and ethics codes, committees, and communication networks” (Thoroughgood et al. 2018, p. 643). Regarding external checks, the media, experts, and government agencies may help regulate toxic leaderfollower interactions (Thoroughgood et al. 2018). The media may act as a watchdog of leaders and followers through news coverage, while unbiased experts’ views may add credibility to news coverage through facts and objectivity (Thoroughgood et al. 2018). Government agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also play an important role in providing checks by regulating business activities of organizations (Thoroughgood et al. 2018). Macro-environmental factors are “social, economic, and technological forces that reduce organizational transparency, decrease checks and balances, and heighten followers’ dependence on leaders” (Thoroughgood et al. 2018, p. 644). Macroenvironmental factors include instability as well as complexity and dynamism (Thoroughgood et al. 2018). Leaders tend to increase their power during unstable periods, when the need for order requires leaders with perceived abilities to restore stability (Thoroughgood et al. 2018). At these times, leaders tend to be given greater authority in order to take immediate action and make autonomous decisions (Padilla et al. 2007). Complex and dynamic environments tend to also reduce checks on the authority and control of toxic leaders (Thoroughgood et al. 2018). For instance, organizations in industries with rapid technological advancements and changing markets are difficult to monitor as this would require constant adaptation to and monitoring of “complex networks of transactions and differentiated roles and tasks” (Thoroughgood et al. 2018, p. 644). Culture describes the “attitudes, beliefs, and values of a group, organization, region, or country and consists of multiple dimensions” (Thoroughgood et al. 2018, p. 645). It stresses the sociocultural traditions that support an organization’s mission and plays an important role in predicting behaviors and outcomes (Smith and Fredricks-Lowman 2019). It is therefore expected that relationships between leaders and their followers would be affected by the culture of the organizations in which they reside (Padilla et al. 2007). Organizational cultures that are high on power distance, collectivism, masculine contest, and uncertainty avoidance tend to create conducive environments that stimulate toxic leadership processes in organizations (Hofstede 1984; Matos et al. 2018; Padilla et al. 2007; Smith and Fredricks-Lowman 2019; Thoroughgood et al. 2018). According to Hofstede (2011, p. 9), power distance is the “extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.” It is the degree of inequality that exists between a less powerful and a more powerful individual, which could be represented by the leader-follower relationship in organizations (Bochner and Hesketh 1994). Therefore, in high-power-distance organizational cultures, followers are more accepting of the power asymmetries that characterize tyranny and toxicity (Padilla et al. 2007). Collectivist environments are most times self-regulated by enforced social rules that place organizational needs

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above individual needs (Smith and Fredricks-Lowman 2019). In these environments, toxic leaders tend to be powerful and to thrive because collectivists prefer to appoint strong leaders who bring people together and promote group cohesion (Smith and Fredricks-Lowman 2019; Thoroughgood et al. 2018). Masculine contest cultures describe “norms, rituals, and belief systems valorizing social dominance, prioritizing work above all other parts of life, gratuitous displays of physical strength, and the avoidance of weakness” (Matos et al. 2018, p. 501). In organizations that are high on masculine contest, mistakes are irreversible, signs of emotional vulnerability should be avoided, and expressions of strength and stamina are a necessity to succeed (Matos et al. 2018). By encouraging such highly competitive work environments, organizations high on masculinity contest tend to promote the spread of toxic leadership (Matos et al. 2018). Uncertainty avoidance involves the extent to which a society tolerates ambiguous situations (Thoroughgood et al. 2018). It deals with the way people are programmed to avoid uncomfortable or unfamiliar situations by enacting behavioral codes, laws, rules, and regulations (Hofstede 2011). In uncertainty-avoiding organizational cultures, followers look to strong leaders to provide clarity, security, and hope, thus creating opportunities for toxic leaders to exert their influence by exploiting their followers’ needs and providing structure and rules that offer easy solutions to complex problems (Smith and Fredricks-Lowman 2019; Thoroughgood et al. 2018). In sum, toxic leadership hardly thrives in stable systems with strong institutions, adequate checks and balances on authority as well as reduced complexity and dynamism. Furthermore, strong followers as well as individualistic organizational cultures low on power distance, masculine contest, and uncertainty avoidance tend to control the exacerbation of toxicity in organizations (Smith and FredricksLowman 2019).

Poisonous Effects of Toxic Leadership Statistically, toxic leadership has been associated with a decrease in employee work effort of about 48%, a decrease in work quality of about 38%, and an association with about 73% of employee turnover (Singh et al. 2018). According to Black (2015, p. ii), the experience of toxic leadership in an organization is like an “institutional cancer with the high-propensity to metastasize, leaving destruction, poison, and scars in its path and beyond.” Toxic leadership could be considered a silent killer in organizations because it tends to consume individuals, groups, and the organization as a whole (Singh et al. 2018). The next section highlights the poisonous effects of toxic leadership on employee and organizational outcomes.

Employee Outcomes Most studies in toxic leadership literature have considered negative consequences of toxic leadership behaviors on individual level constructs (Saqib and Arif 2017). According to Ross et al. (2014), toxic leadership impacts negatively on employee’s psychological, physical, and mental health as well as resignations or transfers from

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work (Lipman-Blumen 2006; Pelletier 2010). It is also linked with increased employee absenteeism, tardiness, and reduced productivity (Ross et al. 2014). Further, toxic leadership is associated with reduced employee loyalty, motivation, happiness, and affective well-being (Dagless 2018; Goldman 2009; Tamby et al. 2018). It is identified as a contributing factor to the number of suicides in the United States (US) military (Zwerdling 2014) and the nursing profession (Dagless 2018; Roter 2011). Toxic leadership is also related to a decrease in self-esteem, self-insight, and low self-worth (Singh et al. 2018). More so, toxic leadership is associated with feelings of helplessness, sense of threat, mistreatment, and betrayal as well as frustration, depression, burnout, and job insecurity (Singh et al. 2018). Employees of toxic leaders tend to experience feelings of violation, uncertainty, and reduced emotional stability (Malik et al. 2019). Matos et al. (2018) found that toxic leadership was associated with lower work engagement, job satisfaction, and job meaning as well as a higher intention to job search. Toxic leadership is associated with sexual harassment (Chan et al. 2008), increase in psychological distress (Tamby et al. 2018), and decreased psychological well-being (Cortina et al. 2001). It decreases employees’ creativity, withdrawal, and performance and increases job stress, workfamily conflict (Tepper 2000) as well as the intention to leave the organization (Aboyassin and Abood 2013; Akca 2017; Burns 2017; Lipman-Blumen 2005; Liu et al. 2012; Macklem 2005). Employees tend to carry out counterproductive and retaliatory work behaviors such as damaging equipment, wasting materials and supplies as well as purposely doing work incorrectly, when they work with toxic leaders (Wimmer 2017). In addition, employees feel cynical and distrustful of the organization, which can lead to a low morale, reduced energy, enthusiasm, and selfesteem (Lipman-Blumen 2005; Wimmer 2017). Toxic leadership is associated with increased employee emotional exhaustion and turnover (Malik et al. 2019; Starratt and Grandy 2010), alcohol and drug abuse (Lubit 2003), as well as a decrease in employee-affiliation-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors – behaviors that are “interpersonal and cooperative and tend to strengthen or maintain interpersonal relationships with others” (Behery et al. 2018, p. 796). Other employee outcomes include reduced employee effectiveness and misinterpretation of communication (Ashforth 1997; Mehta and Maheshwari 2014). For instance, in the army, toxic leadership affects soldiers’ mindset, loyalty, and mission accomplishment (Mehta and Maheshwari 2014).

Organizational Outcomes Limited studies have examined the relationships between toxic leadership and organizational outcomes (Pelletier 2010; Schmidt 2014). In the literature, toxic leadership is negatively associated with group cohesion, group-level job satisfaction, group productivity, group-level organizational trust, and group-level organizational commitment (Schmidt 2014). It is linked with reduced organizational performance, unit cohesion, and team spirit as well as dysfunctional group behaviors as well as reduced organizational health and survival (Mehta and Maheshwari 2014; Reed 2004). Toxic leadership is associated with high absenteeism rate, reduced personnel efficiency, negative cost-benefit relationship for organizations as well as increased

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personnel transfer (Wilson-Starks 2003; Yavaş 2016) and groupthink (Schmidt 2008; Yavaş 2016). If left unchecked, toxic leadership impacts organizational growth and output, which harms overall organizational profitability (Dagless 2018; Whicker 1996).

Process of Toxic Leadership According to Milosevic et al. (2019), the process of toxic leadership consists of three elements, namely, the intent of toxic leaders, the toxic influence, and the follower’s state and response to toxicity as well as interconnections between them.

Toxic Intent Toxic leaders either lack the required competence for the position they occupy or they have insufficient competence when compared with others to occupy a position of authority (Milosevic et al. 2019). They tend to micromanage their followers and make drastic changes in decisions in a bid to mask their shortfall in competence (Milosevic et al. 2019). In order to maintain their positions of control notwithstanding their level of incompetence, toxic leaders try to sideline followers who could potentially threaten positions of control by highlighting their lack of competence (Milosevic et al. 2019). This is done by creating high levels of ambiguity, which neutralizes others’ ability to confront and challenge them (Milosevic et al. 2019). As a result of the intent to conceal their lack of competence and maintain positions of control, toxic leaders engage in toxic influence tactics to build the right context for their leadership style to thrive (Milosevic et al. 2019; Osborn et al. 2014). Toxic Influence Toxic leaders engage in influence attempts that create a context filled with confusion and ambiguity, which protects them from other’s evaluation and critique. They build this context through upward influence and downward influence tactics (Milosevic et al. 2019). Toxic leaders enact upward influence by managing the perceptions of their superiors (Milosevic et al. 2019). For instance, they present results in an exaggerated manner even when the results do not reflect the actual situation of things or when results are achieved through unethical means (Milosevic et al. 2019). Toxic leaders support the initiatives of their superiors and use the opportunity to distort their perceptions and to get closer to them (Milosevic et al. 2019). These close relations limit opportunities for objective performance evaluations of toxic leaders by their superiors, enhance their powers, and legitimize their positions of control (Milosevic et al. 2019). Toxic leaders use downward influence tactics aimed at creating obstacles that interfere with the follower’s ability to work effectively (Milosevic et al. 2019). They control their followers using legitimate means such as rules and regulations that although created for legitimate purposes are misused in an effort to control the flow of information and interfere with the follower’s work (Milosevic et al. 2019).

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Follower State and Response to Toxicity Toxic influence attempts are obstacles that often involve activities such as dealing with tasks that are outside of the scope of work or crossing the line between personal and official tasks (Milosevic et al. 2019). These obstacles cause followers to feel frustrated and powerless and to start contemplating whether to leave the organization or stay in the toxic environment and make little contribution to organizational goals (Milosevic et al. 2019). Toxicity is further strengthened as toxic leaders celebrate a few “in-group” followers who tend to conform to their authority (Milosevic et al. 2019). However, when faced with persistent toxicity in the work environment, many followers ultimately decide to leave the organization. Existing research focuses on followers of toxic leaders as susceptible individuals who obey their toxic leaders out of fear, powerlessness, and for personal gains (Padilla et al. 2007; Shaw et al. 2011; Thoroughgood et al. 2012). Yet, other studies suggest that followers may be more than just unwilling recipients by showing the intent to challenge toxic leaders and confront destructive behaviors (Fraher 2016; Milosevic et al. 2019; Pelletier 2012). Followers have been found to establish relationships with those around toxic leaders such as their superiors to gain understanding and support for their arguments when standing up to toxic leaders as well as resources that help them avoid the toxic leadership influence (Milosevic et al. 2019).

Coping with Toxic Leaders Toxic leadership is associated with increased levels of stress for followers and is considered to be a kind of workplace stressor (Burke 2016). To survive the strain of working with toxic leaders, followers have employed various strategies and have also received recommendations on how to cope with these leaders (Morris 2019). Coping refers to “realistic and flexible thoughts and acts that solve problems and thereby reduce stress” (Lazarus and Folkman 1984, p. 118). Coping strategies employed by followers tend to depend on the age and gender of the follower as well as the intensity of the toxic event (Morris 2019; Simons and Sauer 2013). Strategies also depend on the psychological state of the follower in terms of personality, the context of the toxic event, as well as the leader-follower relationship (Morris 2019). According to Lipman-Blumen (2006), employees might survive toxic leaders by taking the risk to confront their fears; seeking the leaders within themselves and fostering accountability and democracy; appreciating realistic leaders rather than “paradise-promising” leaders; and foregoing the illusion that they (followers) are special in-group members, which makes them easy prey for toxic leaders who promise to keep them safe and secure (Lipman-Blumen 2005, pp. 66, 377). Lipman-Blumen (2010) proposed that followers could liberate themselves from toxic leaders by forming a union of like-minded followers to challenge the leader; meeting with the toxic leader’s superior; whistle blowing to the media; or considering leaving the organization. In addition, organizational leaders could identify and adopt processes that ensure the elimination of individuals with toxic leadership

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tendencies; conduct periodic 360 reviews to avoid festering of toxicity during the individual’s position as a leader; and conduct regular accountability forums at which toxic leaders must explain their decisions and actions. Organizational leaders could also develop exit initiatives to persuade toxic leaders to step aside from their position of authority either by moving to another role in the organization or by leaving the organization (Lipman-Blumen 2010). Tavanti (2011) recommended that to cope, deal with, and survive toxic leaders, followers could develop an indifferent attitude toward the leader, look for small victories to keep themselves motivated, limit their exposure to the toxic leaders, and report these leaders by whistleblowing. Yagil et al. (2011) found that coping strategies invoked by employees in response to destructive behaviors from their toxic leaders include speaking with others about the toxic occurrences, engaging in reassuring thoughts, stimulating positive emotions in the toxic leader by conforming and appearing less threatening and more likable, and avoiding contact with the leader. Simons and Sauer (2013) reported coping strategies of developing a thick skin and trying not to take things said by the leader too seriously, confronting the toxic leader, reporting the toxic leader, understanding the organization’s policies on acceptable workplace behaviors, and diarizing the toxic event to have documented evidence, which might be required for a planned intervention. Webster et al. (2016) found coping strategies of seeking mediation, whistleblowing, and making a formal complaint to the relevant authorities as well as seeking professional advice. Additionally, Webster et al. (2016) found that coping strategies employed when employees start to feel helpless include feelings of shame, disgust, and self-blame. Daniel (2017) suggested strategies that human resources (HR) personnel might use to reduce the toxic experience of employees. These strategies include empathetic listening to followers and providing them with the support the employees need to feel valued and respected in the organization as well as suggesting ways to manage the pain and frustration experienced by the employee either by brainstorming with the employee or by advocating on behalf of the employee. HR personnel could also work behind the scenes to provide a safe and confidential environment for the employee to vent their frustration or enabling the transfer of the employee to another department or work location away from the influence of the toxic leader. According to Shufelt and Longenecker (2017), key coping strategies that might be adopted by followers in order to have effective working relationships with their bosses include accepting the fact that they cannot change the boss; putting themselves in their bosses’ shoes by seeking out information that will help them better understand their superior’s goals and responsibilities; getting on the same page with their bosses by making sure that tasks and actions are properly aligned; and making efforts to contribute to their bosses’ success as well as ensuring that their bosses clearly understand these linkages. Further, Shufelt and Longenecker (2017) recommended that followers work hard to understand the strengths and weaknesses of their bosses to be in a good position to use their own emotional intelligence to find more effective ways to interact with their bosses; carry out regular assessment of the

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overall quality of their working relationships with their bosses to understand what is working well and what needs work to identify the things that need to be done to better manage their bosses; and seek opportunities to demonstrate their value rather than ways to avoid their bosses. In line with previous recommendations in the literature, Smith and FredricksLowman (2019) recommend that employees working with toxic leaders could access group support from other employees in similar situations to provide the employee with an opportunity to better assess the situation before taking long-term actions (Smith and Fredricks-Lowman 2019). In addition, employees are advised to document toxic situations and behaviors of their leaders, which could help identify toxic leaders if a grievance system is started in the organization (Smith and FredricksLowman 2019). For organizations, Smith and Fredricks-Lowman (2019) suggest that organizational leaders create policies that state proper leader behaviors, helpful tools for identifying toxic leadership, as well as procedures for reporting the destructive behaviors (Green 2014; Smith and Fredricks-Lowman 2019). In addition, organizational leaders could outline unacceptable dysfunctional characteristics and behaviors displayed by toxic leaders as well as educate employees and leaders on emotional intelligence to improve interactions and toxin detection (Smith and Fredricks-Lowman 2019). In sum, coping is a strategy that employees adopt to recuperate from the stressful effects of toxic leadership while seeking transformative strategies at the organizational level. Most studies recommend strategies to help employees cope with toxic leaders. However, organizations need to have systems that alert, identify, and address toxic behaviors; otherwise, toxic leaders may thrive in these organizations (Tavanti 2011).

Potential Bright Side of Toxic Leadership According to Goldman (2009), most productive leaders have some toxic qualities that contribute to their success. Therefore, toxic leaders could become an asset to organizations, but only when organizations provide appropriate interventions to transform toxicity into opportunities (Goldman 2009). Recent studies have reported that about 68% of employees working with toxic leaders are highly engaged unlike 35% working with nontoxic leaders (Singh et al. 2018). More so, employees of toxic leaders continue to work with their toxic bosses for an average of about 7 years, compared to 5 years for employees who work for nontoxic leaders (Singh et al. 2018). Therefore, some scholars have pointed out that toxic leaders may have destructive behaviors and dysfunctional personal characteristics; however, some of these qualities may possess bright consequences (Higgs 2009). Paunonen et al. (2006) studied 300 military cadets in a military officers training in Finland and found that the best-rated leaders were those high on egotism and selfesteem, which were proposed as 2 bright dimensions of the narcissistic tendencies of toxic leaders. Furnham et al. (2012) studied the relationship between dysfunctional traits of toxic leaders and found that the bold and colorful interpersonal tendencies

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of toxic leaders may be attractive to others and seen as a manifestation of selfconfidence. These qualities were found to be associated with success in clerical, sales, and management occupational functions (Furnham et al. 2012). Nevicka et al. (2016) found that when faced with situations that challenge their inflated views of themselves, the narcissistic trait of toxic leaders was associated with greater willingness to perform tasks that enabled demonstration of abilities and enhanced creative performance. Singh et al. (2018) suggested that narcissism has been found to have some positive associations with leadership effectiveness. The narcissistic tendencies of toxic leaders, which make them open to innovation, charismatic, and ambitious, might be advantageous to organizations since these tendencies tend to lead to the development of new products and services, attraction of followers that work hard to please their leader, and the overall progress of the organization (Uygur and Öğretmenoğlu 2018).

Future Directions for Researchers and Practitioners This chapter reviewed extant knowledge on the relationships between toxic leadership and its predictors and outcomes. The author hopes that further work could be done to provide more insight into contextual factors that affect these relationships as well as mediators and moderators that affect the process of toxic leadership. The effect of toxic leadership on absenteeism and presenteeism behaviors of employees could also be more deeply investigated. It could also be interesting to examine to what extent toxic leadership affects the relationship between leaderfollower demographic dissimilarities and work outcomes. Given the importance of toxic leadership in organizations, it could be useful to explore the development of high-quality leader-member exchange relationships between leaders and their followers as a means of managing toxicity in the workplace. Future studies could also further investigate processes through which toxic leaders could become assets to their organizations by examining the relationships between bright dimensions of their dysfunctional tendencies and work outcomes as well as the intervening mechanisms and boundary conditions that might explain these relationships. Finally, more studies aimed at understanding the impact of toxic leadership on business and management practices could be an interesting way of demonstrating the relevance of the field to practitioners.

Conclusion An understanding of toxic leadership has huge implications for employees and organizations since it affects among other things, employee psychological wellbeing, engagement, job satisfaction, and productivity. This chapter has examined the poisonous effects of toxic leadership on employee and organizational outcomes and how toxic leadership could be coped with and managed. First of all, the author

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looked at the diverse definitions of toxic leadership and toxic leaders based on the focus of these definitions and then moved on to discuss the dimensions and measures of toxic leadership. Afterward, the extant literature on predictors, outcomes, and process of toxic leadership were reviewed. Then, the author reviewed recommended ways by which employees, HR personnel, and organizational leaders could cope with and manage toxic leadership as well as ways in which the bright sides of toxic leadership could be considered and appropriate interventions provided to transform toxicity into opportunities in organizations. With this, the author was able to suggest future directions for toxic leadership scholars in order to further extend the existing knowledge in this important field.

Cross-References ▶ Toxic Leadership and Workplace Bullying: The Role of Followers and Possible Coping Strategies ▶ Toxic Leadership: Managing Its Poisonous Effects on Employees and Organizational Outcomes

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Contents Employee Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Theories Behind Employee Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Engagement Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Employee Engagement and Retention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Employee Engagement and Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Employee Engagement and Morale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Organizational Culture and Employee Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leadership and Employee Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Employee Engagement Strategies for Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Teamwork and Employee Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Employee Engagement and Productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Employee Engagement and Job Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Employee Engagement and Workplace Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Measuring Employee Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leadership Style on Employee Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

Employee engagement can be considered one of the essential keys to organizational success because it is inextricably linked with other factors, such as employee retention, morale, and productivity. When employees are not engaged in their work, organizations lose a lot of money on absenteeism, lost productivity, and turnover. The act of engaging employees lies directly on the employee’s manager. In order for managers to be able to engage employees, managers must be engaged in their work themselves. Thus, organizations’ learning how to L. Clack (*) College of Public Health, Health Sciences Campus, Wright Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_77

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effectively engage managers is the first step toward being successful in engaging employees. This chapter will explore the factors that are predictors of employee engagement.

Employee Engagement One of the critical functions of human resources is in developing and retaining excellent performers. Many organizations do this through employee engagement, which has been defined as the “motivation and commitment of staff to contribute to the organization” (Buchbinder and Shanks 2017, p. 11). There are three types of employee engagement: 1. Engaged employees are those who work with passion and feel a profound connection to their organization. These employees drive innovation and move the organization forward. 2. Employees who are not engaged are essentially “checked out” and are sleepwalking through the work day. These employees put time, but not passion or energy, into their work. 3. Disengaged employees are unhappy at work and are busy acting out their unhappiness. These workers undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish (Reilly 2017). Others have defined engagement as the extent to which people enjoy and believe in what they do and feel valued for doing it (Wellins and Bernthal 2015). Employee engagement occurs when people receive more pleasure and satisfaction from what they are doing because they are in jobs which match their interests and skills. People tend to be more engaged in their work when they feel that they are making meaningful contributions to their jobs and the organization. Recognizing and rewarding employees for their contributions also leads to more engaged employees (Wellins and Bernthal 2015). According to Gallup studies, engaged healthcare employees are more loyal to the organization, more willing to put forth effort, more willing to trust and cooperate with others, more willing to work through challenges, and more willing to speak out about problems and offer constructive suggestions for improvements (Kamins 2015). According to Gallup, 70% of employees in the USA are not engaged in their work, and the cost of this lost productivity is between $450 and $550 billion (O’Boyle and Harter 2013). These employees are not engaged or disengaged; they are simply indifferent. Employees who are not engaged want a reason to be inspired and need an extra push to become high-performing employees (Harter and Mann 2017). There are four primary reasons why employee engagement has become a crucial part of organizational success: 1. Employees are the primary source of competitive advantage for organizations. 2. Employee engagement has become imperative in employee retention.

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3. Employee engagement has popular appeal. It is about creating passion and focusing on what people do well. 4. Higher level of employee engagement leads to higher performance of organizations, which provides a way for human resources (HR) to prove its contribution (Wellins and Bernthal 2015). Fundamental beliefs about employee engagement: • The primary enabler of successful execution of any business strategy is employee engagement. Engaged employees are the highest source of competitive advantage, as they are nearly impossible to replicate. • Employee engagement is not a short-term strategy. It can take an organization years to build high levels of employee engagement. • Like many strategies, employee engagement must be driven from top leadership. Senior leaders must be highly engaged themselves. It will be hard for an organization to have highly engaged employees without highly engaged leaders. • Organizations should focus on hiring employees who are more likely to be engaged. People have particular characteristics and attributes that lead to increased engagement, and organizations should pay attention to these characteristics during the hiring process. • Engagement is all about fit, and people are more likely to be engaged if their jobs fit within their abilities, skills, motivation, and values. • An employee’s immediate supervisor has the largest impact on an employee’s engagement. Employees are more likely to leave a job due to their supervisor, rather than the job itself. • Measuring engagement is important, but it’s only a piece of the puzzle. Organizations should use simple, cost-effective measures while continuing to focus on improving engagement levels. • Employees are engaged because they care. Employees care because they feel someone cares about them. Highly engaged employees give that extra effort because the organization cares about the whole person and understands and appreciates them (Wellins and Bernthal 2015). Table 1 displays the keys to success for employee engagement. In addition, managers use the following strategies to develop and sustain employee engagement and to develop and maintain excellent performers: • • • •

Formal methods of employee engagement such as training programs Informal methods such as periodic performance appraisals Through providing leadership development programs Using employee satisfaction surveys to identify employee needs and measure employee satisfaction • Through providing continuing education courses • Providing employees with opportunities for job growth and enrichment (Buchbinder and Shanks 2011)

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Table 1 Employee engagement: keys to success (Markos and Sridevi 2010) Employee engagement: Keys to success Start employee engagement on day one Start employee engagement from the top Enhance employee engagement using two-way communication Provide opportunities for development and advancement Ensure employees have what they need to do their job Provide employees with appropriate training Employ a performance management system including opportunities for employee feedback Build in incentives for highly engaged employees Promote a strong work culture Focus on engaging high-performing employees

Theories Behind Employee Engagement Employee engagement as a concept came from researchers seeking to understand the positive behaviors and positive consequences of behaviors, which emerged from the positive psychology movement (Anthony-McMann et al. 2017). William Kahn’s (1990) work role model of engagement and disengagement suggested that employee engagement was the concurrent expression of one’s preferred self and the promotion of connections to others. Disengagement was theorized to be the withdrawal of oneself and of one’s preferred behaviors, promoting a lack of overall connectedness, emotional absence, and passive behavior (Shuck et al. 2011). The choice to express one’s authentic self was understood as the physical, emotional, and social act of engagement (Shuck and Wollard 2010). Based on this theory, it is believed that people are engaged at work when they feel their work is meaningful, they feel secure in their work environment, and they have the resources required to do their job (Thomas International 2016). According to Kahn (1990), there are domains important to understanding engagement and disengagement at work, and employee engagement or disengagement develops to the degree that these three constructs can be fulfilled: 1. Meaningfulness defined as the positive sense of return on investments of self in role performance. 2. Safety defined as the ability to show one’s self without fear or negative consequences to self-image, status, or career. 3. Availability defined as the sense of possessing the physical, emotional, and psychological resources necessary for the completion of work (Kahn 1990). Kahn’s work on engagement follows earlier related theories such as Maslow’s (1970) hierarchy of needs. Maslow’s (1970) hierarchy of needs provides a conceptual framework for understanding the importance of fulfilling basic human needs and gives context to the conceptualization of employee engagement (Kahn 1990). The importance of Maslow’s motivation theory in relation to employee engagement can be found in the structure of the theory as well as the definition of each basic need:

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1. Needs are arranged in order of potency. 2. Needs that are more foundational and critical to survival appear earlier in the hierarchy. 3. Needs are filled sequentially from lowest to highest and are grouped into two categories: survival and growth. (a) Survival needs include physiological and safety needs. (b) Growth needs include belonging and love, esteem, and self-actualization (Maslow 1970). Another theorist whose work can be connected to employee engagement is Frederick Herzberg. Herzberg’s (1959) two-factor theory suggested that autonomy in being, recognition of self and work, and meaningful understandings were factors that increased an employee’s intrinsic willingness to engage in work (Herzberg 1959). Herzberg (1968) proposed that intrinsic factors, such as the importance of contribution and personal growth, rather than extrinsic factors, such as compensation and company image, motivated employees to be engaged in their work. In their 1997 book, Maslach and Leiter positioned engagement as the positive psychological opposite of burnout. They stated that the opposite of burnout is not a neutral state, but a positive state of mental health. Maslach and Leiter posit that engagement with work is a productive and fulfilling state and that engagement is defined in terms of the same three dimensions as burnout: (1) a state of high energy (rather than exhaustion); (2) strong involvement (rather than cynicism); and (3) a sense of efficacy (rather than inefficacy) (Maslach and Leiter 2000). In contrast to Maslach and Leiter, Schaufeli and Bakker (2003) believe that burnout and employee engagement are two distinct concepts. Schaufeli and Bakker (2003) theorize that being engaged is a positive psychological state when a person feels energized at work, is absorbed in what they do, and is dedicated to their job. They state that although employees will experience burnout and engagement as opposite psychological states, both need to be considered independently (Schaufeli and Bakker 2003).

Engagement Drivers Employee engagement can be driven in organizations by using the three primary sources of influence for change: employees, leaders, and organizational systems and strategies (Wellins and Bernthal 2015). These three sources of influence work together to build an engaging environment. While these drivers are influential, engagement ultimately resides within the individual employee. Four Sequential Components of Engagement 1. Engagement Drivers (a) The right employees in the right job (b) Exceptional leadership (c) Organizational systems an strategies

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2. Work Environment (a) Aligned effort and strategies (b) Empowerment (c) Teamwork and collaboration (d) Growth and development (e) Support and recognition 3. Engaged Employees (a) Greater loyalty (b) Enhanced effort 4. Organizational success (a) Satisfied and loyal customers (b) Increased retention (c) Higher profits and profitability (d) Revenue growth (Wellins and Bernthal 2015) Highly engaged organizations share common philosophies and practices: (1)They know creating a culture of engagement starts at the top. (2)Their leaders are aligned in prioritizing engagement as a competitive, strategic point of differentiation. (3) They communicate openly and consistently. (4)They place the utmost importance on using the right metrics and on hiring and developing great managers. (5)Highly engaged organizations hold their managers accountable. (6)Highly engaged organizations have well-defined and comprehensive development programs for leaders and managers, and they focus on the development of individuals and teams (Harter and Mann 2017).

Employee Engagement and Retention It is well-known that better talent is worth fighting for. Across time, the need for talent has continued to increase, while organizations find it difficult to attract and retain good people (Chambers et al. 1998). Studies have shown that HR professionals feel that the top threats to employee retention at their organizations are career opportunities at other organizations, better compensation at other organizations, burnout, and dissatisfaction with career growth opportunities at their organization (Esen 2005). Tables 2, 3, and 4 show the top ten elements that attract employees, retain employees, and engage employees, respectively. Engaging and retaining skilled employees is vital to an organization’s survival and success. Providing employees with what they need will drive their commitment to the organization. Strategies for engaging and retaining employees include: • • • • •

Providing clear instructions, guidelines, and expectations to employees Helping employees understand how their work matters to the organization Providing meaningful feedback to employees on a regular basis Encouraging employees to take part in opportunities for growth and development Recognizing and rewarding employees (Work Institute 2019).

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Table 2 Top ten elements that attract employees (Towers Perrin 2003) Top ten elements that attract employees 1. Competitive health care benefits 2. Competitive base pay 3. Work-life balance 4. Competitive retirement benefits 5. Career advancement opportunities 6. Challenging work 7. Caliber of coworkers 8. Pay raises linked to individual performance 9. Recognition for work 10. Company reputation Table 3 Top ten elements that retain employees (Towers Perrin 2003) Top ten elements that retain employees 1. Career advancement opportunities 2. Retention of high-caliber people 3. Overall work environment 4. Development of employees’ skills 5. Resources to get the job done 6. Competitive base pay 7. Clear goals from manager 8. Challenging work 9. Manager inspires enthusiasm 10. Overall satisfaction with benefits needed in day-to-day life Table 4 Top ten elements that engage employees (Towers Perrin 2003) Top ten elements that engage employees 1. Senior management interest in employee well-being 2. Challenging work 3. Decision-making authority 4. Customer orientation 5. Career advancement opportunities 6. Company reputation 7. Collaboration with coworkers 8. Resources to get the job done 9. Input into decision-making 10. Senior management vision

Increasing employee engagement begins with good employee feedback. Engaged employees stay with the organization longer and are the best advocates for the organization and its products and services. Without engagement, organizations will find lower employee morale, increased turnover, lost training and recruiting dollars, and diminished productivity (Work Institute 2019).

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Employee engagement and retention statistics: • Employees are 55% more likely to leave their jobs in the coming year, 32% more likely to feel dissatisfied in their jobs, and 18% less likely to feel cared about by their employer (Colonial Life 2019). • 15% of adult employees are engaged with their employers, although organizations globally invest $18 billion per year on tools to boost engagement (Alderton 2019). • About 70% of Americans are disengaged at work (O’Boyle and Mann 2017). • Of the 5 billion people on the planet, only 1.4 billion have a good job, and just 16% of those are engaged (GALLUP 2018). • 65% of employees plan to stay in their current jobs despite disengagement at work (Achievers 2019). • 20.8% of employees consider themselves very engaged, 16.3% are fully engaged and 31.3% are engaged but feel their company could do more to improve employee experience (Achievers 2019). • 34.7% of workers plan to look for a new job in 2019, down from 74% last year (Achievers 2019). • 70.1% of employees do not consider themselves very engaged (Achievers 2019). • 18.6% of employees haven’t even decided if they’ll look for a new job yet (Achievers 2019). • 31.6% of employees said they have average engagement in their current job (Achievers 2019). • 14% of employees said the main reason they would change jobs is because they aren’t engaged (Achievers 2019).

Employee Engagement and Motivation Highly engaged and motivated employees are critical to the success of service organizations (Paek et al. 2015). The term “engaged” is often used when discussing how to motivate employees. Being engaged being and motivated are not the same thing (Tables 5 and 6); however, employees must be engaged to be motivated; and employees must be motivated in order to be engaged (Buchbinder and Shanks 2017). Motivation is the process that affects the inner needs and drives that arouse, move, energize, direct, channel, and sustain human behavior (Dunn 2016). Engagement is an active agreement to do something for someone. Motivation is the will to do something. Organizations want employees to be both engaged and motivated (Dunn 2016). Tips to keep a team both engaged and motivated: • Have complete clarity with the team to ensure employees know what goals they are working toward. • Celebrate improvements and accomplishments. • Set realistic goals.

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Table 5 Employee engagement and motivation examples (Dunn 2016) Engagement Employees have an emotional commitment to their work Employees continually learn and seek knowledge Team is working toward a common goal

Motivation Employees feel like their work is meaningful Employees take the initiative on tasks and projects Employees are working toward a bonus

Table 6 Engagement vs Motivation (Dunn 2016) Engagement The goal is learning and knowledge Team-focused Employees have an emotional connection to their work Triggered by inherent factors such as fulfillment

Motivation The goal is to initiate action Focused on autonomy Employees feel like their work has meaning Triggered by external factors such as pay

• Encourage teams to continuously learn and improve their skills. • Engage teams in planning on a quarterly and annual basis. • Communicate regularly with employees and encourage constructive conversation and feedback from employees (Dunn 2016). According to Towers Watson (2010), employee engagement encompasses three dimensions: • Rational, which refers to how well employees understand their roles and responsibilities • Emotional, which refers to how much passion employees bring to their work and organization • Motivational, which refers to how willing employees are to invest effort to perform their roles well (Towers Watson 2010) Research has consistently shown that job resources such as social support from coworkers and managers, performance feedback, skill variety, autonomy, and learning opportunities are positively associated with employee engagement (Bakker and Demerouti 2007; Schaufeli and Salanova 2007). Job resources refer to those physical, social, or organizational aspects of the job that may: • Reduce job demands and the associated physiological and psychological costs • Function in achieving work goals • Stimulate personal growth, learning, and development (Bakker and Demerouti 2007; Schaufeli and Bakker 2004) Resources are not only necessary to deal with high job demands, but they also play a motivational role because they foster employees’ growth, learning, and

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development, and they are instrumental in achieving work goals (Bakker and Demerouti 2008). Resources fulfill basic human needs, such as the needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence (Deci and Ryan 1985; Ryan and Frederick 1997). Proper feedback fosters learning, and increases job competence, where decision-making autonomy and social support satisfy the need for autonomy and the need to belong. Resourceful work environments also foster the willingness to dedicate one’s efforts and abilities to the job tasks and responsibilities (Meijman and Mulder 1998). In these environments, it is likely that the task will be completed successfully and that the work goal will be attained. Supportive colleagues and performance feedback increase the likelihood of being engaged and successful in achieving one’s work goals (Schaufeli and Bakker 2004; Schaufeli and Salanova 2007). Employee motivation can be measured by surveys using questions such as those shown in Table 7. Employee engagement and motivation statistics: • Most organizations (86%) have a rewards and/or recognition program in place. • 70% of those organizations offer between 3 and 6 different programs. • Incentives are part of a $100+ billion industry, $46 billion of which is non-cash incentives (a number that’s doubled in the past 10 years). • 89% of employers assume that their employees leave for more money elsewhere, but only 12% of employees actually earn more from their next company. • The presence of a corporate incentive program motivated 66% of employees to stay at their job.

Table 7 Employee motivation survey questions How stimulating and engaging is your work? How motivated are you at work? I feel inspired to do my best at work every day I am motivated to go the extra mile at work My job is challenging and exciting My job allows me to grow and develop new skills I feel I am contributing to the overall goals of my organization A superior has shown sincere interest in my career goals I feel that my work is seen and appreciated within my organization The recognition I receive from my direct manager motivates me to do my best My direct manager entrusts me with a high level of responsibility How focused are you on your job duties when at work? How excited to go to work are you usually? I look forward to going to work on Monday. I am motivated by my organization’s vision. What is your number one motivator at work? What could your organization do to increase your job motivation? How likely are you to recommend your organization as a place to work?

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• Organizations that offer at least one recognition program and that have a low turnover rate (0–5%) report statistically more recognition programs in place than the medium or high turnover categories (Hawk Incentives 2015).

Employee Engagement and Morale Morale is the total satisfaction that a person derives from the job, work group, supervisor, employing organization, and environment (Dunn 2016). Morale has also been defined as the attitude, emotional connection, and satisfaction of employees while they’re on the job (Lancaster 2019). Traditionally, organizational leaders and management monitored morale solely on the basis of employee retention and productivity. Employee morale and employee engagement go hand-in-hand. The state of an employee’s attitude directly relates to how they perform on the job. If an employee feels underappreciated, overworked, and devalued, that affects their motivation to excel. Low employee morale leads to employee disengagement (Lancaster 2019). Ways to build morale through employee engagement: 1. Increase employees’ choice in how they do their job. Providing employees with a choice will make them feel more autonomous and effective, which helps to increase job satisfaction and commitment. 2. Meet with employees regularly. Employees who are highly engaged in their jobs have good working relationships with their managers. 3. Encourage innovative input and perspectives from employees. Providing employees with opportunities for generating new ideas and working on projects of interest will help them feel like their contributions are a valued part of the team. 4. Promote the meaning behind the work. Ensure employees understand the larger purpose and the value they are providing. 5. Keep employees learning and growing. Provide employees with opportunities to learn new things and improve knowledge through trainings and development programs. 6. Provide employees with positive and informational feedback. Providing positive feedback and recognition helps employees feel self-responsible. 7. Encourage employees to set challenging goals and accomplish them. Promoting self-initiative will increase employees’ sense of value (Robinson 2015). Employee morale can be measured through a survey utilizing questions such as those shown in Table 8 (Bhat, Employee Morale, 2019c). Employee morale statistics: • Highly engaged teams show 21% greater profitability. • 89% of HR leaders agree that ongoing peer feedback and check-ins are key for successful outcomes.

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Table 8 Employee morale survey questions (Bhat, Employee Morale, 2019c) Based on your overall experience regarding employee morale on a scale of 0–10, how likely are you to recommend this organization to your friends and colleagues? Do you feel you get recognition for your work? How do you perceive the morale in the company? Is stress in your workplace affecting your life outside the organization? Are you able to manage your workload effectively? Do you feel respected in your workplace? What is the relationship you share with your supervisor or manager? Do you feel your organization cares about you? How do you define your communication with the top level management? Do you feel secure in this job? How satisfied are with the salary and other compensations provided in this organization? In the last 6 months, has someone at the workplace spoken to you about the progress you have made? Do you think your opinion matters to your team? How often do you receive recognition or praises at your workplace? Do you know the organization’s expectations of you?

• Employees who feel their voice is heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work. • 96% of employees believe showing empathy is an important way to advance employee retention. • Disengaged employees cost US companies up to $550 billion a year. • 61% of employees are burned out on the job. • 89% of workers at companies that support well-being initiatives are more likely to recommend their company as a good place to work. • 70% of employers have improved their physical environments to encourage healthy behaviors. • 61% of employees agree that they have made healthier lifestyle choices because of their company’s wellness program. • 87% of employees expect their employer to support them in balancing work and personal commitments (Beheshti 2019).

Organizational Culture and Employee Engagement A key element for organizations is establishing and maintaining a positive culture. Organizational culture has been defined as “the pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered, or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integrations, and that have worked well enough to be considered valid” (Walston 2017, p.157). In more simple terms, organizational culture is thought of as the typical way things are done in an organization. A positive organizational culture is one in which the organization conducts business in alignment with the values of the organization. Ideally,

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organizational culture should foster openness, positive attitudes, and good communication between employees and the organization (Suharti and Suliyanto 2012). Social exchange theory has been used to explain the correlation between employee engagement and organizational culture. According to the social exchange theory, the engagement of employees and their organization is a result of a two-way interaction between the employees and the organization. As such, employees who perceive that they receive good attention from the organization feel that they owe the organization, which may result in better work performance (Robinson et al. 2004). Social exchange theory explains why employees respond to work with different levels of engagement (Cooper-Thomas et al. 2018). Employee views of organizational culture can be assessed through survey questions such as those shown in Table 9 (Bhat, Work Culture, 2019b). Organizational culture statistics: • 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe a distinct workplace culture is important to business success (Deloitte Consulting 2012). • On a survey, 82% of respondents reported that they believe that culture is potential competitive advantage (Deloitte Consulting 2016).

Table 9 Organizational culture survey questions (Bhat, Work Culture, 2019b) On a scale of 0–10, how likely are you to recommend our organization to your friends and colleagues due to the culture? Are you comfortable with your workplace culture? If yes, Why? Do you feel respected by your team and the organization? Does your manager provide you with timely feedback about your work? Which aspects of the organization can be improved to make it a better place to work? How would you define leadership exhibited in this organization? How would you characterize this organization’s management style? According to you, how does this organization define “success”? Is your organization dedicated to diversity and inclusiveness? Do you understand how your work impacts the organization’s business goals? Do you think the organization operates in a socially responsible manner? Are you satisfied that the organization’s work is positively impacting the employees in the organization? Are you satisfied with the overall job security in the organization? Does your organization have a safe working environment for all the employees? Do you think the organization adheres to a zero-tolerance policy against any kind of discrimination? Does your manager/supervisor share decision-making power with you? Do you have a say in the organization’s policy changes? Is there a culture of teamwork and cooperation within the organization? Are you satisfied with the way performance reviews are conducted in the organization? Are there any additional questions you would like to add to this survey?

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• One in three executives (28%) reported that they know their organization’s culture, while other report that they know it but don’t understand it (Deloitte University Press 2016). • Although there has been an emergency of many tools to measure employee engagement, only 64% of organizations currently do this as part of their culture (Deloitte University Press 2016). • 37% or workers believe that employers should change organizational culture in order to ensure a good work-life balance (Working Families and Bright Horizons 2018). • 88% of employees stated that organizational culture was of some importance to them (Jobvite 2018). • 13.5% of employees admit that organizational culture will push them to accept another job offer (Ajilon 2018).

Leadership and Employee Engagement Relationship affect performance and productivity; thus the relationship between leadership and employee engagement is of importance (Mehrzi and Singh 2016). Research has shown that authentic leadership may positively impact employee attitudes, job satisfaction, job commitment, and employee engagement (Wang and Hsieh 2013). Authentic leadership refers to leader behavior that promotes a positive ethical climate focused on self-awareness and fosters positive self-development in employees (Walumbwa 2008). Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory states that leaders form high-quality relationships with some employees but not others, and the quality of the leaderemployee relationship affects workplace outcomes such as employee engagement (Carasco-Saul et al. 2014). We know that it is not uncommon for employees to feel disengaged at work. A major reason why employee engagement is low is because new leaders are not equipped to lead. To help employees become more engaged at work, leaders should focus on these four factors: 1. Management engagement: Leaders can provide routine coaching, development, and feedback in order to increase management engagement because improving management engagement will build trust and loyalty. 2. Job engagement: Leaders can bring in internal or external stakeholders who have directly benefitted from work employees have done in order to increase job engagement. Increased job engagement is associated with better employee performance. 3. Team engagement: Leaders can provide direction, alignment, and commitment in order to increase team engagement. Increased team engagement is associated with better employee performance. 4. Organization engagement: Leaders can advocate for training and development opportunities for employees in order to increase organization engagement.

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Increased organization engagement is associated with decreased employee turnover and increased employee satisfaction (Center for Creative Leadership 2019).

Employee Engagement Strategies for Leaders 1. Leaders should show employees that their work matters by: • Providing clarity about the values of the organization • Discussing the meaning of their work • Acknowledging employee contributions to the larger context within the organization • Showing employees how their interested can be realized 2. Leaders should enable employees to be more effective in their jobs by: • Listening to their point of view • Asking employees for their feedback • Giving employees choices in how to do their job • Recognizing employee work in a way that matters to them 3. Leaders should encourage employees to be innovative by: • Encouraging employees to try new approaches and take risks • Asking employees what they could learn from the situation • Discussing possibilities for the future 4. Leaders can encourage employee growth in their job by: • Providing challenging opportunities for employees to test their skills • Supporting decisions that employees make • Being clear regarding goals, plans, and milestones 5. Leaders should be a leader that employees want to support and willingly follow by: • Treating employees with dignity and respect • Following through on promises and commitments to employees • Seeking ways to celebrate employee accomplishments • Looking toward a shared dream of the future (Seaton 2018) Employee views of leadership can be assessed on a survey utilizing questions such as those shown in Table 10 (Bhat, Leadership Survey, 2019a). Leadership and employee engagement statistics • According to a Gallup survey, 37% of engaged employees are looking for jobs or are open to new opportunities, as are 56% of note engaged employees and 73% of actively disengaged employees (Harter and Adkins 2017). • 36% of businesses report employee engagement as a top challenge for leadership (Globoforce 2016). • According to a MetLife survey, 93% of workers stated that the most critical factor in creating alignment with company values was trustworthy leadership (BoldenBarrett 2018).

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Table 10 Leadership survey questions (Bhat, Leadership Survey, 2019a) On a scale from 0–10, how would you rate yourself as a leader? Do you like setting up goals and targets? What is your response to someone who questions your decision-making abilities? In your opinion do you respond fairly to the issues in the team? Are you open to suggestions from employees and co-workers? Are you willing to take responsibility when a team member fails to deliver against expectations? Do you feel employees should only take orders without asking any questions? Do you personally think that a leader should be reasonable? A leader must not hold any grudges or biases against anyone in the team. Do you agree with the statement? Do you feel being correct is more important than being right? Do you feel providing guidance without any pressure is a trait of a good leader? Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years? Is there anything that you would like to add? What is your current designation? What is the department you are currently working in? Please select your gender Please select your ethnicity Please select your educational qualification How long have you been associated with the organization? What are the three things you would like to improve in this organization?

Teamwork and Employee Engagement A study by the ADP Research Institute found that employees are twice as likely to feel engaged in their work if they consider themselves part of a team (Bradley and Olivier 2019). Research by McKinsey has also found that those who work in teams are the most engaged workers and are twice as likely to be fully engaged as people who work on their own (Minana 2020). Leaders can impact team members’ engagement by: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Defining realistic engagement goals Finding ways to connect with team members individually Showing they care about team members’ work and lives Focusing on and developing employee strengths Helping employees verbalize what the company’s mission, vision, and values means to them 6. Intensifying and extending the engagement level of new team members 7. Enhancing the well-being of employees (Clark 2014) Team building ideas are shown in Table 11 (Stange 2020). Teamwork can be assessed on a survey utilizing questions such as those shown in Table 12.

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Table 11 Team building ideas for increasing employee engagement (Stange 2020) Setting team goals Incentivizing and aligning team goals Driving purpose Teaching each other something new Building something together

Finding your team strengths Participating in a focus group Creating cross-functional teams Serving the community Committing to healthy conflict

Table 12 Teamwork survey questions Overall, how effectively did your team work together on this project? What percentage of your team participated actively and was fully prepared most of the time? Give one specific example of something you learned from the team that you probably would not have learned working alone Give one specific example of something the other team members learned from you that they probably would not have learned otherwise Suggest at least one change the team could make could be made to improve its performance or the project What are three ways you did well in functioning as a team? What problems have you had interacting as a team? What is a specific action that would help the team function and interact even better next time? Overall, how effectively has your team been working together on this project? How many of the team members participated actively most of the time? How many of you were fully prepared for the teamwork most of the time? Suggest one specific, practical change the team could make that would help improve everyone’s learning What specific goals is the team trying to accomplish? Please list the goal(s) in your priority order. Do you think the team basically agrees on the contents of this list? What activities has the team specifically chosen to undertake or assign in order to achieve its goals? Which activities, if any, are particularly effective?

Teamwork and employee engagement statistics: • 54% of employees stated that their main reason for remaining on the job is due to their loyalty to their coworkers, team, boss, and company (Ajilon 2018). • 63% of employees state that they believe managers are most responsible for sharing engagement-based results to teams (Quantum Workplace 2019).

Employee Engagement and Productivity Employee engagement and productivity are not the same thing, and it is important for organizations to recognize the difference so they can enact a plan to ensure both the organization and employees are receiving the benefit of both. All organizations want to have productive employees, but productivity is only one piece of the puzzle. According to a 2016 GALLUP poll, teams with high employee engagement rates are

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21% more productive (Dvorak and Kruse 2016). While we know that productivity doesn’t necessarily mean engagement, the GALLUP poll (2016) also found that employees who are engaged are 27% more likely to report excellent performance (Dvorak and Kruse 2016). To create both employee productivity and engagement, organizations need to ensure that workplaces are designed around their company values. The next thing the organization can do to ensure that employees are productive and engaged is to offer them the times and places to build interpersonal relationships. Finally, organizations should check in with their employees to ensure that the company mission aligns with the ways that they currently work (Dukes 2018). By regularly checking in with employees, organizations can ensure that their efforts are making the most impact by asking employees what they want and need out of their workspace. This will provide direction and it will also make employees feel valued, which leads to higher engagement (Dukes 2018). Employee productivity statistics: • Productivity improves by 20–25% in organizations with connected employees (Chui et al. 2012). • Employees who exercise their strengths on a daily basis are 8% more productive and 6x more likely to be engaged (Flade et al. 2015). • Teams with high employee engagement rates are 21% more productive and have 28% less internal theft than those with low engagement (Dvorak and Kruse 2016). • High-performing employees have three things in common: talent, high engagement, and 10+ years of service within the company (Harter 2015). • Employees who are engaged are 27% more likely to report “excellent” performance (Witters and Agrawal 2015). • 57% of employees who said they were very stressed at work felt less productive and disengaged, while only 10% of low-stress employees reported feeling this way (Willis Towers Watson 2014).

Employee Engagement and Job Satisfaction Approximately 41.4 million people in the USA voluntarily left their jobs in 2018, which is 8.3% more than in 2017 (Work Institute 2019). This rate of voluntary turnover annually costs organizations billions in lost productivity, rehiring, and retraining (HR Technologist 2020). One method for retaining some employees is by addressing job satisfaction and employee engagement. Job satisfaction and employee engagement are not the same. Job satisfaction is typically related to compensation, benefits, work-life balance, and recognition. Employee engagement is typically related to inspiring leadership, career development, internal communication, and a culture of diversity (HR Technologist 2020). Eighty-eight percent of US employees reported overall job satisfaction in 2015, which was the highest level of satisfaction in 10 years. However, employees are satisfied only to a certain extent. Fifty-one percent being only somewhat satisfied. The top 5 contributors to job satisfaction were reported as respectful treatment of all

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employees, compensation/pay, benefits, job security, and trust between employees and senior management (SHRM 2016). Employee engagement and job satisfaction statistics: • Provided that employees believed their employer’s rationale for not giving them a raise, 50% of employees had the same level of job satisfaction as employees who received a raise (PayScale 2018). • Fifty-nine percent of employees view being paid competitively with the local market as very important to job satisfaction (SHRM 2016). • Sixty-three percent of employees report that paid time off is a very important factor in job satisfaction (SHRM 2016). • Sixty-two percent of employees report health benefits as very important to job satisfaction (SHRM 2016).

Employee Engagement and Workplace Stress Excess stress is a health hazard and makes people three times more likely to leave their jobs. Workplace stress costs the USA approximately $300 billion per year in absenteeism, turnover, and reduced productivity (Peart 2019). Prior research has found that workplace stress and burnout negatively affect employee engagement (Anthony-McMann et al. 2017). In addition, HealthyPeople 2020 established a goal to “increase the proportion of employees who have access to workplace programs that prevent or reduce employee stress” (HealthyPeople 2020). Employers should aim to prevent burnout by decreasing workplace stress while increasing employee engagement. Leaders should do this by: • Creating a work environment that decreases stress, by: – Increasing psychological safety – Building break times into the work day – Encouraging use of private work spaces – Setting boundaries around time outside of work – Looking into flexible work policies • Build employee engagement, by: – Being transparent – Making sure employees are in the right roles – Providing employees with as much autonomy as possible – Demonstrating a commitment to employee growth – Creating a culture of employee recognition – Deepening engagement by instilling a sense of purpose in employees (Peart 2019) Employee engagement and workplace stress statistics • Approximately 50% of employees state that workplace stress makes them “check out” and stop caring about work at some point in their careers (Hansen 2018).

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• 60% of employees reported being stressed all or most of the time at work (Udemy 2017). • 35% of employees said that their boss was their biggest stress and/or 80% reported that organizational change was their biggest stressor (Business Wire 2018).

Measuring Employee Engagement Measuring morale does not tell an organization how employees are behaving, but measuring engagement can (MacLeod and Clarke 2009). Employee engagement is a measure of an employee’s positive and negative attachment to their job. This measure significantly impacts job performance (Fried and Fottler 2018). Employees are engaged if they are willing to go above and beyond what is typically expected of someone in that position (Effron and Ort 2010). Employees who are engaged typically demonstrate higher levels of performance, and higher level of commitment, and are more loyal to the organization (Fried and Fottler 2018). Engagement is generally measured through employee satisfaction surveys. Particular items on surveys may be used for organizations to assess specific strengths and weaknesses relative to engagement (Wellins and Bernthal 2015). Surveys may assess employee’s views related to coworkers, benefits, wages, working conditions, quality of services, supervisors, the organization as a whole, and specific policies (Dunn 2016). In order to measure engagement, organizations must be able to capture the attitudes and behaviors associated with employee engagement (Mone and London 2018). The following six characteristics, and the associated attitudes and behaviors, have been used to measure engagement: 1. Involvement, such as feeling engaged, challenged by the work, and energized to perform your best. 2. Commitment, such as feeling committed to a long-term career with the company, committed to the company’s success, and consistently working with a high level of focus and energy. 3. Meaningfulness, such as finding work meaningful and understanding how one contributes to the success of the company. 4. Empowerment, such as feeling empowered to do the best job and having the resources necessary to do the job effectively. 5. Manager support, such as believing that the manager cares about individual employee’s career development efforts, the manager provides resources for jobrelated training, and manager recognizes employee’s efforts and makes them feel valued. 6. Loyalty, such as planning to remain with the organization, feeling proud to work for the organization, and willing to recommend the organization as a place to work (Mone and London 2018).

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There are differences between attitudes, behaviors, and outcomes in terms of employee engagement. An employee might feel pride and loyalty (an attitude), and be a great advocate of their company to clients, or go the extra mile to finish a piece of work (a behavior). Outcomes may include lower accident rates, higher productivity, fewer conflicts, more innovation, lower turnover, and reduced sickness rates. All three – attitudes, behaviors, and outcomes – are part of the employee engagement (MacLeod and Clarke 2009). Employee satisfaction can also be used as a measure of employee engagement. One way to measure employee satisfaction is through the use of employee satisfaction surveys. Table 13 provides sample questions for use on employee satisfaction surveys (Bhat, Employee Satisfaction, 2019d).

Leadership Style on Employee Engagement The effect of the Chief Executive Officer’s (CEO) leadership style is considered to have multiple level effects on every employee. These effects on employees may be direct or indirect, through the impact that CEO leadership has on senior management (Papalexandris and Galanaki 2009). Research has measured CEO leadership dimensions to establish which CEO leadership dimensions have an immediate effect on employees’ engagement The CEO leadership dimensions studied were (1)“Manager/mentor skills,” (2)“Articulation of vision.” (3)“Self-management and inner balance,” (4)“Collaboration with other people/Sociability,” and (5)“Bureaucratic” Of these five sets of characteristics, only two were found to be related with subordinate’s engagement: “Good manager/ Mentor and “Articulation of vision” (Papalexandris and Galanaki 2009). Research has suggested that authentic leadership may positively affect employee attitudes and behavior, as well as employee engagement (Wang and Hsieh 2013). Authentic leadership refers to leader behavior that promotes positive psychological capacities and a positive ethical climate that nurtures self-awareness, an internalized moral perspective, balanced processing of information, and relational transparency for how leaders work with employees, fostering positive self-development (Walmubwa et al. 2008). Understanding how employees feel about the organization, culture, and business practices is key to engaging employees. Employees’ perceptions of management effectiveness are equally important. There are ten critical leadership qualities needed for employee engagement: 1. Values. Leaders should back up messages with positive deeds and should live and breathe the organization’s values. 2. Vision. The organization’s vision statement should be clear and supported by the direction the business is going in. 3. Accountability. Accountability in the organization should be a shared responsibility. True accountability is a sharing between management and the employees, whether there is success or failure.

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Table 13 Employee satisfaction survey questions (Bhat, Employee Satisfaction, 2019d) 1. Is there a clear understanding of the strategic objectives of the organization? 2. Is it clear to you what your role demands in meeting the company objectives? 3. Do you believe that there is an opportunity for individual career growth and development within the company? 4. Will you be working for the same organization in next 2 years? 5. Are you satisfied with your job overall? 6. Do you relish being a member of your team? 7. Is your team an inspiration for you to do your best at the job? 8. Does your team provide you support at work whenever needed? 9. Do you struggle to get information to make better decisions at work? If something unusual comes up, do you know who to go for a solution? Does the organization inform you about all the resources and tools to perform your duties well? Do your seniors, managers encourage you to give your best effort? Do you feel you are rewarded for your dedication and commitment toward the work? Do you feel that your opinions are heard and valued by your superior? Do you feel there is a scope for personal growth such as skill enhancement? Do you experience personal growth such as upgrading your skills and learning other tasks apart from your regular to-dos? Does the management involve you while taking leadership related decisions? Do you think you are valued by your manager? Do you think you go beyond your limits to fulfill a task? Do you think your job makes a positive difference in other’s life? Do you think you have had enough training to solve customer issues? Do you think the management respects your personal family time? Do you receive constructive feedback from your manager? Does your manager praise you when you have done a good job? Do you think the environment at work helps you strike the right balance between your work life and personal life? Does your job cause an unreasonable amount of stress to you? Do you think your manager understands a healthy balance between work life and personal life? Do you think you manager treats all the team members equally? Do you think the organization has fair policies for promotion for all employees? Do you feel that the management is just toward administering policies concerning employees?

4. Competition. Leaders should discourage competition between departments in the organization, and encourage competition externally toward competitors. Internal competition tears down teamwork and leads to disengaged employees. 5. Efficiency or effectiveness. Many leaders strive for constantly getting better at what they already do, while ignoring what they could or should be doing. Focusing only on efficiency can mean missing opportunities to stretch the organization through outside the box thinking. 6. Collaboration. Leaders should cultivate collaboration so that teamwork can flourish. Employees will engage in teamwork if they see the leadership team acting as a team. All behaviors in an organization, whether functional or dysfunctional, start with the leadership team.

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7. Servant leadership. Leaders should see themselves as servants of the employees. Servant leadership in practice provides the simple power to engage and motivate employees. 8. Continuous improvement. Leaders should encourage employees to readily provide suggestions to improve the organization. 9. Emotional intelligence. The leadership team should demonstrate emotional intelligence, which refers to the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. Mastering emotional intelligence will garner empathy, which is the foundation of an engaged workforce. 10. Open door policy. Leaders should have an open door policy and it should be actively encourage (Bouffard 2012). In addition, the following are strategies for positive employee engagement that can help organizations create a more engaged workforce: • Accountability and alignment – Define expectations and set standards that low employee engagement scores are not acceptable. – Results from surveys should be tied to individual and organizational performance measures. – Be transparent in sharing results of improvement initiatives. – Results should be measured on a regular, consistent basis. – Leaders who do not achieve expected results over time should be reassigned. • Leadership development – Offer leadership development programs focused on employee engagement. – Include employee engagement strategies in other leadership development programs. – Assign an organizational development expert to assist low-performing leaders on developing improvement initiatives and engagement skills. – Remove any organizational barriers to success. – Provide tools for staff involvement and action planning. • Recognition – Leaders should be recognized for improved results. – Promote staff recognition through acts of appreciation, praise, and team celebrations. – Re-evaluate incentive pay and rates of pay for key groups (Fried and Fottler 2015).

Summary Employee engagement can be considered one of the essential keys to organizational success because it is inextricably linked with other factors, such as employee retention, morale, and productivity. When employees are not engaged in their work, organizations lose a lot of money on absenteeism, lost productivity, and

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turnover. The act of engaging employees lies directly on the employee’s manager. In order for managers to be able to engage employees, managers must be engaged in their work themselves. Thus, organizations’ learning how to effectively engage managers is the first step toward being successful in engaging employees.

Cross-References ▶ Improving Engagement During Times of Change ▶ Leadership in Virtual Organizations: Influence on Workplace Engagement

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Contents The Kingdom of God Provides Meaning and Spills-Over to Other Spheres of Life . . . . . . . . . Anticipating the Kingdom’s Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Failures to Appreciate the Future Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . People of the Kingdom and Their Inestimable Worth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Personal Worth and Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Internal Hindrances to Meaningful Living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Greed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fear of Not-Having Enough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workaholism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inherent Dangers with Workaholism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Busyness and Sabbath-Living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Parable of Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Genuine Humility: An Antidote to Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . External Hindrances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Volatile Change in Technology, Mobility, and Globalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cultural Differences in Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Suggested Antidotes to Stress from Eastern Mindfulness and African Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Meaning of Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Antidotes to Anxiety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Contentment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Setting Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Priorities and Self-Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Necessary Rhythm and Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Purpose Is an Outgrowth of the Meaning of Human Existence and Can Infuse Joy and Fulfillment in the Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joyous Flourishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Joyous Calling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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J. L. Story (*) School of Divinity, Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_40

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Necessary Patience in Realizing One’s Calling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Meaningful Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Organic Social Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Good Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . People Are Created for Productive Work, for Work Is a Blessing and Not a Curse . . . . . . . . . . Responsible Stewardship of the Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Christian Hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Fall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Boredom Alienates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reversing the Alienation of the Fall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Humanization of Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Holy Spirit Enlivens Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Biblical Examples of Work-Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

People can discover joy and fulfillment as a by-product of finding the meaning of life; these personal discoveries emerge when people at work at their vocations make conscious choices that become transformative. Purpose is an outgrowth of meaning in concrete situations. God designed people to work as co-workers, but through the Fall in Genesis 3, alienation entered every sphere of human existence, including human work. At the same time, work is to be celebrated in a balanced rhythm with other aspects of life, e.g., re-creation. Jesus ushers in the fulfilled kingdom of God, and yet the very kingdom still looks to the consummation at the end of the age. Jesus offers a new way of looking at creation, the human person, and responsible work in between the ages. His person, words, and works, including his redemptive death and God’s vindication through the resurrection and ascension, provide the new lens through which people can view themselves, their families, community, co-workers, workplace, vocation, and future. When work alienates, a job dehumanizes people. Conversely, to the extent that a job is viewed as a “new creation,” work humanizes persons. Purpose, joy, and fulfillment are crowded out by numerous forms of egoism, yet the biblical writers offer antidotes to combat the various faces of alienation. God is a God of great joy who wills joy for the people of God; they are designed to flourish – not simply survive. Jesus himself embodies the very heart of God and God’s ultimate plan for the world for beauty, justice, peace, and joy. Keywords

Purpose · Meaning · Joy · Fulfillment · Creation · Kingdom of God · Jesus · Gratitude · Comparison · Workplace boredom · Holy Spirit

Joy is the meaning of human life, joy in thanksgiving and thanksgiving as joy. In a way, this answer abolishes the intention of such questions as: For what purpose has man been

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created? For what purpose am I here? For the answer does not indicate ethical goals and ideal purposes but justifies created existence as such. (Moltmann 1973)

Living through the horrors of the Nazi death camps, the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl was a longtime prisoner who found himself totally stripped to a naked existence and anguish-stricken with losing his father, mother, brother, and wife in the gas chambers; only his sister was spared. As he took stock of himself and fellow prisoners, the question of the meaning of life was deeply personal, amidst the loss of every possession, loved ones, destruction of values, severe hunger, sheer brutality, and intense cold, with an hourly expectation of extermination. He is fond of quoting Nietzsche, “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” He writes: We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man, but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. (Frankl 1984, p. 75)

Throughout his book, Frankl makes the case that the human person can discover joy and fulfillment as a by-product of the breakthrough of the meaning of life at a given moment. “One should not search for an abstract meaning of life. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment” (Frankl 1984, p. 113). In a similar way, Kushner comments on end-of-life care. He says that aging people become more concerned with their life’s significance. “Most were not afraid of dying . . . It was not death that frightened them. It was insignificance—it was the fear that they would die and have left no mark in the world” (2001, p. 3). Well in advance of dying, people certainly differ in the level of their own quest for meaning, purpose, and significance. It will be shown that people at work in their vocations can discover joy and fulfillment in their workplace by conscious choices that become transformative. As Moltmann suggests, purpose is an outgrowth of one’s very being. To be sure, our Western culture is purpose-driven, and businesses are purpose-driven, to make money, and school systems are purpose-driven. Performance-driven parents burden their children with excessive demands in school performance; a parent may narrow their eyes to a “B” on a report card amidst five “A” grades, and thoughtlessly respond, “Why did you get a ‘B’ in this course?” Large corporations, small businesses, athletes, politicians, producers, entertainment corporations, and Internet providers all become purpose-driven, all in search of the best bottom line. Yet, if a person in a business, such as a software engineer, is only regarded as a cog in a corporate wheel, then a person’s worth is only measured by a finished product. People are treated as objects or means to a more important end. Utilitarian purpose crowds out personal meaning, joy, and fulfillment. I have witnessed silent videos of mammoth Chinese factories, where thousands of workers march in lines, dressed in uniforms, directed to tables, where they sit and perform their particular tasks, around fixed tables with others, with conversation

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prohibited. They march out for prescribed bathroom breaks and lunch breaks and file out with military precision at the end of the workday to awaiting busses that take them to their ordered living quarters. Yes, this is the extreme, but the same pathology carries over into small businesses and large corporations. People search for the meaning of their very existence apart from their function in society including the workplace. Who am I in the grand sea of humanity? Where did I come from? Where am I going and why? These are important questions for each person to answer. These questions are similar to Frankl’s fellow-prisoners, and they are also vital questions that bear upon each person in the twenty-first century. The meaning of human existence and spirituality have been taken seriously by researchers, businesses, corporations, and practitioners. There has been a marked evolution in attitude from the industrial age, the service age, to the experience age (Dehler and Welsh 2003) and the information age, which characterizes the twenty-first century; these revolutions lead to the heightened awareness and reality that humans are holistic beings, who are on a profound search for meaning and significance. Among the researchers, there is certainly no consensus on a definition of spirituality or workplace spirituality. However, there is the recognition that spirituality is both intrinsic and extrinsic; it affects the whole of a person’s life, e.g., the mind, emotions, relationships, attitudes, our relationship to the shared environment, sexual identity and practice, family, faith-community, finances, etc. Human emotions are where people really live and constitute one aspect of humans made in the image and likeness of God. Dehler and Welsh suggest, “Feelings and emotion themselves can’t be observed until they are expressed as behavior . . . Workers act spiritually when their inner being believes and embraces a purpose larger than themselves” (2003, p. 114). People bring their whole selves to the workplace; the segmented attitude, “work is work and home is home—and never the twain must meet,” isolates and compartmentalizes holistic people; humans live out their days in a multitude of spheres.

The Kingdom of God Provides Meaning and Spills-Over to Other Spheres of Life Most certainly, there are both a vertical and horizontal spillover effect that one of life’s domains or spheres affects other aspects of life; thus, a person’s feeling of being loved and cared for by God directly spills over into other aspects of the person’s life, e.g., marriage, children, job satisfaction, ethical and virtuous behavior, responsibility, and trust. From a Christian perspective, the meaning of life is bound up with the person of Jesus, who ushered in the fulfilled kingdom of God, which is yet to be consummated at the end of this age. The person of Jesus, his words, and his works, including his redemptive death, offer the profound meaning of human life; these are all divine gifts. Writers use various terms to describe his gift, e.g., entering the kingdom of God, eternal life, salvation, reconciliation, adoption, redemption, or immediate access into the Holy of Holies.

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Since the kingdom of God is both present and future (the already-but-not-yet), it follows that people who work in this age cooperate or share with God in the process of transformation of the world, which will be consummated at the end of the age. People do not bestow humanity upon themselves – that is God’s prerogative and gift. Concurrently, God imagines people as partners or co-laborers in an elevated way, e.g., Paul calls Timothy, “God’s fellow-laborer” (I Thess. 3:2). Jesus himself does not regard his disciples as mere “servants” but calls them “my friends,” who enjoy privileged communication (Jn. 15:15). People are to live in anticipation and joyful expectation of the world’s eschatological transformation; in the present, they live in joyous companionship.

Anticipating the Kingdom’s Future These gifts mean that people can flourish in dynamic cooperation with the Holy Spirit to transform human existence and the meaning of human work in light of an unimaginable future; God invests human work with profound significance. The new heavens and new earth will be transformative and physical; similarly, resurrected humans will likewise possess physicality. In the closing chapter of Luke’s gospel, the disciples need to understand that the resurrected Jesus possesses physicality; at first, they react to the resurrected Jesus as a “ghost” (Lk. 24:37). In addition to his denial of being a “ghost,” Jesus eats a piece of boiled fish in their sight to prove his physicality (Lk. 24:42). Further, since Jesus is spoken of as the first fruit of the resurrection of the full harvest, the same will hold true for the people of God; in the new heavens and new earth, they will also possess physicality. Their resurrected bodies will also live in a transformed material environment. The prophet Amos, who constantly condemns the social injustices, perpetrated by the people of God, also affirms the wonder of God’s eschatological transformation in the language of the new creation, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed, the mountains shall drip sweet wine” (Amos 9:13). We pause and ponder the language: one who plows the ground to prepare for the seeds, now, overtakes the one who reaps the full harvest; the one who treads grapes after the harvest of the vineyard, now, overtakes the one who sows grape seeds. Such amazing fruitfulness! Through the agrarian language, the prophet envisions the wondrous transformation in the age to come when “mountains shall drip with sweet wine.”

Failures to Appreciate the Future Kingdom Without a genuine hope in a transformed future, today’s leaders and managers of small businesses and corporations can use workers’ needs for meaning and fulfillment in a manipulative manner to boost productivity, perhaps as a passing fad. For them, only the present matters, and no thought is given to the future. Many articles and book chapters reveal a utilitarian agenda in their approach, with the expressed

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motive, “I need to attend to my workers’ spiritual needs for purpose and fulfillment, for it will lead to increased profit for my company” –not because it is the right thing to do for employees. One such example, “Bringing together the motivation for work and the meaning in work, increases retention . . . In such a humanistic work environment, employees are more creative and have higher morale, two factors that are closely linked to good organizational performance” (Garcia-Zamor and Haensel 2018, p. 938). This approach runs amuck, for it is a “dark spirituality and is manifested through blind spots . . . that mask real intentions”; Burton, Jeong, and Saini (2018, pp. 974–975) then provide a plethora of nouns to describe the antihuman approach to employees, e.g., distrust and pressure. Such treatment of employees’ inner needs can be couched in spiritual euphemisms.

People of the Kingdom and Their Inestimable Worth From a Christian perspective, the first creation narrative twice affirms that each person is created in “the image and likeness of God” (Genesis 1:27) – people of inestimable worth. In both Testaments, the Bible also reveals tragic stories of people who have lost their way, who for one reason or another think and act in ways that counter God’s estimation of them and precious others, in the light of the grand consummation. For example, honor and its opposite, shame, are deeply embedded in the biblical culture and are spelled out in terms of goods one possesses or doesn’t possess and how patrons and clients relate. The idea of limited goods relates to the poor, who lack the bare necessities of life or who live a “hand-to-mouth” existence and are dependent upon daily wages for survival (“Do not hold back the wages of hired hand till morning” Lev 19:13b; “Look, the wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you . . .” James 5:4b). Clearly, the patrons/employers who fail to pay a daily wage disregard divine regard for workers; they really matter to God. In both Testaments, God rails against the powerful who dehumanize and exploit the weak. For example, Israel’s credo and constant memory of God’s deliverance (Ex. 1:13–14; Deut. 26:6–8) become the primary motive for why the same people should not debase others. God rescued his people from dehumanizing and oppressive slavery. “And if your brother becomes poor beside you, and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave . . . For they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt . . . You shall not rule over him with harshness but shall fear your God” (Lev. 25:39ff.). Even though these unfortunate poor persons were not physically present for the Exodus deliverance, their story is bound up with Israel’s story – as a whole; they are part of the community that extends through successive generations. In a similar way, Jesus regards each person he encounters with supreme worth as he interacts with them in saving and helpful ways, whether they need conversation, healing, affirmation, or instruction. Since Jesus is the unique Son, who alone stands in an unmediated relationship with God, he is able to extend a mediated relationship to others with God as their Father. Jesus makes the Father real to others, wherein

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people can discover the meaning of their lives; he is always focused on the wholeness of the human person. The mediated knowledge of the Father is not abstract theology or propositional learning about the nature or attributes of God. It means an experience of the fully personal and mediated relationship between the Father and humankind. The apostle Paul also reiterates human worth and meaning, “brothers and sisters for whom Christ died” (Romans 14:15; also James 3:10). In short, there is no price tag that can be affixed to any person; they are of inestimable worth in God’s sight. “Spirituality is like gravity. It must be taken into account because it is there. Ignore it and you are ignoring the most central fact of any human situation” (Cowan 1993, p. 61).

Personal Worth and Work The natural corollary follows that work and the workplace should occasion and protect human dignity in the countless dimensions of human life and well-being. In their work, people cooperate with God. Luther said that human work is “God’s mask behind which he hides himself and rules everything magnificently in the world” (Luther 1883, p. 373). Protection of human dignity embodies freedom, social relationships, solidarity with a community, fulfillment of human needs, and the commitment to be responsible stewards of nature. In addition, God builds into the workweek, the need for leisure, called the Sabbath; this constitutes an inalienable right.

Internal Hindrances to Meaningful Living Certain factors in our Western society obstruct a life filled with meaning and purpose: Have-ism. People frequently sell out their true worth to “having,” “owning,” or “possessing” – in short, the “American Dream.” A. Wood and S.S. Holt point to the dehumanizing aspects of this dream, “wealth, fame, freedom to behave as is seen fit, consumerism, possession of status items, and various other definitions of ‘success’” (2018, p. 161). David P. Nystrom applies James’ message to the ghetto, “Drug dealers . . . are people of ‘substance’ because they have money women, and material goods . . . ‘props’ in this corner of America, the ‘props,’ the incidentals, have become the markers and symbols of ‘substance,’ even though there is no ‘substance’ underneath” (1997, p. 134). “Props” that symbolize success appear in countless ways as if the “image” embodies a person. In an age of consumerism, television programs, and advertisement, there is the consistent message that the acquisition of products constitutes status markers, e.g., vehicles that we drive or brand names that we wear. In the workplace, how are we socially aware of how we “size up” a person based upon their clothing and appearance and fail to look upon each person through the lens of inestimable worth, made in the likeness and image of God (James 3:10) and a brother or sister “for whom Christ died” (1 Cor. 8:11)?

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With the rise of some televangelists and megachurches, the frequent message is that of consumerism as if God is a cosmic Santa Claus, who is duty-bound to bestow excess. Material goods are not inherently evil, provided that there is spiritual substance undergirding individual and community life. Unfortunately, this drive for external success is clearly antihuman in its basic presupposition. “The rhetoric given is that what people need, what will truly make them happy, is possession of inanimate objects. Objects that talk about the wealth of the person who owns them. Objects that telegraph social status, rather than actually telegraph anything between individuals” (Wood and Holt 2018, p. 162).

Greed Jesus tells a story-parable that counters our consumer-based culture (Lk. 12:13–21). Amidst the bustle of a large crowd, a man calls upon Jesus to side with him in an inheritance dispute, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me” (12:13). Jesus himself refuses to arbitrate in the financial quarrel and prefaces his parable with a warning, “Take heed and beware of all covetousness, for a person’s life does not consist in the abundance of his/her possessions” (12:15). Clearly, Jesus is not interested in the “facts of the case” but is conscious of greed, which leads to alienating words and behavior. He indicts greed (pleonexia), which means “the desire to have more.” He then grounds his warning in the reality that one’s true life is not to be found in the abundance of possessions and thus, the real self is not altered by more or less possessions. Greed produces hostility as the words of the complaining brother reveal, and it leads to a no-good end as the parable shows. In response, Jesus tells the Parable of the Rich Fool. It begins with the productive estate of a rich farmer’s bumper crop and the need to tear down old smaller barns and build larger silos, which can house the prodigious harvest. Ostensibly, the plan appears to be wise; the man is thinking like a good capitalist, i.e., if the silos aren’t built, the grain will go to waste. In the farmer’s monologue which follows, God does not find fault with the plan but with the man’s attitude, “And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry’” (12:19). The envisioned result of personal pleasure will be an amassing of personal fortune for a ceaseless and comfortable future, with no evident social concern for the needy poor – so similar to the “American Dream.” Luke’s readership would be struck by the preponderance of 1st person singular form, “I” of the verbs, the repeated use of the personal pronoun “my,” and the conversation with himself in the 2nd person singular – surely an egotistical existence. The envisioned result is countered by the real result and a rhetorical question, “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’” (12:20). The rich fool’s confidence in “many years to come” is countered by God’s response, “this very night your soul is required of you.” Gone are the envisioned years of abundance, comfort, and ease. Jeremias (1972, p. 165) says, “life is a loan, God gave it and declares that its return will be demanded that very night.”

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Jesus’ rhetorical question follows the judgment itself, “And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” The answer is clear; his bumper crop will go to someone else, which may also occasion an inheritance dispute, similar to the financial wrangling that prompted the parable in the first place. To his hearers, Jesus draws an application for them through a comparison, “So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God” (12:21). Jesus links his preceding statement about greed (12:15) to his application; a person’s true life is independent of possessions; it clearly follows that a lack or abundance of material goods does not affect one’s inner life.

Fear of Not-Having Enough Jesus then specifically addresses his own disciples, who would certainly be anxious about not having enough, in contrast with the rich fool’s abundance (Lk. 12:22–34). His teaching comprises a number of negative and positive imperatives, coupled with explanation of the imperatives, substantiation, and a minor major form of argument that points to their privileged condition. Imperatives Stop being anxious for your life (food and clothing (v. 22)

Explanation (“for”) For like is more than food and the body more than clothing (v. 23)

Consider the crows (v. 24)

Substantiation

Contrast between what crows don’t do and what God does (v. 24a) Anxiety is futile – disciples are unable to prolong life (v. 25)

Consider the flowers (v. 27)

Stop seeking what you are to eat and drink” (v. 29) Stop your worry (v. 29)

For all the nations of the world seek these things (v. 30) –implication that the people of God are to be different from the world (v. 30)

Contrast between what flowers don’t do and what God does. How they grow and how beautiful they are clothed. (v. 27) Your father knows that you need these things (v. 30)

Minor-major argument

You are worth so much more than birds (v. 24b) – surely God can be counted upon to provide nurture If you are unable to do a small thing as that, then why are you anxious about the rest? (v. 26) If God clothes the grass with a limited life span, how much more will he clothe you, O men of little faith

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Imperatives Nevertheless, seek his kingdom (v. 31)

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Explanation (“for”)

Stop fearing little flock (v. 32)

Sell your possessions (v. 33) And give alms (v. 33) Make for yourselves money bags which do not wear out, with a treasure in heaven where no thief approaches and no moth destroys (v. 33)

Substantiation And all these things shall be added unto you (v. 31) Because your father takes pleasure in giving you the kingdom (v. 32)

Minor-major argument

For where your treasure is, there will also be your heart (v. 34)

Through these forms of argument, Jesus underscores God’s role as the Grand Benefactor, who alone provides genuine security; he generously provides for birds and flowers apart from any activity on their own. This truth underscores God’s generous provision for the disciples, since they are of inestimable worth. Therein is true security, found in their incomparable worth to God, coupled with the divine gift of the kingdom to the “little flock.” True life is measured by what people are and do – as an outgrowth who they are – not by what they have or don’t have. The problem with the rich fool was not the fact of his wealth but that he did not take God or others into account and chose not to submit his God-given wealth to God. Instead he conferred with his own mental committee as to how he could personally benefit and be at ease for years to come. Jesus also speaks to his disciples about fear-based decisions, which inevitably leads to unsatisfactory results. Instead, his people are to seek first the kingdom of God in a posture of trust and concern for the destitute; to his trusting people, Jesus says things will come, but they will come as a by-product of kingdom concern.

Workaholism People can easily sell out their soul to work itself, echoed in Johnny Cash’s country hit, “Saint Peter, don’t you call me, ‘cause I can’t go. I owe my soul to the company store.” People can quickly disappear from family, religious commitment, health, and re-creation into the morass of work responsibilities, top-down demands, and timesensitive production. They become slaves to the dictum, “doing what needs to be done” – to the detriment of a whole person in the most inclusive sense. In her NPR radio interview (2008), Margot Adler pointed to the false narrative that loss of sleep is a badge of honor, “In today’s world, the well-rested lose respect.” She illustrates

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her point with a woman, suffering with a fatal disease who was asked the question, “What would you wish for?” She responded with the words, “I wish that I could abolish sleep so that I could get more done.” This patient did not wish for health but was driven by her utilitarian drive as if her self-esteem was gauged by her increased productivity level without the need of critical health and sleep. Since work itself (including transportation to and from) consumes a large part of our 24 h, it can become a voracious trap for self-definition and self-purpose, i.e., that we are simply defined by what we do; this only leads to dysfunction at many levels of our being. For example, men or women can describe women by the pejorative, “My wife/I is/am only a housewife.” These comments reveal that people who are gainfully employed are more valuable than wives and mothers. This attitude has led to the devaluation of women and their exploitation and oppression. For many, work is only gauged by gainful employment; human worth is measured solely by the paycheck. The attitude of mere gainful employment alienates people and highlights only the meaning of earning – but not work itself as a fundamental value and activity.

Inherent Dangers with Workaholism Certainly, people can experience joy, meaning, and fulfillment in what they do in their vocation; “that’s exactly what makes the new world of work so inspiring. It’s also what makes it so treacherous” (Kruger 1999, p. 184). Lloyd Jones, a British preacher, addressed a group of medical students and doctors, “there are many whom I have had the privilege of meeting whose tombstones might well bear the grim epitaph . . . ‘born a man, died a doctor’” (1982, p. 14). Vocational life can become a means of losing one’s own meaning and is particularly insidious for the helping professions. People can clearly affirm, “After all, what I’m doing in helping people is all-important.” Wood and Holt (2018) provide an example of Maya, who was at the “top of her game” as a lawyer and analyst in one of the “Big Four” consulting firms. “However, there was a problem. Maya hated her work. She loathed going into the office every morning and ended her day with a stress headache . . . While she reflected on what it would take living a happy and fulfilling life, she realized that the secret was in the elusive balance between doing what mattered and what she loved” (p. 154). This malaise prompted her to her real passion, making unique, one-of-akind, ceramic teapots, which she did, leading her to wake up inspired about what she would next create; she no longer woke up with the sinking feel of sheer dread. When work itself becomes larger than life, it easily leads to a crippling anxiety, not to mention its negative impact on family, personal, or communal life. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus both affirms the inestimable worth of people and warns them of the crippling anxiety of what tomorrow may bring. Jesus says that each person only possesses the gift of “today,” no more and no less: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matt. 6:34) Since I teach at the graduate level, I often sense immediate anxiety when learners encounter a new syllabus for the semester, for they become frantic and doubt their

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ability to master the full content of their new course. Through personal communication I remind them that they are not defined by their academic performance. Who they are as holistic persons is not measured by getting an “A.” And I paraphrase the words of Jesus, “Is not life more important than this course or your grade?” I also reaffirm the preciousness of “today” and suggest that they break down the course’s work into manageable and do-able tasks for each day so that they can feel a degree of success at the end of one workday; a steady and timely commitment on a daily basis will usually lead to successful completion of the course.

Busyness and Sabbath-Living A very busy life does not equate with meaning or purpose; anxious activity can actually be barren in nature and may certainly lessen one’s life span. Indeed, Sabbath-living, which is a time of rest, leisure, and celebration of God, must factor into a typical workweek. The way in which Sabbath-living certainly varies from one culture to another and from one person to another. However, this is not a value or activity that can be easily dismissed. It is a time for re-creation – not simply a time of rest per se. God did not rest on the Sabbath Day because he was tired from his creative efforts of the first 6 days (not to be taken literally); instead God’s rest was a rest of joyous satisfaction in creation. Since my job as a professor involves a great deal of sedentary time with the writing of syllabi, course production, research, and grading, part of my Sabbath-living may well engage strenuous labor outside with the mowing of grass, edging, and leaf-blowing; it also provides a joyous experience to celebrate the wonder of God’s nature. In addition, part of my re-creation involves strenuous lifting weights at the YMCA or running with my dog in our neighborhood. Sabbath-living can also be expressed in corporate worship in a social setting; a joyous opportunity to celebrate God and the joy of the kingdom of God. All of life requires rhythmic balance.

Comparison Deadly comparison is another internal barrier to meaning, purpose, fulfillment, and joy; it rears its ugly head when one person finds value only in comparison with another worker. Comparison leads to personal pride, for one measures his or her performance as higher than another or receives a promotion when a fellow worker is not promoted. Comparison also leads to personal depression and a feeling of insignificance with one’s own work or position, when one is passed over for a raise or promotion. Yes, people have different abilities, experiences, gifts, and aptitudes – and all of these vary from person to person; there is no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” approach. In Jesus’ Parable of the Talents (money), the master who apportions five, two, and one talent does so “according to the ability/power of each one” (Matt. 25:15); he expects a financial return on his investment when he returns. Money is entrusted on

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the basis of each man’s ability/power. The man with five talents is not to be measured with the person with one talent nor is the man with one talent to be measured by the master’s expectation for the one entrusted with five talents. As Dhiman (2018, p. 584) notes, “Pride has meaning only when comparing yourself to others to yourself. By comparing ourselves to others, we learn to play the ubiquitous game of ‘one-upmanship’. A humble person does not base his or her self-worth on how s/he stacks up to others.”

A Parable of Comparison From Jesus, the deadly spirit of comparison emerges so starkly through a dramatic contrast in his Parable of the Pharisee and Toll-Collector (Lk. 18:9–14). The immediate audience of the parable is given in v. 9, “to those who trusted in themselves and looked upon others with contempt (or disdain).” The ground of their confidence is found not only in themselves but also in comparison with contemptible persons. Clearly, both the stated audience and implicit purpose of the parable are fully congruent with the content. In other words, the parable is designed to undercut and expose both the vertical and horizontal sense of religious pride. Even though Jesus speaks a parable, the story is a real story in that the two human characters in the parable are the persons signified. This parable is often misread because people approach the story with the presupposition that the Pharisee is only used as a stereotypical cartoon of a proud and hypocritical legalist. Correspondingly, we put a halo around the toll collector as the ideal humble sinner. The two men serve as extreme examples of the presence of observable piety and observable irreligion. In our Western culture, these men might appear as an upstanding conservative Evangelical and a homeless drug-addict afflicted with AIDS. In the parable, two men are compared with respect to their physical movement “to the Temple to pray” (v. 10). However, the rest of the story accentuates dominant contrasts: Contrast in proximity to the Temple: “the Pharisee standing...” (in a prominent place v. 11) “But the toll-collector standing from afar...” (v. 11) Contrast in physical posture: “The Pharisee standing prayed these things...” (v. 11) “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast...” (v. 13) Contrast in words of prayer (vss. 11c–12, 13c). The Pharisee... “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” But the toll collector... “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” (v. 13)

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Jesus’ ruling is clear and unambiguous; he does not ask his audience for an opinion as to their relative assessment of the prayer-effectiveness of these two men. No doubt their verdict would be faulty. For the Pharisee, ostensible thankfulness gives way to a negative comparison with other people, thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even this toll collector that he sees in the far precincts of the Temple. He has also gone far beyond the stipulations of the Law in fasting and tithing all of his income. He prefers to do more than what is required rather than too little. The tax collector is not even sure that he has been heard by God – all he can do is to express his despair. He cries out, “God, be merciful the sinner.” He regards himself not merely a sinner in general, but the sinner. He does not compare himself with others. His only appeal is to the mercy of God, the only thing that he could dare ask for. His wild hope is in God alone; the evangelist Luke reinforces the principle that broken humans (poor, widows, marginalized persons, sick, strangers, toll collectors) have always been high on God’s agenda. The verdict, coupled with its explanation, highlights a profound reversal – that God bestows favor on the toll collector and not the religious man; Jesus’ hearers would experience a profound shock, for they cannot imagine such a reversal in values.

Genuine Humility: An Antidote to Comparison Humility is such a slippery virtue, for once persons see this virtue in themselves, it’s gone – and they become proud of being humble. Humility cannot be pursued directly, for it is the by-product of something else, i.e., gratitude. When people express emotional gratitude to God for life, wholeness, and many gifts of grace, then they express their dependence upon God. This is what Paul means by work “from the heart” (Eph. 6:6). People are not self-made to actualize themselves, or to underscore “self-esteem.” When they think and voice emotional gratitude, they are humble. Through research with undergraduate students, Paloutzian et al. (2003, p. 129) state, “The gratitude condition resulted in higher reported levels of the positive states of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness, and energy compared to a focus on hassles or a downward social comparison (ways in which participants thought they were better off than others).” No doubt, this value of gratitude has led to many articles on the need to keep a daily “gratitude-journal” (Dhiman 2018, pp. 598–599) – also a common suggestion from AA and NA.

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The Pharisees’ prayer illustrates the sort of prayer that God will not hear; the prayer is comparative in that the standard of measurement is another person. Selfelevation occurs at the expense of another. Clearly, status with God is not based on being better than others. God has provided the only acceptable standard or basis of comparison – Jesus Christ. Pride distorts relationship with God and relationship with others. With a sideward glance, people view those who are less fortunate perhaps caught in some of the vicious cycles of life, compulsive sin and addiction, and lose the precious gift of God’s grace. And if people are really religious, then they say, “God, I thank you that I am not like this Pharisee, proud, hypocritical, compulsive, and unfeeling.” Religious credentials mean nothing in the divine forum; no one can compete with God’s stature and credentials. Admissibility into God’s presence is determined by a heartfelt and ongoing abandonment to the grace of God.

External Hindrances Countless external forces and conditions in the twenty-first century militate against the heartfelt need for meaning, purpose, joy, and fulfillment, and only a few can be mentioned.

Volatile Change in Technology, Mobility, and Globalism We have witnessed an epic change from the industrial age to the age of technology and information. Volf (1999, p. 34) suggests that “Human work is ceasing to be material activity and is increasingly becoming mental activity.” This revolution possesses a ripple effect that touches almost every area of society, e.g., education, business, medicine, politics, robotics, and national security. Further, this transformation has been fast-paced and demands immediate change. Frequently, leaders and managers don’t take into account the learning curve associated with new technology. Many people experience panic in being able to keep up with such volatile changes, which bear down upon them. As an educator, I have observed the change from traditional class settings, to correspondence courses, to online education, and to hybrid classes (combination of on campus and online learners), and all the burgeoning technology associated with each new development. At times, rapid changes overwhelm people. Most certainly, technology has benefitted society with the ability to immediately communicate with others, livestreaming, or the hardware or software in a doctor’s office that is immediately sent to a surgeon. But there are also dangers. When I have gone to bring something to my wife in a public high school, I actually counted the percentage of students in the hallways who were glued to their phone with ear buds – an amazing 90%. That means that 9 out of 10 students in the hallways were not looking at each other and were unable to communicate with each other. Thus, the iPhone or Android devices can depersonalize human relationships that arise through face-to-face encounters. Yes, technology is here to stay and is not essentially evil; the

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real issue concerns how technology is used. For example, technology is vital for a surgeon who does the less invasive robotic surgery on the human body. At the same time, technology rears its ugly head with pornographic sites and gambling links, which feed human addictions. The real question is, “Does technology humanize humans or dehumanize them?”

Cultural Differences in Work It is also important to factor in the deep divide between the agricultural work in biblical times and, now, work in the information age. While human needs remain constant in any age, the actual environment is radically different. It is not an easy task to directly apply biblical injunctions to our age; the application of biblical principles is more subtle and indirect. It is incumbent upon to separate biblical principles and truth from temporal, historical, and cultural settings of the biblical era; some of the injunctions in the Bible possess limited relevance to the twenty-first century context. We also witness changes in terms of job mobility and a growing globalism. In the past, people frequently stayed in one physical location and worked at the same job for the majority of their working years, e.g., a farmer who trains his son to take over the family farming business. “The emerging world economy is transforming our world from a set of self-sustaining tribes and nations into a global village (or a global city). The unity of the human race is no longer merely an abstract notion” (Volf 1999, p. 85). People now freely change jobs and family residences, move up the corporate ladder, and are assigned to new sites from the same company; people develop increased global experience through transactions and instant communication with other companies, both national and international. Frequently the mental activities associated with new jobs are more taxing on the human person than physical labor.

Workplace Stress Due to such volatile changes, people are constantly under pressure and can fall victim to the proverbial “burnout.” Ohu et al. (2018, p. 247) argue that “stress usually results from a dysfunctional response by an individual to pressure from the environment. This pressure from the environment can be tangible or intangible, physical, or psychological.” In addition, stress not only relates to the actual job but negatively impacts interpersonal relationships and leads to social conflict. Actual stress arises from one’s inability to manage the pressure or stimuli, e.g., lots of demands within a looming deadline. Ohu et al. (2018, p. 247) say, “There should be a good balance between the stimuli and the response it elicits, and stress results when stimuli arriving outweigh the amount of response needed to maintain a state of balance.” In short, the job is not the stressor, but stress is the emotional response to the demands, e.g., meeting the expectations of others in a short time. Stress results in poor health, complaining attitudes, organizational costs, healthcare costs, absenteeism, family problems, etc.

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Suggested Antidotes to Stress from Eastern Mindfulness and African Values From the Eastern religions, mindfulness, relaxation, and breathing exercises are antidotes to ubiquitous stress, as a way to “help disengage individuals from harmful thoughts and habits . . . and enhance self-monitoring of emotions” (Ohu et al. 2018, pp. 253–254; Dhiman 2018). This practice emphasizes nonstriving, letting go, breathing, meditation, alignment with one’s true self, spiritual clarity, and the ability “to see things as they really are” (Dhiman 2018, p. 183). From the African perspective, Ubuntu (community) serves as a healthy counter to our Western rugged individualism and stressful work. It expresses the truth that personal meaning, including work, “emerges through relationship; that is the principle of interconnectedness” (Lewis 2010, p. 69). Ubuntu (community) is combined with Ubunye (holism) and Amandla (vitality) in African spirituality, which unites with “a powerful and sovereign God” (Mayer and Walach 2018, p. 1084). It represents a way of holistic peace through connected relationships with others and with God, “a new connection which goes beyond the self, the family, the clan, or the ethic, cultural, or racial group” (Mayer and Walach 2018, p. 1089. The shared stories that bind the African communities together are a practice that can enliven human connections in the Western setting.

The Meaning of Trust The Bible reinforces the decisive human response of trust that leads to genuine shalom. Our English language doesn’t serve us well in translating the “faith” word family. The Greek noun pistis is generally translated as “faith”; the verb pisteuō translates as “I believe”; the adjective pistos translates as “faithful.” All three words belong to the same Greek word family – they are cognates. However, in English, the verb “I believe” (pisteuō) is not cognate with the noun or adjective and is then paired with the noun “belief” which often means a mental affirmation of certain propositional statements, e.g., “I believe that God exists” – there is no English verb, “she faiths.” I suggest that “trust” is not only consistent with the Greek word family but also harmonizes with what the Bible means by this word family (noun, “trust”; verb, “I trust”; adjective, “trustworthy”). An example of the verb can be found in John 2:22–23, where the evangelist says that many people were believing, based upon the signs that Jesus was doing, but Jesus was not entrusting himself to them, since he knew the human heart and the crowd’s fickleness solely based upon signs. Clearly, there is no trusting response to Jesus; the evangelist uses the same verb (pisteuō) in both places. Jesus seeks a response of personal entrustment. The Bible reinforces the idea of a radical entrustment of oneself to God and to his Son, Jesus Christ, in his very person, words, and works. This word family is both active and passive; a person makes a trusting decision (active) and allows God to shape and direct one’s life (passive). This

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advances far beyond a belief in propositional statements. People make “entrusting” decisions all the time, e.g., when they board an airplane, they make an entrusting response not only to the physical integrity of the plane but to the pilot and his/her aviation expertise. Personal decision to board the plane is both active and passive at the same time. The analogy parallels what it means for a person to entrust oneself to God for his redemptive activity.

Antidotes to Anxiety The Apostle Paul expresses an important truth relative to an entrusting response in the context of stressful living in the language of prayer, 6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in every situation let your petitions be made known to God in prayers and requests, with thanksgiving. 7 Then God’s peace, which goes far beyond anything we can imagine, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6–7). Paul intends that his readers consciously choose to let go of a crippling anxiety (stress) and in its place, to substitute prayer and requests to God with gratitude. Why? Because God is deeply concerned for each person and assumes a personal responsibility for answering prayer; God cares and will reveal his love through a Christian’s dialogue with God.

Peace Further, Paul affirms that God’s unimaginable peace will guard hearts, emotions, and minds through Jesus Christ. In the Western culture, peace is often regarded as an absence of war. From the biblical perspective, peace means “wholeness of life, wellbeing, shalom, and integration” of people. To some extent, peace can be regarded as a tangible gift. For example, when Jesus’ disciples are sent out on a short-term missionstrip, he instructs them in how to respond to others: Lk. 10:5 “Whatever house you go into, first say, ‘May there be peace in this house.’ 6 If a peaceful person lives there, your greeting of peace will remain with him. But if that’s not the case, it [peace] will come back to you” (Lk. 10:5–6). As something tangible, peace can be extended as a gift, and it can also be returned when it is not welcomed. Is this a panacea for all stressrelated issues? Certainly not. However, Paul affirms God’s personal investment in the lives of his people and his readiness to answer requests from them and to bestow his unimaginable integration in the place of their crippling anxiety.

Contentment In the same paragraph dealing with prayer and peace, Paul accentuates “being content” (autarkās Phil. 4:11). The Philippian Church had sent him two financial gifts to help fund his itinerant ministry. He expresses joyful appreciation for their two

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generous offerings, and yet, he also says that his contentment doesn’t depend upon his bank account, 12 “I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. 13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:12–13). Paul’s statement in v. 13 is not to be understood as a religious triumphalism, for in the context, “all things” directly refers to his contentment, regardless of abundance or poverty; contentment is grounded in one’s very identity, being, and meaning – all framed in an entrusting response (active and passive).

Setting Priorities Given the fact that people are holistic and live in many spheres, priorities can easily become askew. Whether articulated or not, people make internal choices about their priorities; they vote with their time allotments for certain responsibilities or activities. The same holds true for personal finances; financial expenditures reflect one’s real priorities. How they spend their time reflects inner priorities; all too often the louder voice takes precedence over one’s real values. “The global reach enabled by technologies has helped many organizations grow and gain market share, but often results in increased worker travel and a blurring of work-life boundaries, pulling workers away from their established community ties and out of their comfort zones” (Kolodinsky et al. 2003, p. 166). Workers are also part of families, they have a need to re-create, physical health is important, proper sleep is crucial, many belong to faith-communities, outside friendships are vital, hobbies are valuable, houses/apartments need maintenance inside and outside, nature demands celebration, fun and play are essential, community ties are significant, and selfless service to others is weighty. Although significant time is devoted to work, this does not negate the other essential dimensions of human existence. People are not one-dimensional but bring their whole selves to the workplace.

Priorities and Self-Identity Priorities serve as a gauge of self-identity; “identity must be shaped and strengthened” (Roof et al. 2018, p. 729). The Bible offers countless injunctions for proper priorities in life. For example, Martha appears to be very busy in preparing a lavish meal and is irritated that Mary is not helping her in the kitchen but sits at the feet of Jesus as a disciple. We then read Jesus’ rejoinder to Martha, “only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Lk. 10:42). Was Martha doing something wrong? Certainly not; however, she was worried, distracted, and bothered about so many things (v. 41). Perhaps Jesus wanted her to simplify the menu so that she could also learn as a disciple.

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In another instance, the priority of the wealth of a rich man obstructed him from following Jesus, which leads to his own sorrow (Lk. 18:23). His priority of wealth drove out the most important priority. Other examples of “would-be” followers of Jesus reveal opposing priorities, to whom Jesus says, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God (Lk. 9:62).” Looking back reveals a preoccupation with other priorities. During my summers in college, I well remember working for a wheat farmer and was charged with plowing straight furrows with his tractor. My major priority was that of looking into the distance for a focal point – always keeping my eye trained on that focal point to ensure that my furrows were straight; my hand on the wheel needed to be in constant sync with that point. Turning my head around and looking back over the tilled land, I had just plowed created less than straight lines. I learned this lesson the hard way.

Necessary Rhythm and Balance As a whole, life is multidimensional and must be experienced with balancing priorities; often our experience is a juggling act. It is not possible to offer a cookie-cutter approach or a comprehensive and itemized list of priorities with a “one-size-fits-all” approach. Each person is unique and brings to the table such varied backgrounds, gifts, experiences, and networks of relationships. However, it is crucial for people to take stock and regularly evaluate their priorities, so that a wholesome balance can be maintained. External or internal pressures so easily throw off one’s equilibrium. Balance and equilibrium with priorities are vital. Mary Burchard (2018) provides an insightful analogy from Yellowstone National Park, where hunters drove the wolf population into extinction. The result? An exponential growth of the elk population, overgrazing, soil erosion, diminished growth of trees, and a negative impact on rivers, bird populations, and other animal inhabitants. The delicate ecosystem was threatened. “Widespread equilibrium was compromised, introducing disorder and imbalance across a vast expanse of terrain. Various human efforts had been made to restore vegetation and counteract the erosion, but balance could not be restored until humans recognized the significance of the animal that they had removed and returned it to its functional place within the ecosystem” (Burchard 2018, p. 352). The metaphor of an ecosystem certainly applies to the delicate ecosystem within an individual and the ecosystem in the workplace; equilibrium is necessary for meaningful life, relationships, and the workplace. In Western culture, the fast-pace and the proverbial “tyranny of the urgent” hinder a balanced life. Healthy balance is similar to the Eastern emphasis on “right understanding, right action, right intention, right livelihood, right concentration, right mindfulness” (Dhiman and Kriger 2018, p. 140), to which could be added, right expenditures, right relationships (with God, family, friends, community, nation, co-workers, nature, and enemies). What people do with their time, treasure, and relationships reflects inner priorities.

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Purpose Is an Outgrowth of the Meaning of Human Existence and Can Infuse Joy and Fulfillment in the Workplace Joy is an outgrowth of meaning. “Joy is an emotion of elation over something good that has happened, is occurring, or will take place” (Story 2018, p. 4). It is both an emotion that is passive in that something good has happened for an individual but is also active, for it is contagious and needs to be shared with others, e.g., a Navy officer, who is promoted is in a hurry to go home and shares the good news with his family. The response is spontaneous, contagious, effusive, and communal; it must be shared with others. Indeed, something is strangely amiss if he was joyless or if his family was joyless. The joy vocabulary includes “various nuances, e.g. delight, happiness, ecstasy, pleasure, gladness, blessedness, peace, celebration, excess, even laughter” (Story 2018, p. 4). For example, Jesus interacts with a healed leper, who is overjoyed at his healing. He is no longer an outcast, is set free from the scourge of leprosy, and returns to Jesus to give thanks to God and Jesus for his healing (Luke 17:11–19). Conversely, joy can be felt and expressed for the wrong motivation, e.g., joy for the demotion of a rival employee or joy in harmful gossip in a corporate lunchroom; such joy is a sham. Motives are paramount. In Lk. 10, after a successful short-term mission-trip, the disciples are flush with joyous excitement over their victories, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name” (Lk. 10:17). On the other hand, Jesus directs his disciples to the real grounds for their joy, “your names have been written in heaven” – not in their successful mission alone (Luke 10:20). Joy is not an emotion that can be pursued directly, but it is an outgrowth of personal meaning and fulfillment in many dimensions of life, including the workplace. As argued above, humility is a by-product of gratitude; similarly, joy is an emotion that is a natural consequence of fulfilled living in various dimensions. In the workplace, it means a joyful willingness to participate in the new creation of an entrusted opportunity. Frankl says that in the European and American context, “one is commanded and ordered to ‘be happy,’ But happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason to ‘be happy,’ Once the reason is found, however, one becomes happy automatically” (Frankl 1984, p. 140). He applies this principle of direct consequence to laughter, with the needed reason for laughter, e.g., a joke. Further, he applies the notion to sexual fulfillment. Sexual joy is the result of giving oneself in love through forgetting oneself but is not to be directly pursued. Frankl says, “such a behavior pattern is called ‘hyper-intention.’ It plays an important role in the causation of sexual neurosis, be it frigidity or impotence . . . Indeed, what is called the ‘pleasure principle’ is, rather a fun-spoiler” (Frankl 2008, pp. 140–141). Fulfillment means that people flourish as they discover their call and particular niche in the workplace and society and, in the deeper sense, the kingdom of God. Every time I go to the grocery store, I always ask the cashier, “How are things going for you today?” Often, I hear the response, “I’ll be better in two hours when my shift is over.” This signals that a cashier is only alive during non-working hours, at play with leisure time, and a distraction from life, e.g., going to a movie or watching television, playing a video game, and some “fun” activity. These enjoyments are not

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wrong, but the meaning of life is not discovered in distractions alone. For the cashier, joy is only gauged by time off from the grocery register. Even our party-making fun society may reveal world-weariness, boredom, or mere distraction from a meaningful life.

Joyous Flourishing However, people are created for joy to flourish in their personal and vocational lives; this gift is grounded in God’s own joy, for he is a God of great joy who wills joy for humanity. Three parables in Luke 15 express the climax of great joy of a shepherd, woman, or father upon finding something or someone who is lost. Through Jesus’ parable of the talents, the invitation is solid, “Come and enter into the joy of your master” (Matt. 25:21, 23), for two servants have fulfilled their responsibility of investing the master’s money; “joy in a world of joy” (Moltmann 2018, p. 11). Emotions are critical, for “human beings cannot carry out thinking without feeling” (Wood and Holt 2018, p. 153). Joyous feelings positively impact intelligence, social relationships, productivity, persistence, creativity at work, healthy decision-making, empathy with others, problem-solving skills, and personal and family health. Maurice Elias “posits that emotions are human beings” (p. 157). Recent literature abounds with its emphasis on emotional intelligence as central to human beings and often is regarded as a predictor of success; the converse is also true that negative feelings and attitudes forecast things like absenteeism, cynicism, addiction, and lack of productivity.

A Joyous Calling People feel best when there is a genuine sense of vocation or calling. It was Mark Twain who quipped, “Make your vacation into your vocation.” Workers respond well when there is a “fit” that aligns with their own personal sense of meaning, “a conviction that they are precisely where they belong, doing the exact work to which they are called, . . . a sense of freedom and delight in the conviction that one is called to a particular people or place, and that one is answering that call, fulfilling his or her purpose” (Moschella 2018, p. 118). This principle is affirmed by positive psychologists who combine talents and personal strengths, labeled as “signature-skills” (Carr 2011, pp. 70–78). This unique combination leads to internal motivation to nurture, develop, and contribute in the workplace, as an outgrowth of being.

Necessary Patience in Realizing One’s Calling A person’s job not only includes financial or achievement goals but more importantly a sense of significance and fulfillment with the meaningful goals of the greater good to make the world a better place (Bellah et al. 2007). Further, since people are

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on a life-adventure, their sense of “call” may well include development and refinement over time, in an interim period. A person may develop an inner direction toward a certain goal, but in the interim, patience is needed in preparation, experience, perhaps further education, character-development, and maturity. People may sense a compelling vision for meaningful work, which can spell disaster by going out and trying to “make something happen.” Maturity and seasoning are critical, which are countered in the Western culture with the “fast-track” approach, which may involve manipulation to get positioned for a better stage. The quest for meaningful work certainly involves an incubation period, for early promotion may well lead to havoc and chaos. For many, there may be other jobs that don’t represent their goal but are steps in the right direction and are opportunities for proper character development, skills, interpersonal relationships, and a responsible work ethic – all of which represent significant strides in one’s own personal journey.

Meaningful Work Podolny et al. (2005, p. 15) define meaningful work, which satisfies two criteria: (1) it supports some ultimate end that the individual personally values, and (2) it affirms the individual’s connection to the community of which he or she is part. This approach integrates intrinsic meaning, purpose, and values as well as extrinsic connection with others in the workplace.

Organic Social Connections Yavetz and Rafaeli (2003, p. 76) make the case for “a basic skeleton with spiritual tissue,” which draws upon the organic nature of the human body; it is held together by the skeleton, but organs and tissues represent overtly social behaviors and spirituality within the interaction. The “skeleton” script also needs the “tissue” script (p. 79). “In this theoretical framework, formal role demands can be viewed as the skeleton script, while the extra role behaviors represent the tissue of the relationship between employees and the organization” (p. 80). As such, a positive “tissue script” is expressed through cooperation, positive emotions, joy, eye contact, spirituality, a smile, respect for others, willingness to be of help, courtesy, compassion, optimism, commitment, and loyalty. A negative “tissue-script” hampers meaningful work, e.g., rudeness, carelessness, and complaining. In combatting a problem of religious triumphalism and individualism in a church at Corinth, Paul draws a similar analogy where individual organs speak. The organs (foot, ear) that feel inferior say, “Because I am not a hand . . . because I am not an eye” – I don’t belong to the body (I Cor. 12:15–16). The organs that feel superior (eye, head) say “I don’t need you” to the other organs (I Cor. 12:21). In each case, an organ detaches itself from the body as a whole, through inferior or superior emotions and language. To counter such individualism, Paul says, “God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it so that

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there should be no division in the body, that its parts should have shared concern for each other” (I Cor. 12:24–25). Yes, people can find intrinsic meaning and purpose in their individual callings and vocations, but their vocation also is positioned within a social setting. Jesus underscores the communal nature of the new life with the dual love commandment, “love God . . . love neighbor” – Jesus says that all other commandments hang or depend on this dual love commandment (Matt. 22:40); the fulcrum point emerges from the pairing of the divine and relational, both are indispensable. Inevitably, work is relational and is expressed through the worker’s community; Paul also affirms the plurality of the Spirit’s work with individual persons and their gifts that that bring to the community experience.

The Good Life People can truly discover “life being led well and life going well” and the emotional substance and manifestation of the good life” (Moltmann 2018, p. 11). Similarly, Aristotle spoke of eudaimonia as a life well-lived, “happiness is the very same thing as saying that one is living a life worth living” (Aristotle 1961). At the same time, a life worth living inevitably means a grateful life in the context of a community. At the beginning of each day, people can choose an attitude of gratitude, which will spill-over into one’s work environment; work is an opportunity for self-expression and relatedness to other people in the workplace. “The sense of deep delight or ‘flow’ that can come when one is absorbed in work one loves and at which one is good, is enhanced, it is claimed, when the person performing the work is convinced that he or she is contributing to some larger cause or purpose” (Moschella 2018, p. 120). It is the unique combination of one’s meaning, one’s strongest skills, interests, virtues, and passion that one begins to fulfill one’s calling, to the greater good. Joyous work leads to genuine flourishing. As Luther stressed, work involves the element of joyful engagement, in that God purposes that human work is done “without inconvenience . . . as it were, in play with the greatest delight” (1883, p. 53); meaningful work is also social in orientation. “Skeleton and tissue behaviors are different elements of the very same interaction, similar to the skeleton and tissue of the body of any living organism” (Yavetz and Rafaeli 2003, pp. 81–82).

People Are Created for Productive Work, for Work Is a Blessing and Not a Curse In the creation narrative, God affirms that people are to “work and take care” of their environment through farming and hunting (Gen. 2:15). God affirms the nobility of work as a gracious expression of what it means to be created in the image and likeness of God. People were intended to cooperate with God in responsible stewardship of the environment. Burchard (2018, p. 349) constructs the image of the “gardener-priest archetype,” which “introduces the original human vocation as an

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embodiment of the Creator’s desire to cultivate a place of harmony, through mindful engagement with each creature, giving each one a ‘name’—a function, a role, a place in the system.”

Responsible Stewardship of the Environment People are called to be responsible stewards of what they have been given. Through human disobedience, work would become painful, difficult, and involve human sweat (Genesis 3:17–19); human rebellion led to chaos, disorder, and alienation in every dimension of life, including fratricide (Gen. 4). Yet, concurrently, “despite being removed from their garden, the original vocation of human beings still resided within them” (Burchard, p. 350). Although Genesis 4 depicts Cain’s brutal murder of Abel, readers discover that people likewise become creative with music and the development of metal tools from bronze and iron, which will lead to increased productivity (Gen. 4:21–22). In the twenty-first century, creativity continues to be expressed with machines and technology; people are to be responsible stewards of God’s creativity embodied in human creativity. In addition, the “gardener-priest archetype” reinforces the fundamental truth that people live within nature, and ecological concerns are important to God as well; indeed, the raw material for computers comes from earth. Even the proper name, “Adam,” and “humankind” (Adam), is directly related to the ground (Heb. adamah), since Adam is formed from the ground (Gen. 2:7) and, as a result of the Fall, will return to the ground (adamah Gen. 3:19). Later, God confronts Cain with his fratricide in the words, “your brother’s blood (dam) cries out to me from the ground (adamah Gen. 4:10). Responsible stewardship and enjoyment of the physical environment stand high on God’s agenda – not the rape, pollution, and destruction of the wonderful world of nature and fellow humans.

The Christian Hope From the Christian perspective, Jesus’ person, words, and redemptive act on the cross affect every aspect of human existence; no part remains untouched. “The gospel is the true story that God made a good world that was marred by sin and evil, but through Jesus Christ he redeemed it at an infinite cost to himself, so that someday he would restore absolute peace, justice, and joy to the world forever” (Keller 2013, p. 162). Thus, people can act in redemptive ways, to bring order out of chaos, liberation from bondage, joy out of tragedy, fulfillment out of meaninglessness, and peace/integration out of fractured existence. Christians can affirm the unimaginable love of God, the goodness of creation (although fallen), the infinite value of each person (even though broken), and the hope of re-creation when God will remove all the ambiguities of life. Since we live in the tension of the “already-but-not-yet,” people are called upon to live with integrity, express love and grace, to affirm the meaning of human existence,

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justice, the power of the Holy Spirit, and to reflect the buoyant hope of eternal redemption. Redemption has already occurred through Jesus, and, yet, people await an eternal redemption. When biblical writers use the term, “hope,” it does not mean what Western culture expresses as a “wish,” e.g., “I hope that it doesn’t rain today.” The biblical writers express hope as a trust-certainty that is directed to the future, expressed by the apostle Paul, as a “blessed hope” (Tit. 2:13). There is no aspect of human existence for which there is no hope, including human vocations and work.

The Fall However, the stark reality emerges that oppressive workplaces reinforce the tragic effects of the Fall in Genesis 3:17–19. Many people experience the same alienation in their work: 17 “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return” (Gen. 3:17–19).Work is not the curse, but God accentuates the laborious toil of work; the ground will not easily yield its produce but will involve hardship. Further, work also involves external threats, e.g., thorns and thistles. In looking at the various elements of God’s judicial decisions, it is important to note that the two persons, Eve and Adam, are not cursed; instead they are judged. The elements that stand under divine curse are the serpent (Gen. 3:14–15) and the ground (Gen. 3:17).

“To the extent that work negates human nature, it is alienating; and to the extent that work corresponds to human nature, it is humane” (Volf 1999, p. 168). How many people dread going to work and can’t wait till the workday ends? Countless jobs debase, demean, disempower, and crush the human spirit – when people are treated as human robots; they are treated as things and objects, only as a means to an end, thus management alienates people and negates humanity.

Workplace Boredom Alienates Recent studies point to the insidious nature of workplace boredom, as a silent killer of people who crave meaning and significance. Annilee Game (2007, p. 702) provides a thoughtful definition of boredom, “an unpleasant, transient affective state in which the individual feels a pervasive lack of interest and difficulty concentrating on the current activity.” Boredom is a negative emotion and is linked with depression, a

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lower reported quality of life, lower job satisfaction, and poor health and spills over into other life domains (Loukidou et al. 2009, p. 3). Many recent studies build upon the pioneering work of Fisher (1987) in this neglected study of boredom. “The polar opposite of work-place depression appears to be work-related pleasure or happiness, the polar opposite of work-related boredom is work-related enthusiasm” (Loukidou et al. 2009, p. 6). Studies accentuate the human need for autonomy, self-development, intrinsic motivation, and to discover that their basic psychological needs are met (Van Hooff and van Hooft 2017), to which could be added social and spiritual needs. Sheer monotony compounds low arousal in workers: “powerlessness, meaninglessness, and self-estrangement that may lead to social isolation” (Loukidou et al. 2009, p. 15). Further, boredom “is a spillover process by which work-related boredom affects the next day’s intrinsic work motivation” (Van Hooff and van Hooft 2017, pp. 140–141) and leads to a downward spiral. For some, boredom is a welcome respite from intense mental activity, for it is surely difficult to maintain acute cerebral activity for the entire workday. Frederick Taylor’s 1911 book, Principles of Scientific Management, was influential in the promotion of extreme job specialization, leading to the assembly line approach, crammed with sheer-repetitive behavior for the entire workday leading to the expected, boredom. Andy Schmitz (2012, p. 3) draws attention to a familiar application of Taylor’s principles with McDonalds fast-food chain, “one person took the orders while someone else made the burgers, another person applied the condiments, and yet another wrapped them, for customers within one minute.” This approach mirrors Adam Smith’s (1896, p. 734) disregard for humane treatment, “The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations . . . generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as is possible for a human creature to become.” But what about the human spirit and the need for meaning, purpose, joy, fulfillment, and flourishing? Sadly enough, such scientific principles of managerial efficiency crush the human spirit.

Reversing the Alienation of the Fall Work is still a blessing, and the people of God can reverse such tragic effects of the Fall in a transformative way through attitudes, conversation, feedback, and behavior. In the place of extreme job specialization, leaders/managers can rotate jobs, help workers develop new skills, add job variety and breadth, expand new knowledge bases, enrich jobs, increase autonomy, allow workers to participate in the end product, and enhance social connections. People can be empowered by God’s new story line to think differently and creatively in how to perform and manage the employees and their tasks. With intentional innovation and creativity, leaders/managers can assist employees to see “their work as meaningful, feel responsible for the outcomes, and that they acquire knowledge of results” (Schmitz 2012, p. 9). These values impact positive outcomes, job satisfaction, personal engagement, intrinsic motivation, self-direction, and higher productivity.

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Humanization of Work Once again, leaders/managers need a radical conversion to the attitude that these practices are the right thing to do for human beings – not simply to buttress the bottom line for monetary gain. “Appropriate job design in terms of sufficient skill variety, task identity, and autonomy are of particular importance” (Van Hooff and van Hooft 2017, p. 146). These are some ways that leaders/managers can reverse the tragic effects of the Fall. People can facilitate the radical transformation of human work. Volf insists, “Humanization of work anticipates the new creation under the conditions of history. At the consummation there will be the negation of all that is inhumane. This is one good reason why a Christian should strive to humanize work” (Volf 1999, p. 165); such humanization of work is to occur at both the personal level and structural (corporate) level. God values individual change and likewise treasures structural changes that transform businesses and corporations, in which workers receive dignified treatment as ends – not a means to another end. This is a fundamental principle of ServiceMaster, a corporation that posits that “people must not be fused as units of production to get the job accomplished” but must be seen as “ends (p. 1)”

The Holy Spirit Enlivens Work From the Christian perspective, the Holy Spirit is dynamic, infusing the whole of human activity, and this personal force impacts people at work in their calling. Typically, many people relegate the Spirit’s work only to spiritual life, ethical life, and worship expression. However, since the kingdom of God affects every dimension of human existence, it logically follows that the Holy Spirit exists as the dynamic power that touches each aspect of human life. The work of the Holy Spirit does not simply occur in a religious vacuum. Just as the Spirit was active in creation, “brooding over the face of chaos” (Gen. 1:2), bringing life, and order out of chaos, so the Holy Spirit can be counted upon to help people in the twenty-first century to be creative and life-giving in the workplace. It is unbiblical to separate the gift of the Holy Spirit from the Spirit’s power, life, and creativity. In the present age, people can express through their work, the principles, and benefits of the new creation, made possible by the Holy Spirit. In three texts, Paul uses the word, “down payment/guarantee” (arrabōn II Cor. 1:22; 5:5; Eph. 1:14). The down payment looks to the future for completion; it guarantees the solid reality of the consummation; and it is a contractual relationship that looks to something far more impressive. In the present, the down payment of the Holy Spirit sets people free to be creative “in the Spirit” as they await the eschaton.

Creativity Most certainly, a teacher can be creative in a classroom by approaching learning tasks with a wide variety of learning opportunities and thereby avoid the proverbial “worksheets”; learners can really become actively involved as opposed to passive

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observers. Employers can work in a cooperative way with the Holy Spirit to free employees, empower them, and to enliven them. Human attitudes about specific jobs and vocations directly impact their productivity, ethics, and the social climate of the workplace. People can flourish when they look beyond their specific task to see larger purposes that are intertwined with their specific job: an opportunity for selfexpression, creativity, autonomy, and joy, a means of providing for oneself and family; a skill that will enhance the net worth of a company and, thereby, provide income for others and the betterment of society; and an occasion for healthy relationships with others. Work involves the full human community. Volf (1999, p. 13) suggests the term “co-creatures” to express the truth that work not only serves the needs of an individual or one’s family but also serves the needs of others, not only those of the human race but also nonhuman creation. Yes, work can be personally fulfilling, yet work also involves the well-being of the social and natural world – to live a life for others. These are all vital aspects of what it means to be fully human.

Biblical Examples of Work-Perspectives Jesus himself worked as a carpenter and used many parables related to work, business, workplace behavior, attitudes, ethics, faithfulness, and a responsible work ethic. Biblical authors affirm the indispensable nature of work, not only for individuals and their families but the wider social community. They also affirm the providential care of God who preserves and guides. Not only was God active in creation but vigorous in his ongoing visitation and care for creation, the human person, and the broader network of social relationships. By his own position as an apostle, Paul could easily expect that his physical needs be met. However, to serve as an example to others, he worked as a tent-maker and advocated a responsible work ethic as well. Paul enjoins the Thessalonian believers, “11 to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, 12so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody” (I Thess. 4:11–12). A responsible work ethic leads to a positive witness to the outside community to the same church community; he later directs some of the “freeloading” believers at Thessalonica, when he uses an intentional word play in the Greek text, “For we hear that certain ones in your midst are walking disorderly, neither busy but being busy-bodies” (II Thess. 3:11). Their lack of a work ethic combined with intrusion into other people’s lives is a clear drain on the Christian community. Paul also supports benevolent work, “doing something useful with his hands that he may share with those in need” (Eph. 4:28). Luke contains an unrecorded saying of Jesus on the lips of Paul, “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:35). Paul not only indicates the need for material help to the poor but charges the people to work strenuously to do

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so; by way of extension, the poor can be empowered to be productive themselves, whatever form that might take. Implications. It is hoped that this chapter reaffirms the reality that God is a God of great joy who wills joy and flourishing for humanity, when people discover joy and fulfillment in the many spheres of human existence, including work in the workplace. What are some of the implications? 1. God built into creation the very principle of work as people were designed so as to be co-workers with God in responsible stewardship of nature, in a productive manner. Work implies purpose, meaning, and fulfillment. 2. As a result of the Fall, alienation entered every sphere of human existence, including laborious toil with competing external forces. The earth would not easily lend its productive fruit. Yet, concurrently, work is still a vital part of human existence and is to be celebrated in a balanced rhythm between work and the other aspects of life, e.g., re-creation. 3. People are created for meaning, purpose, fulfillment, joy, and flourishing in their work. Such meaningful work is not only personal but social in nature. Thus, leaders/managers must honor workers’ individual and community needs. They dare not manipulate people as a means to an end but an end itself. People and their fundamental needs are critical for personal shalom and corporate shalom (well-being in all aspects). 4. When life and work are regarded in the already-but-not-yet tension of the present fulfillment in Jesus and the consummation of that kingdom, this means that workers and leaders/managers can joyfully participate in the celebration of life itself in joyful anticipation of the eschaton. 5. Meaning, purpose, and joy can be crowded out by egoism and numerous expressions of self-centeredness, America’s have-ism, workaholism, comparison, pride, personal and corporate greed, and stress, compounded by rapid changes in technology, mobility, and globalism. These are all manifestations of alienation, ultimately traceable to human sin and rebellion. 6. People can take their cue from biblical authors, who offer antidotes to combat the various guises of alienation. Writers speak about humility and gratitude, Sabbath-living, the need for sharing stories, trust, conscious prayer and meditation, peace, contentment, and setting healthy priorities, along with living with rhythm and balance. These are attitudes and decisions that need to be learned and are vital components of character development. For example, Paul says that “I have learned the secret of being content” (Phil. 4:12). Paul achieves this virtue through active learning and engagement; he is no passive recipient. 7. Jesus offers a new way of looking at creation, the human person, and responsible work in between the ages. His person, words, and works, including his redemptive death and God’s vindication through the resurrection and ascension, provide the new lens through which people can view themselves, their families, community, co-workers, workplace, vocation, and future. His orientation to the human community is central, for God is fully relational and intends that the people of God feel an organic relationship with others. People are not liberated

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as mere souls but wholes, and such freedom must govern all human relationships, including social relationships at work. Freedom also embraces a celebration of nature, not an abuse of nature since human existence is inevitably linked to the earth itself. 8. Jesus is a man of great joy, attracting people to himself. He is winsome in his very person as he approaches people and is ecstatic when his people carry out his direction for their lives (Luke 10:21). His very ministry of joyous life reveals God’s nature and God’s will for humanity. In the person of Jesus, God brings “good news of great joy” for all people. “Joy is a critical component of attentive and engaged human living. Joy enlivens us and sustains us and flows through our commitments to life-giving work and vocations. And it opens up pathways toward compassion and connection, otherwise known as the love of God and neighbor” (Moschella 2018, p. 126). 9. Jesus also empowers people through the person and work of the Holy Spirit to cooperate with him in the re-creation of human work. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is not reserved for “spiritual-life” alone but is at work in all the human dimensions. The Holy Spirit can be counted upon to inspire people to live out a transformed life at work and for leaders/managers to energize workers to discover their meaning, celebrate their purpose, provide for autonomy and self-direction, and personally engage with their work and the human community. 10. Work is to be humane, for employment that is not humane is to be immediately rejected, since it reinforces the stark reality of human alienation, so central to the Fall narrative. Leaders/managers can provide assistance in the workplace, to bolster joyous engagement by honoring the fundamental needs of workers – not because it boosts the bottom line but because it is the right and noble attitude and practice to set in motion. Certainly, this involves being a co-worker with God in the language of the new creation. Meaning, purpose, and joy constitute the human person fully alive and certainly represent the very heart of a joyous God. Robert Louis Stevenson (1999, p. 234) expressed the truth, “To miss joy is to miss all.” Things that matter and God’s goodness elicit joy and happiness – they serve as the natural and dynamic effect of such gracious gifts. Joyous emotions depend upon God, his creative activity and renewing activity in the world, and his careful ordering of life that reveals beauty, justice, peace, and joy. Jesus himself embodies the very heart of God and God’s ultimate plan for the world. Ultimately, creative and productive work is a means of enhancing God’s fame. As the Westminster Catechism affirms, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.”

Cross-References ▶ Meaningful Work and Human Flourishing: Communication Lessons from the Judeo-Christian Tradition ▶ Purpose, Meaning, Joy, and Fulfillment at Work

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▶ Seeking Meaning for the Contemporary Workplace: Insights from the Desert Fathers and Mothers ▶ Women in Leadership and Work-Family Integration: Strategies for Fulfillment and Well-Being

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Moltmann J (2018) Christianity: a religion of joy. In: Volf M, Crisp J (eds) Joy and human flourishing. Fortress Press, Minneapolis Moschella M (2018) Elements of joy in lived practices of care. In: Volf M, Crisp J (eds) Joy and human flourishing. Fortress Press, Minneapolis Nystrom DP (1997) James: the NIV application commentary. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids Ohu E, Laguda E, Ogunyemi K (2018) Mindfulness and stress reduction: managing workplace stress. In: The Palgrave handbook of workplace spirituality and fulfillment. Macmillan, Cham Paloutzian RF, Emmons RA, Keortoe SG (2003) Spiritual well-being, spiritual intelligence, and healthy workplace policy. In: Giacalone RA, Juerkiewicz CL (eds) Handbook of workplace spirituality and organizational performance. Armonk, New York Podolny JM, Khurana R, Hill-Popper M (2005) Revisiting the meaning of leadership. In: Pratt K, Staw W (eds) Research in organizational behavior, vol 26. Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco Roof R, Bocarnea M, Winston B (2018) Spiritual engagement and positive leadership: the promise of identity focused leader development. In: The Palgrave handbook of workplace spirituality and fulfillment. Macmillan, Cham Schmitz A (2012) Motivating employees with job design. In: An introduction to organizational behavior. Creative Commons: DonorsChoose.Org Smith A (1896) Wealth of nations. Clarendon Press, Oxford Stevenson RL (1999) The Lantern-Bearers. In: The Lantern-Bearers and other essays. First Cooper Square Press, New York Story JL (2018) Joyous encounters: discovering the happy affections in Luke-Acts. Herder & Herder/The Crossroad Publishing Co., New York Van Hooff M, van Hooft E (2017) Boredom at work: towards a dynamic spillover model of need satisfaction, work motivation, and work-related boredom. Eur J Work Organ Psychol 26(1) Volf M (1999) Work in the spirit. Wipf and Stock Publishers, Eugene Wood A, Holt SS (2018) Emotional intelligence, performance, and fulfillment. In: The Palgrave handbook of workplace spirituality and fulfillment. Macmillan, Cham Yavetz I, Rafaeli A (2003) Organizational Interactions: A Basic Skeleton with Spiritual Tissue. In: Giacalone RA, Juerkiewicz CL (eds) Handbook of workplace spirituality and organizational performance. Armonk, New York

Mindfulness, Wellness, and Spirituality in the Workplace

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Anne K. Randerson

Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Corporate Banking to Mindfulness Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Purpose or Benefit of Mindfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Relationship Between Mindfulness and Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Business People Using Mindfulness Daily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Future of Mindfulness Training in the Corporate World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Impacting Future of Humanity Through Leadership and Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Holistic Health and Scientific Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Final Comments About Mindfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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This chapter offers a fresh look at the practice of corporate mindfulness, including practical tips from theoretical, philosophical, and practical viewpoints. Its objective is to present particular interest to corporate leaders, HR managers, independent business owners, stakeholders, government entities, nongovernmental organizations, and employees – at any rank – who hope to improve the health and well-being of individuals, companies, and societies throughout the world. Mindfulness has come a long way in the West; it has truly become a buzzword, and mindfulness training is booming. From its origins from Far Eastern wisdom traditions, especially Buddhism, it has found its way in secular form to the world of medicine through the groundbreaking work of Jon Kabat-Zinn (Full catastrophe living: how to cope with stress, pain and illness using mindfulness A. K. Randerson (*) Global Studies Department, California State University, San Marcos, San Marcos, CA, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_81

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meditation. Piatkus, London, 2013). Mindfulness is an integrative, mind-bodybased approach that, with practice, can help people learn to stay in the present moment. By giving them choices to respond – rather than hastily react – mindfulness can alter the way individuals experience stressful moments in life. Given the increasing pressure already felt by many managers and employees worldwide, it should not come as a surprise that mindfulness is presently and will continue to make significant strides in the workplace. Keywords

Mindfulness · Well-being · Health · Stress · Workplace

Introduction Mindfulness has grown exponentially in the past years since corporations have begun introducing mindfulness training, such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindful Self-Compassion, to their employees. In fact, over 2,000 publications have been written on mindfulness (Glomb et al. 2012). Corporate leaders worldwide now realize the multiple benefits of this ancient practice (Brendel and Bennett 2016), whose origins come from Buddhism and other Far Eastern wisdom traditions. To provide a fresh perspective of mindfulness in the workplace, his chapter is comprised of an interview conducted by the author with the aim of contributing to existing literature describing the benefits and pitfalls of introducing mindfulness practices in the corporate world. The interviewee, who opted to remain anonymous, worked as a legal advisor for a financial institution until he discovered the transformative and beneficial aspects of mindfulness training in his personal and professional life and the desire to share this with others. The objective of this chapter is to enlighten readers by not only sharing the positive aspects of mindfulness training in the corporate world. As personal development training using mindfulness techniques has become increasingly popular worldwide, especially in the West, it is important to also expose the possible risks of this training to corporate employees. The objective of introducing mindfulness should not be to squeeze employees to work harder and produce more with a smaller workforce. Mindfulness practices should actually strengthen employees, companies, leaders, stakeholders, society, and the planet from a holistic – mind, body, and spirit – perspective. These practices develop an individual’s awareness on physical, emotional, and mental levels through greater awareness of the five human senses. To these traditional five senses, Jon Kabat-Zinn (2013) adds a sixth, notably the “capacity of the mind itself for non-conceptual knowing.” This interview explores firsthand the reasons behind the interviewee’s switch from working as a legal counsel at a financial institution to becoming a professional corporate mindfulness trainer. It examines the positive and potentially negative aspects of this practice and exposes the interviewee’s ideas for the future of

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mindfulness training in corporations spanning the globe. In addition, the interviewee describes its possible ethical, political, social, and environmental impacts on future generations. This chapter offers readers an objective, fresh look at the practice of corporate mindfulness, including practical tips from theoretical, philosophical, and practical viewpoints. It will be of particular interest to corporate leaders, HR managers, independent business owners, stakeholders, government entities, nongovernmental organizations, and employees – at any rank – who hope to improve the health and well-being of individuals, companies, and societies throughout the world. With regard to the working method for this chapter, the interviewee was asked specific questions by Dr. Anne Randerson, who is also a corporate mindfulness trainer, with regard to mindfulness and well-being in the workplace. Since the interviewee referred to several different authors and literary sources on mindfulness during the interview, relevant references were subsequently added to the text for the convenience of the reader. The interviewer, Dr. Anne Randerson, would like to extend heartfelt gratitude to the interviewee for the considerable time and effort they spent working together on this chapter, with the aim of sharing the interviewee’s extensive knowledge and experience about mindfulness and workplace well-being with the world.

Interview Corporate Banking to Mindfulness Training Interviewer: You were working in the world of corporate banking for many years. What prompted this change in your professional career? Interviewee: I had been working for many years in the world of banking and insurance as a legal adviser. Already as a law student, I was not only drawn to law but also to philosophy. For me, these two areas have always been closely linked. Law carries – or, at least, ought to carry – the promise of bringing insights into right ethical views, as brought forward by philosophy – and/or religion – into practice, into society. Through law, human beings try to find practical guidelines to implement justice and what they consider right ethical views. It is in this spirit that I have studied and have been trying to practice law. Daily life, obviously, brings compromise. Although within a corporate environment, ethics have their place, the ultimate value cherished is economic growth, i.e., more market share and higher revenue. Living with this compromise was not always easy, but not impossible, as I witnessed on a regular basis that business ethics did exist, even within banking corporations of a certain size. In hindsight, I can see two evolutions: one in my own life and one within the corporate world. These evolutions made living this compromise ever more difficult, up to the point that I decided to make this career change. The first evolution took place in my own life around 2005, as I started to read about and study

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Buddhism in earnest. Although I had had an interest in Buddhism before that time, it had been more the intellectual interest of a Western scholar. Around that time, however, I realized that Buddhism not only provided a powerful worldview that supported a beautiful set of values, but it also offered a practical toolbox of exercises. One can implement these exercises into one’s daily life through meditation, studying, and the practice of compassion (Armstrong 2011). Obviously, this practice that I took up rekindled my old interest in ethics, and, over time, I reacquainted myself with what my values were and how I wanted to live my life. Given the impact that Buddhism and mindfulness had on me, I felt a deep desire to share this with others. So I enrolled in a mindfulness trainer course with the intention of combining working as a legal adviser with giving mindfulness training. The second evolution took place within corporations. Obviously, making a profit has been the goal of any business corporation since humans started trading. Therefore, it is normal that within corporations this goal takes an important place; it probably should, if a business corporation is to continue to exist for the benefit of all its stakeholders. In my experience, however, in the last 10 years or so, I have felt a shift – that this goal takes an ever more prominent place, putting all the others deeper into the shadows. For instance, showing a human face toward one’s employees is increasingly seen as a luxury one cannot afford if, in the opinion of management, efficiency needs to be enhanced. There is a clear shift from a stakeholders’ toward a stockholders’ economy at a high cost to the well-being of employees and consumers. Because of this, I saw more and more of my colleagues falling victim to diseases like burnout. I, for that matter, did not escape this fate either. The combination of these two trends continued to make living the compromise even more difficult up to the point that, by the time that I had finished my mindfulness trainer course, I decided to quit working as a legal adviser in the corporate environment. Instead, I opted to dedicate my life to bringing more mindfulness into this world.

Purpose or Benefit of Mindfulness Interviewer: What is the purpose or benefit of mindfulness, in your opinion? Interviewee: The heart of mindfulness is training oneself in awareness for what is here in the present moment. Training in mindfulness is, in essence, training yourself to be aware of what is happening here and now, both around you in the outside world and inside of you. This means being aware of sensations in your body, your thoughts and emotions, etc. This awareness, which one is learning through mindfulness practice, has a special quality. It involves training for an open and kind awareness. Bringing this sort of awareness to one’s daily life offers a lot of benefits, both for the person practicing mindfulness and the people around him or her.

Slowing Down The first benefit of taking up the practice of mindfulness is that it helps you to slow down. In essence, this can be summarized as the practice of stopping and

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looking and stopping and being aware. In the so-called Western world, we live in a society in which the act of stopping is almost revolutionary. To say that our society is fast paced is an understatement. Technological evolution, instead of alleviating pressure in the workplace, is creating more and more stress. Fast technological evolution instills employees and entrepreneurs with the fear of “being left behind” (Brendel 2016), and mobile technology has created 24/7 connectivity with customers expecting immediate responses to requests, regardless of the time they were sent. Slowing down to the point of stopping from time to time does not look like a good option in a society that only wants to accelerate. Yet, the even faster rat race – and the chronic stress it creates – wreaks havoc within our bodies, bringing illnesses like burnout and heart disease. Stopping from time to time to listen to our body, to get in contact with what it needs to recover and heal from daily stress, is essential. The whole practice starts with this form of “stopping.” It teaches you from the start how you can build opportunities into your life to slow down, to stop from time to time.

Get to Know One’s Limits A second benefit is that by stopping regularly and becoming aware of your body, thoughts, and emotions, you better understand the limits of your physical and emotional capabilities. In our day-to-day activities, we are always in “doing” mode, always trying to achieve certain goals. There is nothing wrong with trying to achieve goals. Very few good things would have been done in the world if people had not striven to reach certain goals. However, if we are constantly in this mode of striving, there is a risk that we believe our limitations to be where they are not. For example, we may be looking at a co-worker or competitor, and, as long as she or he is still going strong, we feel that surely we cannot have reached our limits. We may believe that we still have to do certain things, because reaching these goals seems to require so, regardless whether our body is still capable of doing so or not. The question whether our body is still able to do so doesn’t even enter our minds. We just do these things, because achieving the goals requires so. The practice of mindfulness brings us back in touch with our own limitations, teaching us to treat them with respect. This is not always easy and might cause serious emotions if it becomes clear that certain goals might not be so easy or might take longer to reach. But, in the long run, respecting one’s limitations and looking after one’s own health in this way can become a deep source of well-being, happiness, and joy (Randerson 2015). In a world where people are passionate about their work and want to make something of their life, this skill to know and respect one’s limitations becomes increasingly important. It keeps employees away from the pitfalls of burnout and similar diseases and, as such, helps corporations keep employee costs under control. Get to Know Habitual Trains of Thought Thirdly, by the act of stopping and bringing one’s attention to what arises, one becomes more and more aware of the habitual patterns of thought and emotions that govern one’s life. Indeed, in the mindfulness practice, one is willing to welcome

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any thought or emotion that arises, whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, without forming any judgment, in order to hold it in awareness. By doing so, one can become increasingly familiar with one’s thoughts and emotions and with one’s habitual way of reacting to certain situations. And that is very important. Certainly, sometimes having an immediate reaction toward a situation can be very useful, for instance, when one is driving a car, but not all automatic reactions are beneficial to one’s wellbeing. Realizing what one’s habitual reactions are is the first step toward creating space to make more conscious decisions in one’s life.

Staying Present with Difficult Emotions And that brings us to the fourth benefit. Through the act of stopping, one creates room for more conscious decisions to respond to certain situations, rather than to automatically react (Kabat-Zinn 2013). And we obviously do not always succeed in doing this in our current hectic lifestyles. But by training through formal practice on the mat and by introducing small mindfulness exercises in my daily routine, I experienced firsthand how this awareness has become increasingly a part of my life and how I make decisions. Through this practice, I create at least the opportunity to try and make those decisions, which are beneficial for my well-being rather than detrimental. The mindfulness practice also enhances the willingness and capability to stay with difficult emotional states, whether these are one’s own or someone else’s. In the formal practice, we train ourselves to be open to whatever thoughts or emotions arise. By doing so – and by taking care of ourselves and protecting ourselves when these threaten to become overwhelming – we learn that it is actually possible to turn toward and stay with these kinds of difficult emotions. In our Western society, a view exists – fueled by a very active advertisement industry – that there ought to be only happiness. Unfortunately, we all experience one day or another that life has a much richer palette of emotions. There is also grief, pain, anger, frustration, etc. Mindfulness trains one to stay present with these emotions and teaches one that they are part of one’s wonderful life as well, just as love and joy are. The Willingness to Not Know Mindfulness also teaches us to be willing to “not know.” We all long dearly for control, for some kind of grasp on our lives. This is a very human thing to long for, and there is nothing wrong with looking for safety and security in our lives. But, ultimately, life is constantly changing and, thus, challenging us. Realizing this and being willing to live with this changing nature of life is also a benefit of a mindfulness practice, where we stop and are aware of the shifting circumstances we live in and our constantly evolving thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations (Kabat-Zinn 2013). Kindness And, last but certainly not least, one of the biggest benefits from a mindfulness practice, in my opinion, is a deep sense of kindness, which is sometimes called a more formal word: compassion (Armstrong 2011). Kindness is addressed in

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mindfulness training from day 1. If one is going to sit on a cushion and stop and reflect on one’s own thoughts and emotions, kindness is a prerequisite for doing so. Edel Maex, a mindfulness trainer and psychiatrist, once wrote that mindfulness without kindness becomes a form of cruelty (Maex 2014). To train in mindfulness means to train an open, nonjudgmental awareness in which you welcome any thought or emotion. By doing so, you train yourself in being kind toward yourself, which, for many people, including myself, might be very challenging at the beginning or even in the later stages of a mindfulness practice. Yet what is wonderful is that this kind of kindness toward yourself always seems to have the tendency to expand to others. By becoming more kind internally, people often show a kinder face toward others as well (Ricard 2015).

Relationship Between Mindfulness and Business Interviewer: You mentioned that you were very concerned about the relationship between mindfulness and business. Could you elaborate on this? What specific concerns do you have? Interviewee: First of all, before addressing my concerns, I want to stress that I applaud the growing interest within the business environment for practices such as yoga or mindfulness. More and more corporations encourage their employees to practice yoga or mindfulness or even organize such trainings themselves. I perceive this as a positive trend. I have some concerns, however, as to what the motivation of some of these corporations is to support these activities. What is actually driving their interest? When examining this further, I came across a growing number of articles that link mindfulness to enhancing efficiency (Bradberry 2016; Nauman 2014). Mindfulness is often advertised as merely a means to enhance the employee’s capability to focus and handle stress, which may give employers the idea that they can make employees perform even more work and cope with even more stress than they are already doing. As such, mindfulness could potentially become yet another tool to enhance short-term efficiency. The risk of mindfulness being used in this way is, in my opinion, very real. It suffices to look at how economics, and, in particular, economic growth, works. Economic growth at a national level has historically been driven mainly by two factors: demographics, i.e., a growing population, and technological improvements. The first factor has come to a standstill in the Western world. The second factor has, obviously, played a very big role in economic growth from the beginning of the nineteenth century up until now. However, as Thomas Piketty has pointed out, this technological evolution has had its impact mainly in the fields of agriculture and industry (Piketty 2014). The whole domain of services, although information technology (IT) has improved its efficiency, has not had the same boost in efficiency through technology at all – quite the contrary. In many sectors, the same amount of output in services still needs as much time as it did 50 years ago. The problem is that most corporations are overwhelmingly

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service-based. So, how do corporations improve efficiency and create growth if technology will not provide for this or only in a limited way? In some sectors, they find creative ways such as using online platforms, shifting some of the workload to the customer, or relocating some of the workforce to lower-wage countries. But these solutions have their limits so that, in the end, all too often businesses just ask their employees to do more work with less people. So, it is realistic that businesses are looking for tools and trainings that promise to make their employees cope with more and more stress. They may view mindfulness as being just such a tool. A very important aspect of mindfulness and mindfulness trainings, such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), however, is to enhance people’s well-being. One needs to learn to slow down from time to time so as not to be stuck in the continual rat race that modern business, economics, and society so often demand and to make room for more healthy choices. No doubt, life and work will always bring their levels of stress. This is unavoidable, and mindfulness will help one deal with stress more skillfully. But it is much more than that. For example, enhancing the well-being of employees should increase their efficiency and output in the long run. The problem is that “the long run” is not always the time frame that managers of corporations are looking at when making decisions. A corporation introducing mindfulness is definitely a sign that this corporation has a caring quality. It cares for all of its stakeholders, including its employees, rather than just being focused on growth and profit, which are equally essential. But, in my opinion, there does not need to be a contradiction between these two, as the well-being of employees is important for any corporation’s long-term success. So I am very glad that mindfulness is finding its way in the corporate world while staying very alert as to the intention of the corporations to introduce the practice of mindfulness. I also believe that mindfulness training and practice are so powerful that, if corporations introduce them to achieve short-term goals, employees and corporations alike will still reap the many benefits of mindfulness.

Business People Using Mindfulness Daily Interviewer: How can professional business people use mindfulness in their daily lives? What specific steps should they take to start their practice, given the time pressures modern business people are subjected to in the workplace? What specific tips or advice could you give managers today who are feeling stressed in the workplace, at home, etc.? Interviewee: If one practices mindfulness, one does not do this just to sit from time to time on one’s cushion or mat. Obviously, this has already a lot of merit in itself. However, the aim is to use the mindfulness practice and its benefits in one’s daily life. And this means using it in the workplace as well. How can one make it so that mindfulness has an impact on the way one deals with stressors at work?

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Possible Benefits in the Workplace First of all, the practice of stopping and becoming aware on a regular basis is of great benefit for any professional who is committed in his job. A strong commitment in conjunction with high workloads and 24/7 connectivity keeps a professional businessperson busy all day in a constant maelstrom of e-mails, meetings, and reaching objectives. The conscious act of stopping just for brief moments from time to time to sit on a cushion every day gives the professional the opportunity to step out of this treadmill momentarily and become aware of what he or she is experiencing in the present moment. What does the body feel like? Which thoughts and emotions are present? This kind of stopping and being aware is healing in itself and can make room for better decisions, not only better business decisions but also rendering it more beneficial for his or her own well-being (Chaskalson 2011). Secondly, the practice of mindfulness makes one become more aware of one’s limits, in both the body and mind, and the signals through which the body indicates that a limit has been reached. This is a great benefit in the workplace. It teaches one to respect one’s limits more, or, if this is not possible due to a high workload, one is at least aware that one is pushing oneself beyond one’s limits and one will need to recover at some point in time. Thirdly, within the mindfulness practice, there are not only more formal exercises like the body scan or the sitting meditation but also a number of less formal ones, which can be used at any time during the day, even in the workplace. For example, the “three minutes breathing space” is a well-known practice in which one can become aware very quickly of how the body feels and what thoughts and emotions are present here and now (Segal et al. 2013). This exercise can be done in 3 min or even in just the time to take three breaths at your desk or when you are walking to the coffee machine. Bringing awareness to the present moment including your thoughts, body, emotions, and breath – right there in the office, among all the turmoil that may exist – while adding a friendly and mild character to this awareness can be very powerful. It can be like coming home very briefly, resetting the machinery, coming in touch with how you feel and what wishes lurk inside you, and prompting choices to act from within this space (Chaskalson 2011). The Need for Practice and Time Constraints So, in the end, mindfulness is much more than the formal practice on a cushion or a mat; it is a practice that can pervade one’s whole life, helping to deal with difficult situations in one’s private life or workplace. Obviously, it is not very simple to actually do this in stressful circumstances, such as in certain business environments. Therefore, you need to practice. First, it can be a good idea to follow a formal training, either a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program or similar meditation training. Next, it is best to practice in a safe environment, i.e., on your cushion or mat, and do this regularly, preferably, on a daily basis. Yet many business people argue that their days are already so cramped that they do not have any time left for additional tasks, like mindfulness. This is a logical objection to

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make given the time pressures these people are under. However, if business people find themselves stuck in the maelstrom of daily life and are unhappy about it, the first step is to make a choice. And, if one chooses to train in the practice of mindfulness, this entails a certain commitment to practice, which might bring some extra stress in the beginning, as one needs to make time for it. Most people, however, very quickly experience the benefits of the mindfulness practice and do not perceive it as something they have to but want to make time for. An ancient Zen saying comes to mind here, which states that you should sit in meditation for 20 min every day, unless you are too busy, then you should sit for an hour. Indeed, it is exactly because a busy business professional is subjected to severe time pressures that making time for meditation in whatever form becomes all the more important, even if it is only for 15 min a day.

How to Keep One’s Mindfulness Practice Going As you can see, it is quite a challenge to keep a regular mindfulness practice going when one has a busy schedule already. It is, therefore, advisable to organize oneself in such a way that it becomes feasible. Allocating some space in one’s house to the practice in a pleasant room and organizing it so that one can start immediately if one wants to can certainly help. Finding a fixed time of day to practice may be beneficial as well, just as finding the right tools. A comfortable meditation cushion and/or yoga mat might just make the difference to not abandoning the practice. It might also be beneficial to join mindfulness practice days from time to time. Again, this may seem as a strain on one’s schedule, but it can really give one’s mindfulness practice the little nudge it needs to continue. Keeping a mindfulness practice going on one’s own is much harder than practicing together with other people from time to time. It is also important to always start again. Every time one goes and sits on one’s meditation cushion, it is a new beginning. So, it doesn’t matter if one hasn’t meditated for a week or a month. One can always go back and sit to make a fresh start. Finally, perhaps the most important aspect to keeping one’s practice going is mildness. It is quite a challenge to sustain a practice when one has a demanding business schedule, combined with a busy family life. Trying not to be judgmental when one has the feeling that the practice is not coming along and gently inviting oneself to start again, in a mild way, even if only for a 5-min meditation, proves very beneficial to sustain a mindfulness practice.

Future of Mindfulness Training in the Corporate World Interviewer: How do you see the future of mindfulness training/coaching in the corporate world? Do you think there is a place for it for all executives? What message would you like to convey to business students and business leaders about mindfulness? Interviewee: I already addressed one pitfall of introducing mindfulness in the corporate world. However, I want to reiterate that the trend toward more

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mindfulness in the business world is one to be applauded and that mindfulness can play a very important role in the workplace. I even feel that the corporate world in the current state of global affairs, and our society in general, will need to incorporate mindfulness and ethics. I will explain the link between these two later. It will have to, if it wants the current economic model to survive and avoid that a major part of business executives – employees and self-employed alike – either fall ill, through burnout or similar illnesses, or no longer want to commit to an active and productive life in society.

From a “Command” to an “Achievement” Society What has changed in Western society is that people who seemingly functioned perfectly well without mindfulness and meditation previously are now looking for techniques to help them cope with the current demands that society brings them. I believe that, in addition to the continuous acceleration of change in a society driven by technological evolution, the German philosopher Byung-Chul Han has pointed out a very important shift that has taken place in Western society. Han explains that we moved in Western societies from what he calls “Command” societies toward “Achievement” societies (Han 2017). In the “command” society, there are institutions or people that give orders that need to be obeyed by others. If we look at the capitalist system of the end of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century, it is easy to understand what type of society Han is referring to. This system created in its extremes a “we against them” conflict model in which employers are trying to push employees over their limits as much as possible to maximize profit. Employees try and organize themselves as much as possible to push these demands back (Han 2017). Although there certainly still are companies – even in Western countries – where we see this scheme at work, in general, Western societies are moving away from this model to a new type of society, which Han calls the “achievement society” (Han 2017). This latter type of society gives rise to a new type of employee who has the ambition to make something from his or her life and who wants to achieve, not only to make a career and be successful but also to grow on a more personal level and be challenged. This is obviously good news for business corporations that can hire employees who are eager to work hard in order to make a career without the employer having to put too much pressure on them to do so. This type of society has as a consequence, though, that the “we against them” conflict model is losing its validity. Although tensions between employers and employees continue to exist, employees want to work long hours because achieving in their professional lives, growing materially and personally in the workplace, is what gives meaning to their lives. The decision on how hard one works is no longer the object of an external conflict between employer and employee; it is a decision that employees have to make for themselves. The external conflict increasingly gets internalized. The ability to make this kind of decision presupposes the awareness of where one’s limits lie and the possibility to create space to make conscious decisions about what to do when one crosses

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these limits and what makes one truly happy. For example, what does one have to achieve to live a truthfully meaningful life? Bringing this kind of awareness to everyday life is a difficult thing to do, especially in the short deadline-driven, 24/7 availability, adrenaline-drained working environments that more and more people find themselves in today. It is safe to say that not everyone is equipped with this ability to make room for these kinds of conscious decisions to safeguard, let alone enhance, one’s well-being. When looking at the curricula of the schools and universities that I know, I do not see that they put much emphasis on training for these kinds of abilities in future professionals. Likewise, although companies spend big budgets on training employees in either technical, management, communications, or similar skills, there is very little attention to programs that enhance people’s awareness. This situation leaves most people to find out for themselves how to best cope with this new challenge that contemporary society thrusts on them. They live in a society where people themselves are willing to work hard to be successful, while the economy, run by big corporations, asks for constantly higher efficiency and economic growth. These elements combined may very well explain why so many people find themselves sidelined for a short or sometimes fairly long period of time in their careers due to stress-related illness.

Mindfulness Training in Business Schools Given all these new characteristics found in the business environments, and the challenges they pose, and in the employees working in them, employees can benefit enormously from mindfulness. It is a practice that focuses on slowing down from time to time, on training awareness, on becoming aware of the body and the limits it has. It invites one to stop and watch so as to create room for more conscious decisions instead of reacting automatically and staying stuck in habitual patterns that compound to the stress created, rather than reduce it. That is also exactly the reason why I believe that business schools should give ample attention to these new challenges that modern economics pose, and they should explain which training resources, like the practice of mindfulness, are available to better cope with them. Ideally, students should be able to choose from programs, like mindfulness, that they can attend in order to acquire some basic techniques and awareness. The goal of education should not only be to produce people who have certain technical knowledge and skills that are useful for the economy but to provide them with knowledge, insights, and practices that help them lead a meaningful and more happy life in a caring society. Therefore, my message to students would be, first of all, that if the schools or universities do not provide tools to prepare oneself for this new environment, then it might be useful to take initiative and search for opportunities and programs to train oneself in mindfulness. Obviously, one can start training in mindfulness at any stage in one’s life, and, as such, one can postpone it until one is actually working in a business environment. However, experience shows that, once one starts to work, very often there is very little time left to learn these so-called softer skills, as emphasis is put on acquiring the technical skills to be productive in the workplace

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as quickly as possible. Most people would agree that it is not a good idea to try and learn to swim when one has just fallen off a boat. It is better to be prepared beforehand. Likewise, it is easier to train oneself in awareness when stress levels are not too high yet. I would advise students as well that they should ask themselves the big questions: what do I want to do in life? What are my values and my goals? What brings me joy and happiness? Posing these questions before immersing oneself into the turmoil of business life and finding ways of reminding oneself of the answers can help one continue to make the right decisions or, at least, get on the right track from time to time. And, finally, I would say that safeguarding one’s limits is of utmost importance, feeling them, protecting them, and training oneself in awareness to be able to do this as much as possible in hectic circumstances. As stated earlier, all of this might not be part of the curriculum, but it is well worth looking for in order to enhance one’s well-being in the further stages of life. Obviously, all of these benefits for employees and students are equally applicable to executives. However, I believe that for executives there is more to be gained from mindfulness than this. Through the practice of mindfulness, one stops and gives attention to anything that may arise: sounds, bodily sensations, thoughts, and emotions. By doing so, one becomes more and more familiar with the workings of the human body and mind. One gets more in touch with one’s own humanity, with what it means to be human. This is useful for everyone, but it can be particularly useful for managers as this helps them connect with the humanity of their employees.

From Human Resources Management to Human Beings’ Management I feel that a lot of the problems in the business environment today are the consequence of a tendency to treat people as machines. I have already explained which mechanism drives companies to ask for even higher performance and efficiency of their employees in a service-based business environment. In fact, businesses desire – or require – a similar growth in efficiency that has been achieved in industrial environments, thanks to significant technological improvements. In the last 150 years, we have witnessed incredible improvements in the efficiency of the machines used. However, human beings are not machines and cannot be treated as such. One cannot continue to ask people to continue to improve efficiency if there is no similar new technology in the service industry to support this. Getting in touch with one’s own humanity helps executives remind themselves of this reality and treat their employees correctly. In the long run, having employees who are able to look after their own well-being (Brown and Ryan 2003), who are being appreciated for their work, and who choose jobs they are passionate about is better for any business. Lastly, one should not forget the immense benefit of kindness. Kindness helps executives treat their employees as human beings. The kindness that you train toward yourself in the mindfulness practice has a tendency to expand toward others. This tendency can also make one become more aware of one’s place and role in society at large. Obviously, a business environment is a competitive one that requires decisions and actions that may cause suffering to some people (Burgess

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2000). But how much suffering, if any, can be justified and for whose gain? The deep experience of kindness, which is a product of mindfulness, is a useful – and much needed – tool to help executives make the right ethical decisions under all circumstances.

Impacting Future of Humanity Through Leadership and Ethics Interviewer: How has the practice of being mindful impacted your life and your outlook on the future? With this in mind, how do you think this practice can influence the future of humanity and the world? How does mindfulness relate to the fields of leadership and ethics, in your opinion? Interviewee: It may already be apparent from the first question that I commented on that meditation and the cultivation of mindfulness have significantly impacted my life. Before I started practicing mindfulness, I was fully immersed in what I was doing professionally without asking myself too many questions as to its sense and purpose, other than that “it paid my bills.” Furthermore, in my private life, I was unaware of all the things that could bring me joy, for instance, good health, the presence of friends and family, nature, etc. Cultivating mindfulness created a sort of space and a different perspective on all of this, where I could value more what I had by reacquainting myself with my core values. Mindfulness is one of the key elements that bring me in touch with life, with the things that matter most. Additionally, mindfulness has helped me take the decision to bring my way of living more in line with my values. Sometimes, taking decisions to change one’s private or professional life can be frightening. The practice of mindfulness was an enormous support for me to experience the fear associated with change and make the change anyway. Mindfulness has also influenced my view on the future. By cultivating awareness, through making time and space away from pressing day-to-day problems, I have also become more aware of the critical issues that we all face today: not only environmental issues, from global warming to huge waste dumps in our oceans, but also the growing inequality in the division of capital and the demand for higher efficiency to generate profit, which puts enormous pressure on employees worldwide (Burgess 2000). Moreover, let’s not forget a sometimes seemingly indifferent stance adopted by some areas in the food industry toward consumer health, animal welfare, and sustainability.

Not Losing Sight of the Big Picture When one is working in a business environment, the focus lies on solving the day-today problems one is faced with. It is easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, of the role and place one takes in society. Through the act of stopping and observing, one can create space and time for this kind of broader perspective (Carson et al. 2001; Marturano 2014). What are the consequences of my actions not only for my business and me but also for the people who are working with and/or for me, my family, friends, society, or, on a broader scale, all living creatures on earth?

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As I already mentioned, mindfulness can befriend the practitioner with the constantly changing nature of all things in our life. This aspect of constant change is linked with the interconnectedness of everything on this planet. Human beings, for instance, could not exist without water, trees, fertile soil, bees, etc. The list is almost endless. This is true for anything that exists on this planet. It also explains why everything is constantly in motion, moving from one form of existence to another. This is not some esoteric view of the world, but one that becomes increasingly apparent as science shows us the intrinsic workings of the universe. The practice of mindfulness helps one continue to be aware of this ultimate reality, of one’s place in all of this, and, thus, of the simple fact that one’s actions have certain consequences for all other beings, including oneself, on this planet. Obviously, the higher one ranks in an organization and the larger the business one runs, the bigger the consequences of one’s actions and decisions. Therefore, it is all the more important for executives of any company, especially the larger ones, to find a way to keep sight of this bigger picture. It is exactly in this kind of function that one has a very real risk of getting absorbed in the day-to-day running of the business, losing sight of what the consequences of certain decisions might be for society or even the planet as a whole. In the West, we have been living in a society that is individualistic (Hofstede et al. 2010). There is this underlying notion that pervades most of society and thus the executive environment as well that in order to become happy, you should first strive to accumulate as many material benefits for yourself as possible, even to the detriment of others, if necessary. However, more and more people have been feeling intuitively that something is not quite right with this theory. And science is coming in support of this intuition. Recent research into the workings of the brain seem to show that openhearted spaciousness – good will toward one’s own thriving and peaceful relationships with other beings – is what fosters happiness (Hanson and Mendius 2009). So it is safe to say that it is not only better for society or the planet but also for business executives to train in this kind of awareness and openhearted spaciousness, to live more happy and meaningful lives.

Mindfulness and Global Challenges in Market-Embedded States In addition, if one examines the list of global problems we are facing today, most, if not all, are linked to humans not being aware of their actions (Langer 1989). This is most apparent in the area of the environment. Take, for instance, the use of plastics. They are cheap; they can take any form and are strong and trustworthy. Why would they not be used by businesses around the world? But now we start to gradually realize that nature cannot “digest” all of these plastics, and by producing, consuming, and throwing away all of these plastic items, we have turned our rivers, seas, oceans, and beaches into huge waste dumps. Practicing deep awareness of the interconnectedness of all beings on earth would not only have alerted scientists, executives, and politicians much earlier, but it would have also prompted them to take action more quickly. In my experience, moral aspects are not always a major influence when business executives take important decisions (Leary 2004). Cost reduction, market growth,

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and profit maximization are the main incentives. Corporate social responsibility is finding a place within businesses; unfortunately, however, it is sometimes allotted space on the company website – if you look for it – and in some contractual documents, but not necessarily in the company’s culture and goals. In that way, there is a risk that corporate social responsibility may become more an element of branding and reputation than genuine business policies. Obviously, there are quite a lot of exceptions. They are often found in smaller family businesses where family members still have their seats on the board of directors, where they can embody the values they want to see reflected throughout the business. It is probably not a coincidence that some of the members of these families running these companies are known to be practicing mindfulness. Sadly, not all companies follow this example. I find this a major concern in a world where large multinational companies can wield so much power in the political domain. The adherence of more and more countries to free-trade agreements has drastically changed the global political landscape. Before these agreements, we lived in a world where markets were embedded within states. The states governed and regulated these markets through democratically appointed bodies, such as parliaments and governments – at least in democratic countries. Although multinational corporations had some influence on local governments, if they wished to enter these markets, they needed to comply with local regulations. As such, national governments were able to implement regulations protecting the environment, consumers, and the interests of the labor force, all of which were not necessarily high on the list of concerns of larger corporations. Free-trade agreements have turned this situation upside down, and states now find themselves embedded in large, multinational markets where they are bound to rules preventing them from regulating their markets as they would like (Habermas 2015). Free-trade agreements give multinational corporations the right to even take legal action against any country that tries to implement certain environmental or consumer rights laws, as such regulations are quickly construed as hampering the free trade and markets. Thus, we see a clear shift in power from national governments toward large multinational corporations – a situation that creates an urgent need for more awareness at the level of business executives to wield this newly acquired power, not only to their own benefit but in the interest of all living creatures on this planet. Although I am not aware of any specific research in this area, I dare to state that the ethical aspects of governing such corporate bodies and the training of the continuous awareness for these aspects do not seem present in the professional education of business executives. Practicing mindfulness, training awareness for what is here and now, becoming familiar with one’s own humanity and the place one takes in life, and deeply experiencing the interconnectedness of all that is can certainly influence the way business executives run their corporations (Pavlovich and Krahnke 2012; Ruedy and Schweitzer 2010; Schmidt-Wilk et al. 1996). Given the impact businesses have on people’s lives and society as a whole, the possible impact of mindfulness on executives cannot be underestimated.

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Holistic Health and Scientific Research Interviewer: How does mindfulness relate to the state of one’s health (from a holistic perspective, combining the mental, physical, and spiritual)? As a mindfulness practitioner/expert, what is the scientific research behind its efficiency? Interviewee: I am a mindfulness trainer and not conducting research myself on this topic. However, it has been well documented that a regular practice of mindfulness has a positive effect on a person’s physical health and general feeling of well-being (Pearsall 1996; Segal et al. 2013; Tonelli and Wachholtz 2014; Weare 2014). Positive effects have been registered with regard to the susceptibility of suffering cardiovascular diseases, to helping people, through mindfulness practices, who have recovered from depression not to relapse, etc. Most of these positive effects are linked to the enhanced capacity of people practicing mindfulness to regulate their emotions and a heightened feeling of being connected and open to the people and the world around them (Kabat-Zinn 2013). Recent studies show that a regular practice of meditation and mindfulness actually changes one’s brain in the areas that support activities of the mind, such as intuition, empathy, tuning in with other people, insight into one’s own place in time and space, etc. (Beach et al. 2013; Tonelli and Wachholtz 2014). These areas, which give meaning to one’s life, become more stimulated (Hanson and Mendius 2009). It turns out that all of these aspects have an enormous influence on a person’s health and well-being (Brown and Ryan 2003; Carmody and Baer 2008). In my opinion, all of these results demonstrate that the practice of mindfulness is much more than an efficiency tool, as it is a practice that can enhance people’s well-being as a whole. Since the miserable working conditions at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century have long disappeared in the socalled Western world, it has become obvious that businesses should respect their employees’ health. However, with the mounting pressure of performing more work with less people and the growing number of employees suffering from burnout and fibromyalgia, it may be time to put this item high on the social and political agenda again. In the long run, the economy will also benefit from looking after the employees’ well-being. A healthier and happier workforce surely is more productive than one that is more prone to illnesses and constantly feeling stressed. Additionally, enhancing people’s well-being directly affects the economy, since caring for the ill brings costs to bear on society as a whole. Because the social security system is already under a lot of pressure in many Western European countries, choices need to be made. One option is not to care anymore or care less. Surely, this cannot be the way we want society to evolve. Another option is looking for ways that prevent additional costs or, even better, ones that reduce costs so that taxes and social security contributions don’t have to be increased or might even be lowered. The practice of mindfulness, both at employee and executive levels, is one of the tools that might help businesses organize themselves to prevent this alarming rise in the number of people afflicted with burnout and similar stress-related ailments.

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Final Comments About Mindfulness Interviewer: Do you have any final comments to share about mindfulness? Interviewee: When talking or writing about mindfulness, the focus lies rather quickly on what I would call the technique of mindfulness, i.e., placing our attention or bringing awareness to the “here and now,” to bodily sensations, thoughts, and emotions, and generating kindness toward oneself and others. This is quite normal as these elements represent the foundation of practicing mindfulness. With regard to the benefits of mindfulness, much of the focus lies on its practical benefits, which I highlighted as well, obviously, when explaining the benefits of mindfulness in this interview. In my opinion, this practical focus might well be linked to the very instrumental way we look at the world and live our lives. If we are going to make efforts to train in mindfulness and allocate time to practice it, we want to see results – very practical and tangible ones. This causes mindfulness trainers to emphasize these more practical benefits of mindfulness, and there is nothing wrong with that. Focusing on the daily benefits should not make us lose sight of one of the biggest fruits that can be harvested through the practice of mindfulness, however, which I have mentioned briefly in this interview. That is the deep sense of connectedness. We achieve this by being present in the here and now, by practicing to stay present with the pleasant and unpleasant – whether it is sadness, anger, or frustration – and by seeing that all of these states are equally part of us being human. By practicing kindness and the attitude of not judging, we learn to be willing to see all things as they really are, i.e., that we are all part of this mystery called life and we are all playing our little part in it (Hanson and Mendius 2009). Deep down, we are looking to give some kind of meaning to the life we live, some kind of belonging and having a place in the world. Bringing this sort of kind, open awareness to our life and being present, here and now, make us connect to the world as it is. It makes us see that we, for the time of our lifespan, have a place in this world; we are deeply connected with all other beings and with our whole environment. The practice of mindfulness can help human beings feel at home in the world rather than feeling separate, as a stranger in its midst (Hanson and Mendius 2009). This kind of connectedness may also bring our awareness as to how we can attribute more sense and meaning to our life, which may not necessarily signify striving to acquire so much material wealth, to the possible detriment of others. From this awareness and connectedness comes a deep sense of comfort and joy, even if sometimes what we experience may be difficult. It provides us with a deep sense of belonging, gratitude, and meaning in this world (Goldstein and Kornfield 2012). By doing business from this profound perspective of being connected and belonging, every executive has the possibility to use his or her talents not only to further his or her own business interests but to make this world a better place for everyone and live a happier life in return.

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Summary Mindfulness has come a long way in the West; it has truly become a buzzword, and mindfulness training is really booming. From being practiced in a Buddhist religious environment, it has found its way to the world of medicine through the groundbreaking work of Jon Kabat-Zinn (Kabat-Zinn 2013; McCown et al. 2011). Mindfulness involves paying attention to our thoughts and feelings so we become more aware of them, less enmeshed in them, and better able to manage them. It is an integrative, mind-body-based approach that helps people change the way they think and feel about their experience, especially stressful experiences (Chaskalson 2011). Thus, it should not come as a surprise that mindfulness is now making significant strides in the workplace. Numerous companies worldwide have implemented mindfulness, including many large corporations, such as Google, General Electric, Apple, IBM, Starbucks, and Pfizer (Brendel and Bennett 2016), which have discovered the significant benefits it offers their executives and employees. Since its inception in 1979, the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program developed by Kabat-Zinn and his colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical School has been subject to considerable research and numerous peer-reviewed papers relating to the effectiveness of mindfulness in a wide range of applications (Chaskalson 2011). There is also an increasing amount of scientific evidence that seems to confirm that the introduction of mindfulness in the workplace brings multiple benefits. Mindfulness can help people deal with stress and negative emotions while helping them recover more quickly from setbacks and bad moods. People practicing mindfulness often have less frequent negative thoughts, which may lead to higher self-esteem and self-confidence. Mindfulness is also correlated with emotional intelligence; it helps foster people’s ability to cooperate and potentially understand another person’s perspective. Practicing mindfulness has been shown to improve people’s attention, job performance, productivity, and satisfaction. It also makes people feel more in control of their behavior, more able to override or change internal thoughts and feelings, and resist acting on impulse (Brendel and Bennett 2016; Brendel et al. 2016; Chaskalson 2011). From this interview and supporting evidence-based research, multiple potential benefits of mindfulness seem to build a clear case for introducing mindfulness in the workplace (Chaskalson 2011). The interviewee also highlights a possible pitfall when the goal of introducing mindfulness would solely be to improve short-term efficiency for an organization, yet mindfulness brings much more than this. Acknowledging that improving efficiency probably always lurks in any corporate executive’s mind, enhancing the well-being of employees together with the possible benefits listed above should lead to increased efficiency and output in the long run. In this chapter, the interviewee points to rapid technological evolution, the shift from a “Command” to an “Achievement” society (Han 2017), the need

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for enhanced efficiency in a service-sector based economy, and the emergence of market-embedded states as some of the important shifts in society. These three shifts make the implementation of stress management tools in the workplace even more timely since they all impact the way people work in the corporate environment today. One of the most urgent challenges might well be the need for awareness at all levels in corporations that business decisions have an even bigger impact in an increasingly globalized world. Decisions taken within large corporations can have huge consequences on employment, public health, the environment, etc. Ethics in a business environment is something that is not limited to corporate executives; it should be important to all of the employees in a corporation. However, it goes without saying that decisions and actions of corporate leaders have a greater impact. Taking into account the notion that many unethical decisions stem from a lack of awareness and that important connections can be made between mindfulness and ethical decision-making (Ruedy and Schweitzer 2010), one may have to conclude that our world needs mindful leaders who do not lose sight of the bigger picture, are not afraid to be openhearted, and have the strength of character to make ethical choices (Marturano 2014). This interview proposes that properly implementing mindfulness in the workplace gives employees, HR managers, and corporate executives an extremely useful tool to help them negotiate the new challenges of the twenty-first century. Although further scientific research into the effects of mindfulness in the workplace still needs to be conducted, the track record of mindfulness in the medical world and the results of existing scientific research so far seem to support the proposition that implementing mindfulness in the workplace is very beneficial and needed.

References Armstrong K (2011) Twelve steps to a compassionate life. Anchor, New York Beach MC, Roter D, Korthuis PT, Epstein RM, Sharp V, Ratanawongsa N, Cohn J, Eggly S, Sankar A, Moore RD, Saha S (2013) A multicenter study of physician mindfulness and health care quality. Ann Fam Med 11(5):421–428 Bradberry T (2016) Five ways mindfulness will launch your career. In: Forbes. Available via Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbradberry/2016/07/06/five-ways-mindfulness-willlaunch-your-career/#689dd6a15c08 Accessed 2 Oct 2019 Brendel W (2016) Mindfulness based consulting. In: Jamieson D, Buono A, Barnett R (eds) Consultation for organizational change. Research in management consulting and contemporary trends in organization development and change series, vol II. IAP, Charlotte Brendel W, Bennett C (2016) Learning to embody leadership through mindfulness and somatics practice. Adv Dev Hum Resour 18(3):409–425 Brendel W, Hankerson S, Byun S, Cunningham B (2016) Cultivating leadership Dharma. J Manag Dev 35(8):1056–1078 Brown KW, Ryan RM (2003) The benefits of being present: mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. J Pers Soc Psychol 84:822–848 Burgess PK (2000) Real-world multitasking from a cognitive neuroscience perspective. In: Monsell S, Driver J (eds) Control of cognitive processes: attention and performance XVIII. MIT, Cambridge, pp 465–472

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Carmody J, Baer RA (2008) Relationships between mindfulness practice and levels of mindfulness, medical and psychological symptoms, and well-being in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program. J Behav Med 31:23–33 Carson S, Shih M, Langer E (2001) Sit still and pay attention? J Adult Dev 8(3):183–188 Chaskalson M (2011) The mindful workplace: developing resilient individuals and resonant organizations with MBSR. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester Glomb TM, Duffy MK, Bono JE, Yang T (2012) Mindfulness at work. Res Pers Hum Resour Manag 30:115–157 Goldstein J, Kornfield J (2012) Seeking the heart of wisdom: the path of insight meditation. Shambhala, Boston Habermas J (2015) Knowledge and human interests. Polity, Cambridge Han BC (2017) The agony of Eros. MIT, Cambridge Hanson R, Mendius R (2009) Buddha’s brain: the practical neuroscience of happiness, love & wisdom. New Harbinger, Oakland Hofstede G, Hofstede GJ, Minkov M (2010) Cultures and organizations: software of the mind, 3rd edn. McGraw-Hill, New York Kabat-Zinn J (2013) Full catastrophe living: how to cope with stress, pain and illness using mindfulness meditation. Piatkus, London Langer EJ (1989) Minding matters: the consequences of mindlessness-mindfulness. Adv Exp Soc Psychol 22(12):137–173 Leary MR (2004) The curse of the self: self-awareness, egotism, and the quality of human life. Oxford University, New York Maex E (2014) Mindfulness: in the maelstrom of life. Lannoo, Tielt Marturano J (2014) Finding the space to lead: a practical guide to mindful leadership. Bloomsbury, New York McCown D, Reibel D, Micozzi M (2011) Teaching mindfulness: a practical guide for clinicians and educators. Springer, New York Nauman E (2014) Can mindfulness enhance job performance? Greater good: the science of a meaningful life. Available via Greater Good Magazine. http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/ item/can_mindfulness_enhance_job_performance. Accessed 2 Oct 2019 Pavlovich K, Krahnke K (2012) Empathy, connectedness and organization. J Bus Ethics 105:131–137 Pearsall P (1996) The pleasure prescription: to love, to work, to play–life in the balance. Hunter House, Alameda Piketty T (2014) Capital in the twenty-first century. Cambridge, Belknap Randerson A (2015) Human sensitivity towards nature: Eastern and Western perspectives. World J Sci Technol Sustain Dev 12(3):172–182 Ricard M (2015) Altruism: the power of compassion to change yourself and the world. Little, Brown and Company, New York Ruedy NE, Schweitzer M (2010) In the moment: the effect of mindfulness on ethical decision making. J Bus Ethics 95(1):73–87. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-0796-y Schmidt-Wilk J, Alexander CN, Swanson GC (1996) Developing consciousness in organizations: the transcendental meditation program in business. J Bus Psychol 10(4):429–444 Segal ZV, Williams JM, Teasdale JD (2013) Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression: a new approach to preventing relapse. Guilford, New York Tonelli ME, Wachholtz AB (2014) Meditation-based treatment yielding immediate relief for meditation-naïve migraineurs. Pain Manag Nurs 15(1):36–40 Weare K (2014) Evidence for mindfulness: impacts on the wellbeing and performance of school staff. Available via Mindfulness in Schools. http://mindfulnessinschools.org/wpcontent/ uploads/2014/10/Evidence-for-Mindfulness-Impact-on-school-staff.pdf. Accessed 23 Feb 2017

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Origin of Mindfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What Is Mindfulness? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mindfulness and Breathing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How Mindfulness Gained Attention in the Western World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Benefits of Mindfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mindfulness as Meditation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Practical Applications of Mindfulness in Western Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Attitudes in Mindfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Strategies for Practicing Mindfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How Is Mindfulness Relevant in Organizations Today? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Topic 1: Mindfulness and Subjective Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Topic 2: Mindfulness and Decision-Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Topic 3: Mindfulness and Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Topic 4: Mindfulness and Integrative Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mindfulness and Sustainable Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Future Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all member states of the United Nations in 2015, aspires to develop global peace and prosperity for Z. Bhojani (*) · E. C. Kurucz Department of Management, Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_52

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current and future generations. At the core of this plan are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that require countries and stakeholders to work in collaborative partnerships to achieve this transformational vision (https://sustaina bledevelopment.un.org/). This plan of action fundamentally challenges our existing ideas of growth and development that, while offering many benefits, have also generated negative side effects that increasingly challenge individual quality of life and societal level sustainability. In order for us to make authentic progress toward social and environmental sustainability, our prevailing mind-set and understanding of prosperity requires a shift to accommodate critical measures such as well-being and happiness (Eisler 2007). Increasingly, global issues, including the “wicked problems” of sustainability (Brown, Harris, Russell 2010), are imposing pressure on the human mind, leading to abrupt, fragmented, and often mindless actions impacting the quality of human interactions and, in turn, hindering the solutions to these problems. Mindfulness practice, where mindfulness is defined as the act of focusing on the present moment without judgment, without reaction, and with an open heart (Kabat-Zinn 2015), has implications for both individual and societal flourishing (O’Brien 2012). This chapter provides an overview of a decade of literature that has explored linkages between mindfulness practice, subjective well-being, decision-making, integrative thinking, sustainability, and sustainable happiness from the individual to the societal level. Recommendations are made for future research that will help us to better understand the impact that mindfulness practice can have on sustainable happiness and global well-being. Keywords

Leader mindfulness · Meditation · Subjective well-being · Sustainable happiness · Prosperity · Flourishing · Sustainability · Decision-making · Integrative thinking · Workplace productivity · Transformation

Introduction The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all member states of the United Nations in 2015, aspires to develop global peace and prosperity for current and future generations. At the core of this plan are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that require countries and stakeholders to work in collaborative partnerships to achieve this transformational vision (https://sustainablede velopment.un.org/). This plan of action fundamentally challenges our existing ideas of growth and development that, while offering many benefits, have also generated negative side effects that increasingly challenge individual quality of life and societal level sustainability. In order for us to make authentic progress toward social and environmental sustainability, our prevailing mind-set and understanding of prosperity requires a shift to accommodate critical measures such as well-being and happiness (Eisler 2007). Well-being can be defined to include key indicators

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related to health, environment, and the quality of social interactions, to name a few (Wreford 2012). “Sustainable happiness” (O’Brien 2010) captures a more holistic view of “happiness that contributes to individual, community or global well-being without exploiting other people, the environment or future generations” (O’Brien 2016: 1). Research suggests that sustainable happiness and well-being are critical contributing factors for building a sustainable world (O’Brien 2012). Furthermore, a key leadership challenge for sustainability that has been identified is one of integration (Kurucz et al. 2017; Lang et al. 2012; Mauser et al. 2013; van Kerkhoff 2014) as these global challenges are interrelated and must be considered from an ecological perspective. Mindfulness practice, where mindfulness is defined as the act of focusing on the present moment without judgment, without reaction, and with an open heart (Kabat-Zinn 2015), has implications for both individual and societal flourishing (O’Brien 2012). Complex global issues, including the “wicked problems” of sustainability (Brown et al. 2010), are increasingly imposing pressure on the human mind, leading to abrupt, fragmented, and often mindless actions impacting the quality of human interactions and, in turn, hindering solutions to these problems. Often leaders find themselves struggling to juggle multiple priorities. The negative impact of mindless actions on the quality of human relationships and the solutions to organizational problems includes millions of dollars of lost productivity, rework, and an unhappy workplace culture (Wharton University of Pennsylvania 2001). It also results in decisions being made that are not well considered and that do not demonstrate integrative thinking. According to Wamsler et al. (2018), mindfulness research continues to prove its positive effects. It is perhaps not surprising then to find that a 30% increase has been observed in mindfulness references in peer-reviewed journals from the science, art, and humanities disciplines since 2009. However, there is a gap in our understanding of the impact that mindfulness can have on fostering sustainable happiness, particularly in the workplace (Wamsler et al. 2018). This chapter will provide an overview of a decade of literature that considers linkages between mindfulness practice and related elements of individual and societal flourishing. The chapter begins with an overview of the origin, evolution, and practice of mindfulness. Following this, the chapter will explore the current literature regarding mindfulness practice and linkages to the following topics: subjective well-being, decision-making, sustainability, integrative thinking, and sustainable happiness. We look across the specific topics covered in each of these domains and identify broader themes that allow us to build a conceptual framework of the literature in this area, described by common underlying dimensions. We conclude with a discussion of key areas of future research and their significance for advancing our understanding of the role of mindfulness in creating sustainable happiness.

Origin of Mindfulness The concept of mindfulness originated in Buddhism, where Buddhist philosophy suggests that as humans, what we experience, our actions, and thoughts are actually

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conceptualizations or labels (Gombrich 2006). According to Gombrich (2006), the primary goal of Buddhist teachings is to achieve liberation or freedom through enlightenment, which the Buddha himself is said to have achieved. The concept of impermanence is fundamental to Buddhist teachings. It is even believed by all Buddhist followers that Gotama Buddha, who founded Buddhism and institutionalized it as the sasana, will disappear and yet will also continue to evolve infinitely over time through the rediscovery of the dharma by the many Buddhas that have and will follow. Humans, or sentient beings, are dynamic processes, and the concept of causation sits at the core of Buddhist teaching, where events are not random, and are instead considered to occur because they are caused by something else. Thus, Buddhism is considered to be “a chain of events.” Gombrich (2006) further explains that the Buddha taught meditation as a process that involves four phases: 1) observation of physical processes in the body of self and others, 2) emotional awareness, 3) mental state awareness, and, 4) awareness of thoughts. These phases are also known as the four noble truths, or elements of reality. The focus is not on experiencing what is but rather, how it is. Mental attitudes of kindness, compassion, and actions that involve caring for others and knowing the self are key principles of Buddhism. As we consider what mindfulness is and how it originated, the history of Buddhism helps us understand how humans, or sentient beings, are regarded and the fact that reality is not considered stable over time. The assumption about sentient beings is that they are dynamic processes driven by causation (Gombrich 2006).

What Is Mindfulness? Mindfulness is a traditional Buddhist practice concerned with applying clear attention to the present moment that results in awareness. Mindfulness is defined as “paying attention, in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgementally” (Kabat-Zinn 2005, p. 14). Kabat-Zinn (2005) suggests that a critical element of mindfulness is to tend to the present moment with care and compassion. By engaging the mind in this way, greater awareness, clarity of mind, and the ability to accept the present moment become available to us.

Mindfulness and Breathing Buddhist teachings refer to using breathing to facilitate concentration and achieve mindfulness, also known as the Anapanasati Sutra, where “Anapana” stands for breath and “Sati” stands for mindfulness (Hanh 1975). When the mind is focused on the breath, attention is also directed to thoughts, emotions, and the physical sensations that are occurring (Hanh 1975). Hanh (1975), a Buddhist monk, began a school of mindfulness in the 1960s, to express and teach the compassion that is inherent in Buddhist teachings. The essential practice of mindfulness that he taught focused on the breath which would then give rise to a calm mind, particularly in times of stress

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(Hanh 1975). Being mindful, or aware, is a way to connect with the true self. Buddhist teachings posit that in order to experience life fully, one must draw awareness to what one is doing in the moment, whether it be drinking a cup of tea, washing dishes, sitting, or walking. The simple awareness of the present moment prevents us from being consumed by thoughts of the future that are not here yet, or even thoughts of the past, that are behind us. If we are unaware of what we are doing in the present moment, then we are unconscious of what we are doing, which can be considered as mindlessness. Hanh (1975) further suggests that being mindful of whatever we are doing by focusing on breathing will open our hearts so that we can experience the joy of reality, as miracles exist all around us.

How Mindfulness Gained Attention in the Western World Kabat-Zinn (2005) reframed mindfulness by focusing on the commonsense principles of the practice and by separating it from its religious origins of Buddhism. Being conscious of who we are and how we fit into the larger world does not require one to embrace Buddhism, and meditation can be used by anyone to enhance consciousness. He described how meditation as a practice can open us up to conscious and unconscious thoughts that can permit us to live a more full life. The exploration of meditation has been pursued for thousands of years, and the learnings suggest that the western world has an opportunity to shift from wanting to control nature and instead recognize how they are in harmony with nature (Kabat-Zinn 2005).

Benefits of Mindfulness The consequence of not being in the present moment is that it limits our ability to perceive opportunities and grow (Kabat-Zinn 2005). Kabat-Zinn (1990) asserts that our actions and decisions are impacted when we are not engaging in mindfulness. Furthermore, Kabat-Zinn (2005) discusses the psychological impact of mindlessness, or not being in the present moment. He suggests that our unconscious, habitual behaviors, driven by fears and insecurities, proliferate and cause problems that leave us feeling trapped. The implication in the long run is that we lose confidence in our capability to experience happiness, leading to greater amounts of stress and related health issues. This cycle of unconscious behavior that leads to dissatisfaction, health issues, and consequently more dissatisfaction, can be interrupted through mindfulness by opening us up to the wisdom that lives in the present moment. Mindfulness enables a greater quality of life through enhanced relationships with self and others. Mindfulness, or paying attention without judgment, prevents us from being trapped in our preferences, opinions, and expectations. This allows us to be open to new possibilities and frees us from our unconscious reaction to everyday events. Essentially, Kabat-Zinn (2005) describes how mindfulness allows us to live deliberately.

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Mindfulness as Meditation According to Kabat-Zinn (2005), meditation is a gateway to mindfulness and is the simple practice of “stopping and being present” (p.17). Meditation consists of watching the present moment, tuning into the senses, and noticing surroundings. Bringing awareness to the breath and accepting whatever thoughts and feelings are in the present moment is mindfulness. Kabat-Zinn (1990) describes how historically and traditionally meditation has been considered as a practice that resonates with mysticism; however, meditation has since evolved to be understood as a practice of paying attention. During times of extreme stress, access to the present moment is difficult due to overpowering thoughts that prohibit this awareness. He asserts that meditation can help to alleviate the physical symptoms of stress; however, it also requires the ability to actively listen to our bodies. Meditation enhances the healing process and serves as a catalyst for recovery. Kabat-Zinn (1990) describes how, when a feeling of dissatisfaction exists in the mind, we tend to have conflicting perspectives of what we want, and this confusion leads us away from the full awareness of what we are doing, thinking, or feeling. This frame of mind can also lead us into the expression of destructive behaviors. Meditating requires intentionally focusing attention on the present moment, accepting the thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations that are present. Resisting the desire to suppress or control thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations by breathing deeply can help us achieve a relaxed state of mind. The practice of mindfulness, in the form of meditation has been demonstrated to bring about deep relaxation, a sense of calm and self-insights that can drive personal transformation. Through mindfulness meditation, a clear mind can be achieved and the perception of reality shifts away from being centered on personal opinions or preferences (Kabat-Zinn 2005). Kabat-Zinn (2005) suggests that the practice of mindfulness is simple, and many benefits including life satisfaction, wisdom, and harmony can be achieved through specific applications of the practice.

Practical Applications of Mindfulness in Western Society The 2500-year-old tradition of mindfulness has evolved into a practice in a westernized context to address stress caused by chronic pain. The Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School was founded in 1979 by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn (Kabat-Zinn 2005). Kabat-Zinn uses mindfulness to facilitate the management of pain for patients with chronic illnesses (Good et al. 2016). The program is referred to as the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program and has been implemented in hospitals, clinics, and medical centers worldwide. It is an 8-week program offering an opportunity to practice mindfulness to those who are suffering from chronic pain in an effort to reduce stress and enhance relaxation. (Kabat-Zinn 2005). The Stress Reduction Clinic became a part of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts, and in addition, this center offers training in MBSR to those interested in

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teaching or applying the program (Kabat-Zinn 2003). MBSR programs were offered free of charge between 1992 and 1999 in Worcester, in order to prove the ability to apply MBSR effectively to a multicultural population in English and Spanish (Kabat-Zinn 2005). To diversify the application of MBSR, the program was offered to prisoners and staff at the Massachusetts Corrections Department and demonstrated the benefits in reducing hostile behavior and stress among this population (Kabat-Zinn 2005). Mindfulness practice was combined with specific health treatments like UV light treatments of psoriasis, and studies found that those exposed to mindfulness while undergoing treatments healed faster than those who underwent the treatment with the absence of mindfulness practice (Kabat-Zinn 2003). Furthermore, mindfulness was applied in a corporate environment in stressed but otherwise healthy employees. In this study, mindfulness practice was linked to increased emotional intelligence and an enhanced ability for employees to effectively manage frustration and anxiety (Kabat-Zinn 2005). The Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health founded in 1999 currently includes 75 medical schools across Canada and the United States that view mindfulness as a central feature in the field of integrative medicine or medicine that focuses on the mind-body connection (Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health 2018). Mindfulness has been positioned as an important practice that can facilitate the challenges and “world stress” that has arisen due to the fastbased technological, political, and social changes in the world (Kabat-Zinn 2005). These pressures have only increased in recent years with heightened individual and organizational awareness of the complex global problems of sustainability. The evolution of mindfulness in a western context, pioneered by Kabat-Zinn, has brought together the realms of meditation, science, and medicine resulting in medical and psychological benefit realization through mindfulness practice (Kabat-Zinn 2005).

Attitudes in Mindfulness Kabat-Zinn (1990) describes seven attitudes that need to be developed as one engages in mindfulness practice, in order to gain maximum benefit. The first attitude is to be nonjudgmental of self and others, requiring us to let go of the ongoing evaluation that we engage in. The second attitude is to have patience with ourselves, to avoid rushing through things, and instead allow ourselves to go through the process as it naturally unfolds. The third attitude is to embrace a beginner’s mind, where we see things as they are and not with our filters, or, in other words, to see things with fresh eyes. The fourth attitude is to foster self-trust or to trust one’s intuition and respect what one’s mind or body is experiencing when engaged in mindfulness. The fifth attitude is to not strive for set goals, as striving for goals when engaged in mindfulness practice prevents the mind from accepting whatever is present. The sixth attitude is to accept whatever is present, going with the flow and refraining from thinking about what to feel. In this sense, acceptance does not mean that one must like what is present, whether that is an emotion or thought. The seventh attitude is to have the ability to let go and remain unattached. Oftentimes, there are

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positive emotions that we want to experience more of, so we attach ourselves to those, and then there are negative emotions that we want to avoid, so we attach ourselves to the idea of avoidance. This attachment prevents us from being mindful. Thus, letting go is similar to acceptance, in that it entails, having the ability to truly accept whatever exists through the process of detachment (Kabat-Zinn 2005).

Strategies for Practicing Mindfulness Mindfulness is considered to be a practice that channels our dispersed mind into a whole (Hanh 1975). When considering how to be mindful during times of crisis, Hanh (1975) suggests that being focused on the issue at hand is a form of mindfulness and with that comes self-control that prevents us from acting out of anger or impatience. Hanh (1975) asserts that mindfulness allows us to live fully. The breath is considered to be the main connection between the conscious mind and the body and ultimately leads to awakening or enlightenment. What is often challenging is the ability to interact with someone and remain mindful. Hanh (1975) suggests that it is possible to do both and that being aware that you are watching your breath, engaging in a conversation with another person, and practicing mindfulness in this way can help with developing concentration. Kabat-Zinn (2005) asserts that mindfulness practice is not to be considered as a habitual practice, rather it should be viewed as something that is done for its own sake and then eventually become the way we live. There are many strategies for how to bring awareness to the breath and foster mindfulness, for example, counting the number and/or lengths of the breath and following the breath as it moves throughout the body (Hanh 1975). Hanh (1975) describes how following the breath in a particular moment, or being mindful, allows an individual to acknowledge their thoughts and emotions at that time. These thoughts and emotions are not to be evaluated; they are to be observed and accepted. For example, if sadness arises, then acknowledging this sadness is an act of mindfulness, which can bring peace and calm to the present moment. In this approach, thoughts and emotions are considered to be one with the individual experiencing them. For example, if one is experiencing anger, then they are angry and, in this way, the observer of the mind and the mind itself are one and the same; there is no difference between subject and object (Hanh 1975). The practice of mindfulness is experiential in that it enables an individual to observe a continuous stream of consciousness that arises in response to external and internal stimuli and to simply observe thoughts instead of interpreting them (Good et al. 2016). This experience is often referred to as a practice of “decentering,” as the observation of thoughts is in the context of an expanded awareness (Good et al. 2016). This simple, expanded awareness does not involve cognitive processes, such as analyzing or judging. Kabat-Zinn (1990) describes how being mindful involves tuning into the physical sensations of the body, as these symptoms are indicators of health and well-being. To become aware of these physical symptoms, mindfulness is practiced by focusing

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attention on specific body parts to identify what is going on. Stress manifests in the body, as much as we experience it in our minds and hearts. If we are unable to identify how stress affects the body, or how it feels, then it will be challenging to become aware of it so that we can release the tension. In order to release the tension, we have to be able to let it go in the mind, and eventually, this letting go will result in the physical release of the tension in the body as well. An introductory exercise for meditation is taught by eating a raisin (Kabat-Zinn 2005). All senses are engaged in this activity, such as observing the shape, feeling the texture, identifying the scent, experiencing the taste, and even formulating an opinion about the raisin. This exercise, although simplistic, exposes participants to the idea of slowing down and paying attention, which ultimately leads to awakening. The impact of paying attention is that the connection to the object we are paying attention to changes. There may be a greater appreciation for the object or a shift in our opinions about the object. Kabat-Zinn (1990) asserts that the present moment is the only moment that we have to experience and act from to drive change. Mindfulness can be practiced formally, where it is facilitated by an instructor, or informally by paying attention to the present moment while engaging in everyday activities (Kabat-Zinn 2005). Eating, washing dishes, taking out the garbage, and driving are among the many examples of activities that we can choose to engage in mindfully or by intentionally paying attention. Through mindful awareness, peace and hope emerge that help us to face our fears (Kabat-Zinn 2005). There are various forms of mindfulness that have been documented, and they include the practice of mindfulness itself, where one intentionally focuses on the present moment through attentive breathing, walking, meditation, and yoga (Good et al. 2016). It is also leveraged as an intervention, where the practice is used in a structured training program such as Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program (Kabat-Zinn 2003; Good et al. 2016). Finally, mindfulness is also considered from the perspective of traits and states, where the former refers to the inherent characteristic of one’s personality that varies between individuals and the latter refers to one’s state of mind during mindfulness practice (Good et al. 2016; Olafsen 2017). The different forms of mindfulness practice: assessment of mindfulness follows one of two approaches: engagement in mindfulness practice, like the regular practice of yoga, meditation, prayer, focused attention breathing or walking; or self-reporting mechanisms, like questionnaires that measure trait mindfulness (Good et al. 2016). Frequently used questionnaires cited in the literature are Baer et al.’s Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire and the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale by Brown and Ryan. State mindfulness is measured through the use of a scale developed by Lau et al. (Good et al. 2016).

How Is Mindfulness Relevant in Organizations Today? Numerous studies have been conducted that explore the impact of mindfulness practice in organizations. One example where mindfulness has a positive impact is

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in the ability to make decisions. Decision-making requires information processing at the individual, team, and organizational levels and is a response to being uncertain about the future due to lack of information (Vallabh and Singhal 2014). Organizations are comprised of individuals who work together to achieve a collective goal. A review proposed that mindfulness, which requires an individual to bring their attention to the present moment, is a form of information processing and can facilitate decision-making by enabling an expanded view of the individual’s environment (Vallabh and Singhal 2014). Furthermore, mindfulness practice is known to reduce stress and thus facilitates more effective decision-making (Vallabh and Singhal 2014). A study on mindfulness and decision-making proposes that to make effective business decisions, skills should be developed in practicing mindfulness meditation, in addition to implementing a process of open inquiry (Lampe and Lampe 2012). Another study suggests that mindfulness practice enhances change readiness in organizations by fostering attitudinal openness and flexibility and enhancing the perception of control and change self-efficacy at the individual level (Gartner 2013). At the organizational level, mindfulness practice promotes the development of organizational cultures that are open to learning and are communicative, supportive, and enable collaborative decision-making (Gartner 2013). A mixed methods study investigated the impact of mindfulness on group cohesion (group size of 4) by engaging a subset of the participants (18 of 34) in mindfulness exercises and found that the group that participated in these activities demonstrated greater group cohesion and enhanced decision-making (Cleirigh and Greaney 2015). A longitudinal study involving 51 participants (24 in the control group and 27 who went through an 8-week mindfulness training program) found that those who practiced mindfulness demonstrated an increased ability to accept and cooperate when making decisions through neuroimaging analysis (Kirk et al. 2016). Autonomous decision-making prevents collaboration and thus prevents effective decisionmaking (Foukal et al. 2016). The impact of leader mindfulness on decision-making and other aspects of organizational life will be more fully considered in the following section.

Method We conducted a 10-year systematic review of the organizational literature in order to explore the relevance of mindfulness in the workplace using the following databases/ search engines: ABI/INFORM, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Business Source Complete, and Google Scholar. Standard filters applied across all searches for English, Peer Reviewed, Scholarly Journals, and Full Text Available and with a date ranging from January 2009 to January 2019. Each database/search engine was employed using the following terms in the Abstract and TS (Topic), where applicable: Mindfulness and Subjective Well-Being, Mindfulness and Decision-Making, Mindfulness and Integrative Thinking and Sustainability, Mindfulness and Sustainable Happiness, and Mindfulness and Sustainability. Table 1 below displays the findings from the search.

4 0 3 1 5 1 1 0 0 53 5 2 2 1 179 2 2 0 0 30 0 0 0 0

4 2 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 51 4 4 0 0 112 7 7 0 0 30 0 0 0 0

Included

# Quantitative studies

# Qualitative studies

# Mixed methods studies

Initial search result

Included

# Quantitative studies

# Qualitative studies

# Mixed methods studies

Initial search result

Included

# Quantitative studies

# Qualitative studies

# Mixed methods studies

Initial search result

Included

# Quantitative studies

# Qualitative studies

# Mixed methods studies

Initial search result

Included

# Quantitative studies

# Qualitative studies

# Mixed methods studies

Google Scholar (first 3 pages of hits)

Web of Science

PsycINFO

Business Source Complete

7

5

Search terms

Initial search result

Database

Mindfulness and decisionmaking

Mindfulness and subjective wellbeing

ABI/INFORM

Table 1 Summary of search findings

0

0

0

0

30

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Mindfulness and sustainable happiness

Totals

0 37

Total

3

0

3

150

1

3

11

15

350

1

2

6

9

129

0

0

2

2

6

1

5

2

8

14

0

2

0

2

30

1

3

2

6

59

0

0

0

0

25

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

Mindfulness and sustainability

Sustainable Happiness, Well-Being, and Mindfulness in the Workplace

0

1

0

1

30

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Mindfulness and integrative thinking and sustainability

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The numbers in the initial search result column represent the total number of hits that were returned following the execution of the respective searches. For Google Scholar, it was noted that relevance declined after three pages of search results; thus, only the first three pages of search results were considered. A total of 649 articles were returned collectively from all searches. The abstracts of the returned results were reviewed to ensure the definition of mindfulness was consistent with a practice that is based on intentionally bringing one’s attention to the present moment without judgment and with an open heart (Kabat-Zinn 2015). Context was also considered as a qualifier, as some studies were unrelated to the practical applications in a workplace setting. For example, some research concentrated on mindfulness practice and its impact on smoking cessation, depression, or other health issues. A number of articles showed up in multiple databases, and these duplicates were removed. If the article was not a scholarly academic article, it was also removed. In total, 37 articles were included in this review, with a mix of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods identified. The articles were then reviewed to determine if they were relevant to our topics of interest: subjective well-being, decision-making, integrative thinking, sustainability, and sustainable happiness, as it relates to mindfulness. Key themes were developed from what was found in existing literature, which facilitated the organization of the findings. Underlying dimensions and gaps were identified, and these form the basis for the discussion section of this chapter.

Literature Review Topic 1: Mindfulness and Subjective Well-Being Mindfulness practiced by individuals has been found to lead to greater levels of subjective well-being along with additional benefits of reduced stress and burnout, increased ability to think objectively, coping ability, and increased productivity. In addition, resilience, high self-acceptance, and emotional intelligence have been found to mediate, and tolerance has been found to moderate the positive relationship between mindfulness practice and subjective well-being, as described in the studies below.

The Forms of Mindfulness Practice and Subjective Well-Being There is a distinction between trait and state mindfulness, where the former refers to the inherent characteristic of one’s personality that varies between individuals and the latter refers to one’s state of mind (Kabat-Zinn 2005), where one is drawing attention on the present moment without judgment, without reaction, and with an open heart (Kabat-Zinn 2015; Olafsen 2017). A quantitative, longitudinal study over 15 months surveyed 428 municipalities in Norway to investigate the relationship between work climate, state mindfulness, well-being, and work outcomes (Olafsen 2017). The survey engaged 267 participants (timepoint one) and 115 of the same participants (timepoint four) who reported a positive relationship between state mindfulness and subjective well-being with work outcomes including less burnout

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and increased productivity, in terms of goal achievement (Olafsen 2017). Employees who practice mindfulness (state mindfulness) were more aware of their actions and exhibited more openness and objective thinking (Olafsen 2017). The study results encourage organizations to foster state mindfulness in the workplace as it drives individual (less burnout) and organizational (goal achievement) benefits (Olafsen 2017). In another quantitative study, two distinct forms of mindfulness practice were considered involving 287 and 408 adults from Melbourne who practiced concentrative and insight forms of mindfulness, respectively, where the former involved bringing attention to the present moment without judgment and the latter involved focusing on an object (Hosemans 2015). Both forms of mindfulness practice resulted in participant perceptions of reduced stress; however, when compared to individuals who did not practice mindfulness, only those who practiced insight mindfulness reported greater levels of subjective well-being (Hosemans 2015). The researcher cautioned the reader about the interpretation of the results, as there was no significant difference between the two types of mindfulness treatments (insight versus concentrative) (Hosemans 2015). In a quantitative study of 106 contemplative practitioners, participants who reported more frequent contemplative practices, such as meditation, yoga, or prayer, demonstrated greater levels of trait mindfulness and greater levels of subjective well-being, regardless of the form of contemplative practice in which they engaged (Hanley et al. 2015).

The Predictors of Mindfulness and Higher Levels of Subjective Well-Being Resilience, high self-acceptance, and emotional intelligence have been found to mediate, and tolerance has been found to moderate, the positive relationship between mindfulness practice and subjective well-being. These findings are described in the research studies below. A quantitative study performed on 125 female students from Australia has found that emotional intelligence mediates the relationship between mindfulness and three characteristics of subjective well-being (higher positive affect, lower negative affect, and greater life satisfaction) (Schutte and Malouff 2011). These findings reveal that mindfulness practice can be leveraged as a strategy for enhancing emotional intelligence in workplaces, that can then lead to higher levels of subjective well-being (Schutte and Malouff 2011) and positive workplace outcomes. Other researchers continued this exploration in order to better understand the positive relationship between mindfulness and subjective well-being. In a quantitative study, 301 graduate students from Beijing participated in a survey, and the results suggested that high self-acceptance mediated, and tolerance moderated, the relationship between mindfulness and subjective well-being (Xu et al. 2016). They also determined that it is more beneficial for an individual who has lower levels of tolerance to engage in mindfulness practice to enhance their subjective well-being, versus individuals who have higher levels of tolerance (Xu et al. 2016). This may be of particular interest in organizations where a high level of stress is the norm and where patience and tolerance are required to prevent an unhappy workplace culture. A quantitative study performed on 327 undergraduate students in India found that the relationship between mindfulness and subjective well-being (increased positive affect life satisfaction) is significantly mediated by resilience, a trait facilitating

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coping with challenges (Bajaj and Pande 2016). If individuals who practice mindfulness are more resilient, then they are better able to respond to problems that are inevitable in the workplace. Finally, self-insight was found to predict subjective well-being, particularly, subjective happiness, in a quantitative study involving 184 university students. Furthermore, self-insight combined with mindfulness, particularly the participant’s ability to refrain from judging inner experiences, predicted the life satisfaction component of subjective well-being (Harrington et al. 2016).

Mindfulness, Subjective Well-Being, and Workplace Benefits As with many industry sectors, workforce health and well-being are important issues that need to be understood to minimize or eliminate related workforce issues such as absenteeism, retention, turnover, and morale (Oates 2018). The following studies report that mindfulness practice enhances worker subjective well-being, along with increasing the ability to cope with high stress levels in the workplace. Through a mixed methods study design, 237 mental health nurses from the UK responded to a survey about how nurses manage their subjective well-being, and 27 of them engaged in semi-structured interviews with the researcher to find that mindfulness practice positively influenced their subjective well-being, along with exercise, being in nature, and listening to music (Oates 2018). The findings from this study provide insights to organizations to consider implementing mindfulness practice in the workplace (Oates 2018). Given increasingly complex, high stress workplace environments that are characteristic of contemporary organizations, being able to cope under such conditions is a growing concern. A longitudinal study over 6 years involving 288 Norwegian clinical psychology and medical students investigated the relationship between mindfulness and subjective well-being and coping ability (de Vibe et al. 2018). The quantitative, longitudinal study found that participants who underwent mindfulness training based on the program designed by Kabat-Zinn reported improvements in their ability to cope with problems and their subjective well-being (de Vibe et al. 2018). This evidence is useful for organizations to address issues related to their employees’ inability to manage effectively under high levels of workplace stress. Practical Applications of Mindfulness Programs in Workplaces An increasing reliance on technology may be facilitating the rise of mindless actions (Twenge 2017). However, a quantitative study has shown that some smartphone applications may also help to address this problem. Wildflowers, an application used for mindfulness research, was tested on 45 undergraduate students, and following 3 weeks of use, participants reported improved levels of subjective well-being (acceptance, awareness, and openness) via improved mood and reduced stress levels (Walsh et al. 2019). This study opens further inquiry about the efficacy of mindfulness training applications over the long term (Walsh et al. 2019). Mindfulness, Subjective Well-Being, and the Mind-Set Shift Required for Sustainability There has been a considerable amount of research conducted on mindfulness practice and subjective well-being, particularly in the context of workplaces.

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Organizations typically measure their success in terms of their financial performance. However, much discussion has arisen to consider alternative measures of success, with workforce subjective well-being, as one of them (Kasser and Sheldon 2009). A concept that has been surfaced by Kasser and Sheldon (2009) called “time affluence” provides a perspective for organizations to consider focusing on time instead of money to measure success, and this was tested in four quantitative studies. The studies revealed that time affluence has a positive impact on subjective wellbeing, and two of the four studies found that this relationship is mediated by mindfulness (Kasser and Sheldon 2009). Furthermore, the research revealed that “time poverty” can limit individuals from being able to lean into the present moment, or practice mindfulness, due to feelings of pressure associated with a lack of time (Kasser and Sheldon 2009). In addition, a quantitative study has shown that mindfulness practice results in a reduced desire for financial gain while demonstrating a positive relationship between mindfulness practice and subjective well-being in undergraduate students, adults, and mindfulness trainees (Brown et al. 2009). This provides insights for organizations to leverage mindfulness practice as a strategy to shift the mind-set of organizational success from a sole focus on financials to a focus on social indicators, such as subjective well-being. A quantitative study involving 69 individuals who attended an intensive mindfulness training program in Northern California for 4 weeks, and who followed a structured mindfulness practice for 10–12 h per day, found enhanced levels of subjective well-being (life satisfaction and affective state) and self-compassion (Orzech et al. 2009). Mindfulness practice can lead to a mind-set shift required for sustainability, away from being focused solely on financial performance toward also considering social and environmental value creation (Kurucz et al. 2013).

Topic 2: Mindfulness and Decision-Making Mindfulness has been found to facilitate ethical decision-making through increased self-awareness and the cognitive and emotional regulation that emerges from the practice. Mindfulness has also been found to facilitate effective decision-making by providing individuals with an expanded view of their environment, increased acceptance of reality, openness, improved cooperation, group cohesion, and facilitated change readiness, as described in the studies below.

Mindfulness and Ethical Decision-Making According to Ruedy and Schweitzer (2010), unethical decisions originate from a lack of awareness. Two quantitative studies were performed that demonstrated individuals who had higher levels of mindfulness made more ethical decisions and cheated less than those who had lower levels of mindfulness. Furthermore, a quantitative study involving 25 adults who practiced mindfulness found that their ethical decision-making improved and the improvement was greater after 2 months of practicing mindfulness (Shapiro et al. 2012). A qualitative conceptual study proposes that mindfulness practice enhances ethical decision-making during the

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entrepreneurial process, including recognizing and evaluating opportunities, and that this ability is mediated by metacognition moderated by emotional self-regulation (Kelly and Dorian 2017). If organizations can facilitate improved decision-making through mindfulness practice, they can avoid the related financial and social costs of suboptimal choices.

Mindfulness and Effective Decision-Making Decision-making requires information processing at the individual, team, and organizational levels and is a response to being uncertain about the future due to lack of information (Vallabh and Singhal 2014). Organizations are comprised of individuals who work together to achieve a collective goal. A qualitative review proposed that mindfulness, which requires an individual to bring their attention to the present moment, is a form of information processing and can facilitate decision-making by enabling an expanded view of the individual’s environment (Vallabh and Singhal 2014). Furthermore, mindfulness practice is known to reduce stress and, thus, facilitates more effective decision-making (Vallabh and Singhal 2014). A qualitative review of mindfulness and decision-making proposes that to make effective business decisions, skills should be developed in practicing mindfulness meditation, in addition to implementing a process of open inquiry (Lampe and Lampe 2012). Another qualitative review suggests that mindfulness practice enhances change readiness in organizations by fostering attitudinal openness and flexibility and enhancing the perception of control and change self-efficacy at the individual level (Gartner 2013). At the organizational level, mindfulness practice promotes the development of organizational cultures that are open to learning and that are communicative and supportive and enable collaborative decision-making (Gartner 2013). A quantitative longitudinal study involving 51 participants (24 in the control group and 27 who went through an 8-week mindfulness training program) found that those who practiced mindfulness demonstrated an increased ability to cooperate when making decisions through neuroimaging analysis (Kirk et al. 2016). Autonomous decision-making prevents collaboration and thus prevents effective decisionmaking (Foukal et al. 2016). A quantitative study explored the impact of mindful awareness practices (MAPs) on a group of college mentors (n=59) over a year and found that those who engaged in MAPs demonstrated a decrease in autonomous decision-making and this enhanced their overall mentoring experience (Foukal et al. 2016). Mindfulness, Decision-Making, and Workplace Benefits Mindfulness practice in the workplace has been found to facilitate effective decisionmaking by increasing openness, communication, and teamwork, reducing emotional ties to past decisions, and providing enhanced clarity for decision-making, as described in the studies below. Mindfulness has been proposed to be an effective practice to enhance attention and awareness in an effort to avoid organizational errors that can lead to catastrophes, such as preventing fatal misdiagnosis of diseases in healthcare institutions through improving communication and teamwork (Anderson-Fletcher et al. 2017). A quantitative study based on 130 aircrew found that

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implementing mindfulness as a practice can improve the quality of decisions that are made, as individuals who practice mindfulness are more open and have an increased understanding of situations leading to enhanced flight safety and organizational performance, and the prevention of catastrophes (Gautam and Mathur 2018). A qualitative review proposes that mindfulness is an effective practice to employ to improve decisions, particularly at a time where there is a need for rapid decisionmaking by managers in financial markets (Ng 2018). Mindfulness has demonstrated its positive benefits in organizations by improving the physical and mental health of employees (Ng 2018). Leaders in financial markets have recognized the benefits of mindfulness practice by claiming that the practice provides a reduced emotional attachment to decisions and enables letting go of past decisions by focusing on the present moment, which provides the clarity and higher perspective required for sensible decision-making (Ng 2018). Buddhist economics, a three-factor training model involving moral discipline, mental concentration, and wisdom, is proposed as a deeper model for managers to learn instead of mainstream mindfulness that is being practiced, as the latter does not represent the true roots of the original Buddhist practice (Ng 2018).

Topic 3: Mindfulness and Sustainability Mindfulness practice has enabled the emergence of deep values and the acceptance of issues, which then inspires and promotes actions that are sustainable. At an organizational level, mindfulness practice has improved employee satisfaction and engagement through the increase in self-awareness that emerges through the practice, as described in the studies below.

Mindfulness and Global Sustainability Bernal et al. (2018) suggest that economic, social, and environmental indicators of performance need to be considered for organizations seeking to contribute to global sustainability, which includes being aware of how their organization and the individuals within are interacting with one another and how they impact society and environment. To increase the awareness of these relations, a theoretical organizational presence model (OPM), which includes a real dialogue methodology (RDM), was developed and tested empirically (Bernal et al. 2018). The empirical study found that, through OPM, deep values emerged from participants who engaged in mindfulness and this helped establish the culture required for organizational change toward global sustainability (Bernal et al. 2018). In addition, RDM enabled an exploration of the deep values that facilitated the awareness of a possible future organizational culture (Bernal et al. 2018). Considering the issue of climate change, a quantitative study involving 217 citizens of a coastal city, Lomma, located in the Scania region of Sweden which is at risk for severe climate change, found that those who practiced mindfulness were more accepting of climate change, highly motivated toward climate adaptation, and engaged in more pro-social and pro-environmental behaviors (Wamsler and Brink 2018). A quantitative study involving 829

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participants, who practiced formal mindfulness meditation, determined there is a significant relationship between mindfulness, subjective well-being, and ecologically sustainable behavior (Jacob et al. 2009). Ecologically sustainable behavior is necessary for us to prosper in the future, and these studies point toward the benefits of mindfulness for supporting this.

Mindfulness and Organizational Sustainability Introducing mindfulness practice in organizations has demonstrated the following organizational benefits: decreased stress levels, an increase in the number of high performers through improved self-awareness, increased employee engagement, decreased turnover, increased organizational citizenship behaviors, improved employee satisfaction, and facilitation of organizational change readiness (Hyland et al. 2015). A conceptual model has been developed proposing that mindfulness practice can lead to the creativity required for innovations that drive sustainability (Siqueira and Pitassi 2016). A literature review on mindfulness suggests that those who practice mindfulness can keep their attention for longer periods of time, allowing them to remain on task, which can lead to improved decision-making and organizational performance. Furthermore, there is curiosity in understanding if the concept of “being” that is experienced during mindfulness practice can be combined with doing. For example, whether a mindful manager can simultaneously be in the present moment and also plan for the future (Good et al. 2016). Mindfulness and Individual Sustainability Even at the individual level, mindfulness practice has been found to encourage choices that have sustainable outcomes. Ericson et al. (2014) assert that behaving sustainably is influenced by subjective well-being, and many studies have demonstrated positive links between mindfulness practice and subjective well-being. Increased awareness of the impacts of one’s actions, through the practice of mindfulness, can lead to choices being made that drive sustainable outcomes (Ericson et al. 2014). Bahl et al. (2016) suggest that overconsumption is due to mindlessness and that more positive behaviors can be realized through mindfulness practice. They propose a theoretical model that describes how attention and acceptance is developed through mindfulness practice, leading to awareness and then insights. This new understanding can lead to the weakening of habits and to the birth of transformative choices that drive social, societal, and environmental sustainability (Bahl et al. 2016). The authors call for a paradigm shift, where mindfulness practice is integrated into the daily lives of people, driving wellbeing and sustainability (Bahl et al. 2016).

Topic 4: Mindfulness and Integrative Thinking Addressing complex issues requires integrative thinking – a consideration of the big picture and how all of the individual parts impact one another. Mindfulness has been found to facilitate this thinking in leaders. The following section describes how mindfulness practice can be leveraged to manage in complex situations.

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Theory U Theory U responds to the reality that leaders are faced with complex issues today that require a different approach to thinking about solutions (Scharmer and Kaeufer 2010). This new focus is on sensing the emerging future instead of relating to past situations. The theory refers to a concept called dynamic complexity. This is a key leadership challenge as there is distance between when an issue is caused and when the effects are realized, climate change being one example (Scharmer and Kaeufer 2010). Dynamic complexity is an important frame of reference when considering the lack of integrative thinking that underlies issues of sustainability (Kurucz et al. 2017). There is an advantage for leaders to be able to sense implications that may arise before making decisions (Scharmer and Kaeufer 2010). Scharmer and Kaeufer (2010) discuss a concept called emerging complexity, which they define as issues that have unknown solutions, unclear problem statements, and stakeholders, which require leaders to sense a new, emerging reality (Scharmer and Kaeufer 2010). Others have described this emerging complexity in terms of wicked problems (Rittel and Webber 1973). From the literature review of the various studies, participants have expressed that through the practice of mindfulness, they are able to access an expanded view or panorama, which leads them to more effective decision-making (Vallabh and Singhal 2014). This matches very closely to what Scharmer and Kaeufer (2010) are suggesting for leaders, that is, to sense an emerging reality as they respond to complex issues by coming into “being.” Scharmer and Kaeufer (2010) classify the ways we can look at leadership: what leaders do, how they work, or what occurs in the moment just before they act, and this latter point of view is what Theory U is all about. Theory U is a conceptual process model which demonstrates the process leaders can follow to sense an emerging reality (Scharmer and Kaeufer 2010). Scharmer and Kaeufer (2010) describe how this all begins with breaking habits and existing behavioral and thought patterns that keep us in the past, limit our perception, and block the ability to see things differently, all of which prevent innovative thinking. Through this suspension and liberation from judgment, we are now able to see with fresh eyes, and this leads us from seeing into sensing. Sensing is when an individual is able to experience themselves and their environment in one large picture at the same time, causing an enhanced quality of perception. This shift in awareness enables letting go of judgments, accepting experiences or redirecting attention from the external to internal, leading to presencing. Presencing is a combination of sensing and presence, where an individual senses the best possible future and brings it into the present moment. This then leads to crystallization of the vision and intention of the emerging reality, followed by prototype and experimentation and finally implementation and performing. Meditation, a form of mindfulness practice, is the gateway to the co-presencing element of the process model, which leads to novel insights. Theory U is concerned with the thinking process in leaders and also refers to mindfulness as an enabling practice (Scharmer and Kaeufer 2010). Perlman et al. (2014) introduced a concept of informed mindfulness in support of the integrative leadership that is required in the healthcare industry. Informed mindfulness combines the self-awareness and self-regulation that emerges from practicing mindfulness to enable informed decision-making (Perlman et al. 2014). The authors suggest that informed mindfulness will lead to the integrative thinking

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required for a transformation toward more holistic and improved healthcare, as better decisions will be made from a point of view that is expansive and inclusive. This will create a ripple effect of informed mindfulness, extending the practice from teams to the larger institution, leading to improved relationships, enhanced teamwork, organizational evolution, and a sustainable transformation. For a leader to be able to adopt informed mindfulness requires courage and a commitment to self-development. The authors propose that as an integrative leader practicing informed mindfulness, the following leader qualities, integrity, authenticity, courage, compassion, empathy, humility, and passion, will improve or emerge. In addition, it is suggested that leader presence, resilience, and intuitiveness will improve through this practice. To facilitate organizational, cultural transformation in this way, Theory U is being proposed as a process for integrative leaders to follow in order to enable the emergence of a transformative, creative, and sustainable future state (Perlman et al. 2014).

Summary Mindfulness and Sustainable Happiness “Sustainable happiness” (O’Brien 2010) captures a more holistic view of “happiness that contributes to individual, community, or global well-being without exploiting other people, the environment or future generations” (O’Brien 2016: 1). Figure 1 Societal Level (Relaonal, Ecological)

Integrative Thinking for Sustainability

Thinking (Cognive, Raonal)

Sustainable Happiness

Leader Mindfulness

Decision Making

Subjective Well-Being

Individual Level (Personal, Organizaonal) Fig. 1 A conceptual model for mindfulness and sustainable happiness

Being (Embodied, Emoonal)

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attempts to visually portray the underlying dimensions connecting leader mindfulness with decision-making, integrative thinking for sustainability, sustainable happiness, and subjective well-being that we surfaced from this literature review: moving from a state of “thinking” to “being” and from a focus on “individual” to “societal.” There have been many studies conducted that demonstrate the positive benefits of mindfulness practice and the positive relationship between state mindfulness and subjective well-being with work outcomes including less burnout, increased productivity, and enhanced organizational (goal achievement) performance. How might these benefits that are at an individual and organizational level extend to societal benefits? Complex issues of sustainability demand a greater focus on “being” and “caring” over “having” and “needing” to promote flourishing in individuals and organizations and to create a sustainable world (Ehrenfeld and Hoffman 2013). Mindfulness practice can drive societal sustainability through understanding (Wamsler et al. 2018), and this can enable individuals to cope with complexity and to enhance well-being (O’Brien 2012). Existing literature suggests that leader mindfulness practice leads to informed mindfulness inspiring effective decision-making and, ultimately, toward integrative thinking that supports sustainability (Perlman et al. 2014). There is an opportunity to consider how mindfulness practice can influence leaders to think differently, in an integrative fashion that enables the sensing of an emerging reality. Theory U can be used as a process, where integrative leaders use mindfulness as a practice to sense an emerging future, enabling creativity and transformation. This in itself is a practice that facilitates the shift from thinking to being (Scharmer and Kaeufer 2010). What has yet to be considered is if integrative thinking and this fundamental shift from thinking to being can lead to sustainable happiness? Sustainability research reports the positive benefits of mindfulness practice in the areas of subjective well-being, embracing non-materialistic core values, efficient consumption behaviors, recognition of the human and nature connection, understanding equity and fairness, social activism, and progressive responses to climate issues (Wamsler and Brink 2018). Furthermore, mindfulness can enable increased sustainability at all levels from the individual to the collective or global scale (Wamsler and Brink 2018). This framework suggests that leader mindfulness practice can be leveraged to enable well-being at a collective or planetary level.

Future Directions We reviewed the existing literature in four key areas: subjective well-being, decision-making, integrative thinking, and sustainable happiness as it links to mindfulness. We identified themes described in the literature review above and surfaced key underlying dimensions of “thinking” versus “being” and “individual” versus “societal” level impacts that underlie these various studies. As next steps to advance our understanding of individual and societal flourishing, the following research questions are suggested.

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First, there is a need to better understand the link between decision-making, integrative thinking, and mindfulness: How can mindfulness practice enable the integrative thinking required for sustainability, and does this support the development of sustainable happiness? Second, there is an opportunity to further explore the link between subjective well-being, sustainable happiness, and mindfulness: Can mindfulness enable sustainable happiness and enhance subjective well-being? Third, the links between decision-making and subjective well-being can be further elaborated, despite the large amount of quantitative research already done in these areas: How can mindfulness enhance decision-making and subjective well-being from a qualitative perspective? Finally, considering the importance of integrative thinking for sustainability, there would be value in understanding the following: How can integrative thinking promote the development of sustainable happiness, and does mindfulness play an enabling role? In-depth, qualitative research exploring what sustainable happiness means at an individual and societal level, and what qualities of “being” emerge when a leader is practicing mindfulness and thinking in an integrative way, would be fruitful for expanding our understanding of how mindfulness practice can help us to develop sustainable happiness. As we consider the magnitude of sustainability issues that individuals and organizations are faced with today, there is merit in considering how mindfulness may influence different experiences and outcomes. This simple approach that influences how we experience the world can enhance our emotional intelligence (KabatZinn 2005) and shift how we interpret information and influence the decisions we make (Vallabh and Singhal 2014). Through the application of MBSR in corporate settings, mindfulness practice has enabled the effective management of frustration and anxiety, leading to greater levels of well-being (Kabat-Zinn 2005). Leaders are invited to consider mindfulness as a practice, so that they are better equipped to face the challenges of modern society and to thrive in these environments. Researchers are invited to consider embracing a pragmatist perspective when studying the practice of mindfulness due to the resonance between the ontology (nature of being) and epistemology (theory of knowledge) of pragmatism and mindfulness. Leadership scholars are invited to consider building on existing concepts such as Theory U (Scharmer and Kaeufer 2010) to incorporate the impact and experience of mindfulness practice and determine if there are other discrete phases that are driving transformation. Together, we can develop resilient societies that thrive in challenging times of rapid global change. The opportunity is before us to leverage an ancient practice, mindfulness, to transition toward a more sustainable and happier world for all.

Cross-References ▶ Happiness at Work with Contentment: Enriching Workplace Well-Being Through Ancient Wisdom ▶ How Wakeful Leaders Create Flourishing Workplaces ▶ Leader Mindfulness: Well-Being Throughout the Organization

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▶ Mindfulness, Wellness, and Spirituality in the Workplace ▶ Some Reflections on Achieving Happiness at the Workplace Through Practical Buddhism

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Anouk Decuypere, Mieke Audenaert, and Adelien Decramer

Contents Mindfulness in a Nutshell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Western Vision on Mindfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robust Effects of Mindfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mindfulness in Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leader Mindfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leader Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Employee Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leadership Courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Indirect Influence of Employee Mindfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Working Mechanisms: How Does Mindfulness Support Leaders in their Tasks? . . . . . . . . . . . . Self-Awareness and Self-Regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Emotional Stability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Information Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Connecting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Evidence from Brain Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Critical Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Not Everyone Benefits from Mindfulness Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Incorrect Applications in Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Recommendations for Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . As a Leader, (First) Follow a Course Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Create a Mindfulness-Friendly Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Use Mindfulness as a Preventive Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Actively Combat Mindfulness Misuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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A. Decuypere (*) Department Marketing, Innovation and Organization, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium e-mail: [email protected] M. Audenaert · A. Decramer Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_73

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Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New Trends and Future Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mindfulness in Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

Mindfulness has become quite popular. Both in scientific research and within regular media, the attention for the beneficial effects of mindfulness has increased. In the business world, claims on the effectiveness of mindfulness for well-being, focus, and performance are thrown around rather carelessly. In recent years, organizations are also providing more mindfulness courses for their employees. In the academic world, research on mindfulness in general, as well as on the effect of mindfulness in organizations, is on the rise. As a reaction to the increased “hype,” some scientists are concerned about overstatements on the effectiveness of “McMindfulness,” and the lack of ethical framework surrounding the application of mindfulness in both treatment settings and organizations. Therefore, it is important to remain critical and to develop a nuanced view on the effectiveness and use of mindfulness for both leaders and their employees in organizations. In this review chapter, we provide an overview on the research on leader mindfulness and the possible working mechanisms, after which we formulate some critical remarks and give practical evidence-based advice on the application of mindfulness in organizations. Although mindfulness seems to have beneficial effects on leader and employee well-being, our goal is to provide a nuanced view of the up-to-date research on leader mindfulness, to support future research, theory building, and practical applications in the work place.

We live and work in a society characterized by much (technological) change, an increasing pace, information overload, and a predominant performance culture. In these times of multitasking, social media, and smartphones, ‘attention’ is more important than ever. Contact with employees through screens is also much more common: half of our communication at work runs indirectly via computers, phones, or tablets (Wajcman and Rose 2011). There is even a new phenomenon, phone snubbing, which indicates to what extent a person with whom one communicates is distracted by his/her smartphone (Roberts and Williams 2017). The extent to which a leader does this has demonstrable effects on employee trust and consequently on the degree of employee work engagement (Roberts and Williams 2017). Multitasking itself also has negative effects on the work floor: it leads to less focus, less productivity (Mcgill et al. 2016), and more burnout (Pikos 2017). The negative effects of these trends show how important it is to work with our attention in an effective and efficient, even sustainable, way. Mindfulness can be a protective factor and a supporting practice to sustain our attention, make better decisions and increase our well-being.

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The positive effects of mindfulness are now widely recognized by the general public and the scientific world (see, e.g., Reb and Atkins 2015; Bunting 2016; Good et al. 2016; Dane 2011; Goleman and Davidson 2017). The increased popularity of mindfulness created an explosion of new scientific research and interest. This is a positive evolution, since it helps to investigate the added value of mindfulness more rigorously. The question is whether the effectiveness of mindfulness is not overestimated and whether it may be an overstatement when mindfulness is proposed to be a “solution for everything” (Prins and Decuypere 2013). In this review chapter, we give an update of the quantitative evidence for mindfulness in organizations. Since leaders are key figures within the organization, we specifically focus on the effect of leader mindfulness. (We provide an overview of the empirical research on leader mindfulness up to 2018.) If leaders apply and support mindfulness, this can create an “attention-rich” and therefore healthier organization with more well-being for all its members (Sutcliffe et al. 2016). However, the investigation of the effect of leader mindfulness is rather new. Until recently, especially the vision, values, and behavior of leaders were an important focus of leader research, while the mindset of leaders and the way in which they pay attention has been rather neglected (Sauer and Kohls 2011). Nevertheless, this mindset is very important, since it has measurable effects on the self-regulation of leaders, their emotional stability, information processing, and the way in which they deal with employees (see below). In other words, the mindset of leaders influences various important processes that can improve productivity and well-being. Leaders are also exemplary figures within the organization: the mindset and the behavior they support, through role-modeling or actual policy, spreads within the organization. This chapter provides an answer to the question which results (leader) mindfulness can deliver within the organization and why effective leaders can best utilize mindfulness to produce effects with regards to both their own and their employees’ well-being. We start with a short introduction on mindfulness. Then we go to the empirical research on mindfulness in organizations and leader mindfulness specifically. Furthermore, we describe possible working mechanisms of mindfulness. Next, we formulate some critical remarks on the research and elaborate on (wrong) applications of mindfulness. To conclude, we provide some practical guidelines for organizations and leaders who want to work with mindfulness and use it to improve well-being, focus, and productivity.

Mindfulness in a Nutshell One of the pioneers with regard to the development of mindfulness and the classical 8-week program was Jon Kabat-Zinn. He based his work on the Vipassana tradition that descends from Theravada Buddhism. He worked with pain patients and found that this specific way of giving attention ensures greater awareness, more clarity, and more acceptance of the present (pain-filled) moment. In one of the first studies on mindfulness, he indeed showed that patients’ perceptions of pain scores

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decreased through mindfulness (Kabat-Zinn et al. 1987). He defined mindfulness as “paying attention in a special way: intentionally, in the present moment, nonjudgmental” (Kabat-Zinn 1994, pp. 4–5). Other scientists defined mindfulness more recently as “attentive and aware of what is happening in the present” (Brown and Ryan 2003, p. 822) or “a state of consciousness in which attention is focused on both internal and external phenomena in the present moment” (Dane 2011, p. 1000). Mindfulness is thus associated with a broad focus (on different things, internal and external) and an orientation focused in the present moment (Dane 2011). By focusing on the here-and-now, mindfulness is a way to avoid automatic assumptions and behaviors, so (re)actions are more reflective instead. Through mindfulness we focus less on the past and the future, but center ourselves clearly in the present moment. Mindfulness as an attitude ensures that the authentic experience, whether positive or negative, desired or undesired (Sauer and Kohls 2011) is allowed to unfold or accepted (with less ‘resistance’). Mindfulness is seen as both a characteristic of someone (i.e., a personality trait) and a “state,” which can come and go (Brown and Ryan 2003; Dane 2011). Although people differ in their level of mindfulness, it is accessible to everyone because it can be learned (Brown and Ryan 2003; Dane 2011). In other words, mindfulness is not a welldefined activity or a clear set of behaviors; rather it’s a ‘mental’ activity, in which one focuses their attention on the present moment. It can be practiced during formal meditation exercises, where one learns to focus on e.g. breathing and physical sensations, but also during ‘daily’ life and normal activities (Brown and Ryan 2003). In research, mindfulness is usually measured on the ‘trait level’ (Choi and Leroy 2015; Baer et al. 2008), where mindfulness can be seen as the degree to which someone is usually attentive in the present moment. Various questionnaires have been developed for this purpose (for an overview, see Choi and Leroy 2015): some are unidimensional (e.g., the Mindfulness Attention and Awareness Scale; Brown and Ryan 2003), while others measure mindfulness multi-dimensionally and posit that it consists of different facets, e.g., observing, describing, acting with awarenesss, nonjudging of inner experience and nonreactivity to inner experience (Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire; Baer et al. 2008). Research with these questionnaires shows that mindfulness is associated with various positive outcomes for organizations, e.g., less multitasking (Levy et al. 2012), less burnout (Roche et al. 2014), and more well-being, both among executives (Roche et al. 2014) and among employees of these executives (Reb et al. 2014).

Western Vision on Mindfulness In another, perhaps more ‘western’ view on mindfulness, it is seen as a “creative way of thinking” (Langer 1989). This viewpoint is based upon the idea that mindfulness provides flexibility of thought: through the active contact with the present moment, one becomes sensitive to the context and new things can be observed (Weick and Putnam 2006). Here mindfulness is mainly viewed as a way to process information, rather than a cognitive characteristic (King and Haar 2017). This way, practicing

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mindfulness is especially important to no longer be overwhelmed by a complex world, to see reality from different perspectives, to observe different things and therefore to think more creatively (Baron and Cayer 2012). From this perspective, mindfulness mainly provides a different way of information processing, characterized by an open and curious attitude, which promotes creativity and flexibility (Haigh et al. 2011; Langer 1989).

Robust Effects of Mindfulness Meta-analyses, in which different study results are taken together, show especially robust associations of mindfulness with lower anxiety, depression, and stress (Khoury et al. 2013; Virgili 2015). Other studies repeatedly report (small) reductions in pain scores in patients with chronic pain (Hilton et al. 2017). Individual studies also report improvements in emotion regulation (Ostafin et al. 2015) and changes in brain function (Tang et al. 2015), such as improved memory (Mrazek et al. 2012) and a reduced response to emotional stimuli in the amygdala. This is important, since the amygdala is an (old) brain center responsible for our (emotional) stress response (Taylor et al. 2011). Research also shows an increase in empathy (Hyland et al. 2015; Luberto et al. 2018), which is associated with more and quicker action to help people (Block-Lerner et al. 2007; Condon et al. 2013).

Mindfulness in Organizations The above-described effects of mindfulness are obviously also relevant for leaders and their employees in organizations. The expectation that employees can better cope with stress, focus better, are more creative, and will possibly even help their coworkers more, motivates different organizations to provide mindfulness training (Carter, Tobias, and Spiegelhalter 2016). In this context, mindfulness is often seen as an anti-burnout remedy, especially because of its association with less emotional exhaustion (Reb et al. 2017), which is a core element of burnout. Through this association with lower emotional exhaustion, mindfulness has been related to better performance and less intention to quit (Reb et al. 2017; Dane and Brummel 2014). Mindfulness also seems to lead to more job satisfaction (Hülsheger et al. 2013), better decision making, less stress, and more work engagement (Hyland et al. 2015; Karelaia and Reb 2015; Leroy et al. 2013). Recently, more research is being conducted on collective mindfulness in organizations. Central to this research topic is the question of how work can be best organized to contribute to a “collective level” of mindfulness. To achieve this, different processes are proposed: (1) (friendly) attention to failure, (2) avoiding to work with all too simple interpretations, (3) understanding the operations in the organization (which is seen as general mindfulness), and (4) a focus on resilience and respect for expertise. According to (preliminary) studies, this translates into, among other things, a collective capacity to quickly notice details and immediately respond to

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them, which has a series of positive consequences, such as less turnover and more customer satisfaction and innovation (for an overview, see Sutcliffe et al. 2016). Research on the effects of (collective) mindfulness among leaders in organizations, however, is still in its infancy. The next part of this chapter aims to provide an overview of the research thus far.

Leader Mindfulness Mindfulness is not only potentially interesting for individual employees in organizations, but it can also have effects on a team of employees through the leader. The latter gives rise to a new application, namely, mindfulness for leaders. Reb et al. (2015) distinguish a number of dimensions of what they posit as ‘mindful leadership’, such as presence, intention, and noticing one’s own stream of consciousness, for example, during conversations. They posit that it is important as a leader to (1) focus the attention on the current moment; (2) be really present during the contact with the employees; (3) have the intention to repeatedly bring back the attention to the current moment; (4) to do this in an open, caring, and nonjudgmental way; and (5) thereby also noticing what one pays attention to. The latter aspect is sometimes described as ‘decentralization’, i.e., giving attention and at the same time observing from a distance what one is doing (Baer et al. 2006). This change in perspective ensures that one is aware of thoughts and feelings without coinciding with them and perhaps rather unconsciously responding to them. Usually, leader mindfulness is measured through self-report questionnaires, after which, for example, the association of leader mindfulness with leader or employee well-being is investigated (Reb et al. 2014). Sometimes mindfulness is also associated with a (positive) leadership style among these leaders. The leadership styles can be seen as an ideal image with a certain focus (e.g., transformation or ethics) on which ‘real leaders’ score higher or lower. Transformational leadership, for example, is the most researched leadership style to date. This leadership style is characterized by four behavioral dimensions: idealized influence (charisma), intellectual stimulation (stimulating creativity and innovation among employees), inspirational motivation (a clear vision), and individualized consideration (taking into account the differences between individual employees) (Avolio et al. 1999). The transformational aspect of this leadership style is related to getting ‘all the wood behind one arrow’, i.e., transforming individual employees’ mindsets toward achieving organizational goals (Kopperud et al. 2014; Bass and Avolio 1990). Another positive leadership style, i.e. ethical leadership, also has a specific focus, namely, a greater emphasis on normative, moral, and value-driven behavior, for both the ethical leader and his/her employees (Brown et al. 2005). In the next section, various empirical, quantitative research results with regard to leader mindfulness are presented per category, namely, the associations of leader mindfulness with (1) leadership, (2) employees, (3) health of the leader, (4) and results of leadership courses with at least some focus on the development of leader mindfulness.

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Leadership Mindfulness helps leaders to establish behaviors that are consistent with positive leadership styles. Mindfulness is, e.g., related to more transformational leadership (Agokei 2013; Pinck and Sonnentag 2017; Decuypere et al. 2018). According to one study, this is because it helps leaders to be attentive, stimulating, and inspiring, as well as helps them to treat employees individually based on their strengths and talents (Pinck and Sonnentag 2017). According to another study, mindfulness increases leaders’ psychological need satisfaction, which is also associated with more transformational leadership (Decuypere et al. 2018). In this sense, mindfulness has an influence on the satisfaction of the leaders’ needs for autonomy (i.e., a sense of volition and freedom), competence (i.e., succeeding at challenging tasks), and relatedness (i.e., being connected to others), which provides the leader with (intrapersonal) resources that translate into more transformational leadership towards employees. Mindfulness also seems to interact with the self-efficacy of transformational leaders (Agokei 2013). Self-efficacy is the belief or estimation that one can achieve certain goals (Bandura 1982). Research shows that leader mindfulness can increase the positive association of leader self-efficacy on their transformational leadership (Agokei 2013). This is because (the feeling of) competence is more consciously noticed and leader self-confidence therefore increases. Another positive leadership style related to mindfulness is servant leadership. Research shows that mindfulness is specifically related to humility and the motivation to lead based on altruistic motives. This has been confirmed not only through self-reports but also through observations of employees (Pircher Verdorfer 2016). In qualitative research, leaders report a more integrated or balanced leadership after a mindfulness training, where leaders feel calmer, have more compassion, and are also better able to deal with ambiguity and uncertainty (Frizzell et al. 2016). Leader mindfulness also seems to be (negatively) related to negative forms of leadership (e.g., abusive supervision). In one study, mindfulness leads to less abusive leadership through an interaction with hostility toward employees: when leaders feel hostile toward their employees (e.g., because of their bad performance or unpreferred behavior), mindfulness helps to accept these feelings rather than act out on them through abusive behaviors (Liang et al. 2016).

Leader Outcomes Leader performance. In general, leaders who score high on mindfulness are considered more effective, both by their employees (Waldron and Ebbeck 2015; Wasylkiw et al. 2016) and by their own leaders up the hierarchy (King and Haar 2017). In the latter study, it was also shown that leader mindfulness is associated with an increased self-mastery. This is the development of core competencies related to leadership: expertise and self-regulation, but also knowledge and skills. In the study, self-mastery was also related to more (positive) organizational transformation. In sum, this seems to indicate that leader mindfulness might lead to creative and

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innovative behavior, partly through self-mastery. This can be very important for today’s organizations, especially when they operate in a dynamic and changing work environment (Dane 2011). Moreover, the researchers showed that mindfulness is especially interesting to promote self-mastery among leaders who only had a short tenure as a leader (King and Haar 2017). In other words, mindfulness training can be specifically interesting for new leaders with little experience. Relatedly, research indicated that leader mindfulness is associated with increases in a well-sought leader characteristic in these changing times: leader flexibility (Baron et al. 2018). Flexibility according to the authors pertains two opposing dimensions that represent different tensions within organizations: (1) the integration of performance goals and human relationships (i.e., self-assertive and directive vs collaborative and supportive) and (2) the tendency to be directed toward the external context or in-house procedures (i.e., long-term strategy vs short-term execution). When leaders are able to balance their behavioral repertoire, they are more effective themselves, and the company does better as well. In addition, leader mindfulness has been associated with employee performance (Schuh et al. 2017): in this study it was shown that leader mindfulness increases procedural justice enactment, which is associated with decreases in emotional exhaustion of employees and thus leads to increases in performance. Leader well-being. If a leader scores higher on mindfulness, this obviously has the same positive effects in terms of (mental) health improvements for them as for other people in general studies. Research among leaders specifically, shows that even short mindfulness training sessions already provide measurable differences in stress and leader effectiveness (Wasylkiw et al. 2016). When leaders at different levels of the organization are examined (from CEOs to supervisors), there is also a clear effect of mindfulness on the well-being of leaders through a negative association with anxiety and depression scores, through less negative affect (i.e., negative feelings), and less burnout (at least for some groups of leaders; Roche et al. 2014). In this last study, the effect of mindfulness on leaders was fully explained by an increase in psychological capital: i.e., increases in hope, efficiency, resilience, and optimism (Roche et al. 2014). Research also indicates that leader mindfulness increases leader psychological need satisfaction (Decuypere et al. 2018), which can be seen as a part of leader well-being as well. In this last study, mindfulness interacted with neuroticism to influence relatedness need satisfaction. This shows that when mindfulness is high, and neuroticism (negative affect) is high as well, mindfulness has the largest association with relatedness need satisfaction (Decuypere et al. 2018). This is in line with research positing that mindfulness may primarily work through emotion regulation (Barnhofer et al. 2011; Prins et al. 2014; Tang et al. 2015; Goleman and Davidson 2017), which, in this case, might enhance relationships with employees. If a leader’s well-being and psychological need satisfaction increases through mindfulness, this may also have an indirect effect on employees, since the resulting mindful demeanor and perhaps positive leader emotions may be ‘contagious’ and therefore have a positive influence on employees as well (Boyatzis 2015). Emotional contagion can be defined as ‘the tendency to automatically mimic and synchronize facial expressions, vocalizations, postures, and movements with those

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of another person and, consequently, to converge emotionally’ (Hatfield et al. 1994, p. 5). The neural networks through which this occurs have been identified as the mirror neuron network and aspects of the default mode network (DMN). The mirror neuron network allows mimicry, and the social aspects of the DMN allow for picking up the moods and feelings of others (Boyatzis 2015). Emotional contagion particularly occurs when people are observing each other and social norms are being developed, like e.g., in a company (Boyatzis 2015). Since a leader is in a position of high visibility, emotional contagion may be stronger as compared with the effect a ‘regular’ employee may have on his/her environment. This makes it even more important for leaders to be role models and examples within the organization, e.g., when it comes to mindful behavior and taking care of their own well-being (Boyatzis and McKee 2005).

Employee Well-Being Research shows that if a leader scores higher on mindfulness, this has an effect on the well-being of the employees (see also Pinck and Sonnentag 2017). There are also demonstrable links of leader mindfulness with employee work-life balance, performance, and reductions in deviant behavior (Reb et al. 2014). One study investigated the working mechanisms of the impact of leader mindfulness on employee performance (Reb et al. 2018): leader mindfulness is associated with more interpersonal justice behavior from the leader which is associated with less employee stress. These outcomes, in turn, are related to the quality of the leader-employee working relationship. As a consequence, employees perform better, both with when taking into account their job description as well as extra-role performance (Reb et al. 2018). The positive effect of leader mindfulness on employee outcomes can also be explained by the influence of leader mindfulness on the leaders’ ability to better meet the needs of the employees (Reb et al. 2014; Van Den Broeck, Vansteenkiste, De Witte, and Lens 2008). Qualitative research confirms this hypothesis: leaders report that mindfulness helps them to listen better to their employees and communicate more clearly (Kearney et al. 2013; Frizzell et al. 2016). In addition, leaders explain that they are more attentive in meetings and focus better, which also gives a positive stimulus to communication within the team (Carter et al. 2016; Frizzell et al. 2016).

Leadership Courses A number of studies on leader mindfulness compared a leadership course with a mindfulness course. Brendel et al. (2016), e.g., compared a mindfulness and leadership course of both 8 weeks. They found a reduction in anxiety and stress symptoms in the leader mindfulness course. No difference was found in resilience and tolerance for ambiguity. A second study investigated the effects of a short mindfulness course for leaders versus a leadership course (with the same amount of contact hours). The participants in the mindfulness course were asked to practice at home for an

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additional 30 minutes a day. This study showed that the mindfulness course led to significant improvements in terms of leader stress levels. But even if mindfulness is not specifically trained, yet is related to the leadership form (e.g., authentic leadership), mindfulness scores increase after the leadership course (Baron 2016). This shows that there is a link between mindfulness and leadership and that both can possibly strengthen each other. It seems plausible that a leadership course combining both aspects (a theoretical, practical, and experiential leadership course with a regular mindfulness practice) could be the ideal leadership training (Brendel and Bennett 2016; Boyatzis and McKee 2005). Other research on mindfulness training in organizations shows that when the disposition for mindfulness (as a trait) is already high, training no longer has much of an additional effect. So especially if the disposition for mindfulness is low, mindfulness training can be an interesting investment for leaders (Feltman et al. 2009). Furthermore, mindfulness may also have more effect for executives with less experience (King and Haar 2017). Studies also show that online courses are effective in teaching mindfulness (Spijkerman et al. 2016). Although we reported on numerous positive results of mindfulness (training), it is important to take account that a training is not a “quick fix,” but rather “being mindful” is the result of continuous attention and practice (Hülsheger 2014).

The Indirect Influence of Employee Mindfulness Mindfulness does not only have a top-down effect on employees, but it can also indirectly influence processes in the organization (as a moderator). This means mindfulness can, e.g., buffer negative effects of bad leadership on employees (e.g. abusive tendencies of supervisors) and can enhance positive effects of positive leadership. Research shows, for example, that poor leadership (abusive leadership) among employees who score high on mindfulness does not have such a negative effect on creativity (Sarwar et al. 2016; Zheng and Liu 2017). In this situation, mindfulness is especially helpful to counter the effects of poor leadership on emotional exhaustion (Sarwar et al. 2016) and reduced self-efficacy of employees (Zheng and Liu 2017). The level of mindfulness of employees is also important for the effectiveness of ethical leadership: when employees score high on mindfulness, ethical leadership leads to extra effort and altruism in the workplace (Eisenbeiss and Van Knippenberg 2015). Mindfulness thus seems to provide a mitigation of negative effects of bad leadership, but it can also strengthen the already existing positive processes related to leadership in the organization.

Working Mechanisms: How Does Mindfulness Support Leaders in their Tasks? The explosion in mindfulness research makes scholars reflect on the question of exactly how mindfulness leads to these beneficial effects. One of the problems of investigating mindfulness in organizations, or seeing its results, is that it is mainly an

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intraindividual attention process with no clearly defined behaviors attached to it (Carter et al. 2016). There are, however, a number of processes underlying mindfulness that may influence (idiosyncratic) behavioral change. These processes or working mechanisms each have their own focus but are also connected to each other and are discussed below.

Self-Awareness and Self-Regulation Jon Kabat-Zinn initially defined mindfulness in 1982 as “the intentional self-regulation of attention from moment to moment” (Kabat-Zinn 1982, p. 34). One of the working mechanisms is therefore already included in the definition: through mindfulness one learns to regulate the attention, which also regulates the way in which one experiences things, e.g. one can focus the attention on something specific or consciously switch from perspective (Sampl et al. 2017; Sarwar et al. 2016), which supports a flexible and improved concentration (Shapiro et al. 2015). By focusing on the current moment, mindfulness also ensures less distraction caused by concerns about the future or the past. By accepting the present moment as it is, stress reactions decrease (Shapiro et al. 2015). Moreover, the negative effects of rumination (i.e., ruminating/remembering problems; Deyo et al. 2009) or catastrophizing (i.e., an excessive negative expectation, for example around pain; Prins et al. 2014) are mitigated or lessened through mindfulness. One learns to avoid automatic reactions by, for example, pausing (briefly) and adopting an observing stance (i.e. the mindfulness subfacet ‘observing’ and/or ‘decentering’) with regard to what is happening in the present moment. Mindfulness also helps to notice emotions, increase emotional resilience (Sauer and Kohls 2011), and improve the self-awareness of one’s own functioning (Guillén and Fontrodona 2018). In this way, mindfulness promotes the regulation of emotions and reduces emotional reactivity (Brown and Ryan 2003). For leaders, this means that they may react less automatically and emotionally to their employees. This also promotes the development of good working relationships (see below under “connection”).

Emotional Stability Mindfulness is further related to emotional stability, a personality characteristic characterized by the low presence of negative affect. (Subfacets of emotional stability are withdrawal and volatility.) Emotional stability is also associated with taking on a leadership role and increased effectiveness as a leader (Judge et al. 2002). Research shows a negative correlation between mindfulness and neuroticism (Giluk 2009), which is the opposite of emotional stability. The practice of mindfulness provides more emotional stability through the acceptance of emotions and the increased awareness of the present moment (Taylor et al. 2011). By the process of pausing, distancing from the experience (while still experiencing it), and re-perceiving the situation, one is less controlled by thoughts and emotions (Verdorfer 2016). Leaders also learn to deal better with uncertainty by means of mindfulness (Langer

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1989). All this helps mindful leaders, through training or disposition, to be more (emotionally) stable and therefore more effective.

Information Processing Mindfulness supports effective information processing in various ways. The open and nonjudgmental way of paying attention supports creativity (see, e.g., Langer 1989). Leaders who score high on mindfulness also make fewer cognitive mistakes (Weick and Putnam 2006; Karelaia and Reb 2015) and have less automatic emotional reactions that may obscure the decision-making process (Hülsheger et al. 2013). If a leader is ‘mindful’ in interactions with employees, (s)he can also notice more relevant information and perhaps make more ethical or helpful decisions with regard to the employees (Ruedy and Schweitzer 2010; Karelaia and Reb 2015). Creativity. Through the broad focus on the present moment and the awareness of what one is doing (Dane 2011), the ‘mindful’ leader cultivates an open, observing demeanor. This may allow for more (new) information to enter the picture, which helps the development of creative solutions (Langer 1989). In other words, the cultivation of paying attention in an open, nonjudgmental manner facilitates the generation of more creative ideas (Baas, Nevicka, and Ten Velden 2014). Mindfulness may also create better conditions for creativity through reducing the fear of jugdments (Carson and Langer 2006). Decision-making. Mindfulness can also support better decision-making by an increased awareness of the limitations of one’s own thinking process (Weick and Putnam 2006). This creates room for multiple perspectives. By practicing mindfulness one relies less on heuristics and automatic information processing, so there are fewer (fundamental) cognitive mistakes in the decision-making process (Karelaia and Reb 2015). Mindfulness also supports optimism, so there is less bias for negative information (Kiken and Shook 2011). By reducing the focus on the past or future and through diminishing (the effects of) negative affect, there is also less sunk-cost bias, which means there is less continual investment in a lost cause (Arkes and Blumer 1985; Hafenbrack et al. 2014). All these effects on the diminishing of cognitive errors are quite important for leaders with decision-making power. Research shows that mindfulness is related to making more ethical decisions (Ruedy and Schweitzer 2010), so that employees are treated more fairly. On the work floor, mindfulness can also ensure that leaders evaluate employees less on the basis of automatic prototypical ideas (Karelaia and Reb 2015) and more based on the idiosyncratic information presented in the moment. By paying more attention to the environment in the current moment, the leader may also better observe what employees need and make decisions that meet those needs (Karelaia and Reb 2015). Through broadening the attention and lessening the impact of biases, the leader can make more informed decisions and notice more quickly when fast judgments or false conclusions are made (Karelaia and Reb 2015; Reb et al. 2013). In sum, mindfulness is important for making decisions because of its effect on creativity and (emotional) reactivity, as well as through limiting errors in information

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processing. This is even more important in a changing, dynamic organizational context (Dane 2011).

Connecting Finally, mindfulness may strengthen the connection with oneself, as well as the connection with employees. First and foremost, mindfulness may facilitate more self-insight, resulting in more self-care (Shapiro et al. 2015), as well as more connection with one’s own values (Ruedy and Schweitzer 2010). Through mindfulness the resistance to self-relevant information seems to reduce, which makes it more likely that accurate self-knowledge is accrued (Lakey et al. 2008). In addition, mindfulness may support the process of identifying how one feels and the process of communicating this adequately, to, e.g., employees, which may increase mutual understanding and foster a more productive working relationship (Dekeyser, Raes, Leijssen, Leysen, and Dewulf 2008; Wachs and Cordova 2007). Secondly, mindfulness increases the quality of contact with co-workers by being more present in the moment (Reb et al. 2014) and listening more consciously (Ucok 2006). Miscommunication by a lack of attention is thereby avoided. Research also shows that mindfulness ensures that one is more empathic (Shapiro et al. 2015). Since mindfulness in general is associated with more reflection instead of a fast, more automatic response, which is also true in the context of interactions with employees. Qualitative research confirms this: leaders report that mindfulness helps them to communicate better and clearer (Kearney et al. 2013; Frizzell et al. 2016). Based on these processes, mindfulness facilitates good (working) relationships with employees (Shapiro et al. 2005). In addition, this way of paying attention also supports the development of trust (Roberts and Williams 2017). It creates a sense of availability and meaningfulness (Roberts and Williams 2017) and is linked to the fulfillment of the need for relatedness, as well as autonomy and competence of employees (Reb et al. 2014). When leaders understand their employees better and build good relationships, they can also be more supportive, which increases both employee well-being and productivity (Reb et al. 2014, 2015).

Evidence from Brain Research Brain research shows that mindfulness is associated with changes in various brain regions that deal with attention to internal signals, self-regulation, memory, empathy, and consciousness (Goleman and Davidson 2017; Hölzel et al. 2011; Tang et al. 2015). By its impact on the (pre)frontal cortex, mindfulness has an effect on sustained attention, working memory, decision-making, and metacognition (consciousness of consciousness). And by the impact on the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain, mindfulness also ensures faster recovery after emotional reactivity. By strengthening the prefrontal control mechanisms, one apparently even gets a reduction in the size of the amygdala itself in the long term (Tang et al. 2015).

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In other words, mindfulness generates more emotional stability in the brain (Barnhofer et al. 2011). The effects of mindfulness on the brain are different for novice meditators compared to experienced meditators. In novice meditators, mindfulness reduces the reactivity of the (left) amygdala. In experienced meditators, however, mindfulness does not cause an (extra) reduction in reactivity of the amygdala, but a reduction in the judgment about emotions. This means that mindfulness can reduce initial (emotional) stress through improved cognitive control and the beneficial effect on the amygdala, but that experienced meditators let go of this control and apparently show more acceptance of emotional reactions (Taylor et al. 2011; Tang et al. 2015). These effects offer support for the working mechanisms described above: mindfulness causes a change in information processing, self-regulation, and attention (prefrontal cortex) and has an effect on emotionality (amygdala), which reduces stress and creates a positive feedback loop with regard to decision-making and relationship building.

Critical Remarks Although there seem to be many positive results with regard to the effects of (leader) mindfulness, this should be interpreted with a grain of salt. Both the way in which researchers measure mindfulness and the way in which they investigate mindfulness training can be improved in most studies. In addition, not everyone has the same need for mindfulness training, and there are also ‘wrong’ applications of mindfulness within organizations. Below we extend on these claims.

Measurements There are several self-report mindfulness questionnaires that have been developed over the recent years. All these scales differ in their measurement approach, the underlying assumptions, and the target group for which these scales can be used (Bergomi et al. 2013; Choi and Leroy 2015; Dane 2011; Sutcliffe et al. 2016). The most frequently used questionnaires are the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown and Ryan 2003) and the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ; Baer et al. 2008). These questionnaires are very different in their underlying assumptions: the MAAS bases itself, for example, on the idea that mindfulness has one underlying dimension, while the FFMQ states that mindfulness works through multiple facets. Consequently, the correlations between different mindfulness scales – that try to measure the same construct – are lower than perhaps hoped for (Bergomi et al. 2013; Cardaciotto et al. 2008; Baer et al. 2006). For this reason, the choice of questionnaire can have an influence on the results of the study. In addition, both the MAAS (Grossman 2011; Van Dam et al. 2010) and the FFMQ (Goldberg et al. 2016) have also been criticized with regard to their item structure and validity. Finally, of course the general criticism of self-report questionnaires also applies here: is the

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self-knowledge of, e.g., leaders accurate? Are the questionnaires not too normative, so that respondents fill in ‘desired behavior’ instead of actual behavior? And how can someone who is not attentive accurately reflect how attentive he/she is in general? (Grossman 2011). However, it is difficult to solve these issues, and for standard research, self-report questionnaires seem to be the most accessible way of questioning “private” events and the general mental state of respondents (Conway and Lance 2010).

Experiments In addition to criticism of questionnaire studies, there is also some criticism on the experimental design of mindfulness studies (Goldberg et al. 2017; Van Dam et al. 2010, 2018). After all, self-report questionnaires are also used to measure mindfulness in experiments. Moreover, most of these studies do not use adequate active control groups. A good, active control group is a control group with another (similar) activity with a similar time investment. In the context of mindfulness training studies, the control group should be a group intervention with perhaps the same positive expectations. Usually, however, the effects of a mindfulness intervention are compared to a wait -list control group that is scheduled to receive the training later. In these circumstances, one could argue that the results actually only show that ‘doing something’ is better than ‘doing nothing’. If no active control group is used, we cannot conclude with certainty that mindfulness is the ingredient of the intervention that leads to positive effects (Dam et al. 2018; Goleman and Davidson 2017). Given the problems with both the measurement of mindfulness and with the experimental studies concerning mindfulness training without control groups, the positive results of mindfulness research are probably best interpreted more conservatively.

Not Everyone Benefits from Mindfulness Training Mindfulness (training) is not necessarily good for everyone. For example, some leaders score high on trait mindfulness by themselves. This means that even without mindfulness training or formal practice, they are very present and attentive. The investment in training is then better served to go to others who will benefit more from it. In addition, there is evidence that mindfulness should be avoided in people with severe psychiatric problems, such as major depression or severe burnout. Mindfulness in psychiatric disorders. There are conditions in which mindfulness training is explicitly not advisable. This is the case, for example, with acute psychiatric disorders (Cebolla et al. 2017). Caution is also important when there is a predisposition for psychiatric disorders (e.g., when it runs in the family), since mindfulness meditation may provoke psychosis in extreme conditions (Cebolla et al. 2017; Decuypere 2017). Furthermore, mindfulness training is not recommended during a severe depression just because pointing the attention even more on one’s own (very negative) thoughts and emotions may increase the feeling of overwhelm

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and helplessness, which undermines the healing process. Mindfulness does work very well during a (small) dip or as relapse prevention for depression (Chiesa and Serretti 2011), mainly because it helps to notice and distance from (i.e., ‘decentering’) the tendency for catastrophizing and rumination. Mindfulness and burnout. Mindfulness is often used within organizations as an anti- burnout remedy, which is quite useful since mindfulness helps to increase resilience and stress resistance. But when employees have a serious burnout, it is better to suspend their participation in a mindfulness course. After all, these people are too exhausted. In addition, they usually score very high on perfectionism (Zhang et al. 2007), which is not helpful when trying to learn a new skill. Especially if they ‘fail’ in mindfulness exercises due to severe fatigue. This feeling of failure to do the exercises properly due to fatigue will only increase when they have to train in a group of people who practice successfully and actually benefit from the exercises. When work is resumed, however, mindfulness can be used to re-perceive and notice stress, to focus better and single-task, to regulate emotions, and perhaps to make better decisions regarding self-care.

Incorrect Applications in Organizations Mindfulness can also be wrongly applied in organizations, either because mindfulness (1) is offered in an ineffective way, (2) is taught by an incompetent trainer, or (3) is offered with the wrong intentions. First and foremost, it is important that organizations take into account that mindfulness is not a quick solution (Hülsheger 2014), but actually requires daily practice, just as one should move daily to remain physically healthy. When organizations offer mindfulness as a ‘quick fix’, they ignore the time investment and mentality change that is necessary for a long-term effect. Moreover, practicing mindfulness after training should also be maintained and supported. Therefore it is important that there is a climate where, for example, leaders are role models and support the use of mindfulness. However, mindfulness is an ‘internal state’ rather than an explicitly clear defined behavior, which may make it difficult to ‘see’ when someone is actually practicing mindfulness. Although, more broadly speaking, it is quite easy to determine whether someone is distracted. In addition, since employees are very attuned to each other and perceive more of emotional states of their coworkers than is generally assumed (Boyatzis and McKee 2005), so perhaps employees notice more about the ‘attention/distraction culture’ in their organisation than is generally assumed as well. Regardless, it remains true that the importance of a leader in supporting mindfulness cannot be overstated (Boyatzis and McKee 2005). Secondly, it is evident that mindfulness training should be given by a competent trainer: someone who is keen to (1) support the participants’ own practice, (2) is focused on transferring the exercises to the workplace, and especially (3) does not wish to create dependence (Decuypere 2017). First and foremost, the trainer should do a good screening, so that participants with clinical depression or burnout are advised to wait a bit longer with participation (see above). Attention for transfer

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means that the trainer has an eye for the application of mindfulness to the workplace. This means the training is not exclusively focused on the ‘inner experiences’ of the trainees here and now, but participants are also encouraged to focus their attention openly, nonjudgmentally, and curiously to the (work) environment. A good trainer also helps avoid being too perfectionistic or hyper-focused. He or she should also help to be attentive to physical boundaries (e.g., by a bad posture or too long meditations), because overextension during meditation also leads to stress and fatigue (Decuypere 2017; Prins and Decuypere 2013). Finally, a good trainer helps to practice mindfulness independently, whereby the personal contribution as a trainer is made redundant as quickly as possible. Finally, organizations can also offer mindfulness with the wrong intentions. It is not difficult to envision a situation in which employees who suffer from the everincreasing work pressure, and who unsuccessfully discuss this matter with their leader, are told that they can follow a mindfulness course to deal with their issues. This response can be translated as “Solve it yourself and find a better way to endure our burnout-inducing work pressure.” It is a way for the leader or organization to pass on the work-related problem, rather than dealing with it. Solving this issue is obviously not the goal of a mindfulness course, nor the outcome. Therefore, first and foremost, it is important to recognize that mindfulness training is not a “solution for everything” (Hülsheger 2014); rather it should be part of a larger HR policy within the organization. In other words, offering mindfulness training does not relieve employers of the responsibility to develop a coherent policy which, e.g., tackles stress and work pressure structurally within the organization.

Recommendations for Practice As a Leader, (First) Follow a Course Yourself The popularity of mindfulness courses for organizations is increasing. Since leaders are key figures within organizations, it may be better to initially offer them a course, rather than their employees. This way, leaders know what (time) investment this would ask from employees, and they can participate in the discussion on mindfulness in the workplace. In addition, leaders, as role models, may have a big influence on the general attitude toward mindfulness, so their stance may ‘make or break’ the liftoff of mindfulness within their teams and perhaps within the whole organization. Furthermore, especially young executives benefit from a mindfulness course. This is because they do not have much experience to fall back on yet, e.g. for making tough decisions (King and Haar 2017). In addition research shows that when the disposition for mindfulness is already high, training no longer has a major additional effect. So specifically if a leader is (1) rather distracted and is generally categorized as ‘not mindful’, or (2) scores high on neuroticism (Decuypere et al. 2019), training can be an interesting investment (Feltman et al. 2009). Participation in a mindfulness training should also be voluntary; otherwise the motivation to continue practicing mindfulness will be low, and the effects will

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disappear. This is especially true when the classic 8-week programs are followed, because they take up a lot of time and require quite a lot of at home practice time. In addition, when choosing between a leadership training and a mindfulness training, it may be useful to choose the mindfulness course. Some (preliminary) studies show that a mindfulness training has better effects than a general leadership course (Brendel et al. 2016; Pipe et al. 2009). Furthermore, shorter (online) courses also appear to be effective. In order to achieve the potential positive effect of (leader) mindfulness on the work floor, it is obviously important that mindfulness is not only theoretically understood, but also actually applied after a possible training. Therefore, mindfulness should only be offered to those leaders and employees who need it and actually want to get started with it.

Create a Mindfulness-Friendly Context A leader functions within a business context that may or may not be open to mindfulness-based decision making, (self) care and self-reflection. If an organization wants to incorporate mindfulness in their business, then ideally the entire organization would support the application of mindfulness. A mindfulness-friendly context is a context that allows to be consciously present, where mindfulness practice is not (secretly) mocked and where attending mindfulness courses is supported. Small behavioral changes can also be encouraged, for example, a focus on more ‘singletasking’ instead of ‘multitasking’, closing the mailbox between work blocks to promote focus, removing the mobile phone from the table during meetings to listen more attentively, etc. The attitude of the leader toward mindfulness, and its application in communication with employees, can also be a stimulating factor to achieve ‘collective mindfulness’ in the company. Research shows that employees who feel more supported on the work floor also score higher in mindfulness. Employees who, on the other hand, experience more limitations, score lower on mindfulness (Reb, Narayan, and Ho 2013). This indicates that mindfulness can be a part of a change process or a positive story within the organization, but it can also be slowed down by structural factors so that the investment yields less than hoped for. Furthermore, again, the exemplary behavior of the leader is very important to create a context in which mindfulness can thrive (Sutcliffe et al. 2016).

Use Mindfulness as a Preventive Measure With regard to mindfulness training, the question on timing remains: before a crisis, during or after? As discussed, mindfulness is associated with less stress, more job satisfaction, and more engagement (Hyland et al. 2015) while also diminishing symptoms of burn-out (Reb et al. 2017). Therefore, it can be particularly interesting

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to use mindfulness as prevention so that attention increases, communication processes improve, and employees can work in a healthy and productive manner. A crisis in the organization should probably be tackled more directly, with a focus on the underlying issues, rather than through offering mindfulness as a solution (Bailleur 2017). We also see this on an individual level: when an employee has a burnout, it is actually too late to start with a mindfulness course. Therefore, generally speaking, it is important to first focus on functioning well (again) and resuming work in a healthy manner, after which a mindfulness practice can have its place. That being said, mindfulness in general (i.e., establishing a clear view on the situation, the ability to ‘decenter’ and observe what is going on, communicating attentively, etc.) is probably very important during a crisis. However, it does not seem the perfect timing to start a mindfulness training.

Actively Combat Mindfulness Misuse Researchers warn against the use of mindfulness in an unethical way. Precisely by translating mindfulness techniques into a Western context, without Buddhist connotations, the original Buddhist ethical framework (the so-called Eightfold Path) was edited out. Thus, mindfulness has increasingly become a (self-help) technique, which can be easily abused with people having the wrong (i.e., unethical) intentions (Purser and Milillo 2014), such as when it is offered by the organization as a bandage during a restructuring phase. Again this sends a very conflicted message: “A lot is changing, people are getting fired, and you get a mindfulness course to better deal with all of this.” That seems rather unhelpful. At such a time, it would be better to focus more on employee participation or autonomy, and to deal with the changes and challenges on the work floor directly. Reb et al. (2015) conclude that mindfulness must be accompanied by the “right” values and objectives, by which they mean ethical values based on what we – as a society – find important (Decuypere 2017).

Conclusion Several researchers question the popularity and possible false claims about the effectiveness of mindfulness (Dam et al. 2018; Decuypere 2017; Goldberg et al. 2017; Prins and Decuypere 2013), especially when mindfulness is presented as a “solution for everything.” The hype around mindfulness not only leads to more research, but when done without the right rigor, it may also yield results that are too positive, which raises expectations to an unrealistic level. The various positive results of mindfulness research are encouraging, but more meta-analytical research is needed, and given the methodological problems with measurements and intervention studies, we should interpret the current results with some caution.

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New Trends and Future Research Research into mindfulness is increasing exponentially (Goldberg et al. 2017), but research into leader mindfulness is still scarce and unfocused. New trends in this area are multilevel research into the impact and coherence of (leader) mindfulness at various levels in the organization, as well as research into collective mindfulness (Sutcliffe et al. 2016). In times of multitasking, social media and smartphones, research on mindfulness and attention on the work floor is increasingly relevant. Therefore, it is important to study the phenomenon widely, not only focusing on the positive effects of (leader) mindfulness, but also on possible negative or curvilinear effects. In this regard, some researchers warn that mindfulness is not always positive for the organization, and more awareness of stressors (through hightened mindfulness) may, e.g., also lead to a higher turnover rate (Hülsheger 2014). Mindfulness may also cause a delay in the decision-making process because more information is noted and considered (Karelaia and Reb 2015). Obviously, this needs further research. It would also be interesting for future research to focus more on mapping the effect of mindfulness on the communication process between leaders and their employees (Decuypere et al. 2019). Qualitative research shows that mindfulness helps to listen better and communicate more clearly (Kearney et al. 2013; Frizzell et al. 2016). Since communication is crucial for leadership (Barge 1994; Fairhurst and Connaughton 2014; Neufeld et al. 2010) and leaders spend most of their time communicating with employees (Wajcman and Rose 2011), this may be the way mindfulness can have the greatest impact for organizations.

Mindfulness in Practice Various factors contribute to the effectiveness of a leader in general. Perhaps it is too early to declare mindful leadership to be the new leadership style of the year. Yet there are some indications that mindfulness offers interesting benefits for leaders and their employees. By training attention, mindfulness ensures a better focus that protects against the disadvantages of a performance-oriented, fast-changing, multitasking, and screen-hooked organization. Due to the increased attention in the present moment, more information can be captured, information that would otherwise be ignored. Mindfulness also supports more emotional stability, or at least more emotionally stable behavior as a consequence; it is related to a better handling of stress and taking more balanced decisions with less cognitive errors. Furthermore, mindfulness promotes supportive behavior and attentive communication. When the leader gives the example, this potential positive effect can be magnified by the influence on employees in different layers in the organization. Mindfulness can thus be part of a healthy organization, and leaders hold the key to this perhaps positive (r)evolution.

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Summary Mindfulness has become a hype. There are many reports on the potential benefits of a (leader) mindfulness practice for well-being and performance. The question still remains whether mindfulness interventions are a worthwhile investment for leaders. In this chapter we describe the ‘state of the art’ regarding (1) mindful leadership, (2) what we know concerning leader mindfulness and (3) its effect on both leaders and employees. We show that mindfulness may diminish stress and enhance selfregulation, information processing, decision-making, and communication with employees. However, the whole story is not uncritically positive: we elaborate on improvements that can be made in research methods, as well as on how mindfulness may be ineffectively or wrongfully used in organizations. We conclude with some practical advice for organizations.

Cross-References ▶ Employee Engagement: Keys to Organizational Success ▶ Fostering Workplace Well-Being Through Servant Leadership ▶ Having an Ethical Mindset Might Enhance Workplace Well-Being ▶ Improving Engagement During Times of Change ▶ Positive Psychological Well-Being at Work: The Role of Eudaimonia ▶ Self-Leadership: Neuroscientific Perspectives ▶ Sustainable Happiness, Well-Being, and Mindfulness in the Workplace ▶ The Mediation Effect of Psychological Safety on the Relationship Between Interactional Injustice and Innovative Work Behavior ▶ Workplace Spirituality: An Antidote to Employee Burnout

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Ruedy NE, Schweitzer ME (2010) In the moment: the effect of mindfulness on ethical decision making. J Bus Ethics 95(S1):73–87. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-0796-y Sampl J, Maran T, Furtner MR (2017) A randomized controlled pilot intervention study of a mindfulness-based self-leadership training (MBSLT) on stress and performance. Mindfulness 8(5):1393–1407. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-017-0715-0 Sarwar S, Shaukat K, Fakhri Z (2016) Impact of abusive supervision on employee creativity : through emotional exhaustion and moderating role of mindfulness. Int J HR Organ Manage Insights Transform 2(1):1–11 Sauer S, Kohls N (2011) Mindfulness in leadership: does being mindful enhance leaders’ business success? In: Han S, Pöppel E (eds) Culture and neural frames of cognition and communication. Springer, New York, pp 287–316 Schuh SC, Zheng MX, Xin KR, Fernandez JA (2017) The interpersonal benefits of leader mindfulness: a serial mediation model linking leader mindfulness, leader procedural justice enactment, and employee exhaustion and performance. J Bus Ethics 156:1–19. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s10551-017-3610-7 Shapiro SL, Astin JA, Bishop SR, Cordova M (2005) Mindfulness-based stress reduction for health care professionals: results from a randomized trial. Int J Stress Manag 12(2):164–176 Shapiro SL, Wang MC, Peltason EH (2015) What is mindfulness, and why should organizations care about it? In: Reb J, Atkins PWB (eds) Mindfulness in organizations: foundations, research and applications. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 17–41 Spijkerman MPJ, Pots WTM, Bohlmeijer ET (2016) Effectiveness of online mindfulness-based interventions in improving mental health: a review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Clin Psychol Rev 45:102–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2016.03.009 Sutcliffe KM, Vogus TJ, Dane E, Jones JH (2016) Mindfulness in organizations: a cross- level review. Annu Rev Organ Psychol Organ Behav 3:55–81. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurevorgpsych-041015-062531 Tang Y-Y, Hölzel BK, Posner MI (2015) The neuroscience of mindfulness meditation. Nat Rev Neurosci 16(4):213–225. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3916 Taylor VA, Grant J, Daneault V, Scavone G, Breton E, Roffe-Vidal S, . . . Beauregard M (2011) Impact of mindfulness on the neural responses to emotional pictures in experienced and beginner meditators. NeuroImage 57: 1524–1533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011. 06.001 Ucok O (2006) Transparency, communication and mindfulness. J Manag Dev 25(10):1024–1028. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621710610708676 Van Dam NT, Van Earleywine M, Borders A (2010) Measuring mindfulness? An Item Response Theory analysis of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale. Personality and Individual Differences 49:805–810. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.07.020 Van Den Broeck A, Vansteenkiste M, De Witte H, Lens W (2008) Explaining the relationships between job characteristics, burnout, and engagement: The role of basic psychological need satisfaction. Work & Stress 22(3):277–294. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678370802393672 Van Dam NT, Van Vugt MK, Vago DR, Schmalzl L, Saron CD, Olendzki A, . . . Meyer DE (2018) Mind the hype: a critical evaluation and prescriptive agenda for research on mindfulness and meditation. Perspect Psychol Sci 13(1): 36–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617709589 Virgili M (2015) Mindfulness-based interventions reduce psychological distress in working adults: a meta-analysis of intervention studies. Mindfulness 6(2):326–337. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s12671-013-0264-0 Wachs K, Cordova JV (2007) Mindful relating: Exploring mindfulness and emotion repertoires in intimate relationships. J Marital Fam Ther 33(4):464–481. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist. psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.501.4449&rep=rep1&type=pdf Wajcman J, Rose E (2011) Constant connectivity: rethinking interruptions at work. Organ Stud 32(7):941–961. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840611410829 Waldron AL, Ebbeck V (2015) The relationship of mindfulness and self-compassion to desired wildland fire leadership. Int J Wildland Fire 24:201–211. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF13212

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Wasylkiw L, Holton J, Azar R, Cook W (2016) The impact of mindfulness on leadership effectiveness in a health care setting: a pilot study. J Health Organ Manag 29(8):893–911. https://doi. org/10.1108/JHOM-06-2014-0099311 Weick KE, Putnam T (2006) Organizing for mindfulness: eastern wisdom and western knowledge. J Manag Inq 15(3):275–287. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119206453.ch6 Zhang Y, Gan Y, Cham H (2007) Perfectionism, academic burnout and engagement among Chinese college students: a structural equation modeling analysis. Personal Individ Differ 43(6): 1529–1540. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PAID.2007.04.010 Zheng X, Liu X (2017) The buffering effect of mindfulness on abusive supervision and creative performance: a social cognitive framework. Front Psychol 8:1588–1600. https://doi.org/ 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01588

Key Literature Baer RA, Smith GT, Hopkins J, Krietemeyer J, Toney L (2006). Using self-report assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness. Assessment, 13(1):27–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 1073191105283504 Brown KW, Ryan RM (2003) The benefits of being present: mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. J Pers Soc Psychol 84(4):822 Dane E (2011) Paying attention to mindfulness and its effects on task performance in the workplace. J Manag 37(4):997–1018. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310367948 Goleman D, Davidson RJ (2017) Altered traits: science reveals how meditation changes your mind, brain, and body. Penguin Random House, New York Grossman P (2011) Defining mindfulness by how poorly I think I pay attention during everyday awareness and other intractable problems for psychology’s (Re)invention of mindfulness: comment on Brown et al (2011). Psychol Assess 23(4):1034–1040. https://doi.org/10.1037/ a0022713 Reb J, Atkins PWB (eds) (2015) Mindfulness in organizations: foundations, research, and applications. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

How Wakeful Leaders Create Flourishing Workplaces

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Quality of Our Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Wakeful Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Awakened Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dimensions of the Wakeful Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Dimensions of Wakefulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Performance Paradigm of Wakeful Leaders: A Macro-to-Micro Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . Implementing the Macro-to-Micro Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Understanding and Embracing Interconnectedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Wakeful Approach: A Responsibility of Every Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Wakeful Approach and Learning: Considering All Stakeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ecumenical Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Benefits of Ecumenical Learning for Stakeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Wakefulness is reviewed in this chapter as a critical characteristic for leaders. It is described as the way of an awakened leader and an effective way to secure flourishing workplaces. Wakefulness is subdivided into three dimensions: internal, external, and integrated. Each of these dimensions is briefly reviewed. In a review of ways for wakeful leaders to create flourishing workplaces, the chapter discusses two critical strategic foundations: (1) the macro-to-micro approach, Some segments of this chapter have been published in separate articles from this author before. J. Marques (*) School of Business, Woodbury University, Burbank, CA, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_10

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in which leaders first consider the macro needs and then formulate ways to fulfill those needs, and (2) ecumenical learning, in which the well-being of all stakeholders is considered. In the macro-to-micro approach, profits are reformatted from a starting point to a rewarding consequence of need-fulfilling actions, and gratification of all stakeholders at all levels is guaranteed. Five considerations are thereby provided, which leaders could use as a guide toward implementing the macro-to-micro approach. In the discussion of ecumenical learning, a comprehensive and revolutionary style of organizational learning, the chapter presents a number of factors to be considered, from the moment a deviation surfaces or an insight for a change in the status quo appears to the evaluation of the ramifications of this application to stakeholders inside and outside the direct organizational or even industrial environment. Keywords

Wakeful leaders · Macro-to-micro approach · Wakeful approach · Ecumenical learning · Stakeholders

Introduction Leadership has been described, studied, and applied in numerous ways. The fact that this is the case implies the fascination scholars and practitioners generally have with the subject. It also demonstrates that leadership is a frequently implemented phenomenon. Actually, there are conflicting opinions about the meaning of leadership. A large group of leadership authors feels that we can only speak of leadership when people exert leadership behavior in a formal, hierarchical setting toward others. Others broaden this scope and include informal settings to the picture but maintain that “others” have to be involved before we can speak of leadership. And then there are those, such as the author of this chapter, who feel that leadership should be considered from an even broader scope: as a behavior we exert throughout the many decisions we make and the many actions we take, whether others are involved or not. It is our personal leadership that drives us to make the strategic choices in our lives, for instance, whether we will continue our study or find a job right after college or whether we should invest our savings in a new car or a long overdue paint job of the house. Seen from a positive angle, the fact that opinions differ so broadly about leadership indicates the vitality of this topic; for whenever people passionately differ in opinion about something, it means that they think about it and consider it important enough to take a stance. However, whether we consider leadership a behavior in which others should be involved or not is of less importance to this chapter. The quality of the leadership we choose to exert today – regardless of the setting – is of much higher urgency and importance, as it will determine the difference between self-centeredness and selflessness, exclusion and inclusion, and ultimately between leading failing and flourishing organizations.

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The Quality of Our Leadership As theories around leadership continue to advance, there seems to be one theme that encompasses all: cognizance or the very act of being awake. One only has to review the currently supported leadership styles, such as “team leadership,” “strategic leadership,” “symbolic leadership,” or “servant leadership” (Pierce and Newstrom 2003, p. 9), to realize that the foundation to successful implementation of all these styles is applicability. Dion (2012) adds some additional leadership styles to this enumeration, such as “self-leadership,” “authentic leadership,” “shared leadership,” and “transformational leadership,” pointing out that several of these leadership styles place an emphasis on the moral issue, thus unveiling the basic link between a given leadership style and what could be considered as “ethical leadership.” Many authors have exclaimed for quite some time now that there is no single leadership style that proves to be successful under all circumstances. In an interview with Paul Cavanagh of Cisco Ireland, he emphasized that there is no one leadership style that is universally applicable, because different people will respond to different approaches (“There is no single leadership style. . .,” 2017). In a discussion about situational leadership, Chapman (2018) confirms a similar insight. Concurring with this perspective, Hughes et al. (2002) avowed, “[L]eadership depends on several factors, including the situation and the followers, not just the leader’s qualities or characteristics” (p. 23). These authors then elaborated, “When you see a leader’s behavior [. . .] you should not automatically conclude something good or bad about the leader, or what is the right way or wrong way leaders should act. You need to think about the effectiveness of that behavior in that context with those followers” (p. 45). Bennis (2003) underscored this vision in his assertion, “Genuine leaders empathize with others, engage them in shared meaning, and make them feel essential. No single style has a lock on the ability to win others to a vision” (p. 4). In an interview with professor Rosenbach, Evans Professor of Eisenhower Leadership Studies and Professor of Management at Gettysburg College, published in the 2003 edition of the New Zealand Management, this perception was also accentuated in the statement, “What leaders do is important, but how they do it is of equal concern. Although much research has focused on identifying the one best style, no single style or personality is best for all situations” (“NZIM: William Rosenbach on The Essence of Leadership,” p. 18). Madsen and Hammond (2005) added, in that regard, “The monolithic, one-size-fits-all theory of leadership that is a result of globalization and the primacy of the American management model must be broken. It doesn’t work anywhere; it doesn’t work in the US” (p. 71). The above may, hence, illustrate that there has been, for quite some time now, general unanimity about the insight that the situation and the type of followers involved play a significant role in the leadership style that will be successful. If, then, one considers “awakened” or “wakeful” leadership as a multifaceted way of leading, precisely based on the prerequisites mentioned above – the situation and the followers –it can be inferred that this could be the single leadership style that will work in all scenarios. As Madsen and Hammond (2005) stated it, “Emergence is a self-organizing process for taking local actions to achieve global impact” (p. 71). It is

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this self-organizing process; this all-inclusive and well-considered specific strategy tailored to local circumstances that can be considered the foundation for awakened leadership. In essence, when we evaluate the quality of our leadership, we have to include our values and moral convictions. What do we believe in? What do we consider important? What is acceptable to us and what is not? It should be noted that many people have a tendency to just adopt mindsets and behaviors from others because they simply don’t think about the option of developing their own. And as they engage in this mindless adoption process, they fail to question the reasons and motives behind those others’ actions or the circumstances under which those mindsets and behaviors were developed. This act of mindlessly following trends and behaviors has been the plight of humanity for the longest time. Mindless behavior is when rules and routines are more likely to govern our behavior, irrespective of the current circumstances (Langer and Moldoveanu 2000). Mindless people have a tendency to tune out and ignore new information (Cram and Newell 2016). The major problem we are facing today is that we have progressed – or regressed – too far in our so-called civilized pattern to further uphold any form of mindlessness. In our local and global society of today, we are too connected, too informed, and too interdependent to continue hiding behind a mask of ignorance and mindless behavior. Aside from the numerous alerts on global warming, pollution, extinction of species, and forest and water decline, we are dealing with inevitable interdependencies, inexorable cause and effect trends, which demand urgent attention to the decisions we make from here onward. Some recurring interdependencies in business leadership that require strict caution are: • Short-term profit-based decisions. On the one hand, these hit-and-run type decisions benefit a small cluster of affluent individuals, but on the other hand, they cause escalating levels of poverty and anger among large human communities. • Downsizing workforces to safeguard corporate continuance. These processes often happen without considering constructive and creative alternatives, such as proposing a temporary collective salary reduction. Downsizing sets a tone of despair and destroys morale, which in turn negatively affects perceptions of the company and its leaders, since they are ultimately responsible for these actions. A company with a harsh reputation may rest assured that this will sooner or later result in declining performance. • Starting businesses with a sheer profit motive rather than a socially oriented motive. This egocentric model may have worked in the twentieth century, but in today’s day and age, the model and its success rate are just as unsustainable as the mindset behind them. • Lack of transparency within the business. Leaders who try to maintain this, now obsolete, model of “divide and conquer” will soon find that today’s educated workforce has neither patience nor appreciation for such insecure strategies. These leaders may find that their employees will display lack of transparency about their opinions and preferences, which may lead to painful and embarrassing findings in vulnerable times.

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• Underpaying field-level employees in order to pay out gigantic bonuses, salaries, and dividends to strategic-level stakeholders. Leaders who see themselves as “higher” and “better” than their workforce will not find empathy when they need it most (Marques 2015). As we move toward an increasingly interdependent and vulnerable global, mental, and emotional climate, it is critical to adopt wisdom and empathy as dominant virtues to ends that justify means. So, which mindsets and behaviors are causing the above-described behaviors? Here are some: • Lack of reflection, which can drive us into self-centeredness and failure to consider the effects our decisions have on others. • Mindless performance, which is the immediate manifestation of a lack of reflection. • Change aversion, which is a problem many people struggle with, because we are creatures of habit, even when those habits have lost their constructive use. • Blindly adhering to traditions, which is one of the most common drivers behind mindless behavior: we often get stuck in doing things that were traditionally done this way without reflecting or questioning whether they still make sense today. • Lack of broad view, which lies at the foundation of many a disastrous decision. Till today, when deforestation practices are implemented, they are done with a deliberate blind eye to the massive damage this practice does, not only to wildlife, which is robbed from its habitat, but also to humanity, which is systematically stripped from its oxygen. • Too much detail focus, which is a more focused approach to the issue mentioned above: we can get so lost in details – a problem that is visible in many workplaces – that we waste precious time on nitpicking, at the expense of the bigger picture and its impact.

A Wakeful Approach The Awakened Leader In a time where everyone, business corporation, nonprofit entity, as well as individual, operates globally, whether preferred or not, it becomes almost obligatory to consider the significance and the advantages of awakened leadership. With the steadily spreading tendencies of outsourcing and global utilizations of most profitable resources, production locations, and markets, and with the continuous increase in prominence of the Internet, every leadership style that focuses on one single type of situation or followers has become obsolete, as was already stated and illustrated with various citations in the introduction of this chapter. As a wake-up call in that regard, Pierce and Newstrom (2003) cite Smircich and Morgan who rightfully asserted several decades ago, “Leaders are those individuals who are capable of

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taking an ambiguous situation and framing it in a meaningful and acceptable way for the followers” (p. 189). The massive confrontation with representatives from cultures, and consequently the inevitable dealing with different viewpoints, customs, and widely diverging procedures, leaves no member of this world much of a choice if he or she wants to be successful in the near and far future. Elements of Awakened Leadership. The logical question that emerges when mentioning awakened leadership is as follows: What exactly does this phenomenon comprise? The simplest answer to this question would be as follows: Every possible leadership style, trait, and skill developed so far, as well as those still to be developed in the future, as long as these styles, traits and skills meet the criteria of being applicable and advantageous to all parties involved. Styles. Awakened leadership entails, among various other styles and capacities, the three basic leadership styles as listed by Curtin (1995), “Autocratic–in which the leader simply issues detailed orders and expects them to be carried out automatically; Laissez-faire-in which the leader lets subordinates virtually do as they please; [and] Democratic–in which the leader allows people to participate in decision making” (p. 7). Besides the abovementioned styles, the awakened leader is also very aware of the significance of servant leadership, which he or she will apply as soon as the environment at stake is receptive for it. Servant leadership emphasizes the leader’s role as steward of the resources (human, financial, and otherwise) provided by the organization. It encourages leaders to serve others while staying focused on achieving results in line with the organization’s values and integrity. Thus, being aware of all available options, the awakened leader implements, after thorough evaluation of the followers and the circumstances, the style that is most appropriate to that particular case. The above can easily be related to the phenomenon “situational leadership,” which Northouse explains as follows: “The essence of situational leadership demands that a leader matches his or her style to the competence and commitment of subordinates” (p. 56). Traits. Aside from a responsible application of multiple styles, awakened leadership involves various additional elements. Secretan (2001) partially illustrates this when he touches on an important aspect of awakened leadership by introducing the “conscious leader” (p. 19) and reviews the characteristics and behaviors of this leader. In so doing, Secretan stresses, “Consciousness is being awake to the mystical and ineffable aspects of being alive. The rational mind sees a world of scarcity and responds with fear. The conscious mind sees a world of abundance and responds with love” (p. 19). Prior to Secretan, Harung et al. (1995) had also mentioned the importance of wakefulness in leaders when they presented their leadership model. These authors stated, “A more abstract and universal feature of leaders, [. . .] is their heightened degree of consciousness or wakefulness” (p. 47). Awakened leadership also requires a number of other strong traits from its performer. Kirkpatrick and Locke’s six traits as listed by Northouse (2000) come to mind here: “the desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self-confidence, cognitive ability, and knowledge of the business” (p. 17). Balance. Along with the cautious selection of the appropriate style and the development of distinctive traits, awakened leadership requires a responsible

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balance between task and relationship behavior. Regarding these two behaviors, Northouse (2000) clarifies, “Task-motivated leaders are concerned primarily with reaching a goal, whereas relationship-motivated leaders are concerned with developing close interpersonal relations” (p. 76). Emotional Intelligence. In the performance of awakened leadership, special emphasis should be laid on the aspect of emotional intelligence. Although the definition of this term is still in a state of flux due to its relative newness, an acceptable perspective on how emotional intelligence should be perceived in the execution of awakened leadership is offered by Wikipedia, the online dictionary: “[The] ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one’s self, of others, and of groups” (Emotional Intelligence, para 1). McClellan and DiClementi (2017) add that, at its most fundamental level, “emotional intelligence relates to the use of the components of the mind associated with emotion as opposed to purely rational thought in the application of intelligence.” Goleman (1998) defines emotional intelligence as “the ability to rein in emotional impulses, to read another’s innermost feelings and to handle relationships and conflict smoothly” (p. 36). Pointing out the importance of developing and sustaining this quality, Goleman (1998) explains, “These emotional aptitudes can preserve relationships, protect one’s health and improve success at work” (p. 36). Goleman divides emotional intelligence into the following five emotional competencies: (1) “The ability to identify and name one’s emotional states and to understand the link between emotions, thought and action” (“Emotional Intelligence,” 11); (2) “The capacity to manage one’s emotional states – to control emotions or to shift undesirable emotional states to more adequate ones” (“Emotional Intelligence,” 11); (3) “The ability to enter into emotional states (at will) associated with a drive to achieve and be successful (“Emotional Intelligence,” 11); (4) “The capacity to read, be sensitive to, and influence other people’s emotions” (“Emotional Intelligence,” 11); and (5) “The ability to enter and sustain satisfactory interpersonal relationships” (“Emotional Intelligence,” 11). Mayer et al. (1999) explain this attribute as follows, “Emotional intelligence refers to an ability to recognize the meanings of emotion and their relationships, and to reason and problem-solve on the basis of them. Emotional intelligence is involved in the capacity to perceive emotions, assimilate emotion-related feelings, understand the information of those emotions, and manage them” (p. 267). Based on the here above provided explanations, emotional intelligence can thus be considered of high eminence in the performance of awakened leadership. Authenticity. The final attribute mentioned in this chapter, although not the final quality involved in awakened leadership, is authenticity. George (2003) refers to authentic leadership as “driven by passion and purpose, not greed” (p. 6). It is George’s opinion that “there are five essential dimensions to authentic leaders: purpose, values, heart, relationships, and self-discipline” (p. 6). George (2003) perceives authentic leadership as “the only way to build lasting value [by focusing] on the company’s missions, customers, and employees” (p. 30). George further explains the creation and sustenance of lasting value by focusing on various aspects, which the author of this chapter divided into two distinctive categories: the people and the organization. Pertaining to the people aspect, George mentions the

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following, “Connecting every day with your employees,” “Being out with your customers looking for great ideas for growth,” and “Getting results for all your stakeholders, not just the shareholder of the past five minutes” (p. 32). Pertaining to the well-being of the organization, George lists the following procedures, “Building your business by pursuing your mission with a passion,” “Being true to your core values in every decision,” and “Building an enduring organization of authentic leaders from top to bottom” (p. 32). Bonau (2017) adds to the afore that authenticity is a crucial trait for inspirational leaders. She stresses that, while not all authentic leaders may be inspirational in nature, it remains a fact that leaders would not be able to genuinely inspire followers if they were not true to their values and goals. Bonau also stresses that authentic leaders are a greater asset to humanity as a whole, due to the positive development they aim to bring, than inauthentic leaders. Based on the styles and behaviors listed in this chapter for the awakened (or wakeful) leader, the following working definition can be formulated: Awakened leadership is the all-encompassing leadership approach, involving the leader’s awareness to incorporate the appropriate style given the followers and the situation; the leader’s capacity to sharpen the skills necessary for guiding him- or herself, his or her followers, and the organization in its entirety toward advancement; and the leader’s ability to remain emotionally attuned to the self, the stakeholders, and the environment, thereby maintaining the highest level of authenticity possible.

Dimensions of the Wakeful Approach As extensively explained above, a wakeful approach begins with awareness – of our values and moral convictions, as mentioned earlier, of our beliefs, priorities, boundaries, and behavioral tendencies. It really catalyzes when we start accepting that many of our traditionally held beliefs may need serious reevaluation, so that we refrain from mindlessly following existing patterns, but instead formulate our own opinions, based on our own, contemporary insights. Reflection is a fairly simple activity, yet many people forget to engage in it regularly. Frequent reflection can help us stay alert of our decisions, because we dare to question them. It can also enable us to see the wider scope of our actions and motivate us to reconsider first impulses. Reflection can help us understand that each choice we make is actually based on insufficient information and that much of the course of our life depends on the actions we take after our decisions are made. What this means is that we may sometimes make poor decisions, but we can correct them if we reflect and find that the direction in which things are developing is unsatisfactory. Wakeful leaders reflect in three dimensions: personal, relational, and professional (Marques 2015): • Personal reflection solidifies the relationship we have with ourselves. It can be achieved and maintained through self-imposed questions such as (a) how do I differ today from the person I was last year?, (b) have I changed for better or

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worse in moral regards?, and (c) how can I (further) improve my moral performance from here onward? • Relational reflection evaluates our connections with others and the nature of those connections. It can be practiced through insight-enhancing contemplations such as (a) what does this relationship mean to me?, (b) what constructive actions have I taken in recent months to nurture this relationship?, and (c) what constructive effects has this relationship had on me in recent months? • Professional evaluation considers our connection with our formal activities. Some reflective questions we could ask in that regard are (a) what am I passionate about professionally?, (b) is what I do today related to my passion?, and (c) is my professional activity a constructive one to me and to society? (Marques 2015). Allocating regular time to reflect helps us gain more influence of our past (because we get to appreciate it more), the present (because we experience it more intensely), and the future (because we consider it more deliberately). Self-reflection is a guaranteed way of staying mindful and preventing ourselves from mindless actions. Self-reflection is therefore not something we should only do once. It has to become a regular part of our life. Self-reflection can serve as a powerful thread that weaves our past, presence, and future together: we see the bigger scheme better and realize that many of our setbacks are necessary parts in the puzzle, that is, our life. More importantly, self-reflection helps us make different decisions, based on broader considerations, thus elevating our moral and mental spectrum from merely the here and now toward inclusion of the well-being of those that come after us.

The Dimensions of Wakefulness Wakefulness may not immediately sound like a leadership skill of any prominence, but the more one contemplates on it, the more it will. Based on observations of multiple remarkable leaders over the course of two decades, each in a different type of environment, a number of perceived traits and behaviors emerged, which are presented in this chapter. Wakefulness, as a significant leadership trait, has been explained before (see earlier cited statements from Secretan (2001) and Harung et al. (1995)). Carson (2016) agrees with those statements about consciousness and the importance of wakefulness in leaders by affirming, “Conscious leading is taking consistent actions that make a positive difference for your people, family, friends, community, organizations and environment, while making the world a better place to live” (p. 301). Wakefulness – or consciousness – could therefore also be described as the way of an awakened leader. Hence, the simplest explanation of an awakened leader – if we want to concisely capture the essence of the previously presented working definition – is “a leader who is awake.” Not just in the factual sense of the word, but in every way. An awakened leader maintains a high level of alertness in every regard: toward him- or herself and his or her driving motives in various matters, toward the people he or she guides, toward the organization he or she leads, toward the environment in which his or her organization operates, and toward the entire universe.

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Wakefulness, in the case of a leader, can be segmented into many dimensions. For the purpose of conciseness, only the three basic areas shall be reviewed here: • Internal wakefulness • External wakefulness • Integrated wakefulness Each of these layers could, in turn, be subdivided further. Internal Wakefulness. Internal wakefulness pertains, in foundation, to the leader’s connection with his or her inner source of wisdom. It could be subdivided into two main segments, which are (a) rational wakefulness, which pertains to areas such as intellectual skills, ethical sense, and beliefs, and (b) emotional wakefulness, which touches on areas such as emotional intelligence, intuition, morals and values, selfperception, and passion. Regardless of whether one chooses to consider the following form of rational or emotional wakefulness, or a combination of both, it is prudent to underscore, within this context, spiritual wakefulness. Living a righteous life, thus remaining wakeful, is largely a consequence of being in tune with one’s spiritual side. The spiritual aspect is a common factor among the majority of religious and spiritual teachings as well. While it’s important to not confuse spirituality with religion, there is something to say about the general mutuality in teaching acceptance, understanding, and goodwill among both spiritual and religious streams (Marques 2008). The growing availability of Buddhist literature, for instance, reveals an interesting similarity with spiritual behavior, especially among leaders in today’s increasingly interconnected global professional community. The Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Nhat Hanh (2003), illustrates this in his statement, “When we practice mindfulness in our daily life, we cultivate the foundation of peace, sowing seeds of understanding in ourselves and others” (p. 56). Nhat Hanh further asserts, “If we transform our individual consciousness, we begin the process of changing the collective consciousness. Transforming the world’s consciousness is not possible without personal change” (p. 56). These teachings, although stemming from a religious leader, are independent of any particular religious cluster. They are based on purely spiritual practices, regardless of one’s affiliation with any religious congregation. It is generally known, however, that all major religions, including Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and others, teach similar values as the ones that Nhat Hanh described above. It is also commonly accepted that the factors involved in these teachings are very much in line with the ideal of enlightenment, which is generally ascribed to deeply religious individuals or high-ranking congregational officers. This might be a wrong perception, however. Enlightened perspectives are very well within the reach and practices of any internally wakeful individual who participates in the daily sequence of working, socializing, and maintaining a family. In support of the above, Rahula (1974) reminds his readers of a statement made many centuries ago by Sariputta, Buddha’s chief disciple. It was Sariputta’s opinion that you can have ascetics living in the forest with “impure thoughts and defilements” (p. 77), while you can have other individuals living in a village or town, “practicing no ascetic discipline, yet with a mind that is pure and free from

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defilements.” Rahula (1974) further cites Sariputta’s establishment that the regular town person, in such a case, is “far superior to, and greater than, the one who lives in the forest” (p. 77). With Sariputta’s example in mind, we can draw the conclusion that enlightenment is not necessarily reserved for those who seclude themselves. As an extension to this insight, we can surmise that acting as “a good person” is not demonstrated either by going to church every Sunday or reading the Bible or Koran every night – particularly if one continues to submit to dark habits and customs for the rest of the time. Being spiritual has little to do with one’s external rituals and everything with one’s internal wakefulness. The spiritual mindset comes about through internal growth: nurturing one’s emotional intelligence (EI), as mentioned before, and relating to others in an empathetic way. External Wakefulness. External wakefulness pertains to the leader’s awareness of the world around him or her. Not just the environment within the organization but also within the industry in which the organization operates; outside of this industry toward other, potentially new industries to enter once an operational change comes about, and in the world at large. External wakefulness can be subdivided into three basic segments: (a) Close external wakefulness, which pertains to the leader’s behavior within the organization and the way he or she treats the people and processes around him or her. Elements such as continuous questioning of processes in order to establish upward spiraling organizational learning will be involved in this area. (b) Medial external wakefulness, which involves skills such as a vision for the organization, one or more strategies toward realizing the vision, and the continuous alertness necessary to analyze trends and use them to the advantage of the organization’s future. The awakened leader will most apparently use his or her wakefulness in this regard to alter the perceived trends in order to become the change agent in the organization’s industry. (c) Distant external wakefulness, which pertains to global effects of the activities of the organization and the industry in which it operates. The awakened leader will, at this level, consistently attempt to decrease harm done to environments due to this industry and increase advantages for as many and as wide a range of stakeholders as possible. Integrated Wakefulness. Integrated wakefulness pertains to the way the leader intertwines his or her internal and external wakefulness attributes. It gets into the areas of combining the leader’s values, intuition, emotional intelligence, intelligence quotient, beliefs, ethics, self-perception, and passion, with the given circumstances of the organization; its workers; its current direction; its potential; its industry, including all stakeholders; and the world at large. The integrated wakefulness is the most complicated part of being a leader, because it pertains so much to action through perceived compatibility. If there is no compatibility between the leader’s internal qualities and his or her external environment, there will not be any integration. Either the leader will exit this organization, or the organization will undergo some sort of change in order to establish equilibrium between its operations and the leader’s perspectives.

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Within the context of acquiring wakefulness, there are some aspects to keep in mind: first and foremost, the fact that “Achieving [any] transformation requires the creation of commitment” (Guillory 2004, p. 24). It is Guillory’s opinion that “commitment begins with realizing that one is not superior or inferior to anyone else - by race, sex, ethnicity, ability, or culture” (p. 24). In his argumentation of applying a wakeful-based transformation, Guillory continues, “Creating an environment of inclusion also requires education, sensitivity and awareness, and suggested behavioral changes” (p. 27). Important to keep in mind is also that – being a human and, thus, receptive to things that happen to us – awakened leaders are constantly changing. And so may some of their internal pillars of wakefulness. Fortunately, the changes are usually not too tremendous unless something life-changing occurs in the leader’s personal or professional life, for instance, death, birth, intense exposure to another culture, or a great loss affecting the business. If such is the case, the leader will probably reevaluate his or her areas of wakefulness and calibrate them again toward the external circumstances, which also change continuously, in order to determine the possibility of continued integrated wakefulness, altered integrated wakefulness, or separation.

The Performance Paradigm of Wakeful Leaders: A Macro-to-Micro Approach In the past decade or more, a number of scholars from an equally broad range of disciplines have indicated that we are going through a tremendously important transition stage at this point in time. Barbara Marx Hubbard, author of the 1998 book Conscious Evolution: Awakening the Power of Our Social Potential, stresses that humanity has “gained the powers of co-destruction of our world, or the cocreation of immeasurable futures” (Hubbard 2003, p. 359). Hubbard (2003) further asserts, “We stand at a threshold, and it has become clear that if we continue to use our new powers in the same state of consciousness in which we created them, we can wreak greater havoc upon ourselves and the other species on earth” (p. 359). Along the same lines but in more radical language, Daniel Quinn, author of, among others, Ishmael and Beyond Civilization, underscores the importance of a paradigm shift as the only way for us to save our planet from rapid destruction. The basic message in Ishmael, Quinn’s 1992 book, is that we can no longer hold on to our “Taker” mentality of storing, controlling, and thinking that the earth was made for man. The Taker culture, as described by Quinn, is what we now know as modern civilization. Quinn (1992) affirms that there are three hard lessons the Taker society has to urgently adopt: (1) the earth is not the center of the universe (p. 103); (2) man evolved, like all other creatures, from the common slime of the earth (p. 103); and (3) the gods did not exempt man from the law that governs the lives of all other creatures (p. 103), [which entails that] species that do not live in compliance with the law become extinct (p. 104). Quinn subsequently warns that Takers have to realize as soon as possible that their culture does not “fly,” but is heading for a fatal

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crash (Quinn 1992, p. 109), unless they restart obeying the rules of the game, which boils down to empathy and reverence toward one another and the environment based on the awareness of our foundational equality to all life on earth. He thereby stresses that lesson 3 will be the hardest to accept by the Takers and explains that it will require an awakening and a renewed respect for natural laws, thereby putting mother culture – the foundation of the Takers’ perception of uniqueness and superiority – to sleep forever (Quinn 1992, p. 144). As an elaboration for those who doubt the possibility of anything beyond our current civilization and, hence, our present ways of behaving toward the environment and the global results of our mismanagement, Quinn (1999) points out in Beyond Civilization, “No invention is ever unsurpassable. The steam engine was surpassed by the gas engine. The radio was surpassed by television. The calculator was surpassed by the computer. Why should civilization be different?” (p. 3). It is Quinn’s opinion that “the flaw in our civilization isn’t in the people, it’s in the system” (p. 171).

Implementing the Macro-to-Micro Approach As indicated before in this chapter, business leaders who want to practice wakefulness should realize that the time for micro-to-macro thinking, which entails the sequence “A) What can I do, and B) How will it possibly benefit others?” has become obsolete. Today we actually have no other conscious choice than the application of the macroto-micro perspective, which entails exactly the reverse: “A) What does my neighborhood, city, country, continent, or world need; and B) How can I best help – given my talents, connections, skills, and education – to make it happen?” Wakeful leaders can easily see that the new paradigm, the macro-to-micro way of thinking, entails no less profits than the outmoded micro-to-macro prototype. On the contrary, the gratification that will be earned from applying this mindset reaches far beyond financial profits. This new mindset will enhance profits to a logical and satisfying consequence of enlightened behavior rather than a starting point, but more importantly, it will bring gratification to all parties involved, because it involves “doing good while doing well.” So, how can any leader initiate his or her individual implementation of the macroto-micro paradigm? Five guiding points may help: 1. Need assessment: What need is there in my surroundings, city, and country or in the world that I can fulfill given my strengths, talents, education, specialization, available resources, and interests? 2. Need analysis: Is this need a constructive or a destructive need? (Cigarette companies, street drug traders, and the big cocaine bosses that supply them also fulfill a need, but it’s not a constructive one. Awakened, conscious leaders only consider the fulfillment of constructive needs.) 3. Need fulfillment options: How can I fulfill this constructive need in a way where I do as little harm as possible to the environment?

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4. Restoration evaluation: If I do unavoidable harm to the environment through my activities, how can I help to restore that? Example: if you run a company that processes trees to wood for building purposes, you could ensure reforestation whether required by governments or not. 5. Other ways of contributing to quality of life: How can I, aside from this need fulfilling activity, also contribute in other ways toward the alleviation of needs and the lessening of suffering in this world of which I am an interconnected part? Figure 1 illustrates the macro-to-micro paradigm. If every leader in every setting of every country devotes at least some of his or her funds, time, efforts, or talents toward a noble purpose, regardless of how microcosmic this level may be, the ultimate outcome will be an enhancement for the entire quality of life in the world. For those who are already practicing the macro-to-micro approach, it may have become clear that this paradigm is not just a new fad on the horizon, but the only mindset that can save our planet, and therefore us, from self-destruction. The fascinating part of the macro-to-micro paradigm is, however, that although it represents the only way to guarantee longevity for our organizations, and ultimately our world, it can be executed in an almost infinite magnitude of methods, driven by the leaders’ interests, talents, education, location, and other prerequisites. So, at the individual level, the macro-to-micro approach allows every leader to act in line with his or her mission in life and work toward those things he or she wants to be Fig. 1 Macro-to-micro paradigm

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remembered for. Executing the macro-to-micro paradigm provides the advantage to every leader in his or her own circle to contribute toward the elevation of the quality of life in their organization, neighborhood, city, country, and ultimately, the world. It also enhances feelings of gratification among those who get the opportunity to partake in noble activities, particularly if these noble goals are communicated appropriately. And it enhances the rewards for immediate, midrange, and faraway stakeholders through the results generated from such initiatives.

Understanding and Embracing Interconnectedness For leaders in our times, there is nothing more important than the act of waking up, as has hopefully become somewhat clear in the section above. The wakefulness stressed in this chapter pertains to realizing that, with the arrival of and throughout the progress into the current millennium, the imperative requirement has manifested itself more steadfastly than ever before to shift into a radically different way of perceiving the most foundational aspects of our existence. In today’s day and age, the realization that everything is interconnected should lie at the basis of our every thought and act. Interconnectedness may still be perceived by some as an overly idealistic and surreal perspective, but it is far from that. There is actually no reality more factual than that of our interconnectedness, not just to all of humanity but also to all life on planet earth. Through the ages we have learned that our planet is just one minuscule part of a vast universe and that, thus far, although highly probable in the near or far future, we have not encountered another microcosm in the universe that has proven to be habitable for our type of life. Moreover, it is yet unknown when and how we will come across such a location which we then – depending on its circumstances, livability, and existing population – consider as an alternative to mother earth. Since this alternative has not presented itself yet, we should be very cautious about the ways we treat our precious home. And here’s where the key surfaces: earth is our home. All of us who live on it should realize that any act we undertake toward harming our earth in any way, shape, or form ultimately harms ourselves. Even more importantly, we should realize that every time we become aware of some imbalance or suffering on this planet, and we choose to ignore it because it seems “far from our bed,” we basically approve of it, particularly when we are in a position to do something about it.

The Wakeful Approach: A Responsibility of Every Leader Because we are all sharing one house – our planet earth – we are all responsible for its preservation. And although not all of us are capable of contributing on such a massive scale as super-billionaires like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, each of us can engage in enlightened behavior at our own level. As leaders of our companies,

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families, and most of all ourselves, we can start behaving wakefully by questioning the purpose of all our actions. This, too, is nothing new. Immanuel Kant, an eighteenth-century German philosopher, introduced the idea of universalizability, entailing that we should contemplate, for every act we plan to undertake, whether it is universally acceptable, and only when our examination of our intentions passes the test of universalizability should we work toward implementing them. Even though Kant’s theory has thus far been highly praised yet left dormant, it can no longer be treated as such. Today’s leaders in any setting, whether they are billiondollar business leaders, managers of microlevel nongovernmental organizations, owners of small Mom and Pop stores, or heads of families, should be aware of the telltale signs that we face in today’s global environment, such as global warming, famine, and war, all of which ultimately are the consequences of shortsighted and short-term profit-oriented behavior from our side driven by a win-lose (if I win you lose), rather than a win-win (if I win, you can win too), or better even a win-win-win (if I win, you can win, and the environment can win as well) mindset. It is unacceptable in a world where everything is increasingly transparent and interdependent – a world where most of us can easily witness at any time of any day what’s wrong in various corners of the globe – to continue ignoring that, or even worse, continue enhancing it through short-term foci on immediate profits at the expense of other constituencies in the world. It is not more than our moral duty to realize that if not us, our children and theirs will ultimately suffer tremendously from the consequences of our shortsighted greed if we keep that going.

The Wakeful Approach and Learning: Considering All Stakeholders One of the critical paths for a successful implementation of the wakeful approach in organizations in order to elevate them into flourishing workplaces is the assurance of continuous learning. Continuous learning is a multilayered process that entails a keen consideration of all stakeholders. When Argyris introduced the double-loop learning concept in the 1970s, his theory earned him widespread respect, due to the revolutionary insights it presented at that time. Argyris questioned the hitherto dominating perception of single-loop learning, which basically entailed executing set policies and procedures without questioning their foundations or validity in current, oftentimes changed, situations. Argyris wonderfully compared single-loop learning with a thermostat. The modus operandi in case of a thermostat is that it doesn’t question the reasons why it was set on a certain degree, but simply adjusts the temperature when it rises above or falls below that point. In double-loop learning, Argyris stated there was something more going on: the process of reciprocity was instated. To cite from an article, this great thinker wrote in 1977 in Harvard Business Review: “Double loop learning is a method that includes the process of detecting and attempting to correct error and the process of questioning underlying organization policies and objectives” (1977, p. 115).

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However, since the introduction of double-loop learning, various broadening perspectives and terms have been presented to the great reading audience out there. Terms such as triple-loop learning (Isaacs 1993; Flood and Romm 1996a, b; Hargrove 1996; Taket 1998) and multi-loop learning (Pruijt 1996; Baas 2005; Li et al. 2005) have been used in articles and reports throughout the 1990s and are still being observed nowadays.

Ecumenical Learning This chapter presents a perception of organizational learning that, although continuously expanded since Argyris’ double-loop learning, has not before been perceived within such a comprehensive and revolutionary scope: ecumenical learning. Ecumenical learning is a transformational learning process in which a continuous, proactive approach toward improvement is applied with consideration of stakeholders at the immediate, intermediate, and distant level. In the most fundamental wording, single-loop learning asks, “Change, how?” Double-loop learning adds, “Change, why?” Triple- and multi-loop learning add, “Change, to what purpose?” The common factor among the above learning processes is the limitation to internal consequences and dynamics. Ecumenical learning transcends these limitations by asking all of the above and more: “Change: How? Why? To what purpose? And to what effect for all stakeholders at the current and future, immediate, intermediate, and distant level?” (Marques 2007, p. 25). The underlying thought process is a simple one, particularly when considering the current massive trend toward globalization. Leaders of contemporary organizations, particularly those who aspire guiding their business toward becoming a leader in its industry and, if possible, in other industries as well, have to realize that established rules and practices should not only be subject to review internally (within the current scope of the organization’s return on investment, and its most likely changed processes and procedures) but also externally (within the scope of their impact on the organization’s performance within its current industry and the industries that it is targeting for entrance). Then, after the review process, the impact of the new course of action to be implemented should also be measured against all foreseeable consequences for stakeholders: employees; customers; suppliers; legal, political, economic, and sociocultural environments; members of the society in which the organization operates; and members of other societies the organization does business with in some way. In this impact estimation, the organization’s management should not forget the effect on the natural environment, which is a growing point of concern to all inhabitants of our planet.

A Description of the Ecumenical Learning Process So, how could such an ecumenical learning process take place? Here are the possible scenarios: 1. First, either a deviation from the routine surfaces or the insight emerges for the need for a change in the status quo. In this case, the ecumenical learning process

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does not necessarily have to start when a problem arises, but it can become the logical consequence of a continuous quest toward instigating advancement within all departments of the organization. In order to ensure this movement, top management could consider assembling an interdepartmental team of change activists, who should hold regular meetings with the various departments to continue sparking enthusiasm toward critical review of established processes and procedures and, consequently, proposed transformation. The department management involved, along with the interdepartmental team of change activists, critically reviews and questions the rule or process in place for the detected deviation or outmoded process, along with its applicability given the current (changed) circumstances for the organization and its environment: double-loop learning is implemented so far. Important here is that departmental managers need to be updated regularly on the organization’s mission and – if possible – also on top management’s vision for the coming 2–5 years, in order to know when rules need review or replacement due to near-future directional changes of the organization. This updating process could become part of the responsibilities of the interdepartmental team of change activists. Depending on the perceived importance of the deviation or process to be altered, top management will get involved in order to apply benchmarking and consider alternative options to the rule or procedure, in order to elevate the newly considered solution from a mere incremental innovation to a potentially revolutionary transformation, which will hopefully not only result in enhanced production within the organization but will also ensue into an advancement in the organization’s position toward becoming a leader in its industry. Mostly preferred would be, of course, if the organization could instigate an entire revolution within its industry and other related industries through this new application. While evaluating the potential changes this new application could bring to the organization and its industry, top leadership should also evaluate its ramifications to other stakeholders (i.e., employees, customers, suppliers, and societies in which the organization operates) as well as its impact upon the natural environment. The learned experiences should regularly be communicated to middle management, so that learning gets distributed to all segments of the organization (Marques 2007).

Figure 2 illustrates, in a simplified way, how this scenario could appear and how the various stakeholders would be involved Clarification of Fig. 2: • The ecumenical learning process starts with established processed (1). • The departmental management and the interdepartmental team of change activists engage in review of these established procedures. Continuous learning happens (2). • Management and the team thereby consider the impact of potential process changes onto the entire organization and involve top management, depending on the size of the pending innovation (3).

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Fig. 2 The ecumenical learning process

• In this continuous learning process (1, 2, and 3), the organization applies benchmarking with competitors and potential competitors (4) and considers the ramifications for all other immediate and non-immediate stakeholders as well (4). • The impulses received from these stakeholders are all considered, communicated to all levels of management, and implemented to the well-being of the organization and its stakeholders (5), which completes the cycle and establishes new procedures and processes. After this, the cycle continues.

Benefits of Ecumenical Learning for Stakeholders As mentioned in the introductory part of this chapter, ecumenical learning is geared toward advancing all stakeholders: internal as well as external ones. When reviewing the ways ecumenical learning can benefit various groups of stakeholders, the following insights can be shared: (a) Management: If implemented properly, ecumenical learning can be a continuous cycle of renewal and enhanced performance, resulting in improved quantities

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and qualities of product units. A continuous review of processes and the subsequent improvement of those that are eligible for upgrade will also result in greater communication between management and workers at all levels. Particularly when an interdepartmental team of change activists gets established, the mutual recognition, understanding, respect, and ability to see the bigger picture of the organization’s reason for existence will get enhanced. Black et al. (2006) report, “dynamic interactions of leaders and followers often result in important strategic resources and competencies that are critical to an organization’s success” (p. 39). Implementing and nurturing the ecumenical learning process will improve relationships throughout the organization and enhance job satisfaction at all levels. This will provide the management the guarantee of a superb track record and a great organization. (b) Employees: Cross (2006) avows, “Nothing is more important to business success than the knowledge and know-how of workers” (p. 42). Rowden and Conine (Rowden and Conine 2005) agree that there is a “need for managers to make learning opportunities available to enhance overall job satisfaction” (p. 215). When involved in a continuous, all-encompassing learning mode at work, employees cannot help but learn as well, thus enhancing their own skills. At the internal level, this will provide workers with a sense of meaning toward their daily activities. At the external level, it will enhance workers’ insights into processes that keep the organization progressing toward industry leadership. Each individual worker then will also continue to learn, which will elevate his or her marketability. However, as long as the organization maintains good communication levels and fosters strong employee connections within the learning process, workers will not easily feel the need to look elsewhere for occupation. (c) The organization: A learning organization is one that will display and enhance the level of vision and flexibility. For example, in a longitudinal study of 22 UK manufacturing companies, Shipton et al. (2006) examined the relationship between HR practices, product, and technological innovation. They found that “training, induction, team working, appraisal and exploratory learning focus are all predictors of innovation” (p. 3). All of these aspects are incorporated in the ecumenical learning approach. Due to the fact that everybody within the workplace is in a continuous learning mode, this organization will not easily fall prey to any form of myopia or inertia. On the contrary, an organization that engages in ecumenical learning will develop the ability to surpass its competitors through its approach of continuous renewal. Moreover, this organization has a high likelihood of emerging into a driving force and role model for competitors who engage in benchmarking in order to adopt best practices from each other. (d) Customers: Osterlund and Loven (2005) affirm, “The design of a new product is a result of the competence resource available to the company. Developing the competence resources is an organizational learning process going from the individual through the group level to the organization” (p. 547). Osterlund and Loven continue, “If the competence resource reacts relatively slowly to meet requests in the demand from the company customers for changed knowledge in its products, it has a high inertia” (p. 547). This problem is presumably

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nonexistent in an organization that implements ecumenical learning. If this form of continuous reflective learning is applied, the customer will benefit. First and foremost it is because this customer purchases the services or goods from this organization, which is involved in continuous improvement. Secondly, the customer of such an organization would find openness toward their suggestions. This then creates an increased level of connectedness between the organization and its customers and results in enhanced customer loyalty. (e) The environment: Improved processes result in more effective and efficient use of resources. Less waste of valuable resources is applied, and greater respect for maintaining the health of the environment is established. Cramer (2005) expounds on the positive consequences of learning on the environment by explaining that stimulation of learning processes in an organization requires involvement of all employees, which in turn enhances “the exchange of ideas about the relevance and merits of corporate social responsibility” (p. 256). Although ecumenical learning is a powerful process for enhancing organizational and individual performance, there are two prerequisites required if a working professional who is not in a leadership position attempts to facilitate this comprehensive type of learning within an organization: 1. Top management will have to harbor the mindset and subsequently make the call for commitment to an ecumenical learning process because of its potential widespread impact and its effect within the organization’s learning progression. It is only within the scope of top management’s control to get this level of change activated. 2. onsequential to the above: The organization should be void of imposing, decelerating hierarchical processes that make communication between departmental management and top-level leadership a long and cumbersome effort (Marques 2007).

Summary This chapter first reviewed leadership as a fascinating, multi-interpretable concept that requires conscious adoption rather than mindful implementation of perceived behaviors and traditions. It warned for sequence of destructive trends that have marked the leadership landscape in recent decades and calls for current and future leaders to attain the wakefulness to refrain from mindless adoption of the status quo. The chapter repeatedly calls for reflectiveness, mindfulness, embracing change, questioning traditions, and expanding views beyond existing boundaries. In discussing a wakeful approach, the chapter also stresses on values and moral convictions, as these are foundational in leaders’ behavioral path selections. Elaborating on reflective approaches, the chapter identifies three personal dimensions for leaders to reflect: personal, relational, and professional. It subsequently points out that there are also different dimensions of wakefulness for leaders to consider and explain the constructs and focus areas of internal, external, and integrated wakefulness.

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Shifting gears to organizational performance, the chapter invites leaders to consider the macro-to-micro approach, in which first the needs of the society are considered and then ways in which the leader (or organization) can positively respond. The author thereby emphasizes the urgency of becoming aware of the earth as our collective home, with finite resources and extinction of those that fail to sustain themselves. In explaining the macro-to-micro paradigm, five guiding points are presented: (1) need assessment, (2) need analysis, (3) need fulfillment options, (4) restoration evaluation, and (5) other ways of contributing to quality of life. A critical aspect in making the macro-to-micro work is the realization of our massive interconnectedness to all life forms. A second strategy toward flourishing workplaces, as highlighted in this chapter, is ecumenical learning, which is described as a transformational learning process in which a continuous, proactive approach toward improvement is applied with consideration of stakeholders at the immediate, intermediate, and distant level. Ecumenical learning transcends the limitations of single-, double-, and multi-loop learning by asking: “Change: How? Why? To what purpose? And to what effect for all stakeholders at the current and future, immediate, intermediate, and distant level?” Ecumenical learning is geared toward advancing all stakeholders: internal as well as external ones.

Cross-References ▶ Leader Mindfulness: Well-Being Throughout the Organization

References Argyris C (1977) Double loop learning in organizations. Harv Bus Rev 55(5):115 Baas L (2005) Cleaner production and industrial ecology; dynamic aspects of the introduction and dissemination of new concepts in industrial practice. Eburon Academic Publishers, Delft Bennis W (2003) Flight of the phoenix. Exec Excell 20(5):4 Black JA, Oliver RL, Howell JP, King JP (2006) A dynamic system simulation of leader and group effects on context for learning. Leadersh Q 17(1):39 Bonau S (2017) How to become an inspirational leader, and what to avoid. J Manag Dev 36(5):614–625 Carson F (2016) Why personal change is important for a conscious leader. Ind Commer Train 48(6):300–302 Chapman B (2018) Situational leadership. Leadersh Excell 35(9):16–17 Cram WA, Newell S (2016) Mindful revolution or mindless trend? Examining agile development as a management fashion. Eur J Inf Syst 25(2):154–169 Cramer J (2005) Company learning about corporate social responsibility. Bus Strateg Environ 14(4):255–266 Cross J (2006) Not without purpose. Train Dev 60(6):42–46 Curtin LL (1995) The “gold collar” leader...? Nurs Manag 26(10):7–8 Dion M (2012) Are ethical theories relevant for ethical leadership? Leadersh Org Dev J 33(1):4–24 Flood RL, Romm NRA (1996a) Diversity management: triple loop learning. Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ

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Flood RL, Romm NRA (1996b) Contours of diversity management and triple loop learning. Kybernetes 25(7/8):154–164 George B (2003) Authentic leadership. CMA Manag 77(8):6 Goleman D (1998) The emotionally competent leader. Healthc Forum J 42(2):36–38 Guillory WA (2004) The roadmap to diversity, inclusion, and high performance. Healthc Exec 19(4):24 Hargrove R (1996) Masterful coaching. Exec Excell 13(7):18–19 Harung HS, Heaton DP, Alexander CN (1995) A unified theory of leadership: experiences of higher states of consciousness in world-class leaders. Leadersh Org Dev J 16(7):44–59 Hubbard BM (2003) Conscious evolution: the next stage of human development. Syst Res Behav Sci 20(4):359–370 Hughes RL, Ginnett RC, Curphy GJ (2002) Leadership: enhancing the lessons of experience. McGraw-Hill, New York Isaacs WN (1993) Taking flight: dialogue, collective thinking, and organizational learning. Organ Dyn 22(2):24–39 Langer EJ, Moldoveanu M (2000) The construct of mindfulness. J Soc Issues 56(1):1–9 Li Y, Bontcheva K, Aswani N, Peters W, Cunningham H (2005) D2.5.2 report: quantitative evaluation tools and Corpora: version 2. University of Sheffield. Retrieved on March 9, 2006, from http://www.sekt-project.org/rd/deliverables/wp02/sekt-d-2-5-2-Quantitive%20Evaluation %20Tools%20and%20Corpora.pdf Madsen SR, Hammond SD (2005) “Where have all the leaders gone?” An interview with Margaret J. Wheatley on life-affirming leadership. J Manag Inq 14(1):71–77 Marques JF (2007) Ecumenical learning: considering all stakeholders. Perform Improv 46(5):25–29 Marques J (2008) Spirituality at work: internal growth with potential external challenges. J Qual Particip 31(3):24–27 Marques JF (2015) Why wakeful leadership is more important now than ever. Dev Learn Organ 29(3):18–20 Mayer JD, Caruso DR, Salovey P (1999) Emotional intelligence meets traditional standards for an intelligence. Intelligence 27(4):267 McClellan J, DiClementi G (2017) Emotional intelligence and positive organizational leadership: a conceptual model for positive emotional influence. J Behav Appl Manag 17(3):197–212 Nhat Hanh T (2003) Creating true peace. Free Press, New York, NY Northouse PG (2000) Leadership theory and practice. SAGE, Thousand Oaks Osterlund J, Loven E (2005) Information versus inertia: a model for product change with low inertia. Syst Res Behav Sci 22(6):547 Pierce JL, Newstrom JW (2003) Leaders and the leadership process. McGraw Hill, New York Pruijt HD (1996) The fight against Taylorism in Europe: strategies, achievements in job design and technology, setbacks, obstacles, chances for upgrading work. Erasmus University, Rotterdam Quinn D (1992) Ishmael, an adventure of the mind and spirit. Bantam Books, New York Quinn D (1999) Beyond civilization: Humanity’s next great adventure. Three River Press/Random House, New York Rahula W (1974) What the Buddha taught. Grove Press, New York, NY Rowden RW, Conine CT Jr (2005) The impact of workplace learning on job satisfaction in small US commercial banks. J Work Learn 17(3/4):215–230 Secretan L (2001) The conscious leader. Industry Week 250(2):19–20 Shipton H, West MA, Dawson J, Birdi K, Patterson M (2006) HRM as a predictor of innovation. Hum Resour Manag J 16(1):3 Taket A (1998) Diversity management: triple loop learning. J Oper Res Soc 49(3):293–296 There is no single leadership style that is universally applicable (2017, July 08). Sunday Business Post, Cork Wikipedia (2019, July 27) Emotional intelligence. Wikipedia.org. Retrieved from http://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_intelligence

Part VI Workplace Well-Being: New Perspectives and Future Directions

The Management of Emotional Labor in the Work of Australian University Business School Academics and the Implications for Well-Being

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Contents Shifting Forces in the Contemporary University Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Emotional Labor Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discussion and Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Context of “Work” in Australian University Business Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Performing Emotional Labor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Some Consequences of Performing Emotional Labor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

Emotions and their expression are controlled and managed in organizations by a wide range of formal and informal means that may have functional or dysfunctional consequences for the well-being. The aim of this study was to explore, whether, and in what ways, business academics are emotionally labored. The methodology adopted was based upon Charmaz’ constructivist grounded theory (CGT). Thirty-eight business school academics from three Australian universities, with varied experience and employment status, participated in the study. Data were collected and analyzed through interviews and open-ended questionnaires to explore the enactment and management of emotions in their work. The study revealed that business academics emotionally labor as a way of navigating commercialization, work intensification, massification, managerialism, and an audit culture in their university environments. Strategic behaviors involving J. Hatzinikolakis · J. E. Crossman (*) School of Business, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_43

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emotional labor gave rise to some positive outcomes, but running through the data were themes of negative consequences raising concern about the well-being of academics. To satisfy student (“customer”) satisfaction, and profit margins expected by management, academics reported both the suppression of negative genuine emotions and, in other cases, the expression and accentuation of positive emotions not felt. Emotional labor was associated with stress, frustration, feelings of disempowerment, loss of autonomy, and other behavior damaging to personal well-being. The authors conclude that universities need to do more to address academic emotional labor and consequent well-being issues, not simply by adopting strategies to assist academics to cope but by taking responsibility for the negative outcomes of commercialization, managerialism, intense competition, and work intensification.

Shifting Forces in the Contemporary University Environment The changing nature of work in the twenty-first century has been associated with employee vulnerability, burnout, and psychological distress (McDaid and Park 2014), and in the context of academia, these conditions are evident in both the UK and Australia (Kinman and Jones 2008). Key themes appear to characterize the contemporary university environment. Perhaps the most obvious is globalization and the growth of international education that has generated billions of dollars via enrollments into Australian university business schools (Berry and Cassidy 2013; Department of Education and Training 2015; Norton 2013). The lucrative growth of international education in Australia to become its third largest export sector is widely attributed to the reduction of government funding to universities during the 1980s and the rise of full fee-paying international students (Marginson 2015; Norton 2013; Tierney and McInnis 2015). Managerialism and economic rationalism, like international education, have been associated with work intensification in the contemporary university environment (Alauddin and Ashman 2014; Altbach et al. 2009; Berry and Cassidy 2013; Darbyshire 2008; Lorenz 2012; Mahoney et al. 2011; Moravec 2008; Parker 2011; Tierney and McInnis 2015). Work intensification invariably results in spending evenings and weekends struggling to cope with increasing teaching and research demands (Hemer 2014) and has long since been associated with poor work-life balance, psychological health, job satisfaction, and intentions to leave academic life (Kinman and Jones 2008). It would seem that as expectations of academics rise, their feelings of authority and freedom (Taylor 2008) diminish, and an alienated, resentful, and demoralized academic workforce emerges (Bellamy et al. 2003). Reporting, accountability, and accreditation processes have done little to assuage the situation (see Anderson 2006; Cheng 2009; Darbyshire 2008; Houston et al. 2006). These forces tend to present as the antithesis of traditional academic, collegial cultures (Christopher 2012; Parker 2011; Winter 2009) based on trust, autonomy, and loose hierarchy (Deem 1998) and have intensified emotional labor among academics (see Ogbonna and Harris 2004).

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Emotional Labor Research Managing emotional display at work is a growing area of research in customer service and organizational behavior (Grandey et al. 2015). Emotional labor concerns a process of emotional and expressive regulation in response to display rules that promote the public image of an organization and any associated products (Diefendorff et al. 2006; Zahn et al. 2015) and services, both implicitly and explicitly (Schaubroeck and Jones 2000). In Hochschild’s (1983, p. 7) definition of emotional labor, she emphasized the nonverbal “facial and bodily display” of emotions “sold for a wage,” and a decade later, Ashforth and Humphrey (1995) focused on emotional labor as a form of impression management. At heart, emotional regulation inherently involves organizational control and may require either the accentuation of positive emotions or the suppression of emotions felt when targeted toward “customers” (Gabriel and Diefendorff 2015; Mahoney et al. 2011). Historically, the display of emotions was viewed as irrational and inappropriate within the workplace and best left to women, children, and animals (see Ashforth and Humphrey 1995; Darwin 1872; Sheard et al. 2011; Wright and Nyberg 2012). This view appeared to prevail in the work of the influential Frederick Taylor (1911), the “father of scientific management” and indeed until the 1990s, when emotions continued to be perceived as disruptive, illogical, biased, and indicative of weakness (see Putman and Mumby 1993). At the same time, the traditional view of emotions in the workplace was beginning to be questioned. Weiss and Cropanzano (1996), for example, argued that a workplace environment could be pleasing and invigorating, or stressful and frustrating, and these conditions affected how employees felt and behaved at work. Arlie Hochschild’s (1983) seminal work on emotions in organizations focused on two service contexts: the world of flight attendants employed by Delta Airlines and a smaller study, concerned with bill (debt) collectors. Hochschild’s (1983) theoretical foundations are built upon Goffman’s (1959) notion of surface acting and dramaturgy. Central to Goffman’s theory of “performance” is the notion of “front” and “back” stage areas of expressive emotional accentuation and suppression in organizations. The front stage is where all the employee activity of the “performance” occurs in interacting with the customers. Props include the “costumes,” dress, and/or the uniforms of performers, strengthening consistency between appearance, expression, and profession that serve as an aspect of organizational control over employees (Goffman 1959; Paul et al. 2015; Reyers and Matusitz 2012). For business school academics, the “stage” may be a lecture theater and the “costume,” “appropriate” and professional attire, befitting a university lecturer. According to Goffman, a backstage area is defined as “a place. . .where the impression fostered by the performance is knowingly contradicted. . .” and where performers may relax and step out of character (1959, p. 114). Hochschild (1983) described “surface acting,” as a deliberate strategy to influence others, as compared to “deep acting” where an actor does not try to seem happy or sad, but rather expresses a genuine feeling. Deep acting occurs when employees experience a change in their personal feelings to align with organizational

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expectations, producing what Grandey et al. (2013) suggest are essentially genuine emotional displays as opposed to surface acting that involves “faking” emotions where outward expressions are altered, but internal and authentic feelings are left intact. Surface acting tends to occur in highly scripted situations that often arise in the hospitality or tourism industry (Zapf 2002) but less is known about how it relates to academic settings. What can happen with surface acting is that it can give rise to emotive dissonance, where sharp differences between inner and outward feelings occur and induce psychological strain, burnout, or depersonalization, sometimes exacerbated by cost cutting and industry speedup where more customers are served in the same time period (Hochschild 1983). Much of the debate around emotional labor centers on whether it is detrimental or functional for employees, organizations, and customers. Earlier work suggested that emotional labor could help organizations sell more products and attract repeat business because customers seemed to be more willing to return after pleasant interactions with customer service employees (Leidner 1999; Tsai 2001). Performing emotional labor may help employees to distance themselves from potentially unpleasant situations (Ashforth and Humphrey 1995) that could be useful where emotional neutrality (displaying neither anger, nor humor, attraction, nor disgust) is required – for example, in the work of police officers (Tuckey et al. 2012), ambulance personnel, emergency dispatchers, doctors, psychologists (Mann and Cowburn 2005; Zapf 2002), and social workers (Karimi et al. 2014). Emotional labor and, particularly, surface emotional labor, can also have a wide range of negative consequences including burnout (Grandey and Gabriel 2015; Wagner et al. 2014), stress (Nixon et al. 2017; Patras et al. 2017), poor self-esteem, cynicism, alienation, deviance (Ashforth and Humphrey 1995; Lashley 2002; Lee and Ok 2014), and emotive dissonance (Grandey and Gabriel 2015) that in turn tends to invite exhaustion, poor commitment, and job satisfaction (Mikeska et al. 2015; Patras et al. 2017; Uy et al. 2017). Withdrawal, absenteeism, and employee turnover (Chau et al. 2009; Grandey and Gabriel 2015; Goodwin et al. 2011) as outcomes of surface acting should be as much of a concern to organizations as to employees, as should the psychological distress, unhealthy food choices (Lauricella 2017), coffee consumption, and alcohol and drug abuse (Rogers et al. 2014; Van Maanen and Kunda 1989; Wagner et al. 2014; Welch 1997) used to cope. Previous research suggests that university academics emotionally labor (see Clarke 2013; Ogbonna and Harris 2004; Koster 2011), acting as though they embrace an organization’s values, when they actually don’t, in order to survive in their jobs or to gain promotion (Stormer and Devine 2008). Giving the impression of personal value congruence with organizations can give rise to what Clarke et al. (2012, p. 9) refer to as “game-playing.” In the same vein, Andrade and Ho (2009) used the term “gaming emotions” (p. 540) to describe employee impression management to control or modify displayed aspects of the self for strategic reasons. These may include silence or verbal and behavioral gestures to convey conformity not actually felt (Stormer and Devine 2008). Emotional labor has to be understood in the context of students as customers and how academics feel they have become disempowered (see Constanti and Gibbs

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2004; Sappey 2005) and overwhelmed by student criticisms on all aspects of their learning (Koster 2011). The new status of students as customers came with feedback mechanisms, supposedly providing tangible and comparable measures of lecturer performance. Student evaluations appear to have heightened emotional labor in higher education (Koster 2011; Mahoney et al. 2011) perhaps because future work and tenure often seem to depend on them (Inderbitzin and Storrs 2008).

Methodology This chapter reports on a research study that explored emotional labor in the work of university business school academics in Australia and considers the implications of findings through the lens of well-being literature. The research questions, as follows, were broadly determined with the intention of becoming more specific through the analytical process, as necessary (Glaser 1992): 1. In what ways is the performance of emotional labor evident (or not) in the work of Australian university business school academics? 2. What aspects of the context influence any enactment and management of emotions? 3. What, if any, are the positive and negative implications of performing emotional labor for business academics? A constructivist grounded theory approach was brought to the investigation; however, the consequent theory constructed will be shared in more detail elsewhere. In this chapter, analysis of the data will be viewed, through the lens of well-being, broadly interpreted. Constructivism assumes an interpretive orientation and multiple, subjective realities and experiences rather than objectified products (Charmaz 2006). Purposeful sampling and the snowballing method were adopted whereby academics from an initial sample were asked to nominate other possible participants (Neuman 2003). Data were collected from 38 participants via open-ended, emailed, qualitative questionnaires and in-depth interviews (see Strauss and Corbin 1994). Interviews were conducted with academic staff at different levels and tenure and in three different higher education institutions. A semi-structured, in-depth, and conversational approach to interviews was adopted to generate rich accounts of participant experiences from their own point of view (see Charmaz 2006). Each interview lasted between 1 and 2 h. Data were analyzed through two phases of coding – open coding (line by line coding) and focused coding that aimed to synthesize and explain larger segments of data (Charmaz 2006). Data collection and analysis occurred “simultaneously” and iteratively with initial data analysis being used to shape continuing data collection (Charmaz 2006). Participants were informed about the research that they could withdraw at any time, raise questions with an approved university ethics officer, and be assured that their anonymity would be respected (see Azoury et al. 2018).

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With participant permission, interviews were audiotaped. The first few interviews explored broad questions about any changes in the work environment, expectations, conditions of “work,” demands or concerns about self or others, pleasant and unpleasant aspects of work, enactment and management of emotions, and coping mechanisms in dealing with any stress identified. Initial categories arising from the analysis of the data were refined with more focused questioning in the interviews (Charmaz 2006). Selective and dense questioning enabled categories to become “saturated” and led to their integration (Charmaz 2014). To develop theoretical sensitivity, slightly different types of questions were asked during subsequent interviews. Data were coded immediately after their collection, and in vivo coding sometimes proved a rich source of metaphors, useful in developing empirical analysis and theory development (Charmaz 2006). Saturation within a CGT occurs when the collection of data does not seem to spark new theoretical insights (Charmaz 2006). Despite more data being collected from participant 20 through to 30 interviews and analysis of 19 questionnaires, all categories appeared to be sufficiently saturated. Memos were used in the development of codes and constructing categories and properties as advocated by Charmaz (2014), and a research journal was kept to record any ideas or interpretations to enable greater confidence in the credibility of the research (Patton 2002). These processes helped to create an argument to suggest that academic ideals come into conflict with the prevailing managerial paradigm in ways that give rise to emotional labor and both negative and positive consequences. Other sources have suggested that faculty are frustrated by the conflicting priorities of university employment (see Boyer et al. 2015). The focus of the following section is to consider some of the concepts embedded in the data through the well-being lens.

Discussion and Findings The findings of this research study suggest that participating business academics perform emotional labor in order to navigate and survive the realities of commercialization, massification, and new managerialism. In satisfying both student and management demands, academics found themselves suppressing negative genuine emotions and, in other cases, expressing and accentuating positive emotions, not felt. The consequence of this process may have positive outcomes, but those that are negative appear to be profound and consistent across the data with implications for employee well-being. The findings and discussion of the study are presented in three parts. The first focuses on participant perceptions of the university business environment in broad terms; the second unpacks how that environment gives rise to the performance of emotional labor and the third the consequences and implications arising from that emotional labor. Indented text in these three sections represents data.

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The Context of “Work” in Australian University Business Schools This section discusses how participating business academics describe their work environment as budget-driven degree factories, where academic freedom is diminished, work is intensified, and quality processes create unreal representations. They also paint a picture of concern about compromised standards arising from students being regarded as clients and consequent service-orientated practices that seem to fuel student aggressiveness with consequent implications for academic well-being.

Business Schools as Budget-Driven “Factories” The idea of a “factory” environment in business schools, where the output is the production of graduates, suggests a poignant sense of longing for a lost era: I’ve always had some regard for them [universities] as sacred places . . . and I think they have some importance as places for developing and understanding . . . the meaning of life and the ultimate structure of reality . . . I therefore get frustrated and disconcerted when I see them being turned into degree factories. . . . it’s [the business school] made more like a factory, in terms of a . . . standardized degree being provided to bigger numbers of people . . . . . . universities are now factories . . . They’re here to make money . . . certainly, the undergraduate level has become more ‘factorized’ . . .

Perceptions of factory environments are couched in remarks that bemoan budgetdriven decision making: It’s all about budgets . . . there’s much that has been adopted from the corporate world. The economic imperative has become more dominant than it was when I first came into the institution and I think that has driven everything else, such as the large class numbers . . . international students, and the use of new technology. They are [management] not really interested in education . . . but they’re using a business model to measure everything and the common denominator must be the dollar. The best way to assess the quality of students’ learning [would be considered by management as] the cheapest way!

Audit Cultures Increasing management control over academic labor is attributed to university audit cultures seen by some to have come about at the expense of democratic structures and academic freedom. Democratic, in the sense that, as one participant put it, academics no longer feel it is “ok to speak your mind.” Another remarked: A lot of academic freedom [doesn’t] exist now and I think that’s through the quality control systems that we have . . .

When academic freedom is curtailed and autonomy diminished, whereby employees feel their ability to make decisions and choices is not endorsed by management, well-being and job satisfaction are at risk (Maslach and Banks

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2017). Audit cultures can conjure feelings that associated processes are unrelated to reality or genuine but, rather, undertaken for their own sake: . . . ticking boxes that students have achieved certain things rather than being genuinely attentive as to whether they have understood . . . [SETS are] . . . evidence in quality, but not actually capturing the quality . . . With accreditation, we end up just ticking all the boxes . . . but it’s not improving things. In fact, it’s making things worse . . . Well I think it’s dysfunctional . . . We can pretend it is quality that we’re maintaining, but we’re not . . .

Student evaluations as part of audit processes create anxiety, fear, and ethical dilemmas, as described by the following sessional academic: SETs [have] . . . the potential to hurt you . . . I worry about that and students complaining a lot . . . If they get a poor grade then they are unhappy and give you a poor evaluation . . . I am faced with an ethical dilemma . . . do I give students good grades and get good student evaluations of teaching, or do I mark them according to academic standards and get bad student evaluations of teaching? I find this very difficult

“Dumbing Down” Understanding the concept of dumbing down rests on an appreciation of how academics and management perceive the issue of quality very differently with managers constructing it in terms of conforming to budgetary targets and being focused upon standards (Winter 2009). Indeed, these respective priorities largely seem to constitute the concerns of those who are critical of neoliberalism (Levin 2007). The metaphor, of “dumbing down” (where expectations of student work are lowered to ensure predetermined retention targets are met, and students are encouraged to believe that they are meeting standards), is captured in participant accounts of academic life: We are taking on students who are really struggling . . . things are ‘dumbed down’. Marking is too soft . . . You just be nice all the time, say ‘yes’ to whatever students ask, give them high grades all the time . . . it’s always, ‘you’re doing fantastic’. This is not helpful for students and this is not being a good teacher. On quality, I have found that the university has continuously kept dropping and dropping its standards for entry . . . [We] need to ask general questions, never anything in-depth, having to dumb things down . . . all the time. It is frustrating . . . but you have to be accommodating, you just accept this, otherwise your job and evaluations are at risk . . . distinction grades are no longer considered elite or exceptional work . . . they are handed out too easily. Business schools are continuing to lower their standards . . . so there’s no scholarship, the students don’t apply themselves . . . and they [management] don’t care . . . The dilemma for us [academics] is, do we compromise our standards . . . or do we uphold [them]? Do I ensure that everyone graduates and that everyone is happy with their experience . . . and provide society with a ‘half baked’ individual? So, you can be gentle in your marking, and if that’s customer service as required, then I’m excelling at it . . . I have to!

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If a business academic chooses to compromise his or her own construction of expected standards of student work, one motivation for doing so may arise from anxieties about being punished for student failure: If the student doesn’t pass . . ., it’s not the student at fault . . . it’s that you’ve failed somehow in your job . . . I’m sure that every academic is under no illusion that if they don’t get a decent pass rate, it’s down to them to explain what they’ve done wrong. You can’t say the students weren’t capable . . . It’s, ‘you’re a poor lecturer’. It is hard to suppress feelings of utter frustration and [easier] to just give it up and retire!

The Disempowering Nature of Commercialization The commercialization of business education has brought with it shifts in academic relationships with students and feelings of academic disempowerment, socially, economically, and intellectually. The construction of students as customers, according to one academic, is “fraught with danger” because it communicates to students that they have “purchase[d] something [and] . . . are assured of getting a product or service, or thinking I’ve paid the money, I’m assured of getting something.” These circumstances can create feelings of stress and disempowerment among academics with their competence doubted. Competence, determined as feeling that one can direct energy at work efficiently to complete tasks (Maslach and Banks 2017), is one criterion for psychological well-being at work (see Dagenais-Desmarais and Savoie 2012) and, in the context of this study, draws that well-being into question: You’re seen more as a shop assistant in terms of being there to provide what they [students] want out of it, rather than the traditional academic role which is a mentor, a gate keeper of knowledge or of assessing if they have met the criteria to demonstrate they were ready to move on. Our social standing is down, and perceptions of . . . who’s got the power. I’d say academics have been downgraded quite a bit . . . ‘I felt quite powerless . . . these are stressful things . . . it’s difficult’ We, as academics . . . are actually at the bottom of . . . the pile . . . we have very little power left. . .the power is with management and the students as ‘customers’. There is that perception that we no longer are the experts in regard to pedagogy, but rather, that students are, and that places a lot of pressure on us.

High workload demands are likely to lead to psychological distress (McDaid and Park 2014). Participants, academics and managers alike, described an environment of increasing work intensification, linked to bureaucracy and higher expectations, especially around research outputs: When I started teaching, research was an optional extra. People did it if they wanted to. Now there’s a lot more expectation around research and publication in quality journals, industry related research, and competitive grants. I started working in universities where there was very little to do besides teaching and research. There were hardly any committees . . . [work intensification] is a huge imposition where people demand information, they demand forms, they demand everything.

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. . . the fact now that you have to squeeze more in, isn’t a funding problem for the university because the academics can just be asked to do more . . . so who cares? [Students] demand that you are able to respond to their emails within a couple of hours. . .students want it to be an, ‘on demand service’.

Students may also intimidate their teachers by capitalizing on an apparent disempowered and vulnerable academic status and vulnerability by complaining to supervisors who reportedly provide little support: Sometimes they [students] go ‘behind your back’ when they complain, to . . . a course coordinator, program director or school management . . . It’s getting worse and worse . . . They ‘snitch’ on you to your superior. They question your ability . . . They are essentially saying, by asking for a re-mark, that this person is not competent.

Part of the concept of disempowerment as constructed by participants relates to the insecurity with respect to casual employment status: . . . teaching here at the university is so ‘fickle’ . . . to get contracts . . . I am not an ongoing staff member . . . and there is no loyalty here. I feel as though we have to be on our ‘tippy toes’. It doesn’t matter how passionate you are about education, if students complain about you, then you most often lose work . . . they don’t renew your contract next semester.

The insecurity surrounding casual employment from the perspective of another academic clearly calls for emotional labor, as another casual academic remarked: in the absence of, good SETs you can’t really keep working or get a job at the end, so it is important that I keep the students happy

Intimidation and Aggression Being referred to as “a bitch” is only one form of aggressive, intimidating, and sometimes physically abusive behavior giving rise to academic concern about personal safety: We’ve had incidents of aggressive students, who will not accept that they have failed . . . We’ve had some physical incidents against our lecturers. It can get violent, really abusive, you know. They [students] come in, slam the door, scream at you, hit their fists on the desk . . .

Participating academics may take protective measures by notifying colleagues when a meeting has been arranged with a potentially aggressive student: [With] increasing bullying behaviour [academics] have to watch out for each other [by having] . . . staff walk in, just to ask, ‘are you okay?’ because a student was seen leaving, shouting at the lecturer. I had an experience where a couple of students came to me and said, . . . ‘If you give us good grades we will give you a good evaluation of teaching and then you’ll get more work’. We have had academic and admin. staff in tears because of the behaviour of students . . . and they [staff] get abused and nothing gets done about it . . ., it’s a disgrace . . . the emotional

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stress that’s ‘put-on’ staff. They [management] are not interested in hearing complaints about students.

These findings seem consistent with the perspective of McCallum and Price (2015) who noted the emotional demands on teachers in Australian schools as compared to other countries. These authors argue that teacher well-being is compromised by lack of respect and violence on the part of the students and can exacerbate stress, depression, and anxiety. Such stress among academics can have dire consequences for physical and psychological health both for themselves and the quality of higher education (Kinman and Jones 2008; Maslach and Banks 2017). If indeed “customer” mistreatment of employees is in some way related to perceptions of emotional insincerity (see Zahn et al. 2015), then academics may wish to reconsider their motivations in courting student popularity, discussed subsequently in this chapter. It would also appear that any benefits of emotional labor do not outweigh the costs for employees who may well be denied dignified, respectful, and courteous treatment (Grandey et al. 2015). As Henkel et al. (2017) also concluded, emotional labor, as an employee reaction to customer incivility, is neither desirable, in terms of personal well-being, nor in the best interests of organizations.

Performing Emotional Labor This section addresses the “performance” of emotional labor in the business school context as a display of emotions not felt but expressed, or felt but not expressed. Within the data, lecturing is also consistently viewed as a “performance” in ways that resonate with other and earlier dramaturgical perspectives of academic work in higher education (Goffman 1959; Ogbonna and Harris 2004).

Front and Back Stage Central to Goffman’s theory (1959) of “performance” is the notion of “front” and “back” stage areas of expressive accentuation and suppression in organizations. For academics, front stage is arguably a lecture theater, a place of performance, perhaps entertainment: Well it’s all a performance . . . we’re like in the theatre . . . we’re the clowns and jugglers. We write our script, we visualize. You’ve got to focus on leaving your life behind and . . . go on stage and perform.

A period of preparation might be required for getting “in character” (Goffman 1959) that for one participant involves, appearing to be confident or in control of a situation: It doesn’t look good if the students see you as being nervous or being uncomfortable . . . it creates an unusual dynamic in the classroom, you have to go in there with a certain level of confidence . . . with a certain level of calmness, and a level of enthusiasm . . .

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Delivering a competent front of stage performance involves the emotional labor of appearing “professional,” irrespective of personal feelings: To be a professional you have to have a certain standard below which you never go, regardless of how bad your day, or your week, has been . . . when you go into class you have to lock into that professional mode and slap yourself inside of the head and say “snap out of it!”, and ‘leave that at the door’! The students don’t care about you having a good or bad day . . . you have to deliver [This] is . . . is a challenge. You should at least be able to [display] . . . a neutral behaviour and not convey anger and frustration . . . because students might read that you’re unhappy with them . . . it’s the same idea that we teach in customer service. You know, if a customer blows up at you, they may have, ‘got out of the wrong side of the bed’ that morning . . . I’m very conscious of wanting to forge a positive personality, but there are days when it’s the last thing I want to do and when you’re going into a lecture, sometimes I think, ‘Oh, I can’t do this, this is really hard’, but you get in there and you think this is what I’m paid for, this is my job – you’ve got to sell it, and it’s like being an actor . . . I know other academics often talk about it as acting – that you must project this image, you must be enthusiastic. That’s the job you do, but it is hard sometimes.

Cursing and criticizing management “under their breath” when academics are alone represents “back stage” (Goffman 1959) behavior as does the expression of genuine feelings. However, the academic environment would seem to offer few opportunities or sufficient trust among colleagues, but particularly supervisors, to enable such expressions as a means of psychological decompression. A lack of interpersonal trust and a reluctance to take interpersonal risks suggests an environment that affords little psychological safety (Maslach and Banks 2017). Unrealistic expectations in the work means that I feel a whole suite of negative emotions, but I cannot afford to share these with anybody for fear of not being asked to do anymore [work]. This is a precarious employment relationship. When I vent my concern, it is to other sessional staff, never to course coordinators. You can never talk about your fears [to others at work], only positive stuff. Academics tend to bottle up frustrations and not talk about them . . . [they are] especially careful not to share them with colleagues unless they knew someone very close to them personally and intimately . . . . . . you can choose to complain . . . if you want to, but nobody cares . . . if you just smile and get on with things . . . you deliver . . . you’ll be asked back . . . These are the rules of the game.

Dissonance as a Risk to Wellbeing as a Result of Expressing Positive Emotions Not Felt The expression of positive emotions not felt is a form of emotional labor and surface acting, as illustrated by remarks such as, “I seem to be constantly accentuating really positive emotions to students.” The same participant also remarked, “academics being nice to students [means] . . . saying things to students that they don’t really mean, rewarding students who they don’t really want to reward.” The pressure to behave in disingenuous ways, to emotionally labor, is also present in the data that follow:

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. . . they [students] really need a reality check . . . but you can’t say that. You have to be soft, sweeten it up with sugar on top, wrap it up in chocolate and then put a bow on it! . . . you have to be really positive . . . it doesn’t matter how bad the work is. I pander to the students’ every whim and I have no interest in whether they learn or not . . . I’m only interested in whether they’re happy. That’s being really cynical but that’s the bottom line . . . I’d like to care if they learn anything but really, I don’t. What I care now, is whether or not they’re going to give me grief and cause me trouble and this is from someone who actually doesn’t care if they’ve got a contract next year or not. . . . but life’s just easier if I’m nice to students and treat even the most absurd non-compliant student behaviour, as though it’s perfectly alright. . . . they [students] just want to pass . . . They don’t want a ‘no’ answer . . . they just simply want to have everything on a platter. So . . . constraining, concealing, we have to live a lie! I cannot not show any anger or ‘piss them off’, pretty much because that could result in bad SETs [and] they would get very ‘shitty’ with me . . . I often feel the need to suppress my feelings of frustration and anger at the poor quality of work and non-participation . . . instead we must always smile and try to be positive . . . You just can’t say anything negative . . . you are always trying to control anger emotions and put a lid on them.

Those extreme types of provocative student behavior like swearing at us in a class session in public, that kind of stuff, that could really provoke strong feelings from us, but we are expected to refrain and control our anger . . . this is extremely difficult! Making positive comments about student work, to avoid complaints to line managers, can result in emotional dissonance where a disconnection exists between emotions felt and those a person feels he or she must express (Nixon et al. 2017). Such psychological disconnection can have a negative impact on well-being.

Suppressing Perceived Weaknesses The suppression of emotions is also evident in participant accounts associated with concealing weakness, doubts, fears, and vulnerabilities through impression management behavior, also explored in the work of Goffman (1959) and Humphreys (2005). Examples of data include: I guess we are a reputation driven cohort and people are protective of revealing their weaknesses and only showing their strengths. Academics don’t like to show weakness. it would be seen as a . . . sign of weakness to be sharing emotions too much. They [academics] don’t talk about weaknesses . . . their own weaknesses . . . Oh no! God, no!

The suppression of emotions can also be understood in terms of “self-presentation” (Ingold et al. 2015), whereby individuals try to control the impressions of others. Self-presentation may include ways that business academics conceal feelings of frustration and anger about university management, workload, and performance expectations. Self-presentation also explains academic behavior with respect to the manipulation of student feedback and cultivating popularity:

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SETs can be more about popularity . . . . . . to have somebody who could be a really outstanding teacher, suffer . . . maybe they’re a little bit strict, maybe they enforce standards to a more rigorous level than their colleagues who shoot for the popularity curve . . . If you want to be popular for your SETs, you can do that, but it’s at the expense of the teaching and learning outcomes. It’s a likeability contest . . . How do you get well liked? By being nice to students, entertaining them, and most importantly by passing them. . . . there’s a sort of weird popularity contest . . . It sometimes depends on whether you’ve given them the mark that they wanted . . . ‘I think people really worry about SETs . . . about not being able to be themselves . . . I think that gives people stress’.

Ironically, the surface acting involved in cultivating popularity and expressing emotions not felt may, according to one source, lead to receiving a more negative response from “customers” (Zahn et al. 2015).

Who Really Cares? The relationship between experiencing genuine emotion and using that emotion as a viable emotional labor strategy (see Diefendorff et al. 2005) is by no means clear, but it does seem to come at some cost for academics: That sort of extended care role . . . is something we all need to be aware of. It’s a stressful role ... It is quite common for students who have failed, to be highly distressed. I believe that my role is to support such students; in the first instance by letting them know I care about their welfare . . . I find that this requires a significant emotional investment by me. I think with international students, obviously, you are dealing with students not having been home for long periods of time. They are sometimes looking at you as a replacement mother figure . . . So, you are in . . . an extended care situation . . . you may find yourself having to take on students’ concerns to do with their personal life. The emotional cost of caring is such that some feel the need to avoid it. I used to ‘go over the top’ with the amount of care that I [gave] the students and really look[ed] after them and want[ed] to know about their private lives and then you realize this is not good for anybody . . . so now, . . . I don’t want to know about their personal problems. I don’t want to know about their psychological problems . . . yet I used to think that to be a good lecturer, I had to deal with all of those personal problems and I think it’s a very dangerous thing . . .

In showing genuine care, however, participants sometimes feel little care for their own well-being is expressed: Added to the emotional cost of caring, is the perception of no one caring for those who are required to show care [academics]. These issues are swept under the carpet by management. I don’t feel that there is a shield of protection for us from them [students]. They [management] don’t ‘have your back’.

Emotional labor has been associated with feelings of being undervalued in the organization (Grandey et al. 2015). Perhaps academics are not the only professionals to feel that employers care little about their contribution or their well-being (see

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Casey 2013), but the effect of that neglect to care has its own consequences, ironically, in ways that are ultimately damaging to organizations. A more positive way of expressing this point may be that employees who do feel valued and supported by the management are less likely to experience psychological distress and are somewhat buffered from the impact of exacting workplace conditions (McDaid and Park 2014). The perception that managers show little care for academics draws into question the adequacy of any workplace safety climate that is powerfully influenced by management values and practices and the protection they afford employees against stress and aggression (Maslach and Banks 2017). Psychological safety also assists in the moderation of emotional demands and exhaustion (Maslach and Banks 2017), a characterizing element, as discussed in surface acting and emotional labor.

Some Consequences of Performing Emotional Labor As Grandey et al. (2015) observed, insisting on positive interactions with customers comes at a cost. The contextual demands in which Australian business school academics operate exact both positive and negative implications and consequences. Positive strategies for dealing with the negative consequences of stress and emotional labor included prayer, yoga, and/or exercise. However, participants tended to focus on coping behaviors in response to stressful situations of concern to them, such as alcohol consumption: I think we all have stress . . . I have a glass of wine or a scotch . . . Sometimes I get home and I am so wound up, and nothing, nothing will calm me down . . . I can’t unwind, I can’t relax . . . that heightened sense of anxiety . . . in the end, the only thing that will settle me down is a couple of drinks . . . [and] I think that’s an issue. Personally, I haven’t found any coping methods at work, really, it’s more so, outside of work . . . the drinking . . ., and self-medicating with alcohol, and that’s definitely stress related because I tend to find having wine just helps you unwind and it’s not a good sign. I use alcohol. That glass of alcohol at the end of the day. It’s almost like self-medication; hate to say it, but it is true . . . when it’s been a really stressful day, I look forward to that glass of wine. [I]go home and have a bottle of wine with dinner . . . just try and chill out and relax – perhaps take a walk around, it can take your mind off things.

Another coping mechanism in dealing with emotional labor at work is to seek support from relationships outside of work, often the “spouse that I can offload to.” However, doing so could take “a toll on . . . relationships” and compound the problem. The “sleepless nights” and withdrawing from the academic community by working at home and choosing to “hide from students” or closing “the office door more often” are all indicators of emotional labor. It is a tale of withdrawal and declining collegiality (Barrett 2006; Kinman and Jones 2008) and involvement – flagging poor psychological well-being at work (Dagenais-Desmarais and Savoie 2012). Notably, the quality of social connections at work is linked to well-being (Maslach and Banks 2017).

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Twenty-five years ago, we all had lunch together. We all kind of chatted away . . . Everyone just powers straight through the lunch hour . . . finish at 8 o’clock at night. I don’t tend to see my colleagues as much as I used to . . . and it’s something that’s happened a lot more . . . and the more convivial you are, the fewer rewards there are, because you’re taking up too much time socialising. I used to be enthusiastic, and was more available to students, and colleagues, whenever I could help. Now I fulfil my teaching obligations with a good deal less interest . . . I get back to research on my own. Everybody’s busy, flat out . . . There’s no time slot for sitting down and having a cup of coffee. Working at home is very good – removing yourself from here. Sometimes I use avoidance mechanisms. We’re seeing office doors increasingly shut; people are just focusing and working away on their research, doing what they have to do . . . It affects the enjoyment of where you work . . . and it creates an increasingly individualistic environment. [We are] increasingly getting into an environment where people are isolated. There’s less sharing of burdens and helping each other . . . I would like to have more collegial support. I don’t really know what a lot of people are doing, or how they feel about the job. Questions like ‘What frustrations do you have? How do you cope? What do you do in these circumstances?’ All that informal group knowledge and sharing, we don’t have, because people work in their own worlds.

Conclusion Based on research findings, this chapter has presented the thesis that academic participants emotionally labor in ways that have implications for their well-being, largely as a result of a changing environments impacting Australian business schools. The performance of emotional labor in the research setting consists of both the accentuation of positive emotions and the suppression of negative emotions. Withdrawal, self-medication, feelings of isolation, anxiety, and a sense of poor selfworth characterize the narrative. Steeped in the data is the sense of loss; of mourning, for teaching as a vocation; and of students and academics learning together in a climate of mutual respect. One participant refers to the current environment in higher education as a “train wreck,” the tragedy of an era passed, where the new order of things exacts a heavy price from the emotional and physical well-being of business academics – and perhaps ultimately in students too, who share in the depersonalization that massification and commercialization bring to university life. With respect to emotional labor, it would seem that academic feelings of autonomy, self-determination, competence, and belonging are all compromised by requirements for a formalized emotional display (Grandey et al. 2015). Although other studies have suggested connections between emotional labor and well-being in the context of medicine and nursing (Bartram et al. 2012; Golfenshtein and Drach-Zahavy 2015; Grandey et al. 2013; Lee et al. 2010) and policing (Tuckey et al. 2012), for example, this study appears to provide new knowledge with respect to the Australian academic setting. Apart from the impact of emotional labor on individual well-being, universities would do well to pay attention to the findings reported here given its negative impact upon performance, job satisfaction,

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resignation intentions, and employee turnover in the university sector (Goodwin et al. 2011; Naring et al. 2006; Pugh et al. 2011; Walsh 2011). As Maslach and Banks (2017) have also observed, not only do negative emotional experiences among employees lead to health issues; they also give rise to a gamut of adverse organizational outcomes including poor team performance when psychological safety and well-being are compromised. Organizations and universities in particular do not seem to have addressed the need to improve employee well-being adequately, despite evidence that doing so could lead to enhanced employee satisfaction and, as a result, organizational productivity (Cooper and Leiter 2017). University management might consider support in the form of raising consciousness and discussion about emotional labor and any allied undesirable coping mechanisms, during professional development sessions and staff meetings. Obviously, providing support with immediate realities does not obviate the need to consider ways to address the actual issue of how competition, massification, and commercialization in university environments appear to have so many damaging implications for academic well-being. The power of emotional labor to damage well-being should not be underestimated. As Grandey et al. (2015) argued, a dark side exists that overshadows any light in emotional labor and serves to counter the creation of employee happiness and health. The findings of the Australian study presented here would seem to strengthen a rationale calling for organizational cultures to be grounded in humanist values that cultivate positive climates and authentic workforces (Grandey et al. 2015). The forces of commercialization, massification, economic rationalism, and work intensification, however, will likely to be a significant impediment to the progress of prioritizing well-being in university business schools.

Cross-References ▶ Leader Mindfulness: Well-Being Throughout the Organization ▶ Mindfulness, Wellness, and Spirituality in the Workplace

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A Humanistic Perspective for Management Research: Protecting Dignity and Promoting Well-Being

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Why Is Business Often Unconcerned with Human and Environmental Concerns? . . . . . . . . . . Management Theory’s Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A New Foundation of Management Research: Dignity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dignity in Management Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dignity and the Common Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alternative Modes for Management Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Economistic Archetypes of Management Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Humanistic Archetypes of Management Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shifting Toward a Humanistic Paradigm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Leading management scholars have long questioned the premises of management theory and practice (Gladwin et al. 1995; Hart 2005). Several societal and religious leaders like Pope Francis and his predecessors have given voice to many citizens around the globe who have been losing trust in the current economic and political systems as the number of societal challenges is increasing (Adams 2012; Edelman 2011). The leading academic institution of business school professors, the Academy of Management (AOM), claims to “foster [] a philosophy of management” that serves “the public’s interests” (AMJ Editors

Some of this chapter is a reproduction of Pirson (2017): A Humanistic Perspective for Management Theory: Protecting Dignity and Promoting Well Being, Journal of Business Ethics, pp. 1–20 M. Pirson (*) Fordham University, New York City, NY, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_44

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1958). Yet, many scholars suggest that management scholarship has largely failed to contribute to the common good (Walsh et al. 2003). Already 20 years ago, AOM’s then president, Donald Hambrick, remarked about the lack of relevance of AOM’s work to society (Hambrick 1994). This tendency has been bemoaned with increasing frequency since (Aguinis and Pierce 2008; Hambrick 1994; Walsh et al. 2003), because very few contributions discuss profound and alternative managerial solutions to environmental degradation, the dangers of climate change, or increasing social inequities (Hahn et al. 2010; Hambrick 1994). This contribution is exploring reasons for why current management thought and practice is not in line with what many citizens expect and suggest. It also outlines a paradigmatic alternative to organizing and management: a humanistic paradigm that protects dignity and promotes well-being.

[. . .] economic powers continue to justify the current global system where priority tends to be given to speculation and the pursuit of financial gain, which fail to take the context into account, let alone the effects on human dignity and the natural environment. Pope Francis, Laudato Si (55) The general objective of the Academy shall be therefore to foster: a) a philosophy of management that will make possible the accomplishment of the economic and social objectives of an industrial society with increasing economy and effectiveness: the public’s interests must be paramount in any such philosophy, but adequate consideration must be given to the legitimate interests of capital and labor. . .. Editor’s preface, Journal of the Academy of Management 1958, 1(1): 5–6.

Introduction Leading management scholars have long questioned the premises of management theory and practice (Gladwin et al. 1995; Hart 2005). Several societal and religious leaders like Pope Francis and his predecessors have given voice to many citizens around the globe who have been losing trust in the current economic and political systems as the number of societal challenges is increasing (Adams 2012; Edelman 2011). The leading academic institution of business school professors, the Academy of Management (AOM), claims to “foster [] a philosophy of management” that serves “the public’s interests” (AMJ Editors 1958). Yet, many scholars suggest that management scholarship has largely failed to contribute to the common good (Walsh et al. 2003). Already 20 years ago AOM’s then president, Donald Hambrick, remarked about the lack of relevance of AOM’s work to society (Hambrick 1994). This tendency has been bemoaned with increasing frequency since (Aguinis and Pierce 2008; Hambrick 1994; Walsh et al. 2003), because very few contributions discuss profound and alternative managerial solutions to environmental degradation, the dangers of climate change, or increasing social inequities (Hahn et al. 2010; Hambrick 1994). This contribution is exploring reasons for why current management thought and practice is not in line with what many citizens expect and suggest.

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It also outlines a paradigmatic alternative to organizing and management: a humanistic paradigm that protects dignity and promotes well-being.

Why Is Business Often Unconcerned with Human and Environmental Concerns? William Allen, the former chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery, notes, “[o]ne of the marks of a truly dominant intellectual paradigm is the difficulty people have in even imagining an alternative view” (Allen 1993: 1401). Management theorists and leading management historians have suggested that current management theory is largely informed by economics (Argyris 1973; Ghoshal 2005; Mintzberg et al. 2002). Its theorizing is hence contained in an economistic paradigm (Gasper 2004; Mele 2009). Accordingly, people are materialistic utility maximizers who value individual benefits more than group and societal benefits. A homo oeconomicus only engages with others in a transactional manner to fulfill his or her stable and predictable interests. Such individuals are considered amoral, value short-term gratification, and often act opportunistically to further their personal gain (Pirson and Lawrence 2010). Business strategy and organizational design are largely based on these assumptions and are thus blamed for the creation of negative externalities (Davis et al. 1997). Argyris (1973), for instance, claims that organizational mechanisms based on principal agent theory create opportunistic actors in a self-fulfilling prophecy (Table 1). Economic historians have suggested that the basis of our currently dominant paradigm was developed during the Age of Enlightenment, when economics first separated out as a distinct science – apart from philosophy (Dierksmeier 2011a; Nida-Ruemelin 2009). At its roots, economics and ethics were tightly linked, but, over time, a separation occurred via the route of utilitarianism (NidaRuemelin 2009). Warke (2000) argues that economists of the late 1800s consciously began to sever ties with the social and political sciences and they adopted methodologies from physics and mathematics in order to be considered as scientific as their colleagues in the natural sciences (e.g., Dierksmeier 2011b, 2015; Wieser 1884). For a number of reasons that will not be explored here, Economics became a “science” Table 1 Notions of dignity Origin Responses Denial of dignity Type of dehumanization Managerial action Conceptual basis Theoretical focus Relevance for social welfare

Unconditional Universal vulnerability Protection of dignity Human nature Mechanistic Protection Human rights Human rights protection Necessary

Conditional/earned Freedom-based judgment Promotion of dignity Human uniqueness Animalistic Development/promotion Human responsibilities/capabilities Capability development Sufficient

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using axioms of said homo oeconomicus (for more on the historical development, see, e.g., Dierksmeier (2011a, b)). When management emerged as a relevant organizational phenomenon at the turn of the twentieth century, management scholars tried to establish themselves using a similar turn to the sciences – that is, the natural sciences (Taylor 1914). The establishment of Scientific Management along with Tayloristic or Fordian precepts was based on a value-free, efficiency-oriented perspective of economics (Mele 2009). While it was hotly debated whether management or business was indeed a science and whether or not it should be taught at universities rather than trade schools (Khurana 2007), the adoption of the economistic paradigm allowed management scholars to frame their work as “serious and legitimate” science.

Management Theory’s Crisis Management theory as the theory of efficiency and effectiveness gained traction because it contributed to resolving relevant societal problems by providing higher productivity and output of necessary goods. In a time of abundant material goods (at least in parts of the world), management theory, however, may be focused on outdated problems. Novel problems relevant for organizing have emerged, and it is hard for management to disregard its economic heritage. Mele (2003, 2009) argues that the underlying problem of the economistic paradigm is its inherent neglect of ethical, social, and developmental aspects of human nature. Similarly, Mele (2009: 10) argues that utilitarianism has several flaws that eventually led to the de-ethicalization (or demoralization) of management theory. Despite its liberal, universalist and rationalist origins utilitarian principles can, in fact, be used to justify collectivist practices: ‘To maximize the total sum of happiness efficiently can include the instrumentalization of one person for the sake of one or several others. Under certain conditions even slavery can be justified by utilitarian principles’.

Sen (1999) and Nussbaum (2003) add that utilitarianism enables the instrumentalization of human beings because it lacks a notion of unalienable individual rights. In addition, the perspective of homo oeconomicus arguably subsumes the importance of social relationships and the relevance of learning and innovation to fixed utility maximization of tangible goods (Henrich et al. 2001). Such traditions arguably allowed management scholars to disregard the civilatory notion of human dignity (Rosenthal 2014). In her book “From Slavery to Scientific Management,” management historian Caitlin Rosenthal suggests that slavery has informed many practices and thought processes used in scientific management as well as in more modern forms of management (i.e., the term human resources). This neglect of dignity seems to have survived throughout the decades as the renowned economist and management scholar Michael Jensen (2002: 17; Jensen and Meckling 1994) emphasized this disregard, stating that “we all have a price”:

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Like it or not, individuals are willing to sacrifice a little of almost anything we care to name, even reputation or morality, for a sufficiently large quantity of other desired things; and these things do not have to be money or even material goods.

However, Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) famously noted that: everything has either a price or a dignity. Whatever has a price can be replaced by something else as its equivalent; on the other hand, whatever is above all price, and therefore admits of no equivalent, has a dignity. (Kant 1785: 435)

The notion of human dignity as that which humans value intrinsically has been central to societal progress since the Middle Ages – the quest for human rights, democracy, and the establishment of modern governance (Kateb 2011; McCloskey 2010). The quest for dignity been has been so relevant that economic historians argue that the accordance of dignity has been the central success factor of economic progress in the West (McCloskey 2010). McCloskey argues that neither property rights, nor trade, nor capital investment is able to explain the rise in affluence over the past 200 years. Instead, she argues that the accordance of unconditional rights and the liberty to define own life pathways, including entrepreneurial activity, are the main factors of economic development. She writes: The crucial remaining antecedent, I claim, was a rhetorical change around 1700 concerning markets and innovations and the bourgeoisie, a rhetoric spread after 1800. It was merely a change in talking and thinking about dignity and liberty. But it was historically unique and economically powerful. (McCloskey 2010 :33; italics ours)

McCloskey argues that the bourgeoisie of England, Continental Europe, and the USA only started innovating, learning, and accumulating massive wealth once such human dignity was accorded and protected.

A New Foundation of Management Research: Dignity If dignity is so central to life, so relevant to political progress, and critical for economic wealth creation, what does the notion contain conceptually, and how did it develop historically? Hodson (2001: 3) defines dignity “as the ability to establish a sense of self-worth and self-respect and to appreciate the respect of others.” Long-standing psychological research on self-esteem suggests that the source of self-worth cannot be quantified (Deci and Ryan 1995; Harter 1983). In line with Kant, it suggests that neither self-worth nor others’ appreciation can be priced. All priceless aspects of humanity – including character, virtue, integrity (moral, physical, psychological), knowledge, wisdom, love, trust, or forgiveness – thus form part of human dignity (Hurka 2010). Since these aspects cannot be priced, the notion of dignity sidesteps the fundamental logic of exchange and thus of market economics.

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Kateb (2011) argues that the concept of dignity arises from the universal vulnerabilities human beings experience throughout life. Scholars have identified three interpretations of dignity across time (Hodson 2001; Meyer and Parent 1992; Pirson 2016). The first interpretation follows Kant’s observation and views dignity as a category of nonmarket goods of all kinds including aesthetics, nature, compassion, forgiveness, or institutions such as marriage or the Supreme Court (McCrudden 2013). The second interpretation concerns human dignity and views it as an essential attribute of human beings or human persons (inherent dignity). The third interpretation sees human dignity as an attribute that human beings earn through their actions (contingent dignity). On all three interpretations, the attribution of dignity is a normative claim. The relevance of these three interpretations of dignity to management theory and practice might be described this way: dignity represents a general category for goods and behaviors that defy the exchange logic, rather than diminish when exchanged they grow (Pirson 2016). Inherent human dignity is most salient when vulnerabilities (physical, psychological, social, economic) call for protection (in the persons of employees, managers, customers, suppliers, and other human stakeholders), while contingent dignity is most salient when the self-esteem or self-respect of persons in a business context need to be promoted (Pirson et al. 2015, 2016).

Dignity in Management Research Whereas the notion of dignity is a central topic in philosophy, Bolton (2007) suggests that it has been a central topic throughout the history of social sciences. A possible denial of dignity was a major concern in sociology. Many sociologists have studied the sources of such dignity denial: Marx focused on alienation (Marx 1906), Durkheim contemplated anomie (normlessness) as the result of economic efficiency (Marks 1974), and Weber was concerned about excessive bureaucratic rationality (Weber and Andreski 1983). In psychology, William James (McDermott 1977), Carl Rogers (1995), Erich Fromm (2000, 2001), Abraham Maslow (1954), and Martin Seligman (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2000) embraced human dignity as a vehicle so as to distance themselves from the behaviorist, deficiency-oriented model of human behavior. In economics, the notion of human dignity – independently of wealth or utility concerns – has gained increasing visibility due to the works of Amartya Sen (2001, 2002) and Martha Nussbaum (1998, 2007). Finally, in management, Mary Parker Follet (Schilling 2000), Chester Barnard (Mele 2009), Elton Mayo (1933, 1946), Frederik Herzberg (1976, 1993), and others such as the human relations movement have been concerned with the humanization of work and building more humane organizations. Psychology has inspired an increasing amount of work in management-related fields, resulting in a better understanding of the roles of self-esteem, autonomy, meaningful work, as well as justice and well-being (Cameron et al. 2003; Luthans 2002). However, this is only a recent trend and is mostly prevalent in the areas of organizational behavior and business ethics. Noted ethicist Thomas Donaldson and

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management scholar James Walsh argue in their paper on a “Toward a Theory of Business” that current theories of the firm and other neoclassical theories drive a lot of management research they were never supposed to inform questions about how to improve social welfare and thus are a fallacy of composition (Donaldson and Walsh 2015). Donaldson and Walsh (2015) draw on Amartya Sen’s proposition for two types of economic sense: “one includes the achievement of a good society, the other narrowly concerns itself with business profits and rewards (Sen 1993: 52).” While they argue that we need more research toward the former, that most of management research is dedicated to the latter notion which is indifferent to the notion of dignity. In line with this argument, Walsh, Weber, and Margolis (2003) note a sizeable deficit in management research concerning social outcomes. Highlighting the field’s indifference to human dignity, Haslam (2006) argued that management theory, along with other social sciences, has developed two forms of dehumanization: The first is based on what Haslam calls mechanistic dehumanization, and the second is based on animalistic dehumanization. While mechanistic dehumanization violates the unconditionality and universality of human dignity, animalistic dehumanization prevents the development of conditional, earned aspects of human dignity. Management theory in the form of Management Science (Taylor 1914) fundamentally violates aspects of unconditionality and universality since it instrumentalizes human beings as quasi-machines. Ford’s famous question, “Why is it that every time I ask for a pair of hands, they come with a brain attached? (Hamel 2000),” illustrates what Haslam means by mechanistic dehumanization. While Scientific Management’s legacy has been expounded on elsewhere (Khurana 2009), we note that its tradition is visible in operations management, operations research, information systems as well as strategic management, organizational behavior, and marketing, especially when people are viewed as human capital or human resources. Following Haslam (2006), management theory rarely focuses on human flourishing as the ultimate goal of organizing or what Sen referred to as “capability development” and tends to deny human uniqueness. Haslam (2006) argues that denying uniquely human attributes, such as civility, personal maturity, or moral responsibility, renders people animalistic. For instance, when human resource scholars entertain the idea of learning and development, they are more concerned with improving technical knowledge in order to increase effectiveness and efficiency (Hersey and Blanchard 1993; Huselid et al. 1997; Wexley and Latham 2001) than with morals, character, or overall human development, which would lead to human flourishing.

Dignity and the Common Good While I wish to suggest neither that management researchers are unconcerned with dignity or the achievement of a good society nor that management research in general has been indifferent to human dignity, I wish to highlight that the dominant

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economistic management approaches have left concerns about the common good, human flourishing, ethical development, social relationships, and the environment at the margins of the discipline rather than at the center. Furthermore, whenever human beings are valued primarily for their relevance to economic exchange (e.g., in the shape of human capital or as human resources), the connection between management theory and the common good becomes tenuous. Sen (1999, 2002) and Nussbaum (2003) argue that the current framework proves inadequate to confronting the most pressing issues of social justice and social welfare. They suggest that: the utilitarian framework, [..] proves inadequate to confront the most pressing issues of [..] justice. We can only have an adequate theory of [...] social justice more generally, if we are willing to make claims about fundamental entitlements that are to some extent independent of the preferences that people happen to have, preferences shaped, often, by unjust background conditions. (Nussbaum 2003: 34)

Building on the Aristotelian tradition that oikonomia is geared toward well-being creation (Dierksmeier and Pirson 2009), or as Catholic Social Thought expounds the common good (Naughton et al. 1995; Sison 2008), I draw on Amartya Sen’s notion that management research ought to be increasingly concerned with the achievement of the good society or organization (Donaldson and Walsh 2015). The works of Sen and especially Nussbaum have suggested that dignity is a cornerstone for successful capability development, and recently management scholars such as Donaldson and Walsh (2015) suggest dignity and dignity thresholds need to be basic elements for a theory of business. Business ethicists have long argued that businesses ought to shift their primary focus “away from profit generation toward human welfare and social justice” (Poruthiyil 2013: 736), which requires a focus on the protection and promotion of dignity (Bowie 1999; Pirson and Dierksmeier 2014). Humanistic management proponents similarly argue that management theory will have a stronger connection with common good creation if it focuses more strongly on human dignity. To do so we can go many routes. Following Haslam’s categorization, any research that includes notions of human uniqueness or human nature touches on dignity (see Fig. 1). As such, research on human emotions, moral development, ethical concerns, mindfulness, or personal depth will help to restore human dignity in management research to some extent. Such research is usually conducted in the fields of business ethics and, sometimes, organizational behavior. While some of this research fully acknowledges the notion of human dignity (e.g., Dutton et al. 2006), critics have referred to it as “masked form of economism” (Mele 2009: 130). For instance, research in creativity often acknowledges the importance of autonomy and social support. However, such research is often justified with the contribution to better (financial) performance (Runco 2007). While accounting for some elements of human nature and human uniqueness, such research still views human beings as instruments to the imperatives of organizational performance. Much research aims to primarily explain performance when dignity is protected and/or promoted (Walsh et al. 2003; Wright 2003), thus rendering moot Kant’s imperative.

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Fig. 1 Two forms of dignity denial. (Adapted from Haslam 2006)

To take seriously the criticism of masked economism, however, the economistic precept of the ultimate objective function needs to be examined. It is important to recall that in the words of Amartya Sen, economics has viewed social welfare as either a contribution to a good life or as the contribution toward material development (profits and wealth). While a review of the debate among welfare economists is beyond the scope of this chapter, it is important to state that social welfare in economics has traditionally been equated to material wealth increases or wealth redistribution (Fleurbaey 2009; Sugden 1993). As a result, management theory has thus legitimized the scholarly pursuit of efficiency and effectiveness. However, the link between wealth and welfare seems much more fragile. According to the classical utilitarian tradition, welfare choices are measured by the revealed preferences for tangible bundles of goods. Scholars (Nussbaum 2003; Sen 1999), however, argued that measuring capabilities would be a more accurate way to establish the extent to which well-being can be achieved (Bartelheimer and Leßmann 2012). Even the early utilitarians were concerned with increasing well-being rather than mere wealth. Mill and Bentham still viewed well-being in an encompassing manner, involving the nonmaterial, nonquantifiable, priceless aspect of life – i.e., dignity (Kateb 2011; Rosen 2012). However, owing to the mechanization processes, the understanding of utility has shifted toward wealth, that is, income at the individual level, profit at the organizational level, and gross domestic/national product at the societal level. Not only does recent empirical evidence challenge the equation of

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wealth and well-being, it – disconcertingly – highlights how wealth can crowd out well-being. Such effects are noticeable when market mechanisms supplant priceless goods that concern human dignity. To highlight this effect more directly, Frey and colleagues (Frey and Stutzer 2001; Frey 2007; Frey and Osterloh 2005) find that intrinsic motivation to help others is consistently reduced when money is paid for such activities. Similarly, people are happier in their jobs if they feel they do something intrinsically rewarding than if they are merely paid more (Salanova et al. 2006). Since Easterlin’s seminal piece (Easterlin 1974, 2001) was published, there has been an increase in research that questions the direct link between well-being and wealth (e.g., Diener and Seligman 2004; Frey and Stutzer 2001). In economics, those concerns have received widespread attention, and public policymakers have already adopted many suggestions to readjust wealth measures to well-being measures (OECD 2012). Despite its shared heritage, management theory seems as of yet rather unaffected by such focal shifts. While several management researchers over the years have suggested examining well-being outcomes as dependent variables (Spreitzer et al. 2005; Wright 2003; Wright and Staw 1999), most management research only examines well-being in the context of improving performance. Articles in management journals that examine well-being as a dependent variable are an exception. (We found three articles in AMJ that examine well-being and four that examine health as a dependent variable.) I therefore propose that management theory embrace the earlier utilitarian quest for well-being creation as an objective of research rather than that of performance and wealth creation. Management research would thus go back to the Aristotelian roots of economics and management and embrace the perspectives provided by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum.

Alternative Modes for Management Research Humanistic management scholars propose that the connection between management theory and the common good be re-examined conceptually and that various alternative archetypes of management theory can be developed. These archetypes allow researchers to gain a clearer picture of the precepts and underlying assumptions concerning the role of human dignity as well as a better understanding of the common good. In addition to a conceptual clarification, archetypes allow the proposition of alternative pillars for management research. This chapter will only outline the basic precepts of alternative management research in line with the recent work by Donaldson and Walsh (2015) who propose a dignity-based theory of business. I thus focus on reconceptualizing management theory according to two basic precepts: (1) the role of human dignity and (2) the notion of the common good as either wealth or well-being. Emanating from the unconditional aspects of human dignity, management theory can be conceptualized according to whether it is (a) indifferent to or (b) concerned with human dignity (protection). Owing to the conditional aspects of human dignity, management theory can also be conceptualized according to (c) whether or not it promotes dignity-related capabilities.

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Table 2 Archetypes of management theorizing Archetypes of management theorizing Welfare understood as Wealth Creation Well-being creation

Role of dignity Indifference Protection Economism (A1) Paternalism (A4)

Bounded economism (A2) Bounded humanism (A5)

Promotion Enlightened economism (A3) Humanism (A6)

A second conceptual distinction among alternative management theories stems from the different notions of social welfare and utility. While utility is usually conceptualized as wealth creation, it was originally understood as well-being creation. These differences are reflected in the alternative management research archetypes proposed below (see Table 2). In general, human dignity can (a) be denied or (b) protected and (c) promoted. The denial of human dignity over history has led to coordinated efforts to protect it (i.e., the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights). While the protection of human dignity is a necessary step for human development, many scholars have focused on how human dignity can be achieved through emotional, moral, and character development (Alzola 2008; Decety and Meyer 2008; Harris 1997; Haslam 2006). Following Sen (2001; Sugden 1993), I argue that the protection of dignity is a necessary condition for dignity promotion. Similarly, dignity protection is a necessary step in common good creation because any value created for a human being without considering their humanity can “make a happy house swine” but not a fulfilled human being (Chan and Bowpitt 2005; Waterman 1990). While dignity protection (possibly in the form of dignity thresholds) is necessary for any theory of management to promote the common good, the promotion of dignity would be a central element in the development of capabilities as Nussbaum (2011) argues. Donaldson and Walsh (2015) argue that dignity exists on a continuum and its development is crucial to achieve eudaimonia. I argue therefore that dignity promotion would thus be a sufficient condition for common good creation (Sen 2001). I will now highlight some of the precepts of specific modes of management theorizing that will shed new light on the connection between management theory and the common good. I suggest that there are three distinctive forms of economistic management theory which may either (1) ignore the notion of human dignity or (2) be based on the protection and (3) the promotion of human dignity. The economistic forms of management theory will embrace that the common good be understood as wealth creation or profit generation at the firm level. In turn I propose three distinctive forms of humanistic management theory that either (1) ignore the notion of human dignity or (2) be based on the protection and (3) the promotion of human dignity. The humanistic forms of management theory will embrace that social welfare be understood as well-being creation at the firm level. Such well-being creation encompasses more than material benefits to various stakeholders but includes notions of spiritual, physical, psychological, social,

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financial, and environmental well-being. In turn, I label each of the six modes of theorizing, illustrate their conceptual distinctiveness, and present examples from current management research to highlight their various qualities.

Economistic Archetypes of Management Research Archetype 1: The notion of dignity does not play a role in management theory Archetype 1, which I label economism. Similar to prevailing management theory, economism is indifferent to human dignity. As a result, human beings are mostly considered a resource with which to achieve efficiency and effectiveness. In Archetype 1, welfare is understood as wealth creation. As a result, all activities that contribute to wealth creation are part of its theoretical underpinnings. Walsh, Weber, and Margolis (2003) suggest that much of the research conducted within the Business Policy and Strategy (BPS) field of AOM corresponds with this archetype. Similarly the domain statement of the Human Resource Division highlights its dedication to “a better understanding of how work organizations can perform more effectively by better management of their human resources” (http://aom.org/Divi sions-and-Interest-Groups/Academy-of-Management-Division%2D%2D-InterestGroup-Domain-Statements.aspx). A typical research question within this archetype would, for instance, concern the effective use of strategic human resource practices to enhance company performance (Collins and Clark 2003). At an extreme level, the study of human resource use to enhance company performance could involve sweatshop labor or even slavery, for instance (Rosenthal 2013). As noted, utilitarianism does not accord rights and dignity universally. It is therefore unsurprising that management theories often resemble the same techniques used by slave owners (Rosenthal 2014). In her latest work, business historian Caitlin Rosenthal (2014) found that many advanced management techniques – for instance, regarding rewards – were already in place in the southern plantations of the USA. According to Rosenthal, slave owners started keeping records of their trade as early as 1750 and tested the effects of diet, workplace conditions, or job rotation on slaves’ productivity. Similar to Taylor, slavers experimented with ways to increase labor productivity and studied the effects of incentives at the individual and group levels. Rosenthal states that these accounting techniques already reduced slaves to “human capital,” devoid of dignity. While I do not suggest that research conducted in this framework actively endorses such dignity denial, I wish to point out that the framework’s paradigmatic indifference to human dignity significantly weakens the contribution of management research to the common good and societal betterment. Archetype 2: Management theory Archetype 2 – bounded economism – focuses on the protection of human dignity, while the overall aim is still wealth creation. Theorizing in this archetype accepts the relevance of the legal strictures and cultural norms that protect human rights and focuses on related phenomena’s effects on wealth creation. Following Haslam (2006), researching the effects of mechanistic dehumanization on wealth creation along with the drivers of inertness, coldness,

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rigidity, passivity, and superficiality falls into this archetype. Furthermore, this archetype also involves research on the effects of (re)conceptualizing human nature on the basis of wealth creation via emotional responsiveness, interpersonal warmth, cognitive openness, agency, and personal depth. Such research could consider the impact of emotions, compassion, mindfulness, entrepreneurial activity, and character on financial performance. While many of these topics are of interest to organizational behavior research, they are almost always presented in a manner that justifies company performance as a relevant dependent variable. As Walsh, Weber, and Margolis (2003: 867) suggest, organizational behavior research often adopts the dominant search for financial performance to legitimize a human dignity-related research focus: The economic objectives of management have found a comfortable place in the world of organization and management studies. Overstating the case, so as to bring the critique into sharp relief, it can be said that organization and management scholars either line up squarely behind the economic objectives of the firm (BPS), reframe their interests to reflect an economic logic (HRM), graft their work to this economic logic (OB), or simply ignore the effects of the firm on society (OMT).

As one example among many, Luthans, Norman, Avolio, and Avey (2008) study the effects of psychological capital on employee performance. While Archetype 2 forms of management research are very legitimate, the findings will provide less insight into broader societal concerns. Archetype 3: The notion of dignity plays a more dominant role in management theory Archetype 3, enlightened/masked economism. Within this archetype, management theory not only embraces human dignity but attempts to understand how it can be developed and promoted. However, within Archetype 3, such dignity promotion is examined within the organizing goals of wealth creation. As such, only efforts to promote dignity that effectively support wealth creation are included in such theorizing. Mele (2009) suggests that such efforts occur when studying more developed economies or higher-status professionals that tend to rely more on individual creativity for economic success. Following Haslam (2006), research that examines how animalistic dehumanization and the restoration of human uniqueness affect wealth creation would fall into this archetype. Such theorizing would involve all the different aspects that hamper dignity development, such as uncivil treatment, coarseness, amorality, a lack of self-restraint, instinct-based behavior, and personal immaturity. It would also involve all aspects that restore human uniqueness by fostering civility, refinement, moral sensibility, reason, and maturity (see Fig. 1). Research conducted within the Academy of Management’s divisions of social issues in management (SIM), gender and diversity in organizations (GDO), organizations and the natural environment (ONE), or organizational behavior (OB) is partially relevant. For example, when examining the role of civility in the form of stakeholder management or organizational culture, some research decidedly focuses on the connection between such dignity-promoting/dignity-demoting activities and their impacts on financial performance. Berman et al. (1999) examine, for instance, how different approaches to stakeholder management (strategic and intrinsic) impact

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firms’ financial performance. Sharma and Vredenburg (1998) highlight how the development of moral and sustainability-related capabilities in firms can support competitive advantages. Richard et al. (2004) examine how the management of diversity leads to better financial performance.

Humanistic Archetypes of Management Theory Archetype 4: Dignity plays no role in management theory Archetype 4, paternalism. However, Archetype 4 theorizing’s overall goal is to support well-being creation. While this might seem counterintuitive, many paternalistic, caring practices have arguably deprived people of their self-determination, liberty, and dignity. Alston and Ferrie (1993) define paternalism as an implicit contract in which workers trade faithful service for nonmarket goods (welfare). They suggest that paternalism reduced monitoring and turnover costs in cotton cultivation in the US South until the mechanization of the cotton harvest in the 1950s (1993). While this archetype is most prevalent in welfare economics, it is also reflected in the management area, for instance, in cross-cultural research. Puffer and McCarthy (2001) examine the role of paternalistic attitudes in a study on entrepreneurship in Russia. Similarly, Kelley and Reeser (1973) find vestiges of paternalistic culture in US managers of Japanese descent. Matten and Moon (2008) theorize why there are different approaches toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and suggest that paternalistic cultural legacies explain the role of explicit vs. implicit CSR attitudes. The study of leadership and mentoring presents similar cultural effects (Ansari et al. 2007; Chen and Miller 2010; Hunt and Michael 1983). Furthermore, Archetype 4 theorizing is applied in research on dignity-unrelated effects on well-being (Lombach and Meurling 2013). Examples of this are research examining status-related or well-being-related outcomes that use homo oeconomicus assumptions for modeling (Bothner et al. 2011; Kasser and Ahuvia 2002). Archetype 5: In Archetype 5 – bounded humanism – management theory operates according to the assumptions that human dignity is protected and that the overall aim of organizing is well-being creation. While dignity is protected, it is not actively promoted. While Archetype 5 managerial activities will not endanger physical, psychological, or social well-being, these activities are not geared toward capability development or the development of responsibility. Research following management theory Archetype 5 accepts the relevance of legal strictures and the cultural norms protecting human rights and examines how related phenomena affect well-being creation. Following Haslam (2006), research that examines the effects of mechanistic dehumanization on well-being along the drivers of inertness, coldness, rigidity, passivity, and superficiality would fall into this archetype. Furthermore, research examining the effects of reestablishing human nature – via emotional responsiveness, interpersonal warmth, cognitive openness, agency, and personal depth – on well-being is exemplary of Archetype 5. Such research may investigate how emotions, compassion, mindfulness, entrepreneurial activity, and character affect well-being.

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The works of members in the Critical Management Studies (CMS) can fall into Archetype 5 as they criticize Archetypes 1 to 4 as dehumanizing. The CMS domain statement highlights that: CMS serves as a forum for the expression of views critical of established management practices and the established social order. Our premise is that structural features of contemporary society, such as the profit imperative, patriarchy, racial inequality, and ecological irresponsibility often turn organizations into instruments of domination and exploitation.

Aktouf (1992) criticizes the economistic assumptions of management theory and argues for a radical humanism. Ghoshal and Moran (1996) present an argument why the economistic basis of management theory such as transaction cost theory is bad for practice. Raelin (2011) questions the effects of managerial activity and postulates the end of managerial control. Similarly, studies on the effects of workplace bullying related to well-being fall into this category (Barker et al. 2005; Sutton 2007). When the purview of research extends to the well-being creation of outside stakeholders, the areas of normative stakeholder management, nonprofit management, and public administration often also fall into this archetype. Archetype 6: The notion of dignity plays an elevated role in management theory Archetype 6, humanism. Not only does it focus on dignity protection, Archetype 6 theorizing also actively contributes to dignity promotion and is geared toward well-being creation. Organizational success is part and parcel of personal and stakeholder development. According to Haslam (2006), research on the effects of animalistic dehumanization and the restoration of human uniqueness on well-being fall into this archetype. Such theorizing would include all phenomena that hinder dignity development, such as uncivil treatment, coarseness, amorality, a lack of selfrestraint, instinct-based behavior, and personal immaturity. However, it would also involve all attempts to restore human uniqueness by means of fostering civility, refinement, moral sensibility, reason, and maturity. Within Archetype 6, research relevance is justified by its societal benefits or stakeholder well- being creation. Research in the budding fields of social entrepreneurship and social business fall into this archetype (e.g., Dacin et al. 2010; Mair and Marti 2006). Any research that focuses on developing responsibility toward all societal stakeholders in addition to the protection of human rights falls into this theoretical archetype (Carroll 1991; Waddock 2008). An interest in Sen’s capability development approach and its application in organizations is also reflective of Archetype 6 research (e.g., Bartelheimer and Leßmann 2012; Canton 2012).

Shifting Toward a Humanistic Paradigm As a second step toward strengthening the contribution of management theory with the common good/well-being, I suggest that concerned researchers enhance ongoing efforts to shift toward the remaining archetypes (2/3; 5/6) that embrace the notion of human dignity by either protecting or promoting it. Whereas a transition toward

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Archetypes 2 and 3 seems more feasible, given the current paradigmatic and institutional structures, a transition to Archetypes 5 and 6, although more challenging, is even more relevant (Pirson 2017). A transition toward Archetypes 2 and 3 can occur within the current economistic framework. If applying Archetype 2 theorizing, management research would embrace bounded economism. It would seek to protect human dignity and investigate breaches of such dignity and its consequences for productivity or performance. Wealth creation and its derivatives, including company performance, financial returns, etc., would remain within the overarching notion of welfare. A transition toward Archetype 2 theorizing would require a decided focus on the aspects of dignity related to human nature. All the aspects of life that are intrinsically valued but cannot be exchanged or priced need to be included as central elements. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights could be a starting point (especially articles 1 to 4 as well as 18 to 24) for such theorizing. Adopting Archetype 3 theorizing would require a clear focus on the promotion of human dignity. Specifically, Archetype 3 theorizing focuses on earned, conditional aspects of dignity, includes notions of human uniqueness (Fig. 1), and employs a capability development approach (Sen). Theorizing can materialize in the complementation of human rights perspective (Archetype 2) with a human responsibility focus (Waddock 2008; Waddock et al. 2002). Such responsibilities need to be developed, and the level of analysis can span the individual, group, organization, and society. While the examination of human dignity’s effects on wealth creation remains the primary objective, the social welfare connection is stronger in this archetype. The pragmatic benefit of transitioning toward Archetypes 2 and 3 is that the epistemological requirements for such theorizing would fall within the dominant understanding of science as empiricism. It is possible and recommendable that all aspects concerning dignity protection as well as dignity promotion are quantified and, wherever possible, priced (quasi-priced). Such a transition would allow for a convincing presentation of how these aspects affect wealth creation, financial performance, or company performance. It would also avoid a normative debate on firms’ purpose and could legitimize management theory while increasing social welfare. A further step would entail an ever more challenging transition to heed what many leading economists have suggested: focusing more directly on increases in well-being outcomes as a welfare measure (Fleurbaey 2009; Sachs 2005; Stiglitz 2013). In that vein, Nussbaum and Sen state that they prefer procedural approaches – such as stakeholder dialogues on the relevant notions of dignity and capability development – to measuring such concepts quantitatively (Nussbaum 2003). Dierksmeier (2011b) calls this approach procedural humanism: a form of interaction and discourse that allows voices to be heard and does not impose any preconceived goals. Accordingly, these procedural approaches will be more effective in yielding social welfare. Based on this perspective, we suggest that theorizing in Archetypes 5 and 6 will allow for the most direct connection between management theory and social welfare.

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Adopting Archetype 5 theorizing would entail embracing bounded humanism. Archetype 5 theorizing would clearly focus on the aspects of dignity related to human nature (Fig. 1) while examining well-being as an outcome variable. Archetype 5 theorizing involves challenges concerning theory building because, in most cases, conceptual and possibly qualitative case study research will need to be conducted before embarking on quantitative research. Quantitative research, however, could possibly be conducted within nonprofit organizations, social enterprises, for-benefit organizations, or public agencies. Similar to Archetype 2, the oversimplification of dignity-related variables via quantification or pricing can violate the fundamental notion of dignity as intrinsically valuable. Adopting Archetype 6 theorizing would embrace a fully humanist perspective. It would require a clear focus on the promotion of human dignity while examining well-being outcomes. Promoting dignity-related theorizing involves earned, conditional aspects of dignity, aspects of human uniqueness (Fig. 1), and the notion of capability development (Sen 2001). Such theorizing can materialize in the complementation of the human rights perspective (Archetype 5) with a focus on human responsibility. Human responsibilities need to be developed, and the level of analysis can span the individual, group, organization, or society. Nussbaum’s (2003) list as well as the human rights-related aspects of organizational life can be used as a starting point for such research. Archetype 6 theorizing offers the strongest connection between management theory and well-being creation, since it focuses not only on how we can protect those aspects of life that are intrinsically valuable but also on how we can increase such value. Theorizing in Archetypes 5 and 6, like theorizing in Archetypes 2 and 3, faces a similar challenge in terms of their conceptual foundation for human nature. In addition, both Archetypes 5 and 6 require a concerted effort to conceptually as well as empirically clarify different outcome measures. Some research has been conducted to conceptualize well-being in areas such as economics, business ethics, the philosophy of management, or the normatively oriented streams of OB and SIM. Well-being, as an outcome variable, is multifaceted, as is dignity. Archetypes 5 and 6 theorizing thus present a challenge to the reductionist, empiricist approach to science prevalent in current management research. Another challenge involves making a concerted effort to broadening our epistemological basis. Archetypes 5 and 6 pose a final challenge involving the necessary reengagement with ethics and the normative side of research.

Conclusion In an increasingly complex world, the physicalist, reductionist model of management theory is becoming less suitable to provide relevant insights. It may be time that management researchers realize that we are caught in paradigmatic traps. This contribution traced the historical development of management theory and its economistic core. I suggest that management theorists should reflect on the conceptual lack of reductionist utilitarianism, that is, the indifference to human dignity.

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Humanistic management scholars argue that the notion of dignity represents a missing link to the quest for social welfare and the public good. Humanistic management scholars suggest that the ultimate objective of management is wellbeing creation, not wealth creation. Based on the ideas of dignity and well-being, I have proposed alternative conceptualizations of management research. As such the chapter intends to add a conceptual stepping stone in the overall quest to rethink the way we think about organizing to care and protect our common home. These paradigmatic premises can also guide management practice, pedagogy, and policy.

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Orneita Burton, Seonhee Jeong, and Samantha Hill

Contents Introduction: Photovoice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . People Objects (Fig. 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Misdirected Impact of Object-Based Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Object-Based Thinking in Religious Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Object-Based Thinking as a Management Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Object-Based Thinking in Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Object-Based Thinking and Genetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Nature of Object-Based Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Object-Based Thinking and Standards of Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Object-Based Design Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Role of Object Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . People Objects in Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Prison Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Objects by Choice: Personal and Professional Sacrifice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary, Future Research, and Communities of Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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The topic of well-being and flourishing is a dual-sided story that often communicates benefits enjoyed by one group without sharing the associated costs levied on others. Such costs are rarely revealed by those who have no voice, opportunity, or desire to communicate details describing their experiences on the other side of the well-being equation. As such, this work invites a conversation around O. Burton (*) · S. Hill Abilene Christian University, Abilene, TX, USA e-mail: [email protected] S. Jeong Wittenberg University, Springfield, OH, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_45

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well-being and human flourishing that communicates a personal, inner language using stories of people viewed as objects within the mainstream society. Object theory has been used to explain how physical objects can inform us of a past reality, whether the existence of a societal condition or an historical event. In a broader description, object relations theory has been applied extensively in psychoanalytic psychology to explain both the process of developing a psyche in relation to others and, by adding psychodynamic and shadow self theories, better understand how people relate to others and situations in their lives as shaped by perceptions and past experiences. In this study, we use stories, the extant literature, and real-life experiences captured using Photovoice as a research approach to personify object theory and apply it to people today who represent objects in institutions and societies. The topic is of interest in management as an adverse organizational condition that can erode authenticity and create structural bias in business settings which can inadvertently extend to business practices and decisions. We use this concept to explain a central shortcoming in management that hinders the productivity of organizations when leaders subjugate people as objects for the good of the organization. We offer an alternative view of the spiritual relationships that can exist between people in community that serves to develop healthy business environments and improve organizational outcomes. Keywords

Object theory · Human objects · Social structure · Dark spirituality · Shadow self · Photovoice

Introduction: Photovoice Strong subjective involvement is a powerful motivator for acquiring an objective approach to the study of phenomena. Fred N. Kerlinger, 1985 (Kerlinger and Lee 2000)

The relevance of empirical research is that stories or details of a person’s life are often not captured through observation or communicated effectively through academic language or analysis. This often is the case when such people exist not as persons in society but as objects of use (or abuse) within a culture or social structure. As a result, personal truths may not be fully expressed or described properly using the words that are common in academic research. Instead, their stories must be captured using alternative media of expression and reported using visualizations that include the words of the storyteller. A major challenge in revealing truth through research is to identify appropriate methods that capture details and traits that are difficult to observe and measure. As such, there is a hidden dichotomy of spiritual well-being in the assessment of truth by allowing those affected by a societal condition to tell their own stories. Therefore, to describe the people and the processes involved in defining and creating people objects, we suggest a research approach commonly employed in psychology.

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Photovoice is a qualitative method used for community-based participatory research to document and reflect reality (Carlson et al. 2006; Cataloni and Minkler 2010; Foster-Fishman et al. 2005; Freire 1970; Nykiforuk et al. 2011; Wang and Burris 1997; Wang et al. 2000). It is an empowering and flexible process that combines photography with grassroots social action and is commonly used in the fields of psychology, community development, international development, public health, and education. Participants contributing to this area of research include community members of all ages and social status, particularly those who have been treated as objects because of language, gender, race, class, disability, and other distinctions. Through contributed artifacts that add personal relevance to their experiences, they bring new insights and perspectives which raise awareness to hidden or overlooked issues in society.

People Objects (Fig. 1) To my mother, who, after many years since her passing, continues to live a good life through her children. “Both my mother and father attended school up to the 9th grade. At that point, they were old enough to work away from home and did so by working in cotton fields as sharecroppers, with my mother earning extra money by caring for the child of a local white family. My mother’s desire for freedom developed when she learned that working for a white family implied ownership of her time which subjugated her family’s needs to their wishes. My mother’s first child died at an early age, but not from natural causes. While caring for the Fig. 1 Photovoice Object Story No. 1

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white family’s child, my mother gave birth to her first son. She therefore needed time to feed and take care of her own child. However, the wife of the white family insisted that my mother continue to take care of her child. When my mother refused, the wife called the police, claiming that my mother had stolen a piece of jewelry from her. Without an investigation, they placed my mother in jail and set a bond she could not afford. No one remembers how long my mother was there before my father was able to convince those who had a voice in society to speak on my mother’s behalf. When she was finally released, her baby had suffered from lack of nourishment, and never recovered from her absence.”

The mother referenced in this quote understood very well the shaping of a life lived as an object of labor. In her world, being an object implied four realities: Ownership – lack of freedom of choice Sacrifice – of personal time and interests “Voicelessness” – inability to speak on one’s own behalf; lack of recognition in society; not being heard Invisibility – to not exist or be regarded as a person; without consideration of basic human values or needs

In fact, this repeated form of subjecting people to life-changing conditions to benefit another – whether person, organization, or country – continues today, with stories such as those shared by migrants held in detainee facilities at the Otay Mesa Detention Center near San Diego, CA. The familiarity of one such story is strikingly similar in communicating the impact on infants when separated from their mothers. In one account, the reporter writes about a similar instance of a woman who was not able to breastfeed her baby when the child was born (Pettit 2019; Fig. 2).

Misdirected Impact of Object-Based Thinking Dehumanizing people and framing situations where vulnerable people become objects of use or abuse for personal or political reasons are all too common in what should be a civil society. Both fathers and, increasingly, mothers make up a Fig. 2 Photovoice Object Story No. 2

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large percentage of the US prison population who are processed by the justice system as criminals and, in referring to migrant detainees, “locked inside a concrete box, with no oversight” (comment by Brooks in Pettit 2019). Because such a large percentage of the adult population in the United States is being incarcerated, we now have an epidemic in the absence of child care that has restructured the nation into a system of organizations identified as alternative family structures. Unfortunately, a number of these organizations exist by taking advantage of government or state-funded foster care programs. As such, a growing percentage of people are experiencing a real-life form of becoming objects in a world that commoditizes human life. Lauretta Charlton (Charlton 2019) discussed a recent article published by Amy Harmon, a Pulitzer winner and National correspondent, in response to Nobelwinning biologist James D. Watson’s views that blacks are genetically inferior and therefore less intelligent than whites. Harmon’s interpretation of Dr. Watson’s beliefs is that evolution “may not have acted upon cognitive traits in African populations the same way it did in populations that left Africa.” In other words, Dr. Watson believed there are genetic differences in African people that hinder the development of intelligence. Harmon states that such views persist and are based on data from IQtype tests that show lower than average scores among blacks. In related research, Harmon’s statements are supported by scientists today who believe that IQ differences arise from nongenetic causes such as environmental differences, family wealth, access to education, nutrition, as well as socio-emotional influences that develop when living in a racist society. Considering that measured differences in IQ scores do exist, and lower scores have been associated with African American populations, a better understanding of influences of a causal nature should be considered that link lower performance, not to birth traits, but to African and African American societal experiences. As the stories captured in the photos suggest, while some groups are manipulated for personal, political, and even material gain, the mechanisms of the process, i.e., how people are effectively treated as objects of scorn, rests within the confines of a shadow social structure. Carl Jung (1938) describes the psychology of the “shadow self” which projects dark and even inferior traits on targeted people (the observed), while such darkness actually exists within the character of the observer.

Object-Based Thinking in Religious Context What is particularly troubling is that these perceptions often develop and are supported under the auspices of religious institutions and communities of thought. Much of Jung’s work in the area of psychoanalysis describes what he regards as an “authentic religious function in the unconscious mind,” where people practice racism under the belief that it is appropriate, while others ignore racism and, in doing so, enable it (Aziz 1990; Jung 1960). As such, the notion of a “shadow self” emerges which Jung describes as follows (Fig. 3):

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Fig. 3 Photovoice Object Story No. 3, KKK religious organization, Saalfeld 1984 The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge. (Jung 1951)

The “shadow” concept describes those aspects of the personality that we choose to reject and repress (Othon 2017b). Othon offers further clarification: For one reason or another, we all have parts of ourselves that we don’t like—or that we think society won’t like—so we push those parts down into our unconscious psyches. It is this collection of repressed aspects of our identity that (is referred) to as our shadow.

Rather than acknowledge and confront traits we don’t particularly like about ourselves or those within our social circle, our mind pretends that such attributes do not exist within ourselves or within certain ethnic communities. Tendencies towards “aggression, unacceptable mental images, shameful experiences, immoral urges, fears, irrational wishes, unacceptable desires” are all examples of shadow aspects or traits people harbor but do not admit that they exist within themselves or their religious (or peer) group (Othon 2017a). Although the rational response to a shadow self is to acknowledge its existence and take actions to hinder its expression, the more common practice of unaddressed behavior among protected and/or religious communities often result in a projection of personal darkness on other more vulnerable populations. Such dark traits are often projected on people through racism – in particular, African Americans – and generally those who walk through society with no personal voice and stereotypical characterizations. They are regarded as objects within society, the effects of which invariably seed performance and behavior problems in

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African American populations, as measured within academic and psycho-social systems. The long-term effect is a population or populations of people who bear the cost and suffering that occurs when the outcomes of dark behavior are reckoned with in society. Othon (2017b) sites other common examples of shadow behavior: 1. A tendency for harsh judgment of others. 2. Pointing out one’s own insecurities as flaws in another (e.g., see reports of Internet trolls calling authors and commentators “stupid,” “moron,” “idiot,” “untalented,” “brainwashed,” and so on. 3. A quick temper with people in subordinate positions of power. 4. Frequently playing the “victim” of every situation. Three additional traits are particularly dangerous and harmful to those who are deemed objects through racial prejudice: 5. A willingness to step on others to achieve one’s own ends. People often celebrate their own greatness without acknowledging times that they may have cheated others to get to their success. You can see this happen on the micro level as people vie for position in checkout lines and cut each other off in traffic. On the macro level, corporations rig policy in their favor to gain tax cuts at the expense of the lower classes. (Othon 2017b)

6. Unacknowledged biases and prejudices. People naturally form assumptions about others based on both appearance and personality. However, assumptions can easily be taken too far, leading to a form of “toxic” prejudice. With so much recent social pressure to eradicate prejudice, people often find it easier to “pretend” that they’re not racist/homophobic/xenophobic/ sexist, etc., than to do the deep work to acknowledge, override, or offset particularly destructive internal stereotypes. 7. A messiah complex. Othon states that some religious people think they’re so “enlightened” that they can do no wrong. They construe everything they do as an effort to “save” others – to help them “see the light.” Although this is actually an example of “spiritual bypassing,” it is merely another manifestation of the shadow self. Manifestations of the shadow self have made objects of people from a variety of demographic populations. Whether by race, gender, socioeconomic status, citizenship, age, disability and more, people functioning as participants in a natural social design have become objects and thus subject to the financial, political, or spiritual aggrandizements of others. Although many reasons can be cited to why such actions occur in a civilized society, a theoretical framework of perspectives suggests realities of what it means to exist on the lower rungs of an object-based society.

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Object-Based Thinking as a Management Concept Biblical references quoted within a business context can be misinterpreted and believed to imply a power hierarchy based on the slave-master reference: 5

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. 9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.” Ephesians 6:5-8 (NIV)

Business leaders, particularly those that associate management practice with religious or spiritual practice, have referenced this passage in defining employeremployee relationships as they inform and validate the positioning of people. Unfortunately, such positioning has limited upward mobility and marginalized some employees based on gender and color. Females in business settings may be particularly familiar with its application of comparing family with organizational roles, since scripture is, at times, co-opted to recognize or highlight implied value as derived from positions of “lower” service (e.g., as wife, secretary, custodian). This positioning of people forms hierarchies that indicate either advantage or disadvantage in business. As such, social, financial, or other value rankings define status where people are viewed as objects, less than human, and at times even less than animals, where social lines place people at lower levels when compared to other sentient beings. This reference to people as objects has been shared in the extant literature as resulting from internalized images of power, originating from the initial defining of social structures (Hyman 1942; Cropanzano and Mitchell 2005). Such structures are created with great intentionality and form a social hierarchy where leaders are viewed as demigods, thus endowed with innate rights and power, while others fall to lower levels in the social structure to exist as objects or lesser beings. As a result, such power justifies tendencies to designate other people as lower beings, possessions, or property. Although such “positioning” is certainly promoted in current media and film making, these views existed long ago, with some originating from the early days of religion and religious traditions that elevate religious affiliation above the value that is inherent as created beings. As such, positioning is prevalent in organizations that embrace religious practice. The reference to Biblical scripture and history suggests an approval of the slavemaster relationship as it exists in secular streams. However, comparing master slave relationships in Biblical times to the coercive relationships and slavery that existed in the United States in the 1700s and 1800s is like comparing a wife to a concubine or, even more so, simply a crass association. However, from a spiritual perspective, people at every level are valued both in social and business relationships. Although scripture suggests that some traits,

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although man-made, are implied realities where power and status could position people unequally, such relationships do not give license to behave in inappropriate, albeit non-spiritual ways towards those under such authority. When we consider verse 9 of Ephesians 6, we see a stark contrast in positioning that adds another level of authority and power in place, where an expectation in how we regard people is established, despite rank and position: 9

And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. Ephesians 6:9 (NIV)

Although the passage as quoted warns against treatment that subjugates another person for personal benefit, verse 9 is often read as an option and afterthought in business settings.

Object-Based Thinking in Theory Object-based thinking has been explored and theorized in the psychology literature. In psychoanalytic psychology, object relations theory (ORT) is described as the process of “developing a psyche, or a way of thinking about my life in the world, in relation to others in the environment” (Greenberg and Mitchell 1983). According to ORT, psyche is believed to develop during childhood. Thus, object relations theory in more specific terms is the process of developing a psyche in relation to others in the environment during childhood. Based on psychodynamic theory (Bienenfeld 2006), object relations theory suggests that the way people relate to others and situations in their adult lives is shaped by family experiences during infancy. For example, an adult who experienced neglect or abuse in infancy would expect similar behavior from others who remind them of the neglectful or abusive parent from their past. These images of people and events turn into objects in the subconscious that the “self” carries into adulthood and are, in our unconscious state, used to predict people’s behavior in their social relationships and interactions (Modell 2012). Psychodynamics, also regarded as psychodynamic psychology in its broadest sense, is an approach to psychology that emphasizes the systematic study of psychological forces that underlie human behavior, feelings, and emotions and how they might relate to early experience. It is especially related to the dynamic connections between conscious motivation and unconscious motivation when studied within the nature of specific topics around the effects from psycho-social issues such as racism (e.g., depression, aspirations in achievement, identity barriers and confusion, anger, shadow self-projection) (Giamo et al. 2012; Hoggard et al. 2012; Othon 2017a; Porcerelli et al. 2006). The term psychodynamics is also used by some to refer specifically to the psychoanalytical approach developed by Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and his followers. Freud was inspired by the theory of thermodynamics and used the term

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psychodynamics to describe the processes of the mind as flows of “psychological energy (libido or psi)” in an organically complex brain (Bowlby 1999). Although these and many more works make significant contributions to the study of psychology, unfortunately, such empirically derived theoretical insights are limited by the same conceptual limitations that motivate this work. When objects tell their own stories, outcomes and explanations are grounded in experiential truth. Without this depth of insight, theories lack enough empirical reality and, instead, focus on the pathology (Tyson 2002). Others claim this void lacks consideration of key cultural aspects and their influence on personality development (Giamo et al. 2012; Hoggard et al. 2012). Perhaps Dr. Watson, as presented in the introduction of this chapter, had a Freudian view of life as framed by a dominant culture (Friedman and Schustack 2011). However, empirical evidence as suggested by the mother introduced in this article presents another view not typically integrated within the social science of psychology. As such, we propose considering that there is in fact a created order intended to guide the development of a supportive environment to promote the healthy intellectual development of people, and particularly children. Although proposed, what we see in fact is that this created order must already be understood to some extent, as those who craft theories do so to frame societal structures to their advantage. In other words, there must first be voices of power and position who understand how to make an object out of a created being.

Object-Based Thinking and Genetics “. . . I believe we are a family genetically structured by God’s initial design, and not by social evolution. As such, we have gifts and personality/character traits conducive to bringing about God’s purpose as we participate in society. Mothers. . . have a strong desire for her children to be educated, believing that education would bring a level of freedom and opportunities for her children that, in their generation, were not generally available. . . This intentionality of limited access existed because of structural racism: a system that gives to some and limits or often takes away from others.”

The mother in the first story was a champion for education. Wisdom literature speaks to such positioning as being divinely placed where certain learning traits developed naturally for her children as they lived in a rural environment. Empirical evidence suggests that genetics does not limit the development of intelligence in a family based on race. Therefore, there is no reason to believe that intellectual outcomes are based on internal measures (i.e., genetics) of people of any color (Fig. 4). Race is an external construct that provides people – who desire them – with unfounded and easily referenced opportunities to lift up their own reference group and marginalize the abilities of other ethnicities by making broad generalizations of who people are based on a single trait, the color of a person’s skin (Giamo et al. 2012; Hoggard et al. 2012; Hyman 1942).

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Fig. 4 Photovoice Object Story. Family member from Object Story No. 1

Family values are best captured by the following quote from Pearl S. Beck as the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize in literature in 1938. They represent the spirit of family, as embraced by parents and lived out by siblings: If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday. (Buck 1938)

The Nature of Object-Based Thinking The following details are taken from, “How Objects Speak” (Miller 2014). In it, a true object is described based on both its physical and referenced characteristics as part of a social order (Fig. 5). Item: Milk can Material: Aluminum Size: Diameter 32 cm, height of the main part 51 cm, and the upper part 15 cm Date: 1940? Location: Warsaw, Poland. “This particular piece of the past has the form of a milk can, or at least that is what we are told—though from its corroded, pitted surface we might not have recognized it (Also because in our world, milk is not delivered in such cans). It’s the kind of thing that one might have found rooting around in a barn or in some overgrown glen by the side of a disused road. We happen to know, however, that this was one of two such cans dug up in Warsaw on December 1, 1950. The object could, I suppose, be of interest to those seeking the material culture of everyday life in Poland in the 1940s—the type of urn and metal could point to a specific manufacturer, and the spot it was found, maybe, could tell us something about how milk was distributed. Yet a different kind of archaeology is needed to unlock the meaning of such objects. For this can is one of the receptacles into which the secret Jewish self-archiving

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Fig. 5 Photovoice Object Story: Antique Milk Can

operation in the Warsaw Ghetto, the Oneg Shabbat (Sabbath Joy) Archive, sought to leave its documents to posterity.” (Miller 2014)

Object-Based Thinking and Standards of Comparison The nature of an object is identified by its physical description as captured by the observer or author of a story. When objects are described, they are often introduced to the reader through the purpose by which they serve or, more so, the function they serve as they relate to humanity or, specifically, a “human” society. Similarly, the nature of people as objects can also be captured in descriptions that associate them with the function they are perceived to serve by others. Note that objects have functional descriptions; however, identities associated with humans or the humans themselves are not described by function. This reality is captured in the descriptions of dolls shown in the set of photos below. Note that the photos are similar in that they both represent dolls for sale in an antique store. However, note the wording in each description (Figs. 6 and 7): Although the first doll “Lexey” is identified as a child doll, “Rosie Mae” in the second photo is identified as a “black” child. As represented in the description of the Warsaw milk can, objects carry descriptors that are not present when referring to a human, particularly when one group-type serves as the basis for comparing all other people. As such, there is no need to describe the standard which serves as the mold for others of its kind. The problem with standards of comparison has existed and continues to exist in many cultures and locations. Nonetheless, standards of comparison are not always based on ethnicity. Susan Cain, in Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop Talking (Cain 2012) contrasts the general acceptance of extroverts in American culture vs the introvert who is considered less than desirable in social and business settings. The challenge in Cain’s research is to not miss the many valuable contributions of introverts in creating a fully functioning or “whole” society.

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Fig. 6 Photovoice Object Story: Antique Doll Example 1

In this work, Cain presents an example of preference to introverts over extroverts in generations of Asian cultures that have migrated from China and managed to maintain the value of habits and traits deemed valuable in Chinese cultures. A comparison was made regarding academic standards in a California community where Asian students outpaced white students in academic performance. In this comparison, Asian students were highly introverted, i.e., quiet-natured, valuing studying over social engagement. Asian students also scored higher on SAT tests and were accepted in Ivy league schools at higher rates than white students from the same geographic area. What motivated this comparison was what Cain referenced as “white flight” or white families moving from the area because Asian students were regarded as intellectually superior (“smart”), while white students felt they had to prove their intelligence. Why do Asians and Western Americans study in the same schools under the same curriculum and experience different outcomes in performance? Cain answers this question saying that her findings revealed that, while American students participate in lively conversations in the classroom and consider it as “class participation,” Asian students listen to the discussions and regard them as “talking nonsense.” The

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Fig. 7 Photovoice Object Story: Antique Doll Example 2

difference properly defines what is required to excel in academic performance. While this outcome does not imply that the end goal of all cultures is to excel as intellectuals, it is understood that cultures differ in establishing values. Instead, the implication is that intelligence or intellectual excellence is not dominated by any racial or ethnic group. Cain cites McCrae (2004) in his development of a world map that indicates an introversion-extroversion personality trait scale as levels in dark and light shades of gray. His findings reveal that Asian populations are more introverted, while European countries are more extroverted. Although the map generated from this research did not include the United States, Americans are characterized as some of the most extroverted people in the world. Researchers from this study suggest that the map might appear as an approach to “cultural stereotyping” (Cain 2012). However, a similar bias has been known to exist over the years in many American communities. Periods of “white flight” occurred in times of desegregation of schools and communities in the 1960s and early 1970s. However, the flight during these times resulted from whites leaving communities as blacks moved into the neighborhood.

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In the later migration, such movement was motivated under the belief that, as implied from Dr. Watson’s studies, blacks were genetically and intellectually inferior to whites. By both standards, the interesting phenomena in both Asian and African American cultures is that the standard of comparison is the White race. We are aware that people as individuals are different despite similarities in cultural values. Defining Asians as the “model minority” – event if regarded as a compliment to their high intellectual performance – “is just as confining and condescending as any description that reduces individuals to a set of perceived group characteristics” (Cain 2012, p. 186). The fact that African Americans are regarded as “lesser” minorities does not eliminate the insulting nature of relegating other people as objects compared to a (white) standard by which all other humans are compared.

Object-Based Design Thinking Object-based thinking has its place when applied to design principles that simplify the complex nature of creation. For example, the practical nature of object-based thinking can be described in concepts such as object-oriented programming (OOP). Object-oriented programming emerged to reduce the complexity of using a procedural paradigm in software development. As such, the need for humans to communicate with machines – computers – has resulted in an evolution of humanmachine interfaces in programming languages. The growing need to introduce commonality in communications between machines and people has resulted in continuing advancements in simplifying people’s interaction with technology. Object-oriented programming was developed as a way of thinking about what it means to compute, i.e., about how we can structure information and communicate our intentions both to each other and to computers or machines. Object-oriented programming is not simply a few new features added to programming languages. Rather, it is a new way of thinking about the process of decomposing problems and developing programming solutions that can be both understood and applied across a broad range of business needs. For several decades beginning in the early 1990s, theoretically and in concept, object-oriented programming became a dominant programming paradigm (Budd 1991; Weisfeld 2013). Object-oriented programming scales very well as a programming language, from addressing the most trivial of problems to more complex tasks, providing instructions to computers and a form of “abstraction” that relates to techniques people use to solve everyday problems (Budd 1991). Because OOP languages offer an increasingly large number of libraries that assist in application development, object-oriented programming is just another option in a long series of solutions that have been proposed to help the “software crisis” or simplify communications between people and machines (Preece et al. 1994; Sanders and McCormick 1998). In this case, the software crisis continues to remind us that our imaginations, and the tasks we would like to solve with the help of computers, almost always outstrip our abilities to communicate and interact to create optimal outcomes (Dingsøyr et al. 2012).

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What is particularly interesting are the common elements between OOP and a system where people are regarded as objects. Consider the following “Summary of Components” of object-oriented programming (Weisfeld 2013): 1. Object-oriented programming views a program as a collection of loosely connected agents, termed objects. Each object is responsible for specific tasks. It is by the interaction of objects that computation proceeds. In a certain sense, therefore, programming represents a simulation or model of a natural universe. 2. An object is an encapsulation – a mechanism of wrapping data (variables) and code acting on the data (methods) together as a single unit. Thus, an object is in many ways similar to a special purpose computer. 3. The behavior of objects is dictated by the object class. Every object is an instance of some class. All instances of the same class will behave in a similar fashion (i.e., invoke the same method) in response to a similar request. 4. An object will exhibit its behavior by invoking or calling a method (similar to executing a procedure) in response to a message. The interpretation of the message (i.e., the specific method used) is decided by the object and may differ from one class of objects to another. 5. Classes can be linked to each other by means of the notion of inheritance. Using inheritance, classes are organized into a hierarchical inheritance tree. Data and behavior associated with classes higher in the tree can also be accessed and used by classes lower in the tree. Such classes are said to inherit their behavior from the parent classes. 6. Designing an object-oriented program is like organizing a community of individuals. Each member of the community is given certain responsibilities. The achievement of the goals for the community as a whole are formed through the work of each member and the interactions of members with each other. 7. By reducing the interdependency among software components, object-oriented programming permits the development of reusable software systems. Such components can be created and tested as independent units, in isolation from other portions of a software application. Reusable software components permit the programmer to deal with problems on a higher level of abstraction. We can define and manipulate objects simply in terms of the messages they understand and a description of the tasks they perform, ignoring implementation details. Many aspects of the design approach used in OOP to facilitate communications between people and machines can also be applied to behaviors that simplify interactions with people, thus reducing them to human objects with predetermined characteristics. Like OOP components, people can be viewed as: 1. A collection of loosely connected agents, (people), each responsible for specific tasks. 2. A (person) is an encapsulation of state and behavior. Thus, a human object can in many ways can be viewed by someone else as a special purpose object/machine.

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3. The behavior of people as objects is dictated by their class. Every person is an instance of some class. All instances/people of the same class will behave in a similar fashion in response to a similar request. 4. A person/object will exhibit its behavior by invoking a method (or behaving) in response to a message. The interpretation of the message (i.e., the specific method used) is decided by the object and may differ from one class of objects to another. 5. People can be linked to each other by means of the notion of inheritance. People are often organized or classified into a hierarchical inheritance tree. Data (what we know) and behavior associated with people higher in the tree can also be accessed and used by those lower in the tree. Such people are said to inherit their behavior from the parent(s). 6. Designing an object-oriented program is like organizing a community of individuals. Each member of the community is “given” or assigned certain responsibilities. The achievement of the goals for the community as a whole come about through the work of each member and the interactions of members with each other. 7. By reducing the interdependency among human objects, object-thinking permits the development of reusable (social) systems. Reusable (people) components permit (other people) to deal with problems on a higher level of abstraction. We can define and manipulate objects simply in terms of the messages they understand and a description of the tasks they perform, ignoring (particulars or) details. Because OOP draws from the characteristics of natural design, similarities as identified here are expected when communicating between people and machines. The challenge presented in an object-oriented environment is when people regard other people as objects in society with predefined or “given” task expectations, characteristics, and behaviors. The view of people as objects speaks to our limitations as humans in dealing with a complex world. The mental task of simplifying complexity itself defines a hierarchy of relationships between a standard of mankind and anything or anyone regarded as an object. In each perspective, we find a reductionist approach in communicating ideas or characteristics between two entity groups. Unfortunately, when both entities are human beings, the value inherent in one group is often lost to preserve value when a reference or standard group is defined.

The Role of Object Terminology Groups or hierarchies can, over time, form and share a common set of rules and interests. As in the structure of OOP, it is also true that groups of individuals with common interests tend to develop their own specialized vocabulary. Once developed, the vocabulary itself tends to direct individual thoughts along paths that may not be natural to those outside the group. While object-oriented ideas can, with discipline, be used without an object-oriented language, the use of object-oriented

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terms will ultimately direct thought along lines that may not have been obvious without the structure and meaning implied in object-based terminology. Communication or information structures are not uncommon in the development of frameworks that can define events and their occurrence in nature (Burton 2016). As such, a common communication line can intentionally be used to either include or exclude people from circles of status, whether defined by color, wealth, property, vocation, and more (Hyman 1942). When object structures form and communicate only within certain hierarchical circles, people are invariably alienated from the benefit of resources made available through these supportive, interconnected networks.

People Objects in Advertising An increasing number of billboards and literature use children in fund raising campaigns to support nonprofit activity. Photos such as the child shown in Fig. 8 have appeared on billboards and various advertising media to support requests to help fund children in need mainly in American communities. Although the intent is to create a sympathetic response in meeting the needs of children, the implication that such institutions are performing a service to children whose parents cannot or are not available to take care of their basic needs is another form of using people as objects to support organizational interests. For years, people of African descent have been used in advertising to solicit support for humanitarian efforts around the world. In fact, the poor and those perceived as helpless have been advertised into a social definition to facilitate the success of solicitation efforts. As such, certain populations are often marginalized to encourage fundraising efforts through an appeal to the paternalistic nature of those with more abundant resources. However, considering the many years that have passed, the true impact of such efforts on these communities has only entrenched the notion of aid as an ongoing means of economic provision, when the real benefit actually goes to supporting a system of nonprofit organizations. Fig. 8 Photovoice Object Story: Children in Funding Ads

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Fig. 9 Photovoice Object Story: NGOs in Haiti

It is well documented that poverty itself has become an industry in areas historically known for high levels of need (Schuller 2012). Unfortunately, a continued influx of aid perpetuates this state of prolonged dependency. The following poster communicates the plight that exists in Haiti after receiving over 50 years of aid from the United States (Fig. 9): Statistics around the financial support provided to Haiti over this period are: • Haiti has received funding from the United States since 1971. • Over 10,000 NGOs have been present at one time in the country. • Haiti’s economy has been destroyed by “free” goods that have displaced local businesses. • Less than 1 cent of every dollar of aid went to assist the poor. • NGOs and military received much larger allocations (43 cents and 33 cents of every dollar, with legal charges recently levied against the Red Cross for misappropriation of governmental funding). • US officials reprimanded for attempts to discredit Haitian government to cover misallocations. Because aid, financial or otherwise, is a profitable industry for those who administer the system, those targeted for aid become money-making objects subject to the rules of a profit-making institution. As a result, the Haitian economy has been corrupted by what is regarded as “kindness” from helping organizations. Schuller describes this condition in his book, Killing with Kindness: Haiti, International Aid, and NGOs (Schuller 2012). In fact, the entire poverty industry is well documented, characterized by the social ills of paternalism that hinder human flourishing and rob people of basic human dignity. A similar photo as shown in Fig. 10 has emerged in recent years which implies that African and African American children are no longer the only groups targeted by nonprofits as a source of funding to provide services to children and families in need.

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Fig. 10 Photovoice Object Story: Use of more children in funding ads

Unfortunately, this points to another growing problem among populations in the United States.

The Prison Industry Texas is home to many prisons. In fact, the number of prisons in the United States has increased almost exponentially since the early 1980s. Mauer and Chesney-Lind (2002) report the following (Fig. 11): Since 1980, the majority of new prisons built to accommodate the expanding U.S. prison population have been placed in non-metropolitan areas, with the result that the majority of prisoners are now housed in rural America. By contrast, prior to 1980, only 36% of prisons were located in rural communities and small towns. Calvin Beale, a senior demographer with the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, reports that throughout the 1960s and 70s, an average of just four new prisons had been built in rural areas each year. During the 1980s that figure increased to an annual average of 16 and in the 1990s, it jumped to 25 new prisons annually. Between 1990 and 1999, 245 prisons were built in rural and small-town communities – with a prison opening somewhere in rural America every fifteen days. (Huling 2002) The new rural prisons of the 1990s had about 235,000 inmates and employed 75,000 workers at the end of the decade – averaging 30 employees for every 100 prisoners. All in all, about 350 rural counties have acquired new prisons since the start-up of the prison boom began in 1980, and more than half of all rural counties added prison work to their available employment mix during the final two decades of the century just past. (Beale 1993)

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Fig. 11 Photovoice Object Story: On Becoming a Prison Guard

“There are two federal prisons just north of our hometown. One is a federal prison with a population of about 3000 men. The second is a state prison of roughly the same population. The families of each inmate are spread across the country, which implies that they more often than not are separated miles from their homes.”

At one time, prisons were populated mostly by men. However, women are being incarcerated at an increasing rate, the results of which are changing family structures at alarming rates. Children are being raised by a system of agencies funded to manage an increasing number of children taken from their parents by Child Protective Services (CPS). Although such institutions operate as nonprofit organizations, many are subsidized by government funding, and operations are mostly funded by the process of removing children from their families. As such, posters such as those shown in Figs. 8 and 10 have become prevalent in a number of communities, particularly as children continue to become objects of securing public and private funding. Figure 8 is a common advertisement where African Americans are displayed as helpless and thus their children typically have the greatest need. However, more people-objects equate to more funding. Thus, children of other races (Fig. 10) are now appearing on posters as poverty and prisons become even larger industries. What in turn also happens is the elevation of hidden costs, or externalities, that are levied on the shoulders of people as objects in growing service systems. With the

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increase in the incarceration of women, prisons benefit through larger subsidies and related profit-making activities that are driven by an increase in the prison population. Although economies, and particularly rural economies, reap multiple benefits as both private and public prison systems grow, families and homes increasingly suffer the loss of one or even both parents (Feldman 1993). Child Protective Services (CPS) profits by removing more children out of their homes, often based on reasons not associated with criminal activity but evaluations based on different perceptions in child rearing practices (Goldberg 2015). As a result, our nation faces a childcare crisis with not enough facilities in place to house children of all ages who have been taken from their families. The family structure is also disrupted when grandparents are now acting as parents as they wait for their adult children to, 1) be released from prison, and then, 2) be approved to regain custody of their children after being released and then, 3) show the financial stability required to maintain a stable household. These processes take years; thus, the systems that support these activities are sustained with money from each transaction involving a person-object. As a result, money is transferred from families and government programs to support systems. The only real benefactors in this system are the entities that receive jobs and funding allocated to serve a diverse pool of unrecognized needs. Economists and organizational theorists have captured the nature of such activity and associated them as based on an economic malignancy (Coase 1937; Williamson 1973, 1981). Transaction cost theory (TCT) describes what happens when organizations exist to support themselves vs the needs of people as individual actors in a market economy. Invariably, when transaction costs increase between entities, a reallocation of activities within organizations vs between individuals should occur. However, “should occur” is the problem. When market activities are tampered with, i.e., when people become objects of trade, transaction costs skyrocket while people as the intended benefactors of entities that receive funding, receive no real benefit.

Objects by Choice: Personal and Professional Sacrifice Although most situations of people as human objects are determined by individuals from a comparison group, this final section considers situations where people choose to become human objects through personal sacrifice (Fig. 12). Patrick Daniel Tillman was an American football player who played for Arizona State University while in college and for the Arizona Cardinals in the National Football League. Tillman left a lucrative sports career and enlisted in the United States Army in June 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Tillman was killed in Afghanistan in 2004 from friendly fire while on duty. Tillman’s various life accomplishments are publicly recognized and recorded as his life is honored by the College Football Hall of Fame and the Tillman Foundation. His most memorialized quote was, ‘Sports embodied many of the qualities I deem meaningful. However, these last few years, and especially after recent events, I’ve come to appreciate just how shallow and insignificant my role is. . . It’s no longer important.’ (Biography.com 2019)

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Fig. 12 Photovoice Object Story: An American Hero

Tillman’s character represents what many would consider as the ideal American hero. His willingness to leave a prosperous career and a life of fame to serve his country is often regarded as the most noble act of sacrifice anyone could make. In his last statements, Tillman realized that there was more to life than the fame and glory that has become an American dream for many people. Although considered one of the most up and coming stars in the NFL, Tillman gave his life as an object of sacrifice for the good of his country. Unfortunately, many comparisons have been made to Tillman and NFL players who are active in the profession. Implications are made that players who express racial concerns are unworthy of their pay. However, Pat Tillman is no more or less like anyone who follows a motivation to be a person driven by a calling. Decisions made through personal conviction are not to be compared or judged. We can compare this to other examples of self-sacrifice where people gave themselves as objects of service for the greater good. Such people have a different calling, one that is not satisfied with the things of this world. Scriptures reference such people of purpose who were called to spread a message that brought punishment and death to them as it brought life to the hearers: 5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:5–8 31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

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‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8: 31-39

Comparing ourselves to any other person presents a challenge that unfairly associates us with a work that only Jesus can do in the heart of a person committed as an object to do good. Likewise, Jesus died for our sins; it is a work of God that does not warrant comparison to any human effort: This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:9-11

The life of a hero cannot be replicated by comparison. Those who die in our stead have a divine and personal commitment to do so: Though we deserved penalty for our wrong, you stood in our place and took the blows on our behalf. You chose to die so that we can live forever, and we could be free.

Summary, Future Research, and Communities of Practice As spiritual beings, we are called out of the common to view people as created in God’s image, with no comparison or favoritism. The intended outcome of each life is to serve in a space without hierarchy, where we share equal value with all other humans. In this way, we avoid the reductionist thinking of simplifying people into objects compared to a higher order system of provision, composed of those who derive financial and other benefits under the pretense of serving others. It has been said that characterization is as harmful as a lynch mob. To be defined by a common communication line and a common identity implies no identity at all. People are viewed as objects because of the ease with which the mind deals with complexities. In perspective, defining a commonplace standard and comparing all other related entities to this standard is a natural way to deal with complexity. However, it also becomes a convenient means of defining value and distributing resources to a preferred circle of associations. One solution to this problem is to support the development of Communities of Practice (CoPs) composed of those impacted by social ills and directly support people in need vs support regulating systems. As such, the following research questions would form the basis for further, action-oriented research: • “What business principles can guide the formation of a Community of Practice (COP) to remedy the social ills of human objects?”

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• “How can object and object relations theory be used to form healthy support structures that create thriving, sustainable improvements in communities?” Communities of Practice have been used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) to design cures for systemic illnesses that are endemic to communities. CoPs can be defined by their organization and participation which involves those who live with the social ills of interest. The following figure suggests the structure and operations of such communities (Fig. 13): Guidelines for developing and operating a community of practice as referenced are: • Have a clear objective or purpose in mind. Determine the goals and objectives that the community of practice hopes to achieve through knowledge sharing. Have a clear idea of why you are developing a community of practice so members know how they can do their part to achieve the desired outcome. • Establish a corporate learning community of practice plan or infrastructure. Every corporate learning community of practice must have a clear plan or infrastructure in place. Create a charter that identifies the strategy of the group, how they will communicate, when and how they will hold meetings, etc. • Be aware of the experience and knowledge each member brings to the table. Determine what each member of the community brings to the group and what core knowledge or experience they are able to share with the other members beforehand. Ideally, a corporate learning community of practice is preferred that features a diverse group of individuals, so that each one brings something unique and invaluable to the table.

Fig. 13 Defining a Community of Practice (CDPC 2019)

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• Hold an introductory meeting for all members. Arrange a meeting, whether online or offline, where all members can meet one another and begin discussing the goals and objectives. This will also allow them to get comfortable with sharing knowledge and ideas with the other members of the community, which can help to improve the effectiveness of the community of practice. • A moderator is key to the success of any learning community of practice. Appoint someone who is widely appreciated and knowledgeable about a wide range of topics that will be discussed. This individual will help to guide discussions during meetings, keep the group on-task, and may even serve as a liaison between the organization and the corporate learning community of practice. • Hold regular meetings to share knowledge and strengthen communication. Regular gatherings serve as perfect opportunities for sharing and collaboration. They also help communities interact in a more effective manner, due to the fact that they will have the chance to speak directly with other members. • Use social media platforms and online forums to keep in touch. Social media sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, as well as online forums, can serve as invaluable communication tools. • Project management software tools can serve as virtual headquarters. Project management software tools, such as Asana, Basecamp, and TeamWorkPM, can all serve as a virtual base of operations. Through these platforms, members can share documents, assign tasks, keep track of deadlines for projects, and stay up-to-date with a community calendar. Allows members to stay on-task and well organized, even if working remotely. • Offer support and resources to fledgling communities. The success of any corporate learning community of practice greatly hinges upon the support and receives that the organization itself offers. They need to have access to the necessary tools, apps, and even monetary funds (if applicable). • Hold a community-wide survey to identify issues and areas of improvement needed. Survey a wide range of individuals to determine the issues or weaknesses that the community of practice should focus on. As a result, although regarded as an object of society, people-objects tell their story and are empowered to develop solutions that promote well-being while serving the personal and collective needs of people. In other words, human flourishing occurs through: • • • • •

People telling/understanding their own stories Empowerment vs subjugation Promoting independence Building community Employing business principles through Communities of Practice

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Cross-References ▶ Employee Well-Being Under Corporate Psychopath Leaders

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Well-Being at Workplace: A Perspective from Traditions of Yoga and Ayurveda

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Health, Well-Being, and Flourishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Health and Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flourishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Well-Being at the Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Significance of Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Meaning and Orientations Towards Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Workplace Well-Being and Performance: Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yoga and Well-Being: Perspective and Intervention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Health and Well-Being in Yoga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ayurveda: An Approach and System for Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Health and Well-Being in Ayurveda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yoga and Ayurveda: The Convergence of Philosophical Basis and the Fundamental Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gunas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Doshas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Prana, Tejas, and Ojas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jiva or the Person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Panchakosha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Well-Being from Yogic and Ayurvedic Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Business for Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sacredness at the Workplace: Collective and Transcendental Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Interaction with the Work Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

Yoga and Ayurveda are two ancient traditions originating from India that emphasize multidimensional and holistic well-being of all. Workplace well-being holds a significant place for people considering the centrality of work in their lives and the sheer amount of time and effort expended. Discussing well-being from the perspectives of Yoga and Ayurveda, the chapter has three main objectives. The first objective is to elucidate the contemporary view of health, well-being, and flourishing while highlighting the prominence of workplace well-being. The second objective is to explain the common philosophy and the fundamental concepts of gunas, doshas and their vital essences, and the panchakosha that lie at the core of the two traditions to present an integrated view of well-being. And the third objective is to discuss the implications of the philosophy, view of well-being, and the underlying practices of Yoga and Ayurveda with respect to workplace and the domain of management. Keywords

Well-being · Workplace · Yoga · Ayurveda · Gunas · Doshas · Panchakosha

Introduction The questions “What is a good life?,” “What is a life worth living?,” and “What is the meaning of life?” have long captured the attention and curiosity of great thinkers and philosophers of ancient as well as modern times. These questions have focused on some of the key concepts such as reasons for existence, the role of action and deeds, happiness, and so on. In response to these questions, the thinkers have ascribed to some indicators that comprise of sharing with and caring towards others, satisfying pleasures, or contemplation as the defining features of quality of life. Associated with the above and with applications in varied contexts, the term happiness connotes well with all that is good. In this perspective, it is frequently used analogous to terms such as well-being and quality of life and signifies both individual and social welfare (Veenhoven 2015). A broad examination of the history of happiness highlights that its definition has evolved over time. Democritus (460–370 BC) defined it as individual’s own satisfaction with life (in Veenhoven 1984). According to Plato, happiness is the greatest satisfaction by satisfying the most intense desires (in White 2006). Aristotle, in Nicomachean Ethics, brings the term “eudaimonia” that relates happiness to leading life with most valued virtues (Aristotle 1992). Epicureanism spread the idea of hedonistic happiness, and Stoicism promoted the virtuous road to happiness (in Kesebir and Diener 2009). The events of the time (French and American Revolutions) have also influenced the concept of happiness in the sense that the pursuit of happiness is identified as a “self-evident truth” (McMahon 2006). Additionally, as a result of the development and growth of economies, market forces have redefined happiness in terms of “utility” (Puntasen 2007).

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The spiritual view of happiness emphasizes the internal orientation that aims at the freedom from external sources of pain and pleasure and accepting the world with all its beauty and distortions (Ricard 2013). Venerable to the spiritual view of happiness, Haidt (2006) explains that one has to delve internally, and the external world cannot bring more than momentary happiness. He also mentions that there are some externals (relationships, work, the degree of control) that matter and are worth striving for to enhance the level of happiness. Haidt reconsiders happiness and states that it engenders from the link between self and others, self and work, and self and the beyond which is something bigger than the self. Flourishing as a concept is associated with happiness (Haidt 2006) and high levels of well-being (Hone et al. 2014) and is defined as a state of complete or maximal well-being coupled with optimal functioning (Keyes 2002). It is a holistic and broader representation of well-being comprising of intrapersonal and interpersonal dimensions (Keyes 2002; Seligman 2011). As noted, work is one of the determinants of well-being and a potential means to flourish. Also, as per the report by World Health Organization (WHO) (1995), workplace constitutes a premise where individuals spend a substantial amount of time. Therefore, it is pivotal that individuals thrive and flourish at the workplace. Further, there has been a focus on well-being at the workplace as seen from the policy interventions being introduced by business leaders, voice being raised by advocates for rights of employees, and inclination of scholars to attain a nuanced understanding of factors influencing well-being at the workplace (Budd and Spencer 2015). Yoga is a mind-body-based contemplative practice that aims at the integration of mind, body, and spirit. Its objectives include to cultivate a state of equilibrium, harmony, and a sense of awareness (Feuerstein 2011). The Sanskrit word Ayurveda means “science of longevity.” It is not confined to being merely a system of medicine to prevent and treat diseases; it is a way to lead a healthy and fulfilling life (Wujastyk 2003). Similar to Yoga, it is a holistic system that perceives a (whole) person as a combination of body, mind, and soul (Atreya 2002). The practices underlying the traditions of both Yoga and Ayurveda aim at the complete well-being of an individual encompassing physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions (e.g., Rioux 2014). The aim of the chapter is to understand well-being in the context of the traditions of Yoga and Ayurveda and how the underlying philosophy and practices in these two ancient traditions have implications at the workplace and in management scholarship. To do so, it is imperative to discuss the founding philosophy and the underpinnings of Yoga and Ayurveda. The flow of the chapter is as follows: the first section overviews the literature on health and well-being and their role in conceptualizing flourishing. The second section describes well-being at the workplace, its relevance, the influencing factors, and the different meanings and orientations towards work. The third section delineates the notion of health and well-being as per Yoga and Ayurveda, the philosophy and fundamental concepts at the core of the two traditions. And the final section discusses the relevance and some of the implications of the practices under the two traditions pertaining to the management domain.

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Health, Well-Being, and Flourishing The broad assessment of the well-being of an individual may comprise of a mix of short-term emotional state, level of health and happiness, or long-term satisfaction with life. In present times, a significant amount of data is collected by various agencies pertaining to the lives of people. This information includes economic markers such as unemployment rate, poverty levels, income levels, and social markers such as the health of people, longevity of life, mortality rates, and so on. One can observe that all this data presents a picture of the suffering that people are going through and the sources that diminish their quality of life. In other words, the focus of all this data is to look at what is lacking or what is wrong rather than endeavor to ascertain the factors that can facilitate treading beyond towards the state of optimal functioning and flourishing. This section presents an overview of health, happiness, and well-being literature and its connection with flourishing.

Health and Well-Being The conclusion of World War II that left the world in suffering and distress initiated the need to systematically study better life and multifold well-being (Keyes 2006). The initial studies of Jahoda (1958) and Gurin et al. (1960) that are seminal works on mental health have made way for subsequent research on mental health through the study of subjective well-being (Keyes 2006). Furthermore, the study of hedonic (Diener 1984; Diener et al. 1999) and eudaimonic (Ryff 1989; Keyes et al. 2002) aspects of well-being has formed the pillars that define flourishing (Keyes 2002). Considering the concept of health, Keyes (2007) notes that throughout our history health has been defined with respect to three paradigms, namely, pathogenic (health as absence of disability, disease, and premature death), salutogenic (health as presence of positive human capacities and functioning), and the complete state (derived from ancient word for health, hale, denoting whole and strong). Historically, the pathogenic approach has been dominant as earlier curing illnesses took precedence. Although the advent of epidemiological transition (a change in the cause of death and illness from acute and infectious to chronic and modifiable lifestyle) in the twentieth century had positive results in enhancing the life expectancy, it didn’t result in the adoption of the salutogenic paradigm to support the pathogenic view existing in the healthcare domain. The focus of the healthcare system to improve health by merely curing-preventing illnesses has come short of addressing the notion of complete health. If we look at well-being, two schools of thoughts exist: subjective well-being (hedonic) that includes happiness, life satisfaction, and positive and negative affect (Diener 1984) and psychological well-being (eudaimonic) that consists of a sense of purpose or meaning, personal enhancement, and so on (Ryff 1989).

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Subjective well-being refers to an individual’s evaluations of one’s own life comprising of both affective and cognitive aspects (Diener 2000). An individual with high subjective well-being experiences more pleasant than unpleasant emotions, more pleasures than pains, is engaged in interesting activities, and is (generally) satisfied with one’s life. Although numerous facets underlie a valuable life and mental health, the subjective well-being view emphasizes the individual’s own evaluations of one’s life. Some of the human qualities such as kindness, humility, and forgiveness have a universal positive appeal for the very reason that they represent morally virtuous behavior and strength of character (Peterson and Seligman 2004). This perspective directly links to the eudaimonic view of well-being that stresses on the principles of expression and achievement of highest aspirations and inner potentials of an individual. Research highlights the strong association of specific values (hope, zest, gratitude, love, curiosity) with happiness and life satisfaction for both youth and adults (Park et al. 2004; Park and Peterson 2006).

Flourishing The research done on health, happiness, and well-being has served as the foundation to conceptualize flourishing. Now, it is known that greater attention towards the negative events (as threats to our survival) constitutes an essential aspect of our adaptive evolutionary behavior (Buss 2000; Reis and Gable 2003). That is to say, that preventing accidents and injuries allows us to extend the chances of our survival. However, Massimini and Delle Fave (2000) state that whenever possible, the behavior selected by human beings is driven not by the need to survive but by the need to create optimal experiences that make them feel alive, competent, and creative. This aspect is in line with what is known as the heliotropism, which is the tendency in all living systems to move towards positive energy that is life-giving and away from negative energy that is life-depleting (e.g., Mrosovsky and Kingsmiix 1985). Put differently, there is more to human beings than mere survival that drives them towards the positive to achieve their optimal self and flourish (e.g., Unkelbach et al. 2008). Flourishing as a term, in contemporary psychology, appears in the work of Corey Keyes (2002) where he defines the continuum of mental health, separate from the continuum of mental illness, as comprising of a state of complete well-being (flourishing), moderate mental health, and languishing (incomplete mental health). Emphasizing the point that mental health is more than the absence of mental illness, Keyes (2002) defines complete mental health as a state where an individual is free of all mental illness and is flourishing. Table 1 presents the four conceptualizations of flourishing. The above description of flourishing by Keyes, Huppert and So, Diener et al., and Seligman highlights that flourishing has been operationalized in different ways. However, there exists a similarity with respect to two aspects: firstly, flourishing is associated with high levels of subjective well-being; and secondly, well-being

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Table 1 Conceptualizations of flourishing Particulars Keyes (2002)

Description Mental health continuum-short form (MHC-SF)

Basis Based on the opposites of symptoms of major depressive disorders in diagnostic and statistical manual (DSM-III-R) and combined presence of high levels of emotional, psychological, and social well-being symptoms Derived as opposites of symptoms associated with mental disorders in DSM-IV and international classification of diseases (ICD-10)

Huppert and So (2013)

Flourishing segment from European social survey (ESS)

Diener et al. (2010)

Flourishing scale (FS)

Universal human psychological needs and other theories of well-being

Seligman (2011)

PERMA

Separate but correlated constructs and based on the grounds that individuals choose freely

Defining features Emotional well-being (positive affect and life satisfaction), social wellbeing (positive social functioning), psychological well-being (eudaimonic wellbeing)

Ten positive features (competence, emotional stability, engagement, meaning, optimism, positive emotion, positive relationships, resilience, selfesteem, and vitality) Eight items (purpose, positive relationships, engagement, social contribution, competence, self-respect, optimism, social relationships) Positive emotions (P), engagement (E), positive relationships (R), meaning (M), accomplishment (A)

represents a multidimensional construct that cannot be adequately measured using single-item assessment (Hone et al. 2014). The primacy of flourishing in the various domains of life is evident from the research that indicates that happy people when compared to those who are less happy tend to function competently in life; they are relatively more productive, seek more social engagement, and tend to earn higher incomes (Diener 2000; Judge et al. 2001). Also, people who experience higher happiness or subjective well-being than those low in subjective well-being exhibit a more self-enhancing and enabling attributional style, and this suggests the key role of positive emotions in engendering positive cognitions, which consequently promotes further positive emotions (Ryan and Deci 2001). There are examples in experimental social psychology that specify the benefits of positive emotional experiences such as the influence on people’s perception and how they interpret social behaviors and initiate social interactions (Forgas 2001; Isen 1987). Other upsides of experiencing positive emotions include people making positive evaluations (for both themselves and others) and lenient attributions, expressing more confidence, optimism, and being more accommodative in social relationships (Forgas 2002, 2006; Sedikides 1995).

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Well-Being at the Workplace Well-being at work is defined as an experience, which is influenced by factors, such as the internal culture and organizational ways of functioning, and by personal internal resources (Biggio and Cortese 2013). Three general sets of factors have been posited that influence well-being at the workplace (Danna and Griffin 1999). These encompass work setting (health, safety hazards), personal characteristics (Type A or B behavior, locus of control), and occupational stress (factors pertaining to the job, role and relationships at work, career progression, structure and climate of organization). Additionally, two interrelated sets of consequences of well-being in the workplace have been noted (Danna and Griffin 1999). They comprise of individual-level physical, psychological, and behavioral consequences and organizational-level consequences, which are health insurance costs, productivity, and absenteeism. An examination of the contemporary literature on organizational behavior highlights certain concepts that cater to different aspects of well-being at the workplace. These include “job satisfaction, job involvement, affective organizational commitment, work engagement, positive and negative emotions and moods at work, intrinsic motivation, thriving, and vigor” (Fisher 2010). Workplace well-being has been conceptualized as comprising of hedonic well-being, eudaimonic well-being, and social well-being. Additionally, workplace concepts display an extent of overlap with the three components of well-being: subjective well-being (job satisfaction and positive attitudes, positive and negative affect), eudaimonic well-being (e.g., engagement, meaning, growth, calling), and social well-being (e.g., quality connections, satisfaction with coworkers, high-quality exchange relationships with leaders) (Fisher 2014).

Significance of Workplace Well-Being Considering that people spend a substantial amount of time at work, it is essential to note that whether the work they do and the related conditions enable them to enhance their well-being and further towards the state of flourishing. Well-being of workers has been a subject of long-standing concern and has led to the study of various aspects and issues pertaining to work, for reference, alienation of workers from their work (Simmel 2004); the repressive nature of bureaucracies (Weber 1978); factors that enable or prevent workers from realizing a variety of human needs such as activity, creation, and self-worth (de Man 1927); and concerns regarding employment encompassing exploitative wages and working hours, supervision, and frequent accidents (Kaufman 2005). Workplace health and well-being remain an issue of global significance. Its relevance can be seen from the fact that among the five domains comprising overall well-being, career well-being is regarded as the most important for most people (Rath and Harter 2010). It is also significant firstly because workplace represents a source of social and emotional involvement as a modern form of

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collective life (Gupta 1996), thereby having a strong bearing on the relationships and associations people form. Secondly, work has become more than just a part of the life of an individual, that is to say, that even after leaving from the workplace, the work and its ancillaries still accompany the individual. Put alternatively, workplace wellbeing has trickle-down effects and connections with other domains of the life of people. And well-being has the potential to affect both workers and organizations in negative ways. Workers with poor well-being may be less productive, make hasty decisions, and be unprofessional towards work, which would be detrimental and diminish overall contributions to the organizations (Price and Hooijberg 1992).

Meaning and Orientations Towards Work As discussed earlier, certain external conditions (e.g., work) go beyond the adaptation principle and represent specific changes that are worth striving for and can result in lasting happiness (Haidt 2006). People relate to their work in one of the three ways, namely, a job (transactional, money-oriented), a career (broad personal investment, promotion-oriented), or a calling (intrinsic fulfillment) (Bellah et al. 1985). Work as a calling is seen as an opportunity to contribute to the greater good or a higher purpose and is marked by frequent experiences of flow and without any resentment to quit. It is the pursuit of the right goals that mark the essential part of conditions that contribute towards flourishing. Right goals concerning the work one undertakes offer the avenue to create the states of flow and engagement. These two states have been described as nutriments to joy, absorption, meaningfulness, and well-being of a person (Csikszentmihalyi 1990; Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi 2003). Through specific actions, such as strength-based work selection (via strength test – Peterson and Seligman 2004) and job-crafting by rethinking about the work from a broader perspective (Wrzesniewski and Dutton 2001), people can aim to experience greater happiness, satisfaction, and meaning with respect to their work. For instance, a person who cleans office space could see his or her work in the broader perspective of preventing medical issues arising out of unhygienic conditions.

Workplace Well-Being and Performance: Evidence There is evidence in the form of research to support that well-being and job performance correlate positively at the individual level and some strong evidence to claim a causal effect between the two under specific circumstances. For reference: a positive correlation has been found between positive affect and work-related outcomes, which includes self-reported task performance, supervisor evaluations, absenteeism, and earnings (Lyubmirsky et al. 2005), causal link between higher levels of positive job-related affect and improvements in supervisory assessments and earnings (Staw et al. 1994), and positive job-related affect and self-reported productivity (Zelenski et al. 2008).

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The evidence at the level of the workplace is limited owing to feasibility constraints. However, some cases with correlations between SWB and firm-level productivity have been observed (Harter et al. 2002; Patterson et al. 2004). A positive correlation between employee SWB and business-unit profitability (Harter et al. 2010) and positive associations with business outcomes have also been found in nonprofit organizations such as schools (Ostroff 1992; Currell et al. 2005) and hospitals (Robertson et al. 1995).

Yoga and Well-Being: Perspective and Intervention Considering the history of Yoga, its roots can be traced back as far as 5000 years in India (De Michelis 2005). Throughout its evolution over the ages, Yoga has emphasized on the important aspects such as holistic well-being (physiological, mental, emotional, and spiritual), regulating awareness and transcending towards the ultimate reality (Ivtzan and Papantoniou 2014). Yoga represents an original and ancient holistic way of life that includes physical, mental, moral, and spiritual domains of human existence. Although there are different branches of Yoga (Raja Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga), with a focus on particular competencies, at its core, the objective of Yoga is self-transformation (Feuerstein 2013). Sage Patanjali gave an “eightlimbed” structure to the Yogic path and led Yoga to attain its classical form, known as Ashtanga Yoga (Feuerstein 2011). Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (Treatise on Yoga) delineate the different groups of practices: moral practices (yama, ethics while interacting with others); self-discipline (niyama, ethics oriented towards self); physical postures and exercises (asana); breath regulation (pranayama); sensory withdrawal (pratyahara, minimizing sensory input); concentration (dharana, effortful, focused attention); meditation (dhyana, effortless, perpetual flow of attention), and self-transcendence (samadhi) (Stone 2009). Collectively, the eight limbs form an organic whole and may be conceptualized as a mechanism to regulate thoughts, emotions, and behaviors and to augment the levels of well-being (Cope 1999).

Health and Well-Being in Yoga Yoga’s view of health and well-being is a dynamic continuum of human nature evolving towards divinity and not just an end “state” to be attained and sustained. Here, the lowest point is represented by death and the highest point by selftranscendence (samadhi). What lie in between the two ends are the states of normal health and disease (Bhavanani 2011). The classical definition of Yoga, i.e., yogah chitavritti nirodah, defines Yoga as a discipline to quiet the fluctuations of the mind to achieve the union of mind, body, and spirit (Feuerstein 1998). Panch kleshas (fivefold psychological afflictions) constitute the primary causes of disturbing mental equilibrium. They are avidya (ignorance of the ultimate reality), asmita (egoism, a false sense of identification),

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raga-dwesha (attachment and aversion), abhinivesha (clinging on to life for fear of the unknown), (avidya asmita raga-dwesha abhinivesha kleshah – Yoga Darshan II: 3). Vyadhi (disease), a state of non-health, is the opposite of samadhi (Pandit and Satish 2014). Yoga Vashishtha describes psychosomatic (adhija vyadhi) as well as non-psychosomatic ailments (anadhija vyadhi). Samanya adhija vyadhi is described as those arising from day-to-day causes, while sara adhija vyadhi is the essential disease as a result of birth-rebirth cycle (congenital disease). Kleshas and antarayas (nine obstacles to integrative oneness), therefore, are the reasons underlying chitta vikshepa (disturbances in mind) (Bhavanani 2011, 2013). The Yogic view of health and disease highlights that the root cause of physical ailments and disorders arises out from the mind. As per Yoga, adhi (the disturbed mind) is the cause, while vyadhi (the physical disease) represents the manifested effect. In other words, a disorder evolves from psychic manifestation to psychosomatic to somatic and eventually to the organic or the physical form affecting the panchakoshas on the way (Bhavanani 2011, 2013).

Ayurveda: An Approach and System for Well-Being India, historically, has been a heartland for a range of traditions that have been the source of diversity in relation to the domains of food, medicine, and health. Originating in India, Ayurveda is one of the oldest systems of traditional medicine in the world and has been practiced in the Indian subcontinent since 5000 BC (Dasgupta 1992, Mukherjee and Wahile 2006). The term Ayurveda has its roots in the Sanskrit language and is comprised of two words Ayu (life) and Veda (knowledge) and is concerned with health and well-being (Manohar 2013; Payyappallimana and Venkatasubramanian 2016). Further, Ayurveda lays down the path of living that is directed by the three pursuits: praneshana (desire to lead a long healthy life), dhaneshana (desire to savor financial and material security), and paralokeshana (desire to attain happiness in the life hereafter) (Salema et al. 2002). It focuses on the salutary and unsalutary facets of life to promote the ways that would be beneficial to lead a happy and nurturing life.

Health and Well-Being in Ayurveda Ayurveda defines a healthy individual as “One who is established in Self, who has balanced doshas, balanced agni, properly form dhatus, proper elimination of malas, well-functioning bodily processes and whose mind, soul, and senses are full of bliss, is called a healthy person” (as quoted in Lad 2002: समदोषः समाग्निश्च समधातुमलक्रियाः।. प्रसन्नात्मेन्द्रियमनः स्वस्थ इत्यभिधीयते ॥. Samadosha, samagnischa samadhatumala kriyaha prasanna atmenindriya manaha swasthya ityabhidheeyate. (Sushruta Samhita, 15.38)). Health as per Ayurveda is swastha, a Sanskrit term that means stability in the true self, a state of complete, balanced, physical, mental, and spiritual well-being

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(Sharma et al. 2007a, b). This is in line with United Nations’ WHO’s definition of health (1948) as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO 1946). As mentioned before, the salutogenic paradigm perceives health as the presence of positive human capabilities and optimal functioning. Aligned to this view, Ayurveda posits a positive view of health encompassing thoughts, feelings, and an overall state of being. It views health as a form of internal regulatory system to attain and maintain ideal health via adequate and orderly balance of the coherent collection of elements underlying the constitution of an individual. On the contrary, an illness signifies aberration in the regulatory system leading to a less than ideal state. Ayurveda also prescribes the way to health, i.e., swasthavritta, a personalized healthy conduct appropriate to an individual that comprises of medicinal herbs, diet and nutrition, lifestyle, self-awareness, and harmony and accordance with other people and the nature. Further, Ayurveda shares its aim with salutogenesis to create positive health, where the focus is on developing positive capabilities to improve state of health and in which the existence of an illness doesn’t eliminate experiencing a state of well-being (Morandi et al. 2011). With its holistic orientation, early diagnosis, and personalized treatment, Ayurveda aims not only to cure diseases but also to prevent them, maintain health, and promote longevity (Frawley and Ranade 2001; Patwardhan 2014), Accordingly, Ayurveda seems to share substantial similarities with the innovative approach of predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine (PPPM) (di Sarsina et al. 2012). Further, Ayurveda focuses on a wide spectrum of aspects, namely, biological, ecological, medical, psychological, sociocultural, spiritual, and metaphysical that constitute the determinants of health, and emphasizes the concept of relationship as the bedrock that interconnects the determinants. The mutual existence and integration of these determinants with all their complexity make way for the emergence of what is known as health. As a result, this comprehensive system aims at an individual’s whole bio-psycho-spiritual equilibrium (Morandi et al. 2011).

Yoga and Ayurveda: The Convergence of Philosophical Basis and the Fundamental Concepts There are six systems (orthodox) of Indian philosophy (darshanas), namely, Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Purvamimamsa, and Vedanta (Dasgupta 1975). Samkhya is the oldest school of Indian philosophy and has influenced much of Indian philosophy. Samkhya, in addition to furnishing the foundation for Yoga, has specifically played a key role in the development of Ayurveda by rendering the founding theoretical basis for its underlying practices (Frawley 1997). The Samkhya system delineates the model of creation and evolution; that is, it explains how creation comes into manifestation. The Samkhya system is based on 24 principles that are involved in the evolution of the universe encompassing cosmic energy to the creation of matter (Lad 2002; Feuerstein 2013; Rhoda 2014) (Fig. 1).

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Prakriti Source of Creation

Purusha Pure Consciousness

Mahat/Buddhi Divine Intelligence (Thought and Reason)

Ahamkara The “I” or the Ego

Trigunas Psycho-spiritual constitution

Sattva

Rajas

Manas

Tamas 5 Tanmatra

Jnanendriya

Panchmahabhuta

Karmendriya Tridoshas Psycho-physiological constitution

Ether

Air

Vata An Individual’s complete constitution

Fire

Pitta

Water

Earth

Kapha

Dosha

Fig. 1 Samkhya system: model of creation

Purusha represents pure consciousness, denoted by the Divine Masculine, is infinite and formless, and plays no active role in creation. On the other hand, Prakruti is the Divine Feminine and is the source of the creation; it represents creative potential, divine will, and the awareness with choice (Lad 2002). Purusha and Prakruti together give rise to mahat which is the divine consciousness or the universal intellect. When mahat becomes individualized, it is known as buddhi, the intelligence that is related to thought and reason (Haas 2014). From mahat manifests ahamkara that translates to ego, which represents individual consciousness and the essence that “I” exist. Further, ahamkara gives way to manas (the mind) that operates through senses and is concerned with emotions, action, and imagination (Lad 2002; Haas 2014). Sattva, rajas, and tamas are the three gunas, or the universal qualities. Sattva and tamas gunas on their own are both inactive and require rajas as a force to be put into motion (Lad, 2002). Under the influence of sattva and rajas gunas, ahamkara evolves into jnanendriya (five sense faculties), karmendriya (five faculties of action), and manas (the mind), respectively, and thus make up the organic world.

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Further, ahamkara, arising from tamas and rajas, manifests into panchamahabhuta (five basic elements) and tanmatra (five subtle elements), thereby constituting the inorganic world. These panchamahabhuta are earth (pruthvi), water (aapas), fire (tejas), air (vayu), and ether (akash). Similar to the three universal gunas that pervade all things, everything in creation is a coalesce of the five (basic) elements with dominance of one or two of them making-up a particular object. Moreover, a combination of the three gunas defines the basic elements. While the five sense faculties perceive the basic elements, the tanmatras, i.e., the subtle elements, form the objects of the five senses (Lad 2002). Next, the fundamental concepts common to both Yoga and Ayurveda that are essential to understand well-being as per the two traditions are discussed. Gunas, doshas, the vital essences (prana, tejas, and ojas), and the panchakosha lie at the roots of Yoga and Ayurveda to delineate the multifarious aspects of human nature and as a result the dimensions of well-being. The fundamental concepts explicate the biological, psycho-physiological and psycho-spiritual aspects of a human being, knowledge of which is crucial for discerning overall holistic well-being.

Gunas The world is constituted by the three gunas or qualities known as the sattva, rajas, and tamas. They are the causal energy that pervades all creation (physical objects, thoughts, actions, ether function, etc.) (Frawley 1999). The Samkhya Karika (seminal text on the philosophy of Yoga), the Bhagavad Gita, and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras delineate the gunas and their associated physical, mental, and behavioral attributes (Stoler-Miller 1998, 2004; Miller 2012; Larson and Isvarakrsna 2014 as cited in Sullivan et al. 2018; Mishra et al. 2001; Haas 2014). Table 2 presents the details on gunas. There are two basic laws of the gunas. The first one is “the law of alternation,” i.e., all the three gunas are intertwined and at interplay, thereby affecting each other. The second law pertains to “law of continuity,” i.e., the gunas until stabilizing tend to hold their respective natures for a specific period (Frawley 1999). The interplay between the three gunas denotes a relationship that is of constant conflict as well as of cooperation. The nature of things as well as the state that an individual experiences is an outcome of the predominant guna. It is on the basis of the preponderance of one or the other guna that one becomes intelligent, active, or indolent and experiences various degrees of well-being or otherwise (Sinha 2011). Therefore, it is the state of samyavastha or equilibrium of the three that holds the secret to an individual’s well-being (Sinha 2011). A key characteristic of gunas is that they are intangible in nature and their cognizance happens through their effects. Bhavas represent the mahat/buddhi and are the effects of the triguna that further create svabhava, i.e., personality-like construct (Alok 2013). He further describes bhava as a cognitive disposition with respect to certain kinds of thoughts, feelings, and actions and svabhava as the pattern of accessing the eight bhavas. Samkhya texts mention four kinds of sattvik bhava,

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Table 2 Description of Gunas Particulars Description

Sattva guna The element of pleasure (pure joy), calmness, and balance that assists in the function of illumination

Rajas guna The quality of energy, turbulence, and pain that facilitates the function of activity, creativity, and motivation. Rajas can also underlie anger and greed

Attributes

A sattvik constitution indicates an individual endowed with control of emotions, thoughts, and actions. One is pureminded, virtuous and righteous (follows dharma), and compassionate and capable of endearing all ordeals and hardships through willpower Preponderance of sattva may engender excessive dependence and attachment to the quality of joy

An individual with rajasik constitution has desires that culminate to attachments and is egotistical, ambitious, proud, competitive, and controlling

Maladaptive state associated

Preponderance of rajas may increase anger, agitation, or anxiety

Tamas guna The quality of inertia, confusion, and indifference that serves to resist or restrain. Tamas may foster experiences that include stillness or groundedness; it may also engender dullness, apathy, negligence, or ignorance An individual with tamasik orientation is indolent, depressed, irresponsible, and selfserving

Preponderance of tamas may lead to illusion, misconception, inertia, or obscuration

namely, dharma (code of conduct for well-being of all via yama and niyama), jnana (true wisdom and knowledge of true reality), vairagya (transcending attachments and worldly gains), and aishvarya (self-reliance and self-efficacy), while the tamasik bhava comprise of adharma, ajnana, avairagya, and anaishvarya that are contrary to the corresponding sattvik bhava (Alok 2014; Yamaguchi 1966).

Doshas The five elements (panchamahabhuta) constitute the fundamental building blocks of all matter that exist, that is, they are the key components of all creation. The universe is based on three original powers of energy, light, and matter that work through three central elements (air, fire, and water). The three key elements when imbued with life-giving force (prana) create the three doshas, namely, vata, pitta, and kapha (Frawley 1999). They refer to the fundamental bioactive elements that operate at the cellular and subcellular levels. They exist and run throughout the body with internal factors

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(microcosm) and external factors (macrocosm) influencing the qualities of the doshas, i.e., leading to decrease or increase of a specific attribute (Dalal and Misra 2011). The three doshas (vata, pitta, kapha) underlie the psychobiological constitution types of all human characteristics, activities, and patterns of health and illness (Rhoda 2014). They govern the psychobiological and physiopathological changes (Haas 2014), are associated with specific genes, and correlate with genome variation (Govindaraj et al. 2015). Further, in line with the systems theory, the doshas constitute biologically universal mechanisms that regulate the fundamental functions identified as input and output (vata), throughput or turnover (pitta), and storage (kapha) (Hankey 2005). The functions, salient characteristics, and physiological and psychological attributes of the constitutions (tridoshas) are discussed in Table 3 (Lad 1984; Frawley 1999; Mishra et al. 2001).

Prana, Tejas, and Ojas Prana, tejas, and ojas are the subtle counterparts of the three doshas (vata, pitta, and kapha respectively). These are known as the three vital essences that impact psychological functioning, assist in sustaining positive vitality, and energize individuals towards higher spiritual endeavors. Prana, tejas, and ojas are interrelated and stand parallel with the concepts of Chinese concepts of chi (vital energy), the Yang (fire), and the Yin (water) (Frawley 1999). Some key characteristics are described as follows (Frawley 1999; Lad 2002; Watts 2018): Prana is the primal life force. It is the subtle energy behind all psychophysical functions such as respiration, circulation, and coordination of breath, senses, and mind. On an inner level, prana is concerned with discovering higher states of consciousness. Prana facilitates circulation of ojas throughout the body and rekindling of tejas. There are two basic pranas, prana and apana, which further divides into five pranas. Prana (inhalation or in-breathing), apana (exhalation or down-breathing), samana (balancing or on-breathing), udana (up-breathing), and vyana (expansive or pervading breathing). Increased prana provides the drive, creativity, and adaptability essential for the spiritual path. Tejas is described as the “burning flame of pure intelligence.” It marks the intelligence at cellular level that governs the function of digestion of air and absorption of thoughts and ideas. On an inner level, tejas is concerned with unearthing higher perceptual capacities. It also helps maintain optimal ojas and prana. Increased tejas provides the courage, fearlessness, and insight to enable one to take decisions and tread on the path of spiritual awakening. Ojas is the subtle energy of water. It is the essence underlying all bodily tissues, the basis for physical and mental endurance, i.e., the immune system. It represents the essence of digested food, water, air, thought, and impressions. On an inner level, ojas is concerned with rendering a foundation for the development of all higher

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Table 3 Description of doshas Particulars Composition (five elements) Description

Vata dosha Ether and air

Pitta dosha Fire and water

Kapha dosha Water and earth

Concerned with the mode of movement within the body and therefore governs nerve impulses, circulation, respiration, and elimination

Responsible for growth, adding structure, and governs the lubrication of the body to offer protection and directly influences the emotions

Inner-level function

Responsible for maintaining sensory, emotional, and mental harmony, and it facilitates mental adaptability and comprehension

Governs the process of transformation or metabolism by regulating digestion, absorption, assimilation, temperature, skin coloration, and luster of eyes Regulates digestion on mental and spiritual levels, i.e., our capacity to digest impressions, emotions, and ideas to arrive at the truth

Traits associated

Creativity, enthusiasm, speed, responsiveness, and the drive to achieve goals in life An individual with vata constitution is characterized by short memory, impulsive, shy, and sensitive Classically thin with low body weight and low bone structure

Psychological attributes

Physical attributes

Intelligence, courage, and vitality

Concerned with emotions it endows us with love and caring, devotion, and faith, which assists in maintaining internal harmony along with unity with others Steadiness, calmness, and compassionate

Psychologically, pitta engenders anger, hate, and jealousy

Psychologically, kapha also engenders emotions of attachment such as greed and envy

A medium or athletic build with medium height and delicate frame

A well-developed body with a tendency to gain weight

faculties. Increased ojas enables one to be calm, confident, and patient while developing consistently on the spiritual path.

Jiva or the Person A human being is not merely confined to the appearance it projects, that is, the physical contours and aspects of the body. It is a collection of three bodies encompassing the gross elements to the subtle layers of the mind that act as encasements for the true Self (Frawley 1999). Put differently, a human being is defined based on the mind-body complex, which is not distinct, and exists on a continuum from gross to subtle levels (Parker 2017).

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Panchakosha Vedanta along with Yoga comprises of two of the six major systems of Indian philosophy (Dasgupta 1975) and render well-integrated theories based on the interpretation of the Upanishadic texts. The Taittiriya Upanishad presents the Vedic conceptualization of the mind-body complex, i.e., jiva. Human existence is in the form of sheaths infolded in oneself which gets enfolded with one’s increasing levels of awareness. It is the ignorance of the true reality that is marked by superimposition of what is known as five sheaths or panchakosha (Pandey and Navare 2018). These koshas are not distinct sections; instead, they coexist and interact with each other (Pandit and Satish 2014) (Fig. 2). The annamaya is the dimension of the body, the sheath of material existence and primitive identification with an ego encapsulated in the physical body. The pranamaya is the dimension of vital breath or the sheath of vitality (linked to mental, physical, and spiritual health). The manomaya is the dimension comprising of the information processing mind and the sense organs. It is concerned with emotions and engenders the egoistic strivings, dualities, and distinctions. The vignanamaya is the dimension of ratiocination and cognition and involves ideas and concepts to know the world. And finally, the anandamaya is the dimension of pure joy and well-being. Dualities and distinctions are not completely destroyed at this level, but they are harmonized so completely that this state is experienced as the one of profound relaxation and bliss (ananda) (Paranjpe 2006; Pandit and Satish 2014; Pandey and Navare 2018). The three bodies are where all the five sheaths reside (see Table 4). The innermost sheath, i.e., the annamaya kosha, constitutes the “gross body” (sthula sarira). The Fig. 2 The panchakosha (the five sheaths)

Ananda Vignana Mano Prana Anna 1 2 3 4 5

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Table 4 The five sheaths and three bodies 1 2 3 4 5

Sheath Annamaya (physicality) Pranamaya (vitality) Manomaya (emotionality) Vignanamaya (cognition) Anandamaya

Body Sthula sarira (gross body) Suksma sarira (subtle body)

Karana sarira (causal body)

next three layers (pranamaya, manomaya, and vignanamaya koshas) together form what is called the “subtle body” (suksma sarira). The outermost layer, the sheath of bliss (anandamaya kosha), comprises the “causal body” (karana sarira). When this last sheath is peeled away, the pure reality of the center alone remains, absolute non-duality, ineffable, indescribable, underlying the five sheaths and the three bodies (Pandey and Navare 2018). Definition of mind by Daniel Siegel in his book Mindsight also includes four of the five sheaths of the panchakosha framework. He defines mind as “a relational and embodied process that regulates the flow of energy and information” (Seigel 2010). Here embodied process corresponds to annamaya kosha, the flow of energy to pranamaya kosha, and information to manomaya kosha, and relational and embodied process that regulates the flow of energy and information corresponds to vignanamaya kosha (Parker 2017).

Well-Being from Yogic and Ayurvedic Perspectives The above discussion on gunas, tridoshas and their subtle counterparts prana, tejas, and ojas, and jiva highlight the fundamental concepts underlying well-being from Yogic and Ayurvedic perspectives. Frawley (1999) discusses the significance of the concepts mentioned above in Yoga and Ayurveda. Both Yoga and Ayurveda use the three gunas for determining an individual’s mental and spiritual nature. With an emphasis on sattva guna, Yoga aims at the development of sattva for purification of mind and body and transcendence of sattva to realize our true Self that is beyond manifestation. Sattva is important in Ayurveda as it assists healing and promotes the fight against diseases. As per Ayurveda, doshas form the basis of creation (substance) of the physical body, and predomination of one of the doshas determines one’s mind-body (psychophysiological) constitution. In Yoga, it is the doshas that help ascertain the effects of Yogic practices on the gross and subtle bodies and, further, define the practices needed in line with a specific mind-body constitution. In a nutshell, gunas and doshas represent two axes, vertical and horizontal, of an individual’s nature comprising of psycho-spiritual and psychophysiological aspects. Related to the three doshas are the three vital essences, prana, tejas and ojas, which are master forms (Rao 2002) of the biological humors. For both, Yoga and Ayurveda, in contrast to the doshas where an excess of biological humors causes pathology, an increase in the essences promotes positive

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health. Both Yoga and Ayurveda address a human being as someone greater than the three bodies (gross, subtle, and causal) where the three bodies serve as bridges to this higher Self. Both Yoga and Ayurveda work to purify the sheaths (panchakoshas) at the different levels to regenerate the physical body and spiritualize the subtle body with an aim to integrate all the faculties, gain balance, harmony, and realization of true Self. It is interesting to note that Ashtanga Yoga (eight limbed) offers the path to address the multifacets of well-being. Yama and niyama (ethics pertaining to the internal and external world) are not premised on moral judgments; instead, they seek to gain control and quiet the disturbances and fluctuation of the overly active mind, regulate emotions, and promote socially benevolent behaviors (Cope 2006). Asanas (postures) facilitate physical control of the body to prepare for controlling the mind so that an individual can meditate for extended duration of time (Feuerstein 2011). Evidence supports the link between posture, emotion, and mental health (Michalak et al. 2011, 2014). Pranayama allows for the free flow of prana, i.e., the lifesustaining breath to downregulate arousal and enhance awareness of the bodymind interaction (Sovik 1999). The next three limbs comprising of pratyahara, dharana, and dhyana involve control of sensory input, sustained concentration, and meditation to minimize distractions and mind wandering (Gard et al. 2014). This culminates into a state of complete integration (samadhi), i.e., holistic well-being. Yoga renders physiological benefits in terms of better functioning of musculoskeletal, cardiopulmonary, autonomic nervous, and endocrine systems; psychological effects in the form of augmented coping, self-efficacy, and upbeat mood; and spiritual benefits with respect to acceptance and mindful awareness (Evans et al. 2009). Similarly, a close examination of the above description draws attention to Ayurveda’s consideration of multiple aspects of well-being (Guruprasad 2017), in other words, complete well-being. For physical well-being, it aims at maintaining a balance of the three doshas, dhatus (tissues), agni (life essential internal fire), and the wastes. All these are elements vital for the physical well-being of an individual. Concerning mental well-being, the objective of Ayurveda is to have pleasant sensory organs ( jnanendriya and karmendriya), calm and steady mind, prevalence of sattva guna, and control over the Arishadvarga (Pandey and Prakash 2018): kama (lust), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (attachment), mada (pride), and matsarya (jealousy). Ayurveda also addresses social and spiritual well-being by emphasizing on relationships, i.e., the deep connections that exist between microcosm and macrocosm (Morandi et al. 2011), and the prime significance of the transcendent.

Implications This section presents how the philosophy, the fundamental concepts (discussed above), and the underlying practices of Yoga and Ayurveda have crucial implications pertaining to the workplace well-being and the domain of management.

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Business for Well-Being Milton Friedman had famously quoted “There is one and only one social responsibility of business- to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game” (Friedman and Friedman 1962) Alternatively, the business of business is business. However, this idea turns a blind eye towards the fact that a business or any organization exists as an integral part of the society and the ecosystem at large, where it utilizes various resources (natural, human, economic, etc.) for its operations. As a consequence, a business has certain responsibilities towards the stakeholders and is expected to work for the betterment of all. In Vedanta, the notion of dharma holds a central place and is also intrinsic to the philosophy of Yoga and Ayurveda. It is worthwhile to note the notions of sarvalokamhitam, i.e., well-being of all beings (Muniapan and Raj 2014); sarve bhavantu sukhinah, i.e., welfare and happiness of all; and shubhlabh, i.e., profit earned through ethical means (Sharma 2002). It would be fitting to say that dharma-oriented view of business posits that the business of business is not business, rather well-being for all. The practices underlying Yoga, namely, yama and niyama, lay down the ethical way of functioning that is applicable both at individual and entity levels. Similarly, the hitayu (positive life) perspective of life as per Ayurveda also entails the idea of establishing harmony and happiness individually and collectively in a society (Kapadia 2018).

Sacredness at the Workplace: Collective and Transcendental Well-Being The process of modernization in organizations and society at large has restricted the sense of the sacred to the private lives of individuals. Moreover, organizations are more than mere instruments to produce goods and services and represent the new form of collective life which coexists with family and social life that has spiritual rooting. Thus, to pursue a meaningful life, it is imperative to include the essence of spirituality and sacredness in the organizations (Gupta 1996). It is crucial to observe that workplace serves two all-important purposes: first, it provides a platform for people to come together, coexist, and thrive, and, second, it offers a channel, i.e., job or work, to find meaning in one’s actions. The collective (value orientation) and transcendental perspectives of well-being as described by Kiran Kumar (2003, 2004) represent the two aspects of spirituality. These are constructive to discuss the role of Yogic and Ayurvedic practices in relation to well-being at the workplace. The collective perspective is socially oriented and is founded on the concept dharma. The term dharma fundamentally means to uphold, to sustain, and to hold together (Kiran Kumar 2006). As mentioned earlier, the concept dharma refers to a code of conduct based on righteousness that governs the social affairs and moral life and that preserves the stability of society (Kuppuswamy 1977). Both Yoga and Ayurvedic practices aim to develop the sattva guna and consequently the effects of the sattva guna, i.e., sattvik bhava dharma, jnana, vairagya, and aishvarya. In line

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with the collective perspective of well-being, the sattvic bhava will be instrumental in fostering high-quality connections at workplace that are life-giving (Dutton and Heaphy 2003). These in turn have real-time implications both at individual and organization levels for the conduct of actions at workplace, ethical outlook, organization citizenship behavior, collaboration and cooperation, consideration of all, and so on. The transcendental view is subjective, intrinsic, and holistic in nature furnishing an all-encompassing universal vision for the well-being of all (Kiran Kumar 2003, 2006). The transcendental view involves an analysis of the nature and conditions underlying well-being. It involves understanding the limitations of specific goals artha (wealth) and kama (desires), experience of emotions, the role of temperament and personality in well-being, and the ideal state of well-being. Ananda and stitaprajnatva denote the defining characteristics of transcendent view of wellbeing (Kiran Kumar 2003, 2004). In both Yoga and Ayurveda, the gunas and doshas determine the psycho-spiritual and psychophysiological aspects of an individual’s personality. Additionally, they both emphasize enhancing the vital essences (prana, tejas, ojas) and purifying the sheaths (koshas) to gain harmony and the state of ananda. A clear understanding of the psychophysiological and psycho-spiritual aspects of one’s personality can help one gain understanding of the job-role fit. Also, the practices to enhance the vital essences engender spiritual awakening and the courage to follow the path; one may obtain novel insights to derive meaning from one’s actions when seen from the broader perspective. The implications at the workplace can be seen in the context of striving for roles that synch with one’s personality, reperceiving and recrafting the job (Wrzesniewski and Dutton 2001), and experiencing flow and engagement in one’s job and the consequent outcomes such as creativity, initiative taking, and overall performance.

Interaction with the Work Environment As discussed earlier, three general sets of factors (work setting, personal characteristics, and job factors) have a bearing on the well-being of individuals at the workplace (Danna and Griffin 1999). This implies the existence of a complex and dynamic environment where individuals interact and strive to operate optimally. The five senses ( jnanendriyas) and action faculties (karmendriyas) enable individuals to interact with the environment. Informed by past experiences and memories, perceptions are generated and that evolve into a complex model of reality. This sense of reality of an individual enables one to interact both with the received stimuli and the environment (Morandi et al. 2011). As per Ayurveda, overall health and the general balance of an individual are outcomes of the interaction between the organism and the environment. This underlines the fact that health is not merely a biological phenomenon; it is also a cultural process that involves knowledge and the interaction with the environment to improve it (Kovacs 1989). Similarly, mind-body practices such as Yoga encourage the cultivation of awareness of the body-mind-environment phenomenon in a nonjudgmental and nonreactive state

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Prana, Tejas, Ojas

Ayurveda

Doshas

and

Gunas

Ashtanga Yoga

Panchakosha

Workplace Well-being *Well-being of all stakeholders *Sacredness at Workplace: Collective and Transcendental Well-being *Optimal Interaction with Work Environment

HOLISTIC ORIENTATION (Physical, Mental, Emotional, Social, and Spiritual Dimensions) Fig. 3 Implications of yoga and Ayurveda on workplace well-being

(Mehling et al. 2011) and is considered essential for self-regulation and well-being (Farb et al. 2015). Both Yoga and Ayurveda emphasize on following a healthy lifestyle encompassing all spheres of life, i.e., physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual facets. They place great importance on achar (healthy activities such as exercises and Yoga practices), vichar (right thoughts, attitudes, and behavior to create and maintain good relationships via yama and niyamas), ahar (healthy, nourishing, and balanced (sattvic) diet), and vihar (right recreational activities such as regulating action-speech-thoughts to maintain quietude of mind and group activities to experience cohesion and collectiveness where one loses one’s sense of individuality) (Bhavanani 2013, 2017). These lifestyle practices can prove to be instrumental in reassessing one’s relationship with respect to one’s body-mind and the environment, i.e., the workplace. And, further, this can result in desirable outcomes at the workplace at the individual, group, and organization level (Fig. 3).

Conclusion It would be right to say that an individual leads an integrated life, where actions performed in one domain of life have a contagion effect on the other domains of life. Case in point being doing good and being well at the workplace have trickle-down effects on the other spheres of life such as family (social aspect), outlook towards life (mental and spiritual aspects), and so on. In this light, the burgeoning rates of employee turnover, cases of chronic depression, and experiencing excessive stress and anxiety at the workplace are a legitimate concern. Paralleling the integrated view of life, the ancient traditions of Yoga and Ayurveda emphasize the holistic well-being of an individual and encompass physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions. Both of these traditions

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posit a positive of health marked by high levels of well-being and lay down the path towards flourishing. In spiritual terms, they prescribe the practices to prepare an individual to tread the pathway to self-realization. Being holistic in orientation, the philosophy and the practices underlying Yoga and Ayurveda can offer a fresh perspective on well-being and have relevance at the workplace. Discussing the contemporary view of well-being and significance of workplace well-being, the chapter explicates the philosophy and the fundamental concepts (gunas, doshas, prana, tejas, ojas, and panchakosha) to understand well-being as per the traditions of Yoga and Ayurveda. The fundamental concepts form the constituents explaining the multidimensional well-being of the two traditions as well as the postulated practices to achieve the same. The chapter subsequently discusses certain implications in the context of workplace and management. Better understanding of oneself via gunas and doshas to synch one’s activities effectively, enhancing the sattva gunas and the resulting bhavas, righteous behavior founded on dharma to benefit all, augmenting the vital essences (prana, tejas, and ojas) to unearth new insights aligned to spiritual dimension, and positive modification to one’s lifestyle (thoughts, actions, behavior, food) have crucial implications at the workplace. They can impact the way of operating, ethical orientation, depth of cooperation and collaboration, resolution of conflicts, consideration of best interests of all, aligning with the job, and the resulting well-being at the workplace. To conclude, the perspective of well-being as per the traditions of Yoga and Ayurveda is relevant pertaining to the workplace and has future potential to be explored further.

Cross-References ▶ Enhancing Workplace Well-Being Through Understanding the Three Personality Types: Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas According to Samkhya ▶ Mindfulness, Wellness, and Spirituality in the Workplace ▶ Yoga Sutras and Well-Being Acknowledgments This research work was conducted with the support of the grant number 02/ 349/GEN/2017-18/RP/Major of Indian Council for Social Science Research.

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The Mediation Effect of Psychological Safety on the Relationship Between Interactional Injustice and Innovative Work Behavior

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Ayca Kubra Hizarci Payne and Alev Katrinli

Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Interactional Injustice and Innovative Work Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Interactional Injustice and Psychological Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Psychological Safety and Innovative Work Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Relationship Between Interactional Injustice and Innovative Work Behavior: The Mediation Effect of Psychological Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sample and Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Measurement Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Analytical Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Findings and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

This chapter aims to uncover the role of psychological safety on the relationship between interactional injustice and innovative work behavior. Psychological safety as one of the indicators of psychological well-being can yield positive individual- and organizational-level outcomes. Although a number of studies focused on the antecedents of innovative work behavior, studies that address innovative work behavior through an integrative approach remain scarce. The results of this study show that the interactional injustice perceptions of employees hinder their innovative behavior by diminishing their psychological safety. Thus,

A. K. H. Payne (*) · A. Katrinli Faculty of Business, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_47

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this current study denotes the detrimental role of interactional injustice in the psychological safety and discretionary behaviors of individuals.

Introduction Employment is an interchange relationship between an employee and an organization (Blau 1964). In the past, according to this relationship, an employee’s mental health was usually ignored. In today’s working environment, the nature of the exchange between the employee and organization has gone through a fundamental change (Cascio 2006; Maguire 2002), since human resources have become one of the crucial resources for firms to gain and maintain a competitive advantage (Tsui et al. 1995). Psychological safety as a reflection of positive emotional states or emotional well-being of employees in an organization can lead to fruitful individual and organizational level outcomes. Organizations can foster employees’ emotional well-being by enabling a working environment where employees can feel psychologically safe. In this vein, organizational justice is one of the factors that can conduce employees’ emotional or psychological well-being through enhancing psychological safety. Organizations can ensure these types of climates by facilitating the interactional justice perceptions of employees. A workplace that prioritizes positive interpersonal relationships, mutual respect, and kindness can be the main source of positive employee states and behaviors including engagement, satisfaction, and development (Spreitzer et al. 2005). Previous research provided substantial evidence that revealed the role of social exchange relationships between the organization and its employee, as a strong determinant of crucial positive employee behaviors and attitudes, including employee motivation, creativity, organizational commitment, and engagement (Cropanzano et al. 2002; Rupp and Cropanzano 2002; Tekleab et al. 2005). In the extant literature, organizational climate is considered as one of the factors that has had an impact on an individual’s psychological well-being, such as justice, trust, and support (Schmitt and Dörfel 1999; Cassar and Buttigieg 2015; Karatepe 2015). In addition, the high volatility of job requirements in organizations increased the need for positive organizational behaviors, in order to adapt to rapid changings (Luthans 2002). In particular, justice perceptions have been a concern for employees (Colquitt et al. 2013). Organizational justice is the term that refers to the perceived fairness of the employees about their organizations (James 1993). The first studies on the concept of organizational justice date back to the early 1960s (Adams 1963, 1965). Since then, interest in the concept has gradually increased. Over time, organizational justice has been recognized as one of the performance-boosting instruments for organizations, as it is related to personnel well-being (Greenberg 1990). Justice is considered as a favorable organizational climate that provides an environment for employees to express themselves freely under no pressure. Thereby, justice provides employees to feel themselves psychologically safe, which, in turn, can increase both their personal well-being and performance (Baer and Frese 2003; Brown and Leigh 1996; Kahn 1990). However, compared to procedural and

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distributive justice, interactional justice is considered to have stronger effects on individuals’ emotions, attitudes, and behavior (Cropanzano et al. 2002; Bies 2005; Cropanzano and Ambrose 2001). Since the extant literature fails to provide an integrative approach to the psychological experiences of individuals and their effects on employee behavior, this present study aims to address the mediation effect of psychological safety on the relationship between interactional injustice and innovative working behavior. The structure of the paper is as follows: The theoretical background is built on the extant literature, by providing a comprehensive understanding of the concepts, which is followed by the research design of the study. In the findings and discussion section, the contributions, implications, and limitations of the study are addressed.

Literature Review Interactional Injustice and Innovative Work Behavior According to Podsakoff and MacKenzie (1997), employees’ positive work behaviors are one of the sources that constitute an organization’s competitive advantage, which ignited the interest of the researchers and practitioners to unveil the motivational basis of those discretionary and positive work behaviors (Aryee et al. 2002). Social exchange theory is considered to be one of the most influential and widely used theories focused on examining workplace behavior (Cropanzano and Mitchell 2005). Individuals engage in social exchanges that are composed of interdependent and contingent interactions (Emerson 1976; Blau 1964; Gouldner 1960). According to social exchange theory, through these interdependent interactions, individuals can build strong relationships under certain situations. In the early times of social exchange theory, fairness perceptions were based on material self-interest; however, as the theory has evolved over time, contemporary research includes interpersonal relationships (Cropanzano and Mitchell 2005). Social exchange theory suggests that interpersonal relationships are based on “a norm of reciprocity” that creates an obligation for the counterpart to respond (Gouldner 1960). Based on the study of Blau (1964), scholars asserted that there are two types of relationships in the workplace. Those two types are “economic and social relationships.” The form of social exchange relationships is different from economic exchange relationships. Economic exchange relationships include the exchange of material resources, whereas social exchange relationships are based on intangible resources, such as emotions and behaviors. In social exchanges, the contributions that are made by two parties are not as specific or clear as those relationships, although in economic exchanges the contributions have a standard measuring. Economic exchanges are usually short-term relations, while social exchanges are long-term relationships, in which parties can make sacrifices for each other. Social exchange relations are built on reciprocal obligations. In a social exchange, the experience of two parties sets their type of reciprocity. If the experience is negative, then the response will be negative; if positive, then the response will be in a positive manner (positive and

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negative reciprocity). Social exchange theory is considered to enable insights into the reactions of employees toward their perception of organizational justice (Masterson et al. 2000); since it is one of the aspects of social exchange relationships (Moorman 1991), as individuals build their justice perception based on their interpersonal relationships within their organization, each part has obligations toward each other (Bishop et al. 2000). Based on the consequences of those relationships, individuals can increase or decrease their constructive behaviors and performance (Wayne et al. 2002). Scholars in management have devoted a great deal of effort toward organizational justice, as it holds numerous practical implications both for individuals and organizations (Rupp and Cropanzano 2002; Cropanzano et al. 2017). There is substantial research that shows the role of fairness perceptions in shaping employee emotion, attitude, and behavior (Masterson et al. 2000). Organizational justice has been proven to be a predictor of positive and engaged behavior (Colquitt et al. 2001; Lavelle et al. 2007). Organizational justice has its roots in Stacey Adams’ Equity Theory (1965), in which perceived fairness of outcomes influences motivation and the performance of employees. Following Adams, new dimensions about perceived justice and the significance of its impacts on organizational outcomes have been investigated and have led to the assumption that organizational justice is a basic requirement for the successful operation of organizations and the well-being of workers (Colquitt et al. 2001; Greenberg 1990). The term justice refers to “the allocation of resources and rewards” (Notz and Starke 1987). As a multifacet concept, organizational justice consists of three dimensions including distributive, procedural, and interactional justice (Colquitt and Greenberg 2003). Distributive justice is the perceived fairness of employees toward the allocation and distribution of rewards and resources and is mostly about tangible outcomes (Folger and Konovsky 1989). Individuals determine distributive justice by assessing costs and rewards and then comparing these costs to rewards of other employees in their organizations (Adams 1965). Distributive justice was the first type of justice that was identified (Byrne and Cropanzano 2001; Cropanzano et al. 2002). However, the empirical results regarding distributive justice have shown inconsistency. Research started to indicate that employees are not only influenced by the amount of outcomes but also the procedures that are used to determine the allocation and distribution of the rewards or outcomes, which was later called procedural justice (Kuhn 1970; Cropanzano and Ambrose 2015; Bies 2015). Procedural justice focuses on assessing the fairness of processes by which allocation and distribution decisions are made (Thibaut and Walker 1975). When individuals regard decision-making procedures as accurate, unbiased, consistent, and fair, this means that their evaluation of the procedural justice in the organization is high (Colquitt and Greenberg 2003). Research has suggested that procedural justice is usually based on the individuals’ perception of institutional characteristics (Folger and Konovsky 1989; Thibaut and Walker 1975). The last dimension is interactional justice that reflects the perceived fairness of how managers and decision-makers relate with and treat their subordinates. It demonstrates the sensitivity and consideration of managers or supervisors in terms of being respectful, kind, and polite toward their employees (Bies and Moag

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1986). In addition, it reflects the extent that subordinates are provided with information and reasoning about decisions that are made by their organization (Skarlicki and Folger 1997). The reactions toward distributive justice are strongly based on the outcomes rather than the organization; however, procedural and interactional justice are based on the reactions toward the organization or supervisor (Taylor et al. 1995; Korsgaard et al. 1996; Sweeney and McFarlin 1997). Previous research showed that organizational justice is an enabler for understanding employees’ attitudes, their behaviors, and job outcomes (Khan et al. 2015; Cropanzano et al. 2007; Niehoff and Moorman 1993; Moorman et al. 1993; Bakhshi et al. 2009; Lambert et al. 2007; Moon et al. 2008; Janssen 2004; Gupta and Singh 2015; Pan et al. 2018; Camerman et al. 2007). However, a meta-analytical review showed that different types of justice perceptions can yield different results (Colquitt et al. 2013). While procedural and distributive justice were found as the strongest determinants of employee behavior, interactional justice was found as one of the predictors of negative emotions and reactions including turnover intention, trust, and commitment. Compared to procedural and distributive justice, interactional justice is considered to have stronger effects on individuals’ emotions, attitudes, and behavior (Cropanzano et al. 2002; Bies 2005; Cropanzano and Ambrose 2001). Interactional justice reflects the extent that supervisors are sincere, open, and sensitive to their subordinates and treat them in a respectful and kind way. When employees are treated with dignity and respect, they perceived it as a fair interpersonal interaction. Perceived interactional injustice can cause employees to feel not being championed or worthless and decrease their positive organizational behavior, since interactional justice can affect their motivation to engage in discretionary behaviors (Bies and Shapiro 1987; Tyler and Bies 1990; Simmons 2011). Cropanzano and Ambrose (2001) asserted that justice reflects the economic and socio-emotional expectations of individuals. In summary, individuals make their justice judgments based on the economic and socio-emotional outcomes. From the justice and social exchange theory point of views, fairness within an organization can develop closer social exchange relationships. Those reciprocal social exchange relationships make employees repay the workplace fairness. Therefore, social exchange is an initiator for employees building on the organizations’ fair treatment, which creates an obligation for the employees to reciprocate. In a fair workplace, individuals are treated fairly and show better performance and discretionary behaviors that can also foster organizational performance (Moorman 1991; Bakhshi et al. 2009; Greenberg 1987, 1990; Cohen-Charash and Spector 2001). Individuals are more apt to work in organizations, which support moral and ethical standards, rather than those that do not provide this climate. However, in an unfair work environment, employees are likely to engage in counterproductive work behaviors (Colquitt et al. 2001; Cropanzano et al. 2001). Based on the social exchange perspective, employees who are treated in a favorable manner with respect and dignity will be motivated to perform beyond their job requirements, motivated to create, innovate, generate new ideas, and display discretionary behaviors; this notion has been supported by prior research (Masterson et al. 2000, Agarwal 2014; Young 2012; Janssen 2001, 2004; Macey

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et al. 2011; Simmons 2011, Fassina et al. 2008). Thus, the exhibition of discretionary behaviors is associated with the social exchange between the individual and the organization, including innovative work behavior (Agarwal 2014; Agarwal and Bhargava 2014). Innovative work behavior is the reciprocity that an employee pays back to the organization or the manager in return for favorable treatment (Janssen 2000). In addition, while positive reciprocities are met, employees will be more willing to put in more effort and do more creative and innovative work. On the contrary, if the expectations are not met and reciprocity and interaction become negative, then the social exchange will be interrupted. Therefore, when employees receive unfair treatment from their organization or manager, they will tend to quit exhibiting discretionary behaviors in order to repay the unfair behavior (Rupp and Cropanzano 2002; Organ 1988; Moorman 1991; Organ and Konovsky 1989; Karriker and Williams 2009; Gregory et al. 2013; Organ and Ryan 1995). Innovative work behavior is defined as “an employee’s intention to generate, promote, realize new ideas in an organization” (Janssen and Van Yperen 2004: 370). Innovative work behavior is a positive or discretionary work behavior, in which employees do work beyond their job requirements (Janssen 2000). Innovative work behavior is widely considered to be important, and those discretionary behaviors are seen as a competitive advantage for organizations (Podsakoff and MacKenzie 1997; Shalley 1995; Woodman et al. 1993). Interactional justice assures that employees will be treated with dignity and respect although their innovative ideas or actions fail (George and Zhou 2007). When individuals are innovative and creative, they are willing to accept the risk of failure. In addition, interactional justice provides an appropriate climate for employees to view risk-taking behaviors worthy (Zhou and George 2001). Interactional justice is more about the extent that managers or supervisors can ignite creativity and innovative work behavior, more than other types of justice. This is due to it being based on supervisor treatment, rather than organizational systems (Bies 2005), which can affect individuals’ willingness to engage in innovative work behavior and taking risks. Based on the previous research and social exchange theory, it can be hypothesized that: H1: Interactional injustice has a negative effect on innovative work behavior.

Interactional Injustice and Psychological Safety Psychological safety as an indicator of emotional well-being is the perception of individuals and reflects the employees’ ability to express themselves and share their ideas freely with no fear of negative results, regarding their reputation or career within their organization (Kahn 1990). Psychological safety has its roots in social interactions that are certain and consistent. In the literature, psychological safety was analyzed with numerous antecedents; however, its importance still needs to be uncovered (Frazier et al. 2017). Frazier et al. (2017) showed that psychological safety has the potential to influence important organizational outcomes including

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engagement, knowledge sharing, commitment, etc. Therefore, it is important to unveil the factors affecting psychological safety. Organizational justice is an important factor since it constitutes the appropriate ground for psychological safety to emerge (Macey et al. 2011). Employees perceive their organizations as psychologically safe, if they receive fair treatment within their organizations. When the organization is perceived as fair, the employees are willing to engage in their job with no fear of failure and losing resources. As interactional justice facilitates a supportive and trustful environment, employees’ feelings of safety increase (May et al. 2004; Castellano 2013). Particularly, as relationships with supervisors and managers constitute the interactional justice perception, it also has the potential to affect the employees’ perception of what is safe (Walumbwa and Schaubroeck 2009). According to Edmondson (1999), psychological safety is the description of a climate in which trust, mutual respect, freedom of expressing concerns, and different and new ideas exist. In this vein, interactional justice is important to remove the barriers that usually discourage employees to speak about their concerns and problems. For organizations that are characterized with high psychological safety, interactional justice is the tool for managers to improve communication actively in mutual respect that is accomplished by guaranteeing that no one will be punished or experience any negative consequences, individually or as a unit, as a result of voicing their concerns. In this respect, interaction with subordinates in an open and transparent way by not damaging their dignity and improving trust and respect will result in a climate with high psychological safety. Interactional justice reflects the relational transparency within an organization, where trust and respect are the main mechanisms in building interpersonal relationships. Under the conditions of interactional justice, individuals experience higher psychological safety and feel comfortable to propose conflicting or challenging ideas with no fear of losing resources (Avolio et al. 2004; Rego et al. 2007, 2012). On the other hand, injustice perceptions will cause employees to avoid asking for help, be unwilling to admit mistakes, and be unlikely to share ideas in order to get feedback, all of which are a potential threat for them, and in such organizations, employees are unwilling to show discretionary behaviors (MacDuffie 1997). Based on the extant literature, the hypothesis developed is as follows: H2: Interactional injustice decreases the level of psychological safety.

Psychological Safety and Innovative Work Behavior In the past, employees were expected to isolate their emotions while working, whereas today emotional fitness is considered to be a source for a healthy society and employee well-being (Cartwright and Holmes 2006; Spell and Arnold 2007). Therefore, scholars in management showed a great deal of interest in understanding the role of emotions in the workplace (Salovey and Mayer 1990; Mayer and Salovey 2007; Goleman et al. 2013). In particular, while negative emotions can lead to both individual- and organizational-level negative consequences (Cole et al. 2010; Quebbeman and Rozell

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2002; Fischer and Sousa-Poza 2009; Fox and Spector 1999), psychological well-being yields positive consequences (Cropanzano and Wright 2001). In this vein, positive psychology started to put great emphasis on the characteristics of the conditions that affect employees’ positive emotional states and experiences (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2000; Avey et al. 2008; Luthans et al. 2007, 2008). A workplace, which prioritizes positive interpersonal relationships, is viewed as the main source of positive employee states and behaviors including engagement, satisfaction, and development (Dutton and Heaphy 2003; Quinn 2007; Spreitzer et al. 2005). Edmondson (2004) suggested that psychological safety ensures a safe environment for employees, in which they feel free to develop and express new ideas, explore new ways, and engage in innovative and creative behavior. For example, Baer and Frese (2003) found that psychological safety improves process innovations. Although they did not address psychological safety at the individual level, their findings can be a sign of the role of psychological safety in engaging innovative work behavior. Psychological safety has its roots in the study of Schein and Bennis (1965), who asserted that it is important for employees to feel safe and be ready for changes. As a social contextual factor, psychological safety shows the extent that employees can express and share their opinions and take risk or initiatives without any feeling of threat for reputational harm, self-image, and career status within their organization (Edmondson 1999, 2004; Edmondson et al. 2001; Brown and Leigh 1996). In addition, psychological safety provides climate for individuals, in which they will not be ridiculed or punished for expressing their feelings and opinions to their managers or supervisors. This confidence boosts the deployment of knowledge, which, in turn, increases innovation activities engaged within the organization (Baer and Frese 2003; Kark and Carmeli 2009). Psychological safety allows employees to take personal risks and facilitates their learning and creative behaviors in their workplace (Kahn 1990; Edmondson 1999; Rego et al. 2012), all of which are the important ingredients of innovative work behavior. Brown and Leigh (1996) found that perceived psychological safety could increase job involvement and performance. Psychological safety ensures a climate in which employees can engage in open and trustful interactions so they can share their opinions, without the fear of being punished or humiliated (West 1990). Employees working in such an environment can take initiatives by proposing, promoting, and presenting their new ideas and at the same time, enhance their learning, which are important in fostering the potential for creative and innovative work behavior. Organizations that provide psychological safety can perform better, as it builds the potential mechanisms for innovations for which employees need to work collaboratively. Assurance of psychological safety is not only important on only an individual-level, but it is also considered to be at team- and organizational-level outcomes (Thamhain 2003; Baer and Frese 2003; May et al. 2004; Janssen 2004). Empirical studies show that organizations with high levels of psychological safety promote innovativeness as it increases creativity, learning, and engagement (Lyu 2016; Edmondson 1999; West and Andersen 1996). In addition, empirical studies suggest that encouraging employees to take risks will increase their motivation to take initiative, which, in turn, results in showing discretionary behaviors and engaging innovative actions (Amabile and Gryskiewicz 1989; Morrison and Phelps 1999; Miron et al. 2004).

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Psychological safety as a social resource is the indication of the level of trust within an organization can promote knowledge sharing, creativity, and innovative work behavior (Mayer et al. 1995; Edmondson 1999; Parzefall et al. 2008; Gong et al. 2012). In this vein, it can be suggested that employee self-confidence is also facilitated by psychological safety, and this happens to be another important ingredient of innovative work behavior (Edmondson 1999; Amabile et al. 1996). Moreover, emotions are considered to affect employee attitudes and behavior (Barsade and Gibson 2007). Thus, as psychological safety indicates the positive social interactions within an organization by which employees generate positive emotions, it also in turn increases their willingness to engage in discretionary behaviors including innovative work behavior (Heaphy and Dutton 2008; Kark and Carmeli 2009). An organization characterized with psychological safety can boost employees’ physical and mental strength, which, in turn, will drive them to be more engaged, since they will be sure that any mistakes that they make will not be held against them in regard to interpersonal treatment or career positions (Baer and Frese 2003). As innovative behaviors are inherently risky, employees perceive them as uncertain and having a big potential to fail; however, psychological safety motivates employees to share their ideas openly and make improvements, develop themselves, and overcome the adversity of the potential failures, by removing the concerns regarding negative reactions (George and Zhou 2007; Gong et al. 2012; Grant and Ashford 2008; Kessel et al. 2012). In an organization with low levels of psychological safety, employees’ perception of uncertainty, fear of being rejected, and fear of being labeled a deviant are high. This causes them to consider their organization unsupportive and also makes the employee unwilling to engage discretionary behaviors. In particular, novel ideas and inventions harbor high levels of ambiguity and risk of failure and also have a high potential of mistakes that inhibits arriving at the target. An employee with innovative work behavior can experience negative emotional states when his or her attempt fails in a low psychologically safe workplace, such as a decrease in respect or reputation, delays in promotion, humiliation, and embarrassment. Employee engagement in innovative work behavior will be hindered in a working environment that fails to ensure psychological safety, since employees will be unwilling or reluctant to engage in such discretionary behaviors. As can be understood, psychological safety constitutes the fundamental characteristics of an organization which can strongly affect employees’ willingness and ability to learn and adapt to changes and tendency to engage in discretionary behaviors (Edmondson 2004; Argyris 1982). In light of the literature, the hypothesis developed is as follows: H3: Psychological safety has a positive effect on innovative work behavior.

The Relationship Between Interactional Injustice and Innovative Work Behavior: The Mediation Effect of Psychological Safety Interactional justice assures an environment where employees are treated with dignity and kindness (Bies and Moag 1986). Workplace climates with a high level

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of safety are a source for individuals to engage in discretionary behaviors (May et al. 2004). Displaying interactional justice can promote knowledge sharing, creativity, and innovative work behavior. However, if an employee perceives a threat of losing resources, this perception will discourage him or her to engage in discretionary behaviors (Argyris 1982; Gong et al. 2012). Psychological safety and interactional justice have been considered as important drivers of discretionary behaviors (Macey et al. 2011; Lyu 2016; Kessel et al. 2012). Employees tend to engage in innovative behaviors when they feel that they will not suffer or be punished if their innovative actions fail or be embarrassed due to their new ideas. As innovations are highly risky, an employee working in an organization with low psychological safety will not be willing to engage this kind of behavior. Conversely, psychological safety decreases the emergence of negative emotions regarding the failure (Barsky and Kaplan 2007). Employees who work in psychologically unsafe workplaces will be reluctant to engage in innovative work behavior. Furthermore, risk perception emerges when an employee has a new idea, and there is a high level of uncertainty regarding the supervisors’ reaction to that idea and the consequences of it. Based on the proposition of Edmondson (1999), the extent that employees feel themselves psychologically safe increases their risk-taking willingness, creativity, and innovative work behavior. A supervisor’s or manager’s respect and sensitivity toward employees allows them to discuss problems openly and promote their ideas, which, in turn, increases their willingness to take risk and accompanies innovativeness. Furthermore, employees will be confident about their ideas and will not be subject to any humiliation, underestimation or ridicule, and also trust that their supervisor will not exhibit disrespectful and threating behavior. Therefore, interactional justice provides a psychologically safe environment for employees to share their knowledge, be creative, and promote innovative ideas. After reviewing the literature, it can be hypothesized that: H4: Psychological safety mediates the relationship between interactional injustice and innovative work behavior.

Methodology Sample and Data Collection In order to test the hypothesized relationships, participants who have a full-time job were recruited through the online data collection service MTurk, which is an online labor market for the collection of data and is a service of Amazon (Paolacci and Chandler 2014). Particularly, a person can register as a requestor or a worker. Requestors are task creators, and workers are paid to complete any given task. A requester can choose any category of workers for data collection (Buhrmester et al. 2011). In this study, each worker was paid $0.60 in return for completing the survey. MTurk, as a data collection tool, is considered to be useful and efficient (Buhrmester et al. 2011; Mason and Suri 2012). In the online survey, quality control questions were used to reveal the participants that did not pay the required attention

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to complete the survey (Oppenheimer et al. 2009); however, this study does not suffer from this problem. In total, 141 full-time workers completed the survey. 78 of the participants were female (53.8%) and 67 of them were male (46.2%). The mean age is 35.8 (SD: 8.912. Max: 64, Min: 19). Education level of the participants shows that 35 of the participants (22%) have a high school degree, 83 of them have a college or university degree (58.9%), and the rest of the participants 27 (19.1%) have a postgraduate degree.

Measurement Model Reliability scores of the scales are higher than 0.80, which shows that there is no reliability concern for this study (Nunnally 1982). The factor loadings, composite reliability, and average variance extracted values were examined for convergent validity of the constructs (Anderson and Gerbing 1988; Fornell and Larcker 1981). The item loadings of the constructs were found to be significant and higher than 0.50 (Hair et al. 2016). Average variance extracted (AVE) values of the variables were higher than 0.50, which indicates that convergent validity has been met in this study (Anderson and Gerbing 1988; Fornell and Larcker 1981). Moreover, the constructs’ composite reliabilities are higher than 0.70 (Hair et al. 2016; Fornell and Lacker 1981). The discriminant validity is not a concern for this study, since the values of the square root of AVE values are higher than the correlations (Fornell and Larcker 1981). In order to test the degree of multicollinearity, the variance inflation factor values were analyzed, and according to the results, the VIF values are lower than 5 (Henseler et al. 2009); then the constructs are not highly correlated. A confirmatory factor analysis was made, in order to analyze the model. The model showed a good data fit with the values of a three-factor model (χ 2 ¼ 451.9, df ¼ 227, χ2/df ¼ 1.91, NFI ¼ 0.824, CFI ¼ 0.92, RMSEA ¼ 0.079), which indicates that the participants were able to distinguish the constructs from each other: • Innovative Work Behavior: Innovative work behavior was measured with the 9-item scale developed by Janssen (2001). The scale has three subdimensions that are idea generation, idea promotion, and idea realization (e.g., I create new ideas for difficult issues, I mobilize support for innovative ideas, I search out new working methods, techniques, or instruments). All items were measured on a 5-Likert scale that ranges from never to always. (The reliability of the scale; α ¼ 0.888) • Interactional Injustice. Interactional injustice was measured by using the 9-item scale developed by Niehoff and Moorman (1993). Ratings were completed on a 5-point scale that ranges from strongly disagree to strongly agree (e.g., My manager doesn’t treat me with kindness and consideration; When decisions are made about my job, my manager treats me with respect and dignity; When decisions are made about my job, my manager deals with me in a truthful manner). The items were measured on a 5-Likert scale. (The reliability of the scale; α ¼ 0.953)

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• Psychological Safety: Psychological safety was measured with the 5-item scale adopted from Liang et al. (2012). The items are measured on a 5-Likert scale and one of them was a reverse coded question. (In my work unit, I can express my true feelings regarding my job, In my work unit, I can freely express my thoughts, I’m worried that expressing true thoughts in my workplace would do harm to myself (reverse-coded). (The reliability of the scale; α ¼ 0.801)

Analytical Strategy In this study, the analytical approach of Preacher and Hayes (2008) was followed to test the hypotheses. Bootstrapping was used to measure the significance level of the indirect effect of interactional injustice on innovative work behavior (Preacher and Hayes 2008). Scholars consider that bootstrapping is better than the Sobel test, since it does not make any assumption about the distribution normality of the related indirect effect (Preacher and Hayes 2008; Preacher et al. 2007). With bootstrapping, the indirect effects are measured based on confidence intervals (Preacher and Hayes 2008), and in this study, 5000 samples were bootstrapped while performing the analysis.

Results Descriptive results are shown in Table 1. As expected, the interactional injustice is negatively and significantly correlated with both psychological safety and innovative work behavior. In addition, there is a positive correlation between innovative work behavior and psychological safety. Results show that all of the hypotheses are supported (see Table 2). The effect of interactional injustice on psychological safety and innovative work behavior is significant and negative. According to the results, psychological safety mediates the relationship between interactional injustice and innovative work behavior. The indirect effect of interactional injustice over psychological safety was found as 0.1478 within a confidence interval of 0.325 and 0.0058 (95% bias-corrected intervals). Since the confidence interval does not include zero, the indirect effect is statistically significant ( p < 0.05). Model 1 indicates the effect of interactional injustice on psychological safety. In Model 2, the outcome of the model is innovative work behavior. When psychological safety interacts with innovative work behavior simultaneously with interactional injustice, Table 1 Descriptive statistics Construct 1. Interactional injustice 2. Psychological safety 3. Innovative work behavior 

Mean 2.27 3.55 3.70

SD 0.911 0.857 0.680

Correlations are significant at 0.01 level (2-tailed), N ¼ 141

1 1 0.639 0.424

2

3

1 0.408

1

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Table 2 Direct and indirect effects Hypotheses H2 ✓

Relationships Interactional injustice ➔ psychological safety (model 1) H1 ✓ Interactional injustice ➔ innovative work behavior (model 2) H3 ✓ Psychological safety ➔ innovative work behavior (model 2) Bootstrapping results for indirect effect H4 ✓ indirect effects of interactional injustice on IWB through PS

β 0.6011

p 0.0000

LLCI 0.722

ULCI 0.479

0.2064

0.0056

0.351

0.061

0.1835

0.0199

0.295

0.337

0.1478

–

BootLLCI 0.328

BootULCI 0.0058

the direct effect of interactional justice reduces. That is a sign of mediation effect; however, as the direct and indirect effects are both significant, the mediation is partial.

Findings and Discussion Today’s highly dynamic and volatile environments led to the rise of non-stop improvements through continuous learning and innovation that are vital for organizational adaptation and survival. However, these processes are not developed only in one unit; they are built cooperatively with the engagement of different levels of the organization. The development of these processes requires employees with psychological well-being and a psychologically safe environment, where individuals can speak up and work collaboratively in mutual respect. In turn, employees can be expected to be engaged in more discretionary behaviors by taking risks and put more effort into their work. In this study, the role of psychological safety on the relationship between interactional injustice and innovative work behavior is analyzed. While interactional injustice decreases the level of psychological safety and innovative work behavior, psychological safety has a boosting effect on innovative work behavior. The fairness perceptions of employees can significantly affect the extent that they are free to share their ideas or concerns, which hinders them from engaging in innovative work behavior. The relationships with managers or supervisors reside in psychological safety, which is considered a social resource (Losada and Heaphy 2004). These social resources create a supportive base for employees to increase their positive feelings and psychological well-being and to engage in discretionary behaviors. Positive interpersonal relationships in a workplace can increase employees’ positive moods by increasing their psychological safety. Since low levels of psychological safety can create stress and negative emotions, it can detriment psychological well-being of employees.

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In this sense, it is important to provide a workplace for employees, where they can find fairness through which they can experience psychological safety, which, in turn, will increase their psychological wellbeing and positive organizational behaviors. The results of this study are in accordance with the literature (e.g., May et al. 2004). Through ensuring interactional justice and psychological safety, the innovative behavior of employees can be increased. As innovations are risky, employees should be in an interactional just and psychologically safe climate, in order to find the motivation and confidence in themselves to engage in these kinds of risky actions. This study is the first study that integrates the interactional injustice perception of employees, with their psychological safety and innovative work behavior. Therefore, this study fulfilled a gap in the literature by addressing three important issues.

Implications Psychological safety as an indicator of positive emotional states and the psychological well-being of the workplace can yield individual- and organizational-level consequences. Organizations should maintain an organizational climate with the interactional justice in order to enhance psychological safety. Organizations that prioritize positive interpersonal relationships, mutual respect, and kindness can be the main source of employee well-being and behaviors including engagement, satisfaction, and psychological well-being (Spreitzer et al. 2005). Organizations should put great emphasis on building a strong interactional justice mindset, which can assure a psychologically safe environment. Psychological safety can boost not only the individual positive state but also their discretionary behaviors including creativity, learning, and innovative work behavior. Therefore, organizations and supervisors should put great emphasis on building relationships based on justice and providing a psychologically safe environment for employees, which, in turn, will benefit both parties.

Cross-References ▶ Employee Engagement: Keys to Organizational Success ▶ Respect and Recognition of the Work as Building Blocks of the Workplace: A Work-Psychological Perspective

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Omowumi Ogunyemi and Adaora Onaga

Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Self-Leadership and Its Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Complexity of a Study of the Self . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Neuroscience of Self-Awareness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Neuroscience of Self-Regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Neuroscience of Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Reward Pathways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Brain, Mirror Neurons, and Relationship Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Brain, Habits, and Autobiography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Concluding Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

Discussions about the self and self-leadership give knowledge of various perspectives. Many leadership theories focus on the psychological and intellectual motors of positive change in human activity which are internal to the agent. Self-leadership focuses on the capacity to direct one’s choices and actions through internal convictions and intrinsic motivation. The process of directing oneself to achieve certain goals takes for granted that the individual is capable of performing normal intellectual activity. However, there are some neurological prerequisites that ensure the normal healthy functioning. These biological requirements are often the object of exploration in neuroscience as the field of study seeks to enrich the knowledge and contribute to a holistic understanding of human beings. This chapter explores the neuroscientific dimensions that underlie elements of self-leadership. It sheds light on the role of normal biology for O. Ogunyemi (*) · A. Onaga Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_48

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attaining fulfillment in all human activity, including those carried out in the workplace, given that a large chunk of the human being’s wakeful and productive hours of the day are spent at work. One can thus see that the theoretical dimensions of self-leadership, often observable in their behavioral manifestations, are connected to the empirical biological dynamics in the human body as described with neuroscientific research.

Introduction Different schools of thought view self-leadership differently and have described its components. There are commonalities in the descriptions of the constituent elements of self-leadership. Many scholars agree that self-leadership encompasses many dimensions of personal growth and progress for which the primary driving force for development is internal to the agent. The concept of self-leadership is central to professional development and the path to attaining fulfillment at work. Self-leadership is an important topic today for engagement at work and for purposefully directing oneself towards higher targets. The human being is a complex individual with obvious physical dimensions and some activities which seem to go beyond biological and chemical activity. Within ancient philosophy and biology, Plato already pointed out the apparent struggle between the forces within each human and the tension which that struggle can create within each person. The question of the relationship between the human mind and body continues to be of interest today. It is however beyond the scope of this chapter to analyze that mind-body debate. One interesting fact is that for many scholars, irrespective of the aspect of the human being which they study, it is vital to examine both the psychological, mental or nonmaterial, and physical or biological dimensions of humans. Very few schools of thought have denied the importance of a sound biology for well-being. It is therefore unsurprising that the contemporary inquiry into human fulfillment and well-being often includes both theoretical-logical arguments about human behavior and physiological explorations of the workings of the human mind. The developments of new instruments and techniques of study in the fields of psychology and neuroscience have led to an ever-deepening knowledge of the details of the mechanisms of normal bodily functions. Specifically, the neurosciences shed light on biological dimensions of the loci of control of human actions. For normal human activity, even when one argues that human actions are not purely biological, one expects the bodily systems to function well. Neuroscience today pays attention to physiological systems that contribute to normal intellectual functions, decisionmaking, and the appreciation of others. This chapter explores neuroscientific contributions to the understanding of self-leadership. It presents the hidden biological activity that influences the normal processes involved in living out the elements of self-leadership. It then gives an exposition of the implications of these scientific findings for self-leadership as an

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essential ingredient to well-being in the different spheres of life including the work.

Self-Leadership and Its Elements Different theorists explain self-leadership with different parameters. One point on which these varied views about self-leadership agree is that it is a style of leadership in which a person owns the changes experienced. The self-led individuals are authors and directors of their own narratives, and they seek motivation from within. Another chapter of this book, anatomy of self-leadership, describes ten facets of self-leadership. These facets, identified by foremost scholars who advance self-leadership theory, form a baseline reference point for considerations about the contents of self-leadership. These components of self-leadership include self-observation which leads to self-knowledge, self-control and self-regulation which are building blocks for self-management, self-awareness, self-compassion, self-motivation, self-development, social awareness, relationship management, and effective communication. Self-observation requires a conscious effort to pay attention to and notice one’s interior dispositions. It presupposes that the individual is a rational agent with the capacity of self-reflection. Such observation can lead to obtaining information and acquiring a deep knowledge of one’s tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses, a knowledge which is the baseline for managing oneself in different situations. Self-regulation and self-control are often used interchangeably. These terms denote the capacity of rational agents to govern their own activity, both in it interior dimensions and its externally observable manifestations. Such control requires a well-functioning neural system. The habitual practice of self-control is a component of self-management. In other words, self-management can be considered a long-term consequence of repeated acts of self-regulation, such that the agent can habitually direct the self towards set goals as opposed to being a passive recipient of circumstances of external forces. With self-management come changes in character traits which are a sign of development. Directing one’s life is a continuous task, and it involves the development of habits that are helpful to the person. These habits have neuronal correlates as they can modify the structure and the connections between neurons. Consistently performing self-improving actions leads to self-development. One cannot overemphasize the fact that self-awareness requires conscious, intelligent appreciation and understanding of oneself and one’s environment. Thus, it is important to understand the biological and psychological mechanisms that are key to having a healthy self-awareness. For self-observation and self-awareness, the individual has to be in the conscious state, a state which requires a baseline physiological functioning of the nervous system even though the optimal functioning of conscious state geared towards human fulfillment goes beyond the firing of neurons.

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The human being is a social being who is dependent on others for various needs. Humans need the collaboration of fellow humans in order to understand the world and to learn to identify and use the available resources well. Achieving one’s goals requires interactions with others, and the capacity to interact well and manage healthy relationships is essential to attaining set targets. Given that collaboration with others often demands the exchange of ideas, it is unsurprising that good communication skills and the ability to transmit one’s ideas effectively are important to leadership skills. From the above introduction to the elements of self-leadership, one can see that they are interconnected, and indeed some facets are inseparable from others as they are like two sides of the same coin. Therefore, for the purposes of this discussion on the neuroscientific perspectives, those components which are related will be grouped together. Consequently, the neuroscientific perspectives of the elements of self-leadership are discussed under the following six headings: neuroscience of self-awareness, neuroscience of self-regulation, neuroscience of motivation, self-leadership and the reward pathways, the brain and the management of relationships, and the brain, habits, and autobiography.

The Complexity of a Study of the Self Any study of the self is necessarily a complicated one. Is it possible to have a third-person scientific study of this phenomenon with its inaccessible aspects? A neuroscience of self-awareness suggests that this is possible. In recent times, “our knowledge about the mechanisms of self-understanding has been increasingly informed by evidence from the neurosciences and cognitive sciences” (Walker 2012, p. 63). To a certain extent, it is possible to objectify, quantify, and measure some aspects of the self. There are, however, facets that emerge with variations in circumstances and others that remain private, subjective and difficult to objectify. There has been a long-standing interest in understanding and defining the self which is seen with the classical philosophers and early metaphysicians. These thinkers attributed a sense of self as related to the inseparable unity of a substantial form to a material body (Aristotle, De Anima 411b 6–12). This form is attributed with being the first act and the principle of movement of that physical body with potential for life. It is with this explanation that the unity of the self despite a multitude of sense impressions, thoughts, and experiences is accepted. It is a metaphysical understanding of the self which is valid though inadequately emphasizes the aspect of its subjectivity. Other philosophical trends which attempted to give precedence to subjectivity such as rationalist philosophies admitted a separation between body and mind. The mind was principally associated with the self, and the body being a physical extension played a secondary role. With this understanding, identity of the self correlates with what is in the mind. This again did not seem to fully represent the self which has an originality and unmistakable presence in the world which includes the body. Is the first image of the self not a corporeal one? It is true that there

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are private and subjective aspects of the self which are only accessible through access to the mind but to completely represent the self as only the content of the mind appears insufficient compared to its lived experience. The human being is identifiable as an individual self both by his body and mind. It is on this basis that phenomenology contributes to the question about the self. The human being is an embodied being who is intelligent and able to conceptualize and reason while recruiting sensory, motor, and affective patterns to structure understanding and engage with the self and the outer world. The word embodiment suggests that the body is not only an extended physical substance but a locus of distinctive sensations and perceptions which allow the subject to experience the self in a given environment. The self is continuous in time and acts as a moral agent able to know and distinguish itself from the world and control some of events that affect it and the world. First-person epistemology therefore considers the individual as able to learn about that particular individual situated in a specific spatiotemporal location and also experience itself as experiencing, thinking, wanting, and doing (Sanguineti 2014). This is the act of self-reflection or self-awareness. For Marya Schechtman and other theorists who share the narrative constitution of the self, self-narration fashions a coherent whole out of available “psychic raw materials” and events. These events have neurological bases, and pathological conditions such as dementia show the abscess of such coherence and awareness of a continuous self (Schechtman 2012). The self tells itself stories and builds its own narratives in order to integrate its various dimensions (McAdams 1997, 2006). According to narrative psychologists and other scholars, humans employ narratives in order to manage the complexity of the self and lead it towards desired outcomes (Adler 2012; McAdams 2001; Ogunyemi 2017; Pasupathi and Mansour 2006; Schechtman 2012; Singer et al. 2013). From another perspective, with the rise of the cognitive sciences, various components of the self began to be cashed out as computational systems and databases. Rather than refer to the act of reflection, the self is said to form metarepresentation about other mental representations of one’s own or others (Koch et al. 2004). This again does not fully represent the other facets of the self which involve affective responses to varying bodily perceptions and world events. Or the self which is ever changing though with a recognizable base that remains constant. One description of the self is as a protoself, i.e., a coherent collection of neural patterns which map, moment by moment, the state of the physical structure of the organism in its many dimensions. In this there is the core self which is the protagonist of core consciousness and the autobiographical self which extends to include one’s identity anchored in the past and projected to the future (Dehaene 2001). There is a spontaneous experience of the self once consciousness is attained. The self is experienced as separate from the external world and to some extent incorporates it. The phenomenological attitude disengages from this natural attitude in order to reflect on everything in it until the “I” which underlies every possibility of knowledge is uncovered (Cogan 2006). This is possible because there is an “I”

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to be uncovered. There is a self waiting to be known with ever-greater depth. A neuroscience of the processes within the self (e.g., self-awareness) contributes to this knowledge through a delineation of the neural networks involved in the spatiotemporal associations of the “I” with its surrounding environment and events.

Neuroscience of Self-Awareness Consciousness is an important aspect of self-awareness. It is also a broad and complex topic made popular by modern empirical studies in natural science and first- and third-person studies in the philosophy of mind, phenomenology, and psychology. There are theorists who argue for different levels of conscious awareness in the human being. They designate them as autonoetic (or self-knowing) consciousness which allows the recognition of the self along a protracted existence across subjective time. This is distinct from noetic awareness which is an objective study of a thing or event in which the self can be included (Kircher and David 2003). There are various grades of the consciousness state. It can be evaluated as a state of alertness (arousal or wakefulness) which is a state that is shared with all other animals. It can also be considered as a content of the self (awareness). Self-awareness adds the quality of being attentive to being conscious. Alertness and attention are therefore important states of consciousness associated with the act of self-awareness. Self-awareness is a biological state which refers to a subjective lived experience. It includes an awareness of the body, one’s identity, one’s free will and action, spatiotemporal location, and temporality. It is not only subjective because the human intellect is capable of reflection and introspection (Sanguineti 2014). This state makes the intellect and the entire self a locus of knowing, providing material for a third person, objective perspective. This introduces a transcendental aspect because the intellect can reach beyond itself to the identities and things given to it. It becomes a “consciousness of self,” an experience of the self linked to memory, attention, and intentionality. In this way, self-awareness can be both subjective and objective. Within this consciousness of the self, there is a specific perception of the body which is an important component of self-awareness. The body is perceived as a totality and as belonging to oneself. This creates a self-image. These images relying on information received from the body and the external world distinguish the self from its external surroundings. This is the lived body experienced at the prereflective stage. It has an existential relation with the self which is different from the apprehension of the objective or physiological body at the reflective level (Toombs 2004). The physiological body is perceived as a material objective entity among other entities. At the pre-reflective level, it is not explicitly thematized and passes unnoticed yet it is the center of everything because it is one’s particular point of view on the world. At this point, the body is the self and not just possessed by the self. It is impossible to physically distance oneself from the body. Thus, there is a symbiotic relationship between the self and the body. The objects of bodily perception are private to each perceiver (Toombs 1993).

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In spite of this apparent inseparability between the body and the self, there are certain events, processes, and structures which cannot be apprehended directly, making it uncanny (Svenaeus 2000). This lived body exhibits certain features which are essential to embodiment such as being-in-the-world, bodily intentionality, primary meaning, contextual organization, body image, and gestural display and significance. Oliver Sacks suggests that this corporeal identity is the basis of self rather than identical to the self. The loss of corporeal identity therefore deprives one of an existential epistemic basis (Sacks 2009). In a fundamental way, one is one’s body and what happens to it necessarily happens to one. Yet it is not a complete identity because there is a seeming duality when the body is viewed as object at the reflective level and apprehended as separate from the self. This only happens at the reflective level and not the pre-reflective which is the lived level. This explains how one is subject and the body object of a process of awareness which contributes to knowledge of the self (Toombs 1993). Melzack proposed a general body-self matrix which represents a number of body states (Melzack 2001). He suggested that each bodily state had its own neuro signature which is a characteristic pattern of neuronal activity stemming from the interaction between environmental inputs and the pre-existing neuro matrix. This appears a valid argument for the apprehension of the body and the self although it is yet to be shown by neuroimaging. What is for now proven are a variety of neural connections explaining bodily perception in relation to cognitions about the self. There are some neural networks implicated in the self-awareness. Since selfawareness is closely associated with consciousness, attention, memory, and bodily perception, the neural networks that subserve these are involved in neural circuits of self-awareness. In its relation to social cognition, there is a general involvement of the paralimbic network of medial prefrontal/anterior cingulate, medial parietal/ posterior cingulate, and associative areas of the fronto-medial cortex, inferior parietal lobes, the cingulate and the insular cortices (Amodio and Frith 2006). The exact neuroanatomical basis of self-introspection is however not yet fully outlined. In humans it can be shown that the prefrontal cortex plays a particularly important role in cognitions about the self (Fleming et al. 2010). There are also reports that the precuneus is important in the aspect of self-consciousness (Cavanna and Trimble 2006). The insular and subcortical regions express activity in relation to emotional perceptions of the self. The insular cortex contains three subregions which are activated in sensory, emotional, and cognitive tasks. In mapping body signals and regulating bodily states, several brain stem nuclei, the hypothalamus, and the somatosensory cortices are important. There are certain orientation-related regions in the precuneus, medial frontal, and inferior parietal cortices which help in situating the body and self in time, place, and person (Peer et al. 2015). The causal relationship between object and subject is subserved by second-order neural maps within structures in the cingulate cortices, the thalamus, and the superior colliculi (Dehaene 2001). The perception of own body occurs with information that arrives from the various senses except the olfactory to the thalamus. Principally, visual, tactile, and proprioceptive information is integrated in neuronal populations from the thalamus

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to multisensory areas of the cortex. There is also integration and transmission to associative areas of the cortex located in the parietal, occipital, temporal, and insular cortices. With this information, the body is perceived as the seat of sensations and the reference for a first-person experience. It is generally agreed that there are two types of memory. The procedural makes it possible to acquire and retain motor, perceptual, and cognitive abilities. Declarative memory consists in facts and perceptions about one’s inner and external world. It consists of episodic and semantic types. Episodic memory retains events with reference to spatiotemporally located self. The semantic memory is more involved in the retention of personality traits of oneself and others (Koch et al. 2004). Autobiographical memory brings the past into the present and projects into the future giving meaning to memories with continuity in time. This is the basis of the I-consciousness. While there are explicit memories related to the state of consciousness, there are also implicit, nonconscious, non-declarative, or somatosensory memories. The thalamus with its specialized nuclei acts as a station for sensory information between the cortex and subcortical structures. It is also involved in memory with its connection to the hypothalamus. With memory, the body becomes an object of perception which can be reflected on cognitively like any other physical reality. There is therefore a neural network of body representation with somato-sensation, somato-perception, and somato-representation. With these three, there is knowledge about the spatial location of body parts, the functions or malfunctions of body parts, and the cultural association of these parts. These are necessary for the construction of self-awareness. The reticular formation is important for self-awareness in relation to consciousness. This part of the brain was so named because of the interlacing fibers that surround neurons in that region giving the appearance of a web. The reticular system consists of groups of nuclei which extend from the brain stem to the thalamus rostrally and extends to the core regions of the spinal cord dorsally. It plays a fundamental role in all that happens in the higher centers regulating consciousness in such a way that states of the organism and its continuity and permanence form a biological foundation for the sense of self. As early as the nineteenth century, there was evidence that lesions in the brain stem could impair consciousness (Dehaene 2001). There is also an involvement of brain stem structures like the periaqueductal gray (PAG) in wakefulness and awareness. The periaqueductal gray (PAG) receives input from various brain structures and projects to the rostral ventromedial medulla and the dorsal horn of the spinal cord forming a descending inhibitory pathway through a system of endogenous opioids (Loyd and Murphy 2009). The PAG functions in conjunction with the hypothalamus in monitoring body homeostasis and emotion, it is involved with the thalamic reticular nucleus in maintaining conscious awareness, and it interacts with the superior colliculus or optic tectum in the roof of the midbrain where representations of the external world occur (Fabbro et al. 2015). The affective processing of somatic stimuli and their responses is integrated in the higher limbic system and the cortex though not independent from the lower areas which subserve basic emotions. Several investigations show that the prefrontal cortex serves the ability to become autonoetically aware of past events. The

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prefrontal region also retains for a short period of time what is given attention making these events conscious. In this way, attention is necessary for bringing to the fore what will otherwise remain as unconscious information without intention or motivation. The human cognitive architecture includes a subsystem that is functionally specialized for the acquisition, storage, and retrieval of trait self-knowledge (Klein and Boals 2001). The human prefrontal cortex plays an important role in self-recognition and self-evaluation, and it is suggested that the right prefrontal cortex may play a stronger role than the left in such processes (Kircher and David 2003). With all these as integrated patterns of cerebral activity, subjective awareness emerges. Self-awareness is not always a successful process. There are defective states in which it may be impaired because of defects in the neural networks that sustain it. It is however believed that the self-knowledge of one’s personality traits is surprisingly resilient in the face of brain damage and developmental disorders (Klein and Boals 2001). There are postepileptic states where there are temporary deficiencies in the neuronal circuits involved in consciousness and awareness. Although the person might appear awake, there are signs of confusion about the self. In some psychiatric disorders, including anxiety disorders, drug addictions, and schizophrenia, disruptions of self-related networks may occur. Damage to both right insula and adjacent parts of the parietal cortex and their connections with the medial prefrontal cortex may impair sensation of own body and corporeal identity affecting self-awareness (Damasio et al. 2000). Nevertheless, there are advancements in identifying neuronal networks associated with self-awareness and awareness with the recognition of others. “The anterior insular cortex (AIC) and its unique spindle-shaped von Economo neuron (VEN) emerged within the last decade as having a potentially major role in self-awareness and social cognition in humans” (Evrard et al. 2012, p. 482). However, neuroscientific investigations are still ongoing to fully delineate the coordination of the neuroanatomical structures in this process of self-awareness and self-knowledge and the factors that may hinder its full maturity.

Neuroscience of Self-Regulation Self-regulation follows self-awareness and self-knowledge. This does not mean it is a necessary follow-up to these two. Events related to the human being both corporeally and in the external environment affect biological processes. This happens regardless of any decision made for it to be so or not. A normal process of human development, however, requires a certain dominion over these events either as to its causality or as to its effect on the individual. This possibility of intervening to modify experiences is a unique characteristic of an intelligent consciousness. Self-regulation therefore manifests that capability to reflect on one’s condition through the intelligence; accurately perceive information originating in the body; remember experiences in the autobiographical past through the episodic and

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semantic memories; and project to objects outside the intellect through intentionality or objects and events in the future. Self-regulation constructs the personality over time while retaining a recognizable self from the lived past to the anticipated future. One definition of self-regulation is given as the ability of an organism to adjust the parameters of its own functions to meet the challenges of existence (Beauregard 2004). The causality of the modification is internal to the agent rather than a response to an external agent or controller. This means that it involves executive or cognitive functions in the setting of goals, planning, execution of new tasks, and decisionmaking. These processes are higher-level tasks which exert control over other functions. They are not however external to these other tasks but form an integral part of bodily processes including those that are not under direct voluntary control. Self-regulation therefore allows for cognitive and emotional control which has repercussions on social integration and behavior. It is known that workplace well-being requires the ability to form and maintain appropriate relationships with colleagues at work, and the social integration at work contributes to satisfaction and engagement at work. Thus, self-regulation, apart from being an important factor for directing one’s self towards goals, contributes to the emotional control necessary for proper work relationships. There are four psychological components of self-regulation (Heatherton 2011). They include an awareness of emotional and behavioral output gauged against regulating norms; the perception of others’ reception of one’s behavior in order to predict response and adjust actions accordingly; the detection of threat or danger in complex situations; and the resolution of discrepancies between self-knowledge and expectations. These components motivate behavior and personal growth. Thus, the normal human process of self-awareness and self-regulation culminates in a mature personality which is able to integrate effectively in a group (Bahrami et al. 2010). There are certain aspects of the self which cannot be controlled internally. These are mainly homeostatic mechanisms that maintain an internal such as pH, body temperature, and biochemical equilibrium. They are biological processes which function once there is a healthy organism even if there is no active will regulating it. However, there are occasions when events affecting neurological systems can be consciously modulated so as to alter these biochemical states. The body-self unity present in the human being makes it possible to have bodily effects such as homeostatic states being influenced by certain cognitive and affective processes. This is not the ordinary domain for self-regulation. Self-regulation properly refers to intentional or purposeful acts that are directed from within the person and can affect the whole person (Bandura 1989). As is to be expected, specialized areas of the brain and a well-structured framework of control are associated with self-regulation. Cognitive neuroscience research suggests that successful self-regulation is dependent on top-down control from the prefrontal cortex over subcortical regions involved in emotion. In emotional turmoil, the upward influences from subcortical emotional circuits become stronger than the influences from the higher brain functions reinforcing the emotional disequilibrium. Therefore, there is a normal interchange between cognitive and

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emotional processes which under ordinary circumstances are in equilibrium and make executive functions possible. The art of empowering and strengthening downward control through education and habit is the whole essence of self-control or self-regulation. Neurobiology has begun to uncover the brain mechanisms responsible for such higher cognitive functions as planning, deciding, and executing. There are discoveries of new interactions between the sensorimotor and cognitive mechanisms in the brain. The frontal lobes are critical to executive functions, and the anterior cingulate cortex has been implicated in executive control. “Inhibition is a core feature of self-regulation, which refers to the process by which people initiate, adjust, interrupt, stop, or otherwise change thoughts, feelings, or actions in order to effect realization of personal goals or plans or to maintain current standards” (Baumeister et al. 2007). There are other neuroimaging findings that explain self-regulatory failure. Self-regulatory failure occurs when there is an imbalance between impulse control and constraint. When stronger impulses arise from the subcortical region rather than the prefrontal region, self-regulation is lost to strong emotional impulses and reactions. There are certain triggers recorded in cognitive neuroscience such as addictions, negative emotional states, idleness, and some pharmaceutical agents (Heatherton 2011). In spite of the highly developed prefrontal regions present in human beings, regulatory failures have been recorded with such slight stimuli from the visual and olfactory senses which stimulate memories of past similar events (Heatherton 2011). This phenomenon explains the experience of drug addicts who have relapses after a visual cue of implements associated with their drugs of addiction. There is a stimulation of activity in the mesolimbic reward system which influences relapse and subsequent behavior. It is plausible that negative mood and what Baumeister et al. refer to as ego depletion interfere with self-regulation because they disrupt frontal control (Baumeister et al. 2006). Ego depletion is the resource depletion associated with repeated exercises of self-regulation just as muscular activity can become exhausted from repeated use. In the same way, negative emotional states are associated with self-regulation failure, possibly because they interfere with higher-order representations, such as those involved in self-awareness and insight. Psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorders are characterized by alterations in the monitoring of personal actions and problems with selfregulation. Self-regulation contributes to human development and can promote the acquisition of the skills needed for achieving one’s major goals in life. “Advances in neuroscience suggest that a focus on self-regulation in education can enhance children’s engagement in learning and establish beneficial academic trajectories in the early elementary grades” (Scarborough et al. 2010, p. 1). One may then ask the question: how does the process of moving the self to activity (an activity which requires regulation) begin? An investigation of the driving force of human actions shows the need for a better understanding of motivation and rewards. The neuroscience underlying these two concepts enriches our knowledge of the workings of the human mind and of well-being.

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The Neuroscience of Motivation Motivation is such a wide concept involving several facets of the human being that no definition appears adequate enough. It is classically referred to as any process that energizes or directs behavior. This is usually assessed in relation to the seeking of rewards and the avoidance of suffering. As a definition, it is however inadequate because it does not define motivation but explains what it does It is valid to recognize that these effects influence decision-making and move behavior, but they are partial aspects of motivation. With the desire to explain motivation more fully, several theories have been proposed. These include reinforcement theory concerned with external behavioral changes as movers of human action and self-determination theory emphasizing internal needs as motivators. Any adequate explanation of motivation should be able to answer the varying events that result in a certain choice among alternatives. It should be able to explain the cognitive and emotional processes and subprocesses that take place to generate a particular judgement and behavior. There is an undeniable biological foundation for motivation which rewards that organism with survival and well-being. It moves towards the satisfaction of the basic needs of hunger, thirst, shelter, etc. In the human being, however, there is a need that goes beyond biology to desire to seek existential fulfillment associated with the awareness of self as spatiotemporally located. A study of the internal events that underlie the process of motivation within the acting agent is important for grasping the factors involved in self-motivation. The study of physiological and biological processes in motivation and emotion dates back several decades in nonhuman animal research and human research. Indeed, scientists studying motivation and emotion were some of the first to employ physiological measurements in their work. Jaak Panksepp initiated investigations in this field coining the term affective neuroscience (Panksepp 2004). This neuroscientific study of motivation shows how the brain is involved in energizing behavior through a process of selection and action. The neural mechanisms involved are closely related to reward circuits and are summarized below. The motivation circuit is made up of two separate and parallel paths. One processes the positive aspect of seeking reward and pleasure, while the other processes negative signs related to aversion or avoidance of unpleasant events. There is a significant overlap between other components involved in motivation such as the difficulty in distinguishing between intrinsic motivation and interest, selfefficacy and competence, and self-regulation and volition (Kim Cheng Low 2013). There are three areas of the prefrontal region as well as the cingulate cortex involved in the executive control of motivation. The emotional processing of stimuli has its center in the nucleus accumbens, the caudate nucleus, and the putamen of the dorsal zone of the striatum. They communicate with the amygdala which carries out the emotional evaluation of stimuli. The hippocampus keeps the emotional memory intact, and the thalamus is involved in receiving and transmitting sensory stimuli. The posterior neurons of the orbitofrontal area receive inputs from the primary sensory systems. They in turn connect with the insular cortex which transmits to the prefrontal cortex for cognitive control. This is to say that the anterior and dorsal

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zones establish connections linked to control, while the posterior and ventral zones establish connections with areas of the emotional systems. The main excitatory neurotransmitter is dopamine which is produced in the substantia nigra and the ventral tegmentum. These send their messages to the central part of the nucleus accumbens, the dorsal striatum, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The mesolimbic pathway processes the pleasant or unpleasant emotions and the responses to natural rewards which determine motivation and incentives. The activation of the pathway makes the hippocampus pay special attention to all the components of that rewarding experience (Heatherton 2011). In this way, it generates implicit or conditioned learning. The dorsal striatum (caudate and putamen) receives projections from the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and is able to activate the relevant motor programs to cope with negative stimuli. Motor cortices show increased activation in response to negative stimuli and would be responsible for the execution of unscheduled motor actions. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex retains goals, keeps previous experiences present, and participates along with the anterior cingulate cortex in the planning of complex actions and cognitive control. In all there are various key motivation-related brain structures which make it a wide and complex neural basis for motivation (Schultheiss et al. 2008). Internal motivations are an important feature of self-leadership. Such internal motivations could result from appreciation or expectations of external rewards or from intrinsic goods viewed as valuable assets to be acquired. Internal motivations which arise from intelligent evaluation of events are superior to external rewards which move extrinsically. This is because psychological experiments have shown that in the latter case, there is a diminution of personal initiative and self-efficacy. Intrinsic motivation, which generates pleasure in the task because of already comprehended goals, gives a sense of fulfillment that is not simply performancebased. When motivation is extrinsic, boredom is a possible outcome which negatively impacts motivation. Boredom is a subjective emotion anchored in the consciousness which leads inattention and inefficacy. Veronica Brandstätter develops the idea of a person-environment match which is essential for internal motivation and orients objectives and commitments to seeing projects through (Brandstätter et al. 2016). Nevertheless, it is important to note that the experience and expectations of rewards, whether internal or external to the agent, can boost one’s motivations to act.

The Reward Pathways One of the key reasons for an organism’s activity is the reward expected after performing an action. People often do things that they believe will lead to some level of satisfaction or rewards. Many centuries ago, Aristotle said that human beings act for ends and scientists today affirm that reward is important in daily life, and pleasure is essential to a normal sense of well-being (Berridge and Kringelbach 2008). Work can be rewarding especially when one discovers where one’s talents

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lie. Positive psychologists advocate for research and promotions of factors that contribute to well-being at work. Csikszentmihalyi has written extensively about flow and the ability to engage at work to attain a highly focused mental state that leads to a sense of fulfillment (Csikszentmihalyi 2009). For advocates of flow, we are genuinely happy when we are in control, and not necessarily all forms of pleasure lead to happiness but those forms that involve an effort to achieve chosen objectives. Flow as an optimal experience is directed by us and gives us a sense of mastery, a sense of control over the attainment of our goals. The reward pathways in the brain are such that they work according to a variation of a basic set pattern irrespective of the type of reward expected. There may be variations in the intensity and frequency of the firing of the neurons involved in the pathway depending on the nature of the stimulus which activates them, but the basal sequence follows a regular pattern. “The mesolimbic and mesocortical circuits are particularly involved in reward-related behavior in humans” (Torta and Castelli 2008, p. 203). The reward pathway is often studied in the attempt to understand the effects of drugs on the brain. It involves several parts of the brain, including mainly the ventral tegmental area (VTA), the nucleus accumbens, and the prefrontal cortex. There however are other brain regions associated with rewarding experiences. The main neural structures involved in the reward system are connected to each other through the mesolimbic and mesocortical dopamine pathways. When activated by a rewarding stimulus, information travels from the VTA to the nucleus accumbens and then up to the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain associated with the higher intellectual functions. The stimuli often studied in this pathway are those that give physical pleasure, e.g., food. However, the feeling of reward or sense of fulfillment which gives a form of pleasure, which is not based on sense perception, could also work through the activation of the reward system. Therefore, the accomplishment of a task which increases one’s sense of satisfaction and pride could also work with this pathway. When exposed to rewarding stimuli, for example, jobs well done, the fulfillment of a biological need, or the acquisition of a strongly desired piece of information or knowledge, the brain releases the neurotransmitter dopamine. Contemporarily, scientists propose that dopamine is associated with reward seeking. Consequently, its proper metabolism and release could be essential for a variety of rewards including those rewards associated with engagement at work. There is however a need for further studies to observe and describe this phenomenon in workplaces. The discovery of biological mechanisms involved in the internal reward systems that motivate the agent’s actions stimulates more debates on whether the agent is controlled by the neuronal activity, and thus is like any other machine or animal with an internally determined program, or whether the human mind is free to make choices while using the neuronal activity of bodily events to promote the attainment of chosen goals. One view point is that based on acquired knowledge of the environment from the experiences by the self and through learning from others, individuals can direct themselves towards specific goals which they presume will be rewarding. With this

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stance, the internal locus of self-movement and decision-making revolves around the known and envisaged future rewards. Thus the agent, prompted by perceived possibility of rewards, activates a cascade of internal activity which relies on the proper functioning of the parts of the nervous system associated with rewards. However, the question of whether the actions are purely biological still remains to be proven. Studies show that diseases of the brain sections related to the reward pathways, such as Parkinson’s, do not automatically lead to neuropsychiatric complications such as depression, apathy, anxiety, and anhedonia (Torta and Castelli 2008). The finding suggests the need for further research to better understand the link between the biology and the free choice associated with the mind in contemporary science and with a soul in classical philosophy. One can say that in order to work well, and be motivated to continue one’s daily task, an individual needs to have a physiologically stable reward pathways which can be stimulated by the intellectual knowledge of the goods (physical, psychological, or moral) that can result from one’s activity. Such activities include those in the workplace. There is space for future study and evaluation of the effects of a sense of accomplishment at work, flow, and engagement on the reward pathways.

The Brain, Mirror Neurons, and Relationship Management Workplace relationships are a significant determinant of a sense of well-being. When the professional environment is one of cordiality inspired by a keen interest in working for the common good and in service to the community, the members of that firm are more likely to be more dedicated to their work as they have less distractions from conflicts between them and their colleagues. The importance of building good relationships at work cannot be overemphasized. One may then wonder what role the neurological system plays in the dynamics of relationships. According to Holmes, “the human brain has discrete architecture and processes devoted to parsing others’ intentions via cues in face-to-face interaction. These processes enable actors to directly access the intentions of others with a higher degree of certainty than economic and game-theoretic models of bargaining predict” (Holmes 2013, p. 829). Mirror neurons are an interesting discovery of biological events that occur within humans as they connect with each other in their daily interactions. They are thought to be implicated in emotional contagion between primates including humans. “Mirror neurons,” first described in the 1980s, refer to complementary affective neural activity that occurs in the brains of two separate primates because they are both doing and observing the same action (Waters 2014). These neurons are an indicator of empathy, a quality and character trait which is often admired and identified as a booster for forming strong relationships. The neuroscience of empathy gives information on the possible bonds between people. Scientists assert that “mirror neurons give humans the capacity to understand and empathize with other people in a fashion that is implicit, automatic, and pre-reflective”

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(Waters 2014, p. 618). The neurons may provide the biological mechanism for understanding the origins of human culture, language, and other complex cognitive skills (Rizzolatti and Craighero 2004). Waters affirms that the evaluation of these neurons often found in the prefrontal cortex may be a powerful tool for evaluating social action and integration into a group. While referring to works by famous neuroscientists, he notes that mirror neurons play a role in human learning, communication, and interaction through imitative mechanisms (Waters 2014). Although there is no directly observed evidence of mirror neuron activities in the human brain, there is evidence of their presence and activity gotten through neurophysiological studies and brain imaging (Rizzolatti and Craighero 2004). However, scientists have observed the direct proof of the activity of these neurons in monkeys. In the face of abundant data regarding the activity of mirror neurons, scientists warn that the interpretation of the information obtained from their research is far from straightforward. In fact, “several researchers have formulated criticisms on the received interpretation of the function of mirror neurons (the directmatching hypothesis) pointing to the fact that this hypothesis cannot account for many important findings, and have formulated alternative theories” (Uithol et al. 2011, p. 609). Some authors interpret research and the empirical evidence that suggest a strong link between mirror neurons and empathy to human spirituality (de Souza 2014). For such theorists, the neurons contribute significantly to the mind-body debates and the questions on the influence of other people on a person’s action. Other authors argue that philosophical and empirical considerations lead them to accord a fairly minimal role for mirror neurons in social cognition. In that viewpoint, mirror neurons are unlikely to be the most important basis of human abilities to interact socially, understand other people’s thoughts and emotions, communicate using complex language, and the ability to self-reflect (Spaulding 2013). The debate on the extent of their relevance is ongoing, but most scientists agree that these neurons do play some role in human relationships. Even though the discovery of these neurons was not a result of a philosophical inquiry, knowledge about them contributes to the debates on social activity and emotional connectedness with the people whom one associates with, including one’s colleagues at work.

The Brain, Habits, and Autobiography Another topic in the neurosciences which sheds light on well-being and engagement at work is the brain changes with learning and habit formation. Self-observation, self-discovery, and self-development strategies are important components of selfleadership (Manz and Simms 1991). These strategies require the formation of habits, and the brain is structured in a way that permits conscious habit formation and a modification of one’s natural tendencies. Scientists who study neuroplasticity affirm that there are structural changes in the brain as it learns new things or adapts

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to changes in human functioning. These changes enable the agent to repeat the actions previously performed with greater ease. These repeated actions become a second nature. In other words, they become a part of the agent and may also cause biological changes which make them more stable. Research shows that repeated mindful meditation causes changes in the brain activity. A randomized, controlled study on the effects on brain and immune function of a well-known and widely used 8-week clinical training program in mindfulness meditation applied in a work environment with healthy employees showed significant changes in brain activity and immune system (Davidson et al. 2003, p. 564). The habits we form and the activities performed are not indifferent. They impact the brain. One can infer that routine programs at work influence one’s brain activity. There are other investigations aimed at organizing neuroimaging research which attempt to create a bridge between contemporary psychology practice and clinical applications of findings (Fletcher et al. 2010). With neuroplasticity the brain can form new neural connections throughout life and change neural pathways due to changes in behavior. In philosophy, narrative self-understanding is a feature of contemporary thought which seeks to grasp the meaning of all human actions whether in the workplace or in other places. For MacIntyre and for other theorists (Abbott 2008; MacIntyre 1990, 2007; Schechtman 2007, 2011), human life has a narrative unity, and one needs to grasp this narrative as a context for interpreting single action. These actions are not isolated occurrences but fragments of a more or less coherent narrative running from a beginning towards an end (MacIntyre 2007). Thus, the acting person can repeat actions and form habit by situating each action within their rightful place within the personal narrative. They can also situate their personal narrative within the wider framework of societal narratives or the history of their community. Such autobiographical thinking could also situate professional work within broader context of personal fulfillment giving such activity deeper meaning. That manner of self-understanding could thus be a driving force for leading the self to achieve arduous tasks and difficult targets, as they have their minds set on a bigger picture of the meaning of each action for their life goals. Empirical evidence provides support for a narrative theory of self-understanding. Authors working at the interface between philosophy and the neurosciences and cognitive sciences, within neuroethics and related disciplines, could benefit from a deeper engagement among themselves (Walker 2012). This interaction could lead to mutual enrichment and more robust descriptions of self-understanding and a better understanding of well-being. Connecting life’s events requires the use of autobiographical memory as well as its underlying brain mechanisms. Siegel affirms that the middle prefrontal region plays a crucial role a form of mental time travel that allows us to experience ourselves as a center of subjective gravity, the author of our own unfolding life story (Siegel 2010). Studies show that the performance of the autobiographical memory and its brain correlates is influenced by genetic, physiological, psychological, situational, and social-cultural factors (Piefke and Fink 2005). In particular age and gender affect both the performance level and the neural substrates of autobiographical recollection. There is a need for further

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research to know more about the brain changes that occur with specific behaviors, especially those that are work related.

Concluding Thoughts People need healthy neural functioning in order to live out the elements of selfleadership. This chapter explored the physiological mechanisms that underlie everyday activities, goal setting, decision-making, and overall direction of oneself towards desired goals. These biological factors are important for autonomy and self-leadership. For example, self-regulation is an important aspect of autonomy. It involves that faculty of the human being which was referred to by the classical philosophers as the will. It presupposes the intellect and its retrospection as described in selfawareness. It goes beyond introspection to intervene, modify, adjust, or disrupt a particular process so as to align it with an apprehended goal or norm. It is thus an active process unlike the emotions which were referred to by the classics as passions because of their passive nature. Passive in that they could arise in the subject with no particular decision for it to be so. It is received in the subject as a natural event following other events in one’s body or the external environment. This also happens in other sentient beings with some minimal neural structure. The distinguishing characteristic therefore of the human being is the capacity for self-regulation. There is a possibility for prefrontal control by planning, deciding, and executing. This makes it possible to own one’s emotions and the events from which they emerge. Ownership precedes leadership, and it is only when selfregulation is possible that self-leadership is possible. There is a relation among the processes of self-awareness, self-regulation, and motivation. The complexity of the self has been shown in the wide range of neural systems within the central and peripheral nervous systems involved in the knowledge and movement of self. Interestingly, the self is not static but undergoes varying biological, physiological, and psychological changes in the course of its existence. These varying inputs, at the same time, retain a coherence and continuity which throws light on the close relations among the temporal dimension of the mind and cognitions, autobiographical memory, consciousness of the self, and emotional development (Damasio 2010). The self is revealed with its tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses which can be known, controlled, and motivated to continued growth and social integration. From the observation of the reward pathways, one can say that the brain wiring supports the appreciation of rewards. This pathway is not specific to only one or even few possible sources of rewards. If these pathways are healthy, rewards from professional achievement have background framework for experiencing feelings of pleasure at the attainment of set goals. An interesting possible line of future investigation could be empirical studies of the effects of work satisfaction on the intensity and duration of the activity of the reward pathways.

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Much of the social integration which an adult undergoes occur in the workplace. The importance of the ability to work in teams and synergize to bring forth great outcomes presupposes the ability to relate with other team members and understand them. As seen earlier, such connections between peers are not limited to mental psychological or emotional events. The human brain contains neurons which are thought to facilitate the empathy and social cognition necessary for proper interactions. We can learn new things and modify our character. One may think that it is impossible to alter ingrained habits. The neuroscience of habit formation and the concept of neuroplasticity shows that one can change habits. The ability to change habits is important for leading oneself to achieve new targets. Thus, when self-leadership requires setting new goals, there is the possibility of altering one’s predispositions and working towards achieving new traits which contribute to desired outcomes. In all, the neurological well-being of an individual is a prerequisite for having an optimal capacity for self-leadership.

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Wellbeing in the Workplace: A New Conceptual Model and Implications for Practice

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Contents Conceptualization of Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What Is Wellbeing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What Constitutes Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dimensions of Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Social Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Psychological Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spiritual Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Physical Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Key Dimensions of Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conceptual Model of Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Proposed Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Key Components of Centered Wellbeing: Inner Wellbeing and Outer Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Abstract

The concept of wellbeing is certainly not new. Both employers and employees continue to find ways and strategies for improving and sustaining wellbeing at the individual and organizational levels. The chapter attempts to address the issues and challenges in developing institutional strategies. Employees are motivated to enhance and sustain improved levels of wellbeing to be able to contribute to work as well as their satisfaction with life in general. The personal level emphasis for the employee is important and also a focus of the chapter. In order to address institutional and personal level approaches to wellbeing, a primary goal of the chapter is to review recent literature on wellbeing, identify key constructs or dimensions that constitute wellbeing, develop a conceptual model, and present implications for practice. The review of literature on wellbeing offers a way to M. Alagaraja (*) University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_69

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conceptualize a model and a typology for understanding the different dimensions that constitute wellbeing as well as present an emergent model. The new model offers implications for managers as they harness the full potential and value of their employees by developing and deploying practical strategies for workplace wellbeing.

Wellbeing is typically understood as an individual experience of feeling happy, fulfilled, or content (Shah and Marks 2004). The concept of wellbeing is certainly not new. In fact, wellbeing is a global fixation in the workplace. Not surprisingly, a quick search in Google yielded 64.5 million search results showcasing a diverse range of peer reviewed articles, cases, books as well as practitioner reports, briefs, and news updates. Employers and employees continue to find ways and strategies for improving and sustaining wellbeing at the individual and organizational levels. For employers, improving the overall unit and organizational performance is of particular interest. The chapter attempts to address the issues and challenges in developing institutional strategies. Employees are motivated to enhance and sustain improved levels of wellbeing to be able to contribute to work as well as their satisfaction with life in general. The personal level emphasis for the employee is important and also a focus of the chapter. In order to address institutional and personal level approaches to wellbeing, a primary goal of the chapter is to review recent literature on wellbeing, identify key constructs or dimensions that constitute wellbeing, develop a conceptual model, and present implications for practice. The review of literature on wellbeing offers a way to conceptualize a model and a typology for understanding the different dimensions that constitute wellbeing. In addition, the goal of the proposed conceptual model is to devise a new approach towards understanding wellbeing. The conceptual model also offers a framework for understanding wellbeing as well as develops a more comprehensive definition of wellbeing. The definition of wellbeing proposed here contributes to the research literature in wellbeing. Further, the conceptual framework offers implications for managers as they harness the full potential and value of their employees by developing and deploying practical strategies for workplace wellbeing.

Conceptualization of Wellbeing Several definitions exist in the wellbeing literature, offering diverse disciplinary views and perspectives that inform our current understanding of what comports wellbeing. A broad search in the disciplinary based literatures identified several key concepts concerning wellbeing that offer rich insights into the many different aspects of wellbeing. Several key terms were identified describing certain aspects of wellbeing that build a rich conceptualization. For example, wellbeing can be understood as any one of the following descriptors: subjective wellbeing (e.g., Dodge et al. 2012; Diener and Suh 1997), quality of life (e.g., WHO 1997), mental health (e.g., Svane et al. 2019), hedonic and eudamonic wellbeing (e.g., Ryff and Singer 2006),

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and life satisfaction (Diener et al. 1985). Each of these terms suggests a different conceptualization, identifies and emphasizes different understandings and perspectives, and addresses certain components as their central focus to describe what constitutes wellbeing. Thus, an examination of these terms and their definitions (or conceptualizations) is necessary and important in our effort to grasp a more wholistic perspective of wellbeing. The diverse conceptualizations represent different disciplinary understanding and as we shall see, they expand and offer depth to grasp what wellbeing is and what it is not. In what follows, the chapter presents different perspectives/understandings as well as components of wellbeing and their definitions to expand our understanding of wellbeing and develop a fuller understanding of how the different aspects of wellbeing can be enhanced or sustained to improve organizations and the employees who work for them. Next, four distinct dimensions of wellbeing are identified to develop a conceptual framework and model to advance a more complete understanding of wellbeing from the review of literature. Finally, implications for managerial practice are proposed.

What Is Wellbeing? According to Shah and Marks (2004), wellbeing refers to feeling satisfied and means “developing as a person, being fulfilled, and making a contribution to the community” (2004, p. 2). Wellbeing is more than being happy (Dodge et al. 2012). According to Svane et al. (2019), if individuals are to experience wellbeing, conditions for flourishing and functioning well are vital. These conditions need to be good or at least satisfactory for happiness and health. Scholars suggest that while wellbeing is experienced at the individual level, there are institutional factors such as work, family, and community that impact the extent to which individuals experience health and happiness at levels that are at least satisfactory. At the start of this exploration, it is important to delineate wellbeing experiences that can be short term or immediate and those descriptions that are long term. These two time-dependent notions of wellbeing help to draw the distinctions between perceived quality of life over time or over the several years (eudemonic) from the everyday experiences short-term moments (hedomonic) of living that are more often shaped by our emotions and feelings (Watson 2018). Several scholars view that the combined aspects of eudemonic and hedomonic offer a better understanding of wellbeing. Our overall happiness and satisfaction with life in general (eudemonic) and moment-to-moment experience of ups and downs in the everyday flow of life can be assessed based on the presence of positive emotions, or lack of negative feelings (Deci and Ryan 2008; Joshanloo and Ghaedi 2009; Ryan and Deci 2001; Ryff and Singer 2006; Watson 2018). Thus, eudemonic and hedomonic descriptions of wellbeing are helpful in understanding the time-stretch dependent nature of wellbeing. These descriptions also serve to set some initial criteria for conceptualizing wellbeing which are reviewed in the following section. Specific to the workplace, Anttonen and Rasanen (2009) and Utriainen et al. (2015) propose that safety and healthiness of work, good conditions in the workplace

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(e.g., leadership, organization of work) can help a worker or employee flourish and experience wellbeing. Thus, the presence of conductive conditions and the individual’s evaluative judgments of their own life based on long term or the short term somewhat capture the general notions of how wellbeing was initially defined and understood in the literature.

What Constitutes Wellbeing One of the common ways of understanding wellbeing is to elaborate on the components that constitute subjective experience for the individual. Subjective wellbeing emphasizes the affective (hedonic) and cognitive (eudemonic) evaluations within one’s life (Diener and Suh 1997; Dodge et al. 2012; Kim-Prieto et al. 2005). This understanding of wellbeing recognizes three interrelated aspects linking moods, emotions (including positive and negative affects), and cognitive sense of satisfaction of life (Kahneman et al. 2004; Steptoe et al. 2015). The negative affective moods and emotions include lack of depression and anxiety (Diener and Suh 1997). This definition of wellbeing captures relevant experiences of negative and positive aspects of wellbeing that people may experience in different ways (Diener and Diener 1995). For instance, people may experience stress or fulfillment as concrete and/or abstract, and also as something that is momentary, and/or long-term experiences in their lives. High subjective wellbeing is experienced when unpleasant emotions such as anger and sadness are infrequent or entirely absent (Smith and Reid 2018; Svane et al. 2019). More recent definitions of subjective wellbeing pay attention to finding meaning in life, and the extent to which a person feels satisfied with the quality of their overall life – an overall assessment that suggests a life well lived (Deci and Ryan 2008; McMahan and Estes 2011; Smith and Reid 2018). Other elements include marital satisfaction, developing moral and ethical character and personality. These additional elements suggest that the degree to which individuals experience quality of life can be assessed through relationships at home and through work that enables them to accomplish the values that are important to them (Bourke and Geldens 2007; Diener and Eunkook 2000). Thus, how individuals perceive and evaluate their experiences of wellbeing define the extent to which they are able to make positive evaluations of their life maybe as a whole, as much as it can also be about their everyday feelings and moods (Kahneman et al. 2004; Steptoe et al. 2015). In describing or evaluating their own wellbeing, individuals are able to focus both on the meaning and purpose of their lives (Ryff et al. 2004), which emphasizes a stable cognitive orientation toward life (Ardelt et al. 2018) as “good” or beneficial. The evaluations are no doubt personal and subjective; however, they are important as they reflect perceptions of individuals and guide their behaviors and actions. Increasingly, notions of mental and physical wellbeing are included in addition to other components such as positive affect (e.g., satisfaction and happiness), self- regulation, managing emotions effectively, and building resilience and persistence (Svane et al. 2019; Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2016). Other conceptualizations of wellbeing such as quality of life emphasize institutional level perspectives of wellbeing as they point out value systems which guide how an

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individual assesses their wellbeing as positive or negative (Dodge et al. 2012). For instance, quality of life recognizes the influences of cultural beliefs and contexts that can affect health, social relationships, and psychological states of individuals (World Health Organization 1997). In 2014, the World Health Organization expanded upon their definition of wellbeing, describing it as a state “in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community” (2014, p. 1). This definition extended the conceptualization of wellbeing to include personal and institutional level approaches and embraced the immediate social and the community environments which effect wellbeing. The WHO definition also pays attention to productivity and the ability to make a positive contribution and manage stresses that are normally encountered in life as broad indicators of positive wellbeing outcomes. When employees experience being well on multiple dimensions such as mental, physical, social aspects of wellbeing, their involvement in the workplace can be enhanced; and they are able to make positive contributions to the workplace. Wellbeing at work is best achieved when employees report positive outcomes on multiple wellbeing dimensions. For instance, it is important that employees are able to find meaning and purpose in their place of work as this enhances their engagement and involvement. These two factors are identified as important in wellbeing research as they address psychological and spiritual dimensions of wellbeing. In addition to these factors, employees also need to experience positive social interactions with their peers, supervisors, and subordinates that when combined together can create a positive affect that determines their attitude towards their formal roles and their performance at work. All these dimensions need to be included to capture the full value of assessing wellbeing and devising strategies to harness employee potential. The above descriptions of wellbeing offer a broad conceptualization and understanding of wellbeing. However, the general definitions of wellbeing do not offer conceptual depth that can enhance our understanding of how wellbeing can help improve, sustain, or maintain our everyday lived experiences. Further, the overarching theme in understanding wellbeing emphasizes an exclusive focus on the individual rather than viewing wellbeing as something more that includes our interactions with others in the immediate family and the collective community. A more targeted review of literature was thus conducted. The search yielded additional definitions of wellbeing that were more focused on a specific dimension or aspect of wellbeing. For example, the review of literature yielded at least four dimensions – social, psychological, physical, and spiritual wellbeing that would be of particular interest to the workplace. These four dimensions capture the overall assessments of wellbeing which are discussed next.

Dimensions of Wellbeing The notion of wellbeing has received attention from scholars in psychology, health and human services, sociology, nursing, medicine, education, and many other disciplines. Not surprisingly, diverse conceptualizations of wellbeing were

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developed in these disciplines. In this chapter, four important and common dimensions are identified that can help to capture the distinct aspects of wellbeing. These dimensions – social, psychological, physical, and spiritual aspects of wellbeing – offer a wholistic view of our self or being. Each one of the four dimensions is discussed in the following sections.

Social Wellbeing Social wellbeing focuses on the extent to which individuals have meaningful interactions, developing long or short term relationships with other people in the process, whether these relationships are developed in the workplace, or related to their families and their communities (Reza et al. 2019; Simone 2014). This dimension of wellbeing identifies active engagement with life through people and community. Individuals evaluate the perceived ability to have meaningful relationships with others, whether this is by supporting others or working together as a team to actively make contributions to work or in life. Sustaining their social interactions is critical for career success as much it is for employees to feel connected with others. More, this notion of wellbeing also identifies an individual’s response to social institutions and their social relationships with immediate family, communities, and society overall. Thus, the social environment and context become crucial for facilitating the extent to which individual’s appraise their sense of social wellbeing to be good or satisfactory. For example, studies suggest that building social ties in the office can mitigate workplace isolation and loneliness (Burke et al. 2010). The social dimension of wellbeing identifies social networks that are developed through relationships with people and communities as essential for building meaningful connections in the workplace. Keyes (1998) identified key descriptors to capture social wellbeing. Accordingly, social integration, sense of belonging, interdependence, collective consciousness, and collective fate were identified as determinants of social wellbeing. Keyes’ definition identifies both individual-level and collective-level social wellbeing as well the dynamic interactions which define the quality of life from an everyday perspective as well over the long term. This definition of social wellbeing captures high level measures such as social integration and collective sense of community that are important for the human condition. Yet, organizations sometimes do not place value on these harder to assess measures of social wellbeing. Diener and Seligman (2004) contend that the collective social wellbeing of communities can generate more productivity and wealth creation. They further suggest that social wellbeing is a much stronger indicator than measures that capture wellbeing from a purely economic focus. How individuals respond to their environment can occur through social adjustment and social support (Larson 1996; Reza et al. 2019). People who experience high levels of social wellbeing are likely to therefore be well adjusted socially and are also likely to impact the social environment in positive ways. Larson (1996) defined social adjustment as an individual’s evaluation of their satisfaction with relationships or performance in social roles. On the other hand, social support refers

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to the quality of relationships established on trust and mutual reliance. Social support also links the degree to which the individual feels needed by others and society in general and addresses collective level aspects of social wellbeing. What is somewhat unclear is whether internal thoughts, feelings, and behavioral responses to the environment can link individual’s social wellbeing to their health. Recent studies with specific demographics however suggest social wellbeing as having an important connection to health and collective wellbeing. More intact communities share intergenerational histories and cultural norms that expand the collective consciousness of their community members and in as much as they perceive as being guided by a collective fate. These key social wellbeing descriptors can create an unique sense of belonging. It is important for individuals to feel that they are embedded in meaningful communities. Social wellbeing emphasizes the need developing satisfying short term interactions (hedemonic) and long-term relationships with others. For example, Spreitzer et al. (2005) explain that quality connections to others at work in a climate of trust and respect are integrally related to eudemonic wellbeing as it enables growth and thriving in the long term. In the context of work, it is interesting to note that employees are more engaged at work when their leaders care about them as a person. Social well-being includes productive interactions with peers as well as satisfaction with member-exchange relationships with leaders. Another relevant construct is social support that can be described in terms of receiving or offering emotional support as well as instrumental support. Giving as well receiving social support is a predictor of wellbeing. An additional aspect of social well-being at work might include feelings of belonging to and being embedded in work communities, whether this is in relation to teams or the whole organization (Simone 2014). The presence of other people in one’s life is a very important component of social wellbeing. For example, meeting new friends, or of feeling good when spending quality time with other friends or sharing mutual interests, are all examples of social wellbeing. The best recollections in time (positive) and the most excruciating (negative) ones occur primarily between interactions involving two or more people. People often improperly understand the impact of relationships and social connections. Persons who experience high social wellbeing will influence others in their social network positively. This might be in the way of deciding food choices, or of thinking about a significant other’s wellbeing, or identifying ways by which spending social time might help decrease stress. People with a high sense of wellbeing tend to have good relationships that, of course, spill over to others in their network. Popular blogs, social media, and other outlets recognize the importance of having strong relationships and love in one’s life. The wellbeing that one derives from the quantity as well as quality of their social networks in the workplace predicts the extent to which employees experience social wellbeing. According to Brunetto et al. (2013) employees’ perceptions of fairness and equity are determined by the relationships that they experience with their team members and supervisors. In turn, positive indicators of social wellbeing can predict affective commitment and retention of nurses in healthcare settings. Practical recommendations for improving social

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wellbeing would be to create time for socializing with friends, family, and colleagues (as much as 6 h is recommended daily), strengthening mutual interests with other members in one’s social network and by mixing social time with physical activity.

Psychological Wellbeing Psychological wellbeing is viewed as a self-evaluation of an individual’s ability to optimally function in life (Keyes 1998). Six dimensions of psychological wellbeing were identified in the literature: self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, purpose in life, environmental mastery, and personal growth (Ryan and Deci 2001; Ryff 1989a; Ryff and Keyes 1995). Some of these dimensions also overlap with facets of social wellbeing (e.g., environmental mastery) and spiritual wellbeing (e.g., purpose in life). However, the primary considerations for psychological wellbeing are the focus on goal directed behaviors (Bartels et al. 2019; Urry et al. 2004) to enhance affective and cognitive wellbeing. Earlier definitions of wellbeing suggested a short-term focus on moods, feelings, and emotions that are subject to frequent changes during the course of the day. These momentary aspects of wellbeing (hedemonic) are captured in psychological wellbeing. According to Panaccio and Vandenberghe (2009), psychological wellbeing reflects the presence of positive affect, and the absence of negative affect. When psychological wellbeing is high, it indicates the presence of both job and life satisfaction (Loon et al. 2019). Other scholars found a positive relationship between psychological wellbeing and job performance (Wright and Cropanzano 2000). Scholars have suggested that an either-or definition of wellbeing as eudaimonic or hedonic is narrow at best (▶ Chap. 5, “What Are the Key Components of Workplace Well-Being?: Examining Real-Life Experiences in Different Work Contexts”). However, others have noted that psychological wellbeing exhibits both eudaimonic and hedonic characteristics (e.g., ▶ Chap. 5, “What Are the Key Components of Workplace Well-Being?: Examining Real-Life Experiences in Different Work Contexts”). Hedonic characteristics identify affective (positive, negative or a combination of both) components and thus, capture some of the definitional attributes of psychological wellbeing. For example, in our daily life, it is common to experience positive affects such as pleasure, comfort, and enthusiasm as well as negative indicators such as displeasure, anxiety, and/or depression (Warr 2003). These attributes of psychological wellbeing have important implications for work related outcomes. Psychological wellbeing emphasizes contextual implications of wellbeing and in the context of work, this suggests that the content of work, job roles and work environment significantly affect us in different ways. Further, psychological wellbeing also addresses non work related contexts or life in general. These aspects emphasize a cognitive component of wellbeing which significantly shape our experience of our self, our self in relation to others and the world in general. In essence, psychological wellbeing captures not just affect related to work such as work or jobrelated satisfaction (Danna and Griffin 1999). Psychological wellbeing also includes life satisfaction or nonwork satisfaction suggesting that this component of wellbeing

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is critical for linking cognitive assessments of work and nonwork contexts in our lives, and which affect the quality of life, and health outcomes over time, as well as emphasize the importance of finding meaning and purpose. The dark side of psychological wellbeing (Warr 2003) requires attention and focus if employees are to achieve their full potential in the workplace. Bhojani and Kurucz (▶ Chap. 41, “Sustainable Happiness, Well-Being, and Mindfulness in the Workplace”) focus on these aspects. For instance, employees bring insecurities and fears to work that can render limiting self-beliefs and cause habitual work behaviors that are unproductive, dysfunctional, increase politics, as well as reduce team work and creativity in the workplace. Over time, these work behaviors can create stress for employees, their coworkers, supervisors, leaders, and others in the workplace. Our capacity to experience happiness at work can be undermined and lead to health and stress related issues. The positive aspects to the psychological impact of wellbeing can on the other hand, lead to greater focus on the present moment, and benefit organizations as well as positively support our physical wellbeing (▶ Chap. 35, “Hedonic Versus (True) Eudaimonic Well-Being in Organizations”). der Kinderen and Khapova (▶ Chap. 6, “Positive Psychological Well-Being at Work: The Role of Eudaimonia”) also highlight the affective and cognitive experiences of wellbeing. In addition, they stress the importance of optimal functioning as an indicator for general happiness and job satisfaction that suggest it is possible to achieve improved levels of performance for individuals and organizational outcomes. Several studies suggest the connection between psychological wellbeing and healthier and happier workplaces. For example, Cartwright and Cooper (2008) found that employees reporting higher levels of psychological wellbeing at work were healthier, reported leading happier lives, and lived longer. Robertson et al. (2012) found that psychological wellbeing was able to predict self-reported levels of performance more effectively, over and above positive job and work attitudes. Psychological wellbeing can serve as an important variable linking employee engagement and outcomes such as performance, happiness, and other individual level measures.

Spiritual Wellbeing Another core and important dimension of wellbeing relates primarily to connections with our inner self or our inner being. In addition to focusing on our inner being, spiritual wellbeing also emphasizes relationships with others, and the larger community or society in general. According to Ashmos and Duchon (2000 p. 37), spiritual wellbeing is “the recognition that employees have an inner life that nourishes and is nourished by meaningful work that takes place in the context of community.” Finding purpose in life, meaning in work, and connection with others enhances our sense of spiritual wellbeing. Other descriptions and definitions of spiritual wellbeing identify purpose and meaning in life as well as having a sense of relationship with a higher power as indicative of having a stronger spiritual orientation to work and life in general (Burkhardt and Nagai-Jacobson 2002; Nolan and Crawford 1997; Robert et al. 2006).

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Spiritual wellbeing includes a connection to the external world (purpose and meaning in life) and connection to an inner world (a sense of a relationship with a higher power or inner being). When spiritual wellbeing is high, we experience balance or harmony between our inner and outer worlds. Spiritual wellbeing manifests when we are able to find purpose and meaning in life find harmony and happiness in our relationship with the self and the external world. According to Moberg (1979, p. 11), spiritual wellbeing “pertains to the wellness or ‘health’ of the totality of the inner resources of people, the ultimate concerns around which all other values are focused, the central philosophy of life that guides conduct, and the meaning-giving center of human life which influences all individual and social behavior.” Thus, spiritual wellbeing shapes the foundation of our wellness and wellbeing. For example, Robert et al. (2006) found evidence that employees who reported strong sense spiritual wellbeing did not experience many of the symptoms related to mental illness. Recent research suggests that there is greater consensus on viewing spiritual wellbeing as a psychological resource especially during stressful life situations (Koenig 2013). This suggests that spiritual wellbeing can be critical for being well especially in times of grief, suffering, and great distress. Evidence from recent research links marital satisfaction, physical health, social adjustment, possession of strong coping skills, and resiliency in times of stress and personal crisis to higher levels of spiritual well-being (Adams et al. 2000; Ellison and Smith 1991; Graham et al. 2001; Kamya 2000; Paloutzian and Ellison 1982; Robert et al. 2006; Roth 1988; Westgate 1996; Wolf and Stevens 2001). Persons who have strong spiritual wellbeing are likely to not manifest symptoms related to loss of productivity in the workplace (Ellison 1983; Tsuang et al. 2002; Westgate 1996). Not surprisingly, spiritual wellbeing was found to be significantly related to employee performance (Osman-Gani et al. 2012; Tejeda 2015). Tejeda (2015) also suggested that spiritual well-being can help employees perceive stressful organizational and events as less stressful, which can exert a protective effect on negative outcomes in the workplace. Further, employees who report higher levels of spiritual wellbeing also experienced lower levels of job frustration and work tension which can have positive outcomes for measures such as job satisfaction (Robert et al. 2006). Spiritual well-being appears to moderate the relationship between work overload and job satisfaction as well as having a direct relationship with the latter (Ahrens et al. 2010; Sternthal et al. 2010). Significantly, Altaf and Awan (2011) found linkages between spiritual well-being and job satisfaction even in the presence of adverse conditions and situations in the workplace. Overall, research linking spiritual wellbeing and the workplace suggests positive linkages to key workplace outcomes. However, research is needed to explore the notion that spiritual wellbeing as an important or necessary condition for other dimensions of wellbeing to flourish.

Physical Wellbeing Physical wellbeing can influence a person’s health, by reducing the likelihood of individuals having cardiovascular disease or increased blood pressure (Araújo and Pestana 2017; Danna and Griffin 1999). Araújo and Pestana (2017) have also stated

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that when employees report higher levels of physical wellbeing, there are less risks of workplace accidents. In other words, organizations can increase their safety levels by focusing on employees’ physical wellbeing. From the standpoint of health, physical wellbeing can be understood as something more than just the absence of disease or infirmity. For some scholars (Bowling and Beehr 2006; Hershcovis and Barling 2010), negative levels of psychological and physical well-being correlated to workplace stress and aggression. Several studies (e.g., Birdsey et al. 2015; Hadgraft et al. 2016; Stiehl et al. 2019) suggest certain job categories (by their very nature of responsibilities and role expectations) can be linked to employees’ experiencing high or low levels of physical wellbeing. For example, clerical workers (Hadgraft et al. 2016) and transportation workers (Birdsey et al. 2015) reported lowest levels of physical well-being as their job categories were found to be typically associated with lower levels of work-related physical activity. On the other hand, construction workers were found to generally engage in more physical activities, and as a result reported higher levels of physical well-being. Jobs which offer opportunities for lower or higher levels of physical activity can directly impact physical wellbeing (Stiehl et al. 2019). In order to carry out daily tasks on the job, having good health and enough energy to get things done on a daily basis is essential. On the negative side, an unsafe workplace environment can lead to accidents (Chu et al. 1997). Sometime poor air quality or exposure to chemicals can cause health challenges for workers. Food and dietary programs have increasingly become popular as they negatively or positively affect employees wellness and wellbeing at work. Lifestyle programs, gyms, yoga, and meditation clubs offer facilitate opportunities for people to manage their stress and maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. For example, more recent studies show that meditation, yoga, and other mindfulness based stress reduction interventions can improve physical wellbeing (Baccarani et al. 2013).

Key Dimensions of Wellbeing In the above sections, four dimensions of wellbeing that are relevant and connected to the workplace were reviewed and key findings synthesized. Each one of the dimensions can hinder and or help employees achieve optimal performance in the workplace. When employees report a sense of positive experiences in any one of the dimensions of wellbeing, it appears that they are able to find meaning and satisfaction in their work (psychological wellbeing; spiritual wellbeing); they are able to make connections with others through shared interests and hobbies (e.g., social wellbeing) and therefore, report lesser instances of feeling isolated in the workplace (psychological wellbeing, social wellbeing). Further, by participating in gyms, and leading active lifestyles, employees reported greater levels of engagement in the workplace (e.g., physical and psychological wellbeing). However, what is less understood is the simultaneous impact of two or more dimensions on wellbeing on the employee. When associated dimensions are combined, their impact on the employee and the workplace is not well known nor well understood. When the associated dimensions of wellbeing such as social and psychological wellbeing are

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high for employees, they may not only be able to find meaning and purpose, but their overall sense of connection with their personal values and with those of their immediate co-workers and teams may be further enhanced. At a minimum, when employees report higher scores on at least more than one dimension of wellbeing, it is likely to yield positive outcomes for the employee, the organization, as well as the meaningful communities in which the employees belong to. On the other hand, it is possible to note that employees may report lower scores on these dimensions of wellbeing. The deleterious effects associated with reporting lower scores on more than one dimension of wellbeing also need to be examined and well understood. In the next section, a conceptual model of wellbeing is proposed that takes into account the combined dimensional effects of wellbeing on the employee and potential implications for the workplace are elaborated.

Conceptual Model of Wellbeing A conceptual framework for understanding the effects of wellbeing in the workplace is presented. The conceptual model emphasizes a simultaneous focus on all four dimensions of wellbeing. By doing so, the model offers a different way for understanding the dynamic nature of wellbeing. Each dimension of wellbeing can be viewed not as a static snapshot of an individual’s experience of wellbeing, but in a dynamic interaction with other dimensions of wellbeing that affects day to day engagement and level of functioning. By adopting both eudomonic and hedemonic characteristics of wellbeing, we need to recognize the short term, or immediate interactions, moments and moods that can leave us experiencing positive and or negative aspects of wellbeing. We also at any point in time, can look back or to the future, and find strategies to enhance our overall wellbeing for the long term. These wellbeing characteristics need to be accounted for in the model as well. We need all four dimensions to be working for us to feel optimally well. Reporting positive experiences in at least one dimension of wellbeing is important, and as reviewed in previous sections, the individual impact of each dimension of wellbeing has positive effects on the employee and their work environment. However, a better and more improved approach would be the consideration of employees doing well in more than one dimension of wellbeing. The cumulative effects of experiencing positive wellbeing experiences in more than one dimension have much to offer to theory and practice. So even though doing “well” in one aspect of wellbeing can be viewed as good, the conceptual model suggests that doing “well” in more than one dimension can have multiple effects (positive or negative) that need to be examined. For example, Bohdanowicz and Zientara (2009) identified actions that were taken by firms who had established corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. They found that CSR actions enhanced the quality of work life for their employees as the CSR programs satisfied employees’ physical, psychological, and spiritual needs. When organizational programs address more than one dimension of wellbeing needs, it is likely that that the program is successful. Specifically,

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Bohdanowicz and Zientara (2009) found that the execution of CSR programs increased health and safety initiatives (physical wellbeing) and also supported personal development opportunities for employees (psychological needs, spiritual wellbeing). Overall, employees reported experiencing improved overall quality of life (Kim et al. 2018).

Proposed Model The proposed conceptual model of wellbeing focuses on all four dimensions of wellbeing. At any point of time, each of these dimensions can support, energize, or deplete our sense of being well. This new understanding is a contribution to the wellbeing literature. This model of wellbeing emphasizes a simultaneous focus on all the four dimensions of wellbeing. At its core, the conceptual model identifies dynamic pathways that individuals can identify and find their own pathways to achieving optimal wellbeing. The individual is at the center and experiences being well at some level across all the associated dimensions of wellbeing. In doing so, the centered wellbeing model suggests that each individual can exhibit distinctive patterns in the ways they experience wellbeing on the four dimensions. Thus, an employee who emphasizes an active life style and is focused on diet and nutrition may exhibit high levels of physical wellbeing. Other employees may prioritize their spiritual needs as an important dimension. Their spiritual and religious activities and programs may be important for them. When employers are willing to support the unique wellbeing needs or preferences of their employees, they are likely to create a work environment where the employee feels supported. Organizations can offer access to resources and opportunities to benefit employees and create a network of support that can enhance the collective wellbeing of departments, teams, and the whole organization as well. Thus, a centered wellbeing model helps to focus on individual, team, or group and organizational aspects of wellbeing and offers specific ways for employees and employers to thrive. Centered Wellbeing (CWB) Model suggests that it is possible to find some balance or ways to harmonize differences if any, among the different dimensions of wellbeing that is unique to each individual. For example, as assessment of an individual employee’s wellbeing on the above dimensions of wellbeing can signal if interventions are needed to assist the employee. Further, it is exciting to see how employees can assess their overall wellbeing and identify ways for addressing any specific wellbeing need. Some of these interventions may require the help of a therapist (psychological wellbeing or mental wellbeing), participation in a gym (physical wellbeing), involvement in an employee support group (social wellbeing), or creating workspaces to encourage meditative based mindfulness practices (spiritual wellbeing). Additional links to employee performance, level of engagement with co-workers, and the degree to which they are able to connect with organizational values and norms are potential areas for understanding the full impact of the CWB model. Even interactions with peripheral members of our organizational and personal social networks positively impact social wellbeing (Sandstrom and Dunn

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2014). Thus, even small interactions or microlevel behavioral changes can have a significant effect on our wellbeing over time. It is important to note that there are several dimensions of wellbeing that are not addressed in the chapter. For example, measures to capture flourishing, thriving, engagement, vitality, and vigor were developed in recent times. In addition, there are other important measures of being well – financial wellbeing, mental wellbeing, resilience, coping, grit that suggest the many ways of capturing our wellbeing experiences. For example, Sheldon et al. (2015) suggest that grit helps an individual maximize their chances toward goal attainment, as well as enhancing their subjective wellbeing. In popular literature, Rath and Harter (2010) identified five elements of wellbeing for Gallup. The first element, career wellbeing focuses on what we do every day at work and the extent to which we like our work. The second element, social wellbeing focuses on love and social relationships and corresponds closely with the corresponding CWB dimension in the model. Similarly, physical wellbeing is another important component of the Gallup wellbeing survey and the CWB model. In addition, our level of engagement with our local communities (community wellbeing) and the effectiveness of our financial life (financial wellbeing) capture additional dimensions in the Gallup survey but are not captured in the CWB model. However, the four dimensions of wellbeing presented in the paper address four key dimensions that help to some extent capture the essence of what it takes to be a thriving, engaged, happy, and healthy employee who is connected to their family, work, and community.

Key Components of Centered Wellbeing: Inner Wellbeing and Outer Wellbeing The model also suggests it is important to identify two broader and overarching aspects of wellbeing. The model identifies these broad, overarching aspects as inner and outer wellbeing. Inner wellbeing consists of psychological and spiritual dimensions as they relate to an individual’s inner state of being well. Psychological and spiritual aspects of wellbeing address the internal states, thoughts, emotions, and feelings that individuals may choose to express/share (or not) with the external world. On the other hand, outer wellbeing captures the characteristics of social and physical wellbeing in that these two dimensions manifest through our interactions and relationships with others (social wellbeing) and how we experience wellbeing at the physical level. In Fig. 1, the top portion of the model captures outer wellbeing, while the lower portion of the model captures inner wellbeing. The categorization of select dimensions into the two broad categories of inner and outer wellbeing is another contribution of the chapter. It is necessary to understand the impact of one’s inner sense of wellbeing on outer wellbeing and vice versa. It is likely that how we manifest our social and physical wellbeing can impact how we feel about ourselves in relation to others. On the other hand, the extent to which we are able to feel integrated and whole or at peace with

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Fig. 1 Conceptual Model of Wellbeing: Dimensions of Centered Wellbeing (CWB)

ourselves would suggest that we are experiencing optimal levels of psychological and spiritual wellbeing. Further, inner aspects of wellbeing can have a tremendous impact on how we show up in the world. Our mindsets and mental models of the world, ideas of how we construct our self, our perceived versus our real capacities, and capabilities have a tremendous influence on how we navigate our jobs, careers, relationships with family members, co-workers, and community at large. For example, individuals perceive situations very differently from one another. An organizational event such as layoffs, retrenchment, or firing can cause employees to react in different ways. Some employees may exhibit resiliency and take on the unforeseen event as an opportunity to demonstrate their abilities to find another job or position. Other employees may not be able to manage the stress as well and find it hard to cope with the situation. Thus, each individual reacts differently to situations in unique ways. There is plenty of literature in management and leadership that spotlight stories of leaders who overcame barriers and challenges to lead their organization to serious transformation in times of great change. In an increasingly globalized world, as jobs and roles are spread across multiorganizations and countries, there is a lot of stress on employees to adjust and adapt to the pressures of the workplace. Cultural values, norms, and practices from one region in the world are perceived negatively in other parts of the world. More, these

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cultural values and norms are simply different and therefore, notions of how people talk about themselves in relation to their wellbeing and what matters to them are different. Yamaguchi and Kim (2015) identified culturally tailored ways of differentiating subjective wellbeing. In a study of Japanese and US students, they found that Eastern cultures understood subjective wellbeing less in terms of the pursuit of happiness for their individual self. Rather, wellbeing was more socially oriented and related to being more relational, communal, and dependent on the collective. In Western cultures, wellbeing was experienced when conditions for facilitating selfesteem, optimism, and achievement for the self were promoted. Even within national boundaries, there is an increased polarization of ideas, paradigms, and values which suggest that our views of the world, how we understand wellbeing and the criteria we use to report feeling well or not, can not only be divergent but also appear conflicting. Thus, studying all four dimensions of wellbeing is important. Second, understanding how more than one dimension of wellbeing affects optimal levels of functioning is critical for not just the employee but also for others. Third, it is important to understand what particular wellbeing preferences or “leanings” an individual may have (towards either physical wellbeing or any of the other dimensions). Fourth, capturing assessments based on one’s inner and outer wellbeing offers a more nuanced understanding of what aspects of wellbeing a person is doing “better” or needs to “improve” or take steps to remedy. Perceptions of how well we are “doing” can manifest in positive and negative ways. Certainly, wellbeing dimensions can help people and organizations thrive and/or feel negatively impacted. Further, organizations need to support employees in ways to assist them to do well on all dimensions of wellbeing. Adopting a whole-person centered approach is critical for employee and organizational success. Fifth, working on one dimension of wellbeing is likely to enhance or increase wellbeing on other dimensions as well. If low levels of wellbeing are experienced on all four dimensions, it may not necessarily suggest a negative outcome. An individual needs to identify one dimension to focus on as a target for improvement. The beneficial effects of improving even on one dimension of wellbeing can have positive cumulative effects on others. Sixth, care givers, health care professionals, and others who work in human services areas would find wellbeing related information as useful and critical in helping their clients develop microhabits to change behaviors, perspectives, and even mindsets. Finally, health care professionals, employees, organizational leaders, as well as care givers need to work together to address employees’ wellbeing needs. Coordinating the wellbeing needs of employees will become very important for society as we move closer towards a world that is driven by technology and appears to be losing the “human” touch.

Conclusions Well-being at work is best achieved when employees are able to find a sense of meaning and purpose, experience positive social interactions combined with a sense of positive affect toward their roles, and find personal alignment of their spiritual

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values with their organization. It is well established in the literature, for example, that workplace wellbeing is positively related to employee creativity and negatively related to employee turnover intentions and absenteeism (Araújo and Pestana 2017; Judge and Watanabe 1993). While psychological wellbeing of employees is shaped by their satisfaction with their jobs (Jakobsen et al. 2015; Tomo and De Simone 2017), we also know that social relationships with immediate work team can enhance and deepen job satisfaction. Further, the combined effects of social wellbeing and psychological well-being can also be engendered from organized physical exercises at the workplace, since such exercises represent a social experience shared by employees (Bartels et al. 2019). Thus, when organizations combine different elements associated with wellbeing dimensions, they can benefit and help employees realize the accumulated benefits across the different dimensions of wellbeing. McKee et al. (2011) found empirical support for the positive association of some workplace spirituality dimensions with employees’ mental wellbeing, healthy behavior, and physical wellbeing. Organizations can improve social wellbeing of employees by providing opportunities for interpersonal relationships and by treating employees with varying degrees of fairness (Araújo and Pestana 2017; Kramer and Tyler 1996). Further, they can contribute to improving employee’s expertise and promote mentoring and team building activities to enhance social wellbeing. Any discussions of wellbeing without considerations for diversity would remain incomplete and inadequate especially in today’s globalized world. Organizations everywhere emphasize the need for enhancing diversity of ideas, people, values, and cultures as ways of creating products, services, or anything of value for customers. Celikdemir and Katrinli (▶ Chap. 3, “Efficient Diversity Management for Workplace Well-Being”) highlight the importance of linking effective diversity management practices and policies for enhancing employee wellbeing. At an individual level as well as a collective, diversity practices and policies incorporate ways for enhancing employees sense of belonging and feeling included. Further employees from marginalized and vulnerable populations tend to feel isolated and experience loneliness in the workplace. Wellbeing practices that facilitate greater inclusion for all employees can drive individual engagement and improve organizational performance. The conditions for cultivating wellbeing according to Grant and McGhee (▶ Chap. 35, “Hedonic Versus (True) Eudaimonic Well-Being in Organizations”) can be met in different ways. For instance, supervisors can provide emotional support that is more influential for impacting the wellbeing of their subordinate (Siewert et al. 2011). Existing roles in government and health centers, including hospitals, may well include responsibilities that are related to cultivating wellbeing in treating patients and the general public (Stewart and Bourn 2013). Schill (2017) discussed a model for advancing total worker health by proposing policies and practices that link and align work-related safety and health with prevention of injury and illness in the workplace. Further, existing literature also suggests that specific employee groups experience work related stressors that are unique to their jobs. For example, Sarwani et al. (2013) reported the prevalence of stress, anxiety, and

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depression among expatriate workers. Zadeh et al. (2012) observed that working in stressful medical environments can cause stress and compassion fatigue. In examining nurses working in oncology, the authors offered wellness interventions for both inpatient and outpatient nursing staff. The interventions were found to not only help nurses, but also change their job performance for better. Thus, it is important for organizations to develop wellbeing programs, initiative, and policies that take into account facets of employees work and the nature of their job responsibilities to ensure that job specific stressors are identified and mitigated. It is also important to highlight some of the varied and mixed effects of some organizational interventions that on one hand can enhance and also negatively affect one of the dimensions of wellbeing. For example, when organizations implement work redesign practices, they enrich jobs, which in turn increases job satisfaction (psychological wellbeing). It is also likely that when jobs often cause physical strain (Grant et al. 2007; Pawar 2016), they can potentially deplete an employees’ sense of physical wellbeing. Grant et al. (2007 p. 54) note that “managerial practices frequently cause wellbeing tradeoffs by enhancing one aspect of well-being, such as psychological wellbeing, while decreasing another aspect of wellbeing such as physical well-being.” Thus, even though widely notions of wellbeing appear on the surface to indicate that doing “well” on all dimensions of wellbeing as critical, it is not advisable or even necessary. Understanding how each dimension can affect one another and identifying pathways to be able to find optimal ways to secure one’s overall wellbeing may be practical and effective. These additional perspectives need further exploration in research and practice.

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Respect and Recognition of the Work as Building Blocks of the Workplace: A Work-Psychological Perspective

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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . An Integral Aspect of “Respect and Recognition” in the Context of Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Contribution of Gratitude in Developing Motivation in the Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Implication of Acknowledgment in Enhancing Team Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Conception of Human Values in Indian Literature and Sanatana-Vedic-Dharma . . . Role of Work Psychology in Maintaining Well-Being at Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Relevant Lessons That Can Be Drawn from the Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reflection Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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The importance of gratefulness and acknowledgment has been described in the ancient literary writings of Vedas, Upanishads, and other scriptures as effective tools for motivation. Even various scholars have articulated these terminologies through folktales and explicated their use and effect in people’s lives. Employees should be respected for their humanity as a virtue, and not that just as a targeted workforce by the organization. Thankfulness, gratitude, and acknowledgment are related expression of gratefulness which have been found useful for the leaders in enhancing the efficiency of a team or group because respecting people at work means regarding the divinity in them and giving value to their efforts. While recognizing the humanity and morality in the workplace, this chapter also emphasizes to observe and protect the employee’s human rights as a moral obligation of an organization. This study has included the relevant lessons and practices from various works of literature to identify the implication of “respect N. Kaushal (*) Yamunanagar, Haryana, India © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_85

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and recognition” as the most crucial principle of any organization to maintain well-being at the workplace. This work based on abiding human values will prove to be beneficial, and enriching, and provides an alternative perspective of learning modern management approaches. Keywords

Acknowledgment · Gratitude · Humanity · Morality · Motivation · Organization · Panchatantra · Psychology · Recognition · Respect · Rights · Sanatana-VedicDharma · Values · Well-being · Workplace

Introduction Well-being is a state in which individuals feel and function well in different life domains (Rothmann and Cooper 2015), and work is related not only to economic well-being but also to emotional security, self-esteem, and contentment (Schultz and Schultz 2015). The formal aspects of the work situation have been distinguished as work assignments, work conditions, work environment and facilities, and work relations (Meijman and Mulder 1998). The characterization of today’s workplaces includes continuous changes, horizontal networks, self-control and empowerment, accountability and employability, teamwork, and job crafting (Schaufeli 2017), and values about excellence in work, respect for individuals, and the growth and wellbeing of team members have expressed within almost any context (West 2012). An employee’s well-being has been influenced by the characteristics of his job, organization, and natural personal characteristics (Warr 2002). Work is an integral part of every person’s life. We are always active every moment like either in family work or outdoor life work, and due to this, we get positive or negative feedback on the work done by others. But beyond this response, every person wants that his work should be recognized, and he should be treated respectfully at the workplace, and this honor works as a motivation to work with more enthusiasm and efficiency. Recognition gives employees confidence and determination regarding their work and motivates them to work with full efficiency further. The use of expressions of gratitude and acknowledgment for task accomplishment builds trust in the group and helps group members to understand the importance of each other’s contribution. The use of these terminologies in a workgroup boosts the employee’s morale psychologically because these actions of gratefulness bring mental peace, motivation, and happiness, and helps in maintaining well-being at the workplace as well. This study is primarily focused on the identification and effectiveness of the noble expression of gratefulness, and consisting of five main parts: (1) An Integral Aspect of “Respect and Recognition” in the Context of Work; (2) The Contribution of Gratitude in Developing Motivation in the Workplace; (3) The Implication of Acknowledgement in Enhancing Team Performance; (4) The Conception of Human Values in Indian Literature and Sanatana-VedicDharma; (5) Role of Work Psychology in Maintaining Well-Being at Workplace.

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An Integral Aspect of “Respect and Recognition” in the Context of Work The description of respect involves an evaluation of the importance of a person’s work and behavior, his feelings, and social thoughts. It is treating others the way one would like to be treated (Pryor 2009). Dignity is the ability to establish a sense of self-worth and self-respect and to appreciate the respect of others (Hodson 2001a). Every human being is worthy of getting respect for his humanity. Aristotle (384–322 BC) regards worth as a significant element, while Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) defines an individual’s worth as a valuably dependent factor. David Hume (1711–1766) maintains that human sociality affects the pride of the people, whereas Immanuel Kant (1724– 1804) observes that self-respect is a moral duty to respect ourselves (Dillon 2013). The path to self-esteem or respect has based upon awareness of an individual and acceptance of his identity, the link between the ways his view to himself, and how the outside world sees him (Rosenberg 2008). Wiley and Kowske (2011) find that the terminology of “RESPECT” includes Recognition, Exciting Work, Security of Employment, Pay, Education and Career Growth, Conditions at Work, and Truth. These points of the term RESPECT are given here: • Recognition means employees want appreciation for the work they do, and it is important for them. • Exciting work means being good at the job and the opportunity to use [the] talents and skills possessed by the employees. • The Security of employment means employees do not want to worry about losing their jobs. • Pay includes not only salary but also bonuses and benefits – the total compensation packages. • Education and Career growth mean the continual development of skills to reach career gals, promotional opportunities, career progression, and an avenue for advancement. • Conditions at work mean physical working conditions and social working conditions. • Truth means honest communications. Self-respect, a healthy mind in a healthy body, and stable peace within all these are verily synonyms for the ultimate human quest. Each also follows the other in a virtuous cycle, leading to the generation of more and more harmony with all aspects within and without (Vijayaraghavan 2006). Dillon (2013) observes that in the epic poems, for example, the hero who dishonors himself in his own eyes suffers a fate worse than death with the loss of his self-respect. In the contemporary dramas, such as Eugene O’Neill’s The Ice Man Cometh (1946) and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (1949), characters who have lost all respect for themselves and all possibility for regaining it drive inexorably toward social, spiritual, and physical recklessness. Megalopsychia, literally the greatness of soul, also translated as pride, or magnanimity, is a virtue Aristotle attributes to the good person regarding his claim to be worthy of great things, namely,

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honor (Sim 2010). Self-respect is both a highly personal element and a matter of social standing (Sayer 2007). Thus magnanimity (megalopsuchia) is not merely a matter of having a good opinion of oneself; it is a self-consciousness of virtue that involves selfknowledge, accurate judgment, correct values, and an appropriate concern for these things (Dillon 2013). The self is part of a constructive and dynamic process rather than a separate and fixed cognitive structure (Tyler et al. 2014). Most human behavior has influenced by the “self-concept” or “self-image” of which the individual is generally unaware (Shamasundar 2008). People want to be trusted to do the right thing, and trusting employees provide two elements of recognition such as respect and opportunity (Ventrice 2003). The recognition of the persons often has a particular, more complex sense, that of the recognition of their rights. This sense of “recognition” has a meaning when one speaks of the “respect” of a person, and the “recognition of persons” may also mean the recognition or estimation of his or her performance and abilities, but for the most part, it refers to the normative status of the person (Wildt 2010). Recognition plays an intersubjective agreement or that of a good, which has granted or denied to people, or which has a basic condition of some other need such as self-realization (Pinkard 2010). Employees must be recognized in the organization through praise for their work, a sincere thank-you for their hard efforts, providing new opportunities, and respect for their human personality. So praise, thanks, opportunity, and respect are the four elements of recognition that works (Ventrice 2003). A recognition plan is a formalized system that reinforces the process of improving performance through people (McAdams 1996), and recognizing good work leads to high energy, great feelings, high-quality performance, and terrific results while not acknowledging good work causes lethargy, resentment, sorrow, and withdrawal (Umlas 2007). Emmons (2007) finds that recognition is the quality that permits gratitude to be transformational. Respect and recognition of the work develop motivation among employees. Motivation can be intrinsic, extrinsic, or some combination. Extrinsic motivation comes outside of the individual, and intrinsic motivation comes from within, and it includes achievement, affiliation, and power or control. When people are part of a team that knows that their work is making a difference, they receive the recognition that works (Ventrice 2003). One of the main concerns of organizational psychology is to discover the motivation for working which described as purposive behavior directed toward achieving a goal (Hodson 2001b). Recognition that works is both memorable and meaningful. It is the thank-you delivered in front of a group, one to one, or by email. It is the written or verbal acknowledgment of an accomplishment (Ventrice 2003). Accordingly, in the context of work, exhibiting respect for all classes of people is the true assessment of their tasks performed.

Literature Review Respect is the feeling for something or someone that one regards as important and special (Pryor 2009), and recognition provides intrinsic motivation to learn (Cameron et al. 1997). The human being or body is the highest of all. So the respect of

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humans and humanity is a must for all (Vivekananda and Advaita 1937). Serve all people with respect and reverence (Pandit 2001). Responsibility means recognition of dignity on the part of every living being, and it is something that has entailed recognition (Kohlberg and Woodward 1986). Dignity is a word more commonly used in social and political discourse than in social science writings (Hodson 2001a), and recognizing an employee’s superior performance often cost little or no money (Robbins et al. 2013). The virtue of Gratitude possesses a comprehensive approach to people (Emmons 2004), which has the power to change their lives (Emmons 2007). Gratitude appears to involve both individual facets and a common core, representing a life orientation toward noticing and appreciating the positive in life (Wood et al. 2010), and it would increase the probability of cooperative decision making even in the economic realm (DeSteno et al. 2010). The good man has indeed honored, and the megalopsychos should regard honor as a very great thing. Honor consists of both one’s worthiness, and the honor conferred. Consequently, both are relevant to the concept of megalopsychia (Sim 2010). The lesson of obedience learned, by one who walks by faith, prepares him to add to the payment of his obedience the tribute to his kindness (Tayler 1852). Employees are likely to see the acknowledgment of their specific accomplishments and sincere appreciation of their value to the organization (Ventrice 2003). Acknowledging that somebody else is committed to something is one thing, but acknowledging that it is oneself who has committed is to acknowledge the authority of something over my actions (Pinkard 2010). Day-to-day fluctuations in a grateful mood are strongly related to the day-today fluctuations in gratitude-relevant aspects of people’s daily lives (McCullough et al. 2004). The aspects of subjective well-being and gratitude play a significant role in identifying the psychological needs of the employees in the organization (Tian et al. 2016). Selfless service to fellow beings has been seen as a pathway leading to the highest spiritual culmination of life – to God (Singh and Saradananda 2008). Dedicating the work to God provides contentment and blessings (Crawford and Harrison 2015). Highlighting the narrative side of organizations seems to provide a template for gaining fresh and fruitful insights into organizational life and the knowing process (Schreyögg and Koch 2005). One commonly praises religion because it has served as a cohesive force in human personality or society (Baird 1969). Indian psychology is part of mainstream psychology around the world. It goes beyond the mind into what we would call the spiritual center of our being. So it has a firm base and a profound underlying philosophy (Singh 2010). Many Pan-Indian authors regard a strong possibility in the roots of today’s Human Rights in the oldest texts of Hinduism, the most significant one being, the Rig Veda (Parmar 2015). Ancient concepts prevalent in any culture have always influenced the development of knowledge (Shamasundar 2008). Human Rights are very much essential for “good and qualitative” human survival (Dwivedi 2009). Human rights denote all those rights that are inherent and without which humans cannot live (Madan 2017). A traditional approach to job-related well-being has been in terms of people’s satisfaction with their jobs (Warr 2002). Folk psychology has committed to the belief-like

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state and desire-like state of the individuals (Botterill and Carruthers 1999). Both social psychology and folk psychology are principally interested in the same psychological domain–interpersonal behavior (Fletcher 2013). The Panchatantra has accounted for in the existence of a professional teacher (Mehta 2016). Philosophers define autonomy as guidance by one’s moral principles (Petrovich and Woodward 1986). The real individual is the Absolute and the self; the sub-stream of the individual self, which, according to Advaita, is identical with Brahman (Vivekananda and Myren 1993). Life, as we shall see, is somewhat more complicated than a simple balance of reward and punishment (Hodson 2001b). Managers are the largest group who use work psychology (Hollway 1991). Theories of self-regulation refer to cases when persons set goals to themselves, and in work contexts, this happens, for instance, when persons commit themselves to work-related goals, or when they want to change their behavior such that to give more feedback to colleagues (Hertel and Wittchen 2008). Feelings of being grateful, thankful, and appreciative provide loving, forgiving, joyful, and enthusiastic emotional experiences (Emmons 2012). Contemporary work psychology aims to promote what might be called sustainable performance, maximizing work performance, worker’s health, and well-being (Peeters et al. 2013). Epistemology is the study of the nature of knowledge. In work psychology, epistemology essentially refers to how we understand the applied problems that we research in work and organization (Woods and West 2010). Work psychology is the persuasion of the behavior which occurs within the contexts of organizational physical or psychological boundaries (Furnham 2012). Lara Zibarras and Rachel Lewis write, “Occupational psychology is concerned with people at work and how employees, teams, and organizations function” (Zibarras and Lewis 2013, p. 26). There is a link between psychology, which strives to understand, explain, and improve people’s lives and social work, which involves working with people, particularly those who are vulnerable and have “needs” that require support (O’Brien 2015). Knowledge of work and organizational psychology includes an understanding of theory and research, the ability to assimilate new psychological knowledge, and knowledge of ethical considerations (Rothmann and Cooper 2015). Industrial or organizational psychology is a truly interdisciplinary branch of applied psychology, and as a field, it aims to benefit both the organization and the worker (Truxillo et al. 2015). Dream teams have a high level of positivity, characterized by optimism and a healthy balance of positive and negative interactions (West 2012). The nature of teamwork has changed due to globalization, technological advances, and increasing complexity in the different types of teamwork (Thayer et al. 2013). The task-oriented procedure is a set of operations in job analysis designed to identify important or frequently performed tasks as a means of understanding the work performed (Muchinsky 2006). People want to maximize the value of the groups to which they belong because that value influences their social selves. The social self, in turn, influences feelings of self-worth and self-esteem (Tyler et al. 2014). The distinctive feature of the word recognition, namely that it expresses an ambitendency (Ambitendenz) in affirmation, makes it seem particularly suited to being fundamental concepts in psychoanalysis (Wildt 2010). The advantages of

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team-administrated recognition, both formal and informal, make it an important aspect of team empowerment (Yeatts and Hyten 1997). People whose work is a calling get great satisfaction from what they do (Schwartz 2015). Self-importance does provide an insight into the way people seem to value themselves (Rosenberg 2008). Contentment reflects good energy that makes the task fruitful (Burton 2010). A passionate life includes challenges and provides the way for growth and development (Anderson 2012). People have worked hard only when they have told how good they are, and giving value motivates them to work harder further (Umlas 2007). The workplace as a social institution has replaced the family social fabric and nuclear family structure (Russo 2010). Workplace orientation helps to identify the roles of workers (Billett 2008). People are the most important resource when it comes to achieving the ends of the organization. The company can have money, land, machinery, and products, but it will not be successful unless the right people are helping the organization achieve its objectives (Akabas and Kurzman 2005).

The Contribution of Gratitude in Developing Motivation in the Workplace Concerning positive states, gratitude can be seen as a countervailing force to simple positivity, or happiness, in that it focuses on the acquisition of long-term benefits as opposed to immediate pleasures (DeSteno et al. 2010). Positive psychology is about expecting to find a way through a situation and being active in the efforts (Hazelton 2013), and psychology has perfectly positioned to help illuminate the nature of gratitude and its place in human functioning (McCullough et al. 2002). The roots of gratitude have been seen in various great traditions of the world (Emmons 2004), and it is held in high esteem by virtually everyone, at all times, in all places. From ancient religious scriptures through modern social science research, gratitude has been upheld as a desirable human characteristic with a capacity for making life better for oneself and others (Emmons 2012). It is an important dimension of life as we interact with another in our daily affairs. It is one of the building blocks of the civil and humane society. The first great treatise on gratitude on gratitude in Western thought was On Benefits (AD c. 59), written by the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca (c. 4 BC–AD 65) (Harpham 2004). Gratitude’s other nature is ethereal, spiritual, and transcendent. True gratefulness rejoices in the other. It has as its ultimate goal reflecting the goodness that one has received by creatively seeking opportunities for giving (Emmons 2012). Adam Smith (1723– 1790) has written The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), and through his notion of mutual sympathy, he has explained how an individual’s feeling of gratitude can be modified and corrected by the judgments of others in society (Harpham 2004). Albert Einstein (1879–1955) has identified the importance of gratitude in his life. He observes that a hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead and that I must exert myself to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving (Einstein 1930). Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), in his literary work Reveries of a Solitary

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Walker (1782), noted that gratitude is a part of the sacred bond that links a benefactor and a recipient in a close personal relationship (Harpham 2004). Gratitude is strongly related to well-being (Wood et al. 2010). It demonstrated a person’s value to the organization by providing a new opportunity. Small gestures of gratitude mean to a greater extent to employees than any fringe benefits (Ventrice 2003). Gratitude is associated with a wide variety of adaptive personality traits characterized by habitual positive well-being and the traits conducive to the development and maintenance of positive relationships (Wood et al. 2010). It has functioned as an effective mechanism designed to increase and extend the stability of exchange-based relationships. Such differentiation of states possessing the same valence is central to advancing the understanding of the roles played by emotional responses in guiding adaptive behavior. However, in instances where one is feeling grateful because of the actions of one individual, but then is quickly confronted by another individual requesting exchange or assistance, gratitude, although incidental to this situation, may nonetheless increase the odds for cooperation with this new person (DeSteno et al. 2010). Dispositionally grateful people have expected to feel grateful for their families, their jobs, their health, and life itself, along with a variety of other benefits (McCullough et al. 2002). Gratitude may serve important functions in human beings’ social and emotional lives (McCullough et al. 2004), and it appears to help employees experience a sense of connection with coworkers and managers and a feeling of organization belonging, which is conducive to satisfy their relatedness needs during organizational work (Tian et al. 2016). The grateful disposition is not merely a tendency to experience a particular effect (i.e., gratitude), it also emerges from particular attributions regarding the causes of one’s positive outcomes (McCullough et al. 2002). Gratitude, like all effects, manifests itself in several forms with distinct psychological properties (McCullough et al. 2004). In its worldly sense, gratitude is a feeling that occurs in interpersonal exchanges when one person acknowledges receiving a valuable benefit from another. Gratitude implies a recognition that other forces have acted toward us with beneficial, selfless motives (Emmons 2012). Gratitude, like other affects, conceivably has existed as an affective trait, a mood, or an emotion. Grateful disposition acts as a generalized tendency to recognize and respond with grateful emotion to the roles of other people’s benevolence and in the positive experiences and outcomes of individuals (McCullough et al. 2002). It provides life with meaning by encapsulating life itself as a gift. So it is a key to happiness (Emmons 2007). Motivational System Theory has incorporated a significant principle of human respect (Ford 1992). Entering work, remaining at work, and leaving work are some of the main passages of life for most of us, and being able to find meaningful and rewarding work is the greatest challenge facing individuals and society today (Akabas and Kurzman 2005). Rewarding a behavior with recognition immediately following that behavior is likely to encourage its repetition. For this, managers have personally congratulated employees in private for a good job or sent them a handwritten note acknowledging something positive that the employees have done. Recognition must be sincere (Robbins et al. 2013). Pelham and Hetts (2014) distinguish between two needs that motivate the development of the social

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self – such as the need for positive regard and the need for coherence. The need for positive regard involves people’s desire to feel good about themselves, whereas the need for coherence involves wanting the world to “make sense.” Motivation and job satisfaction are not phenomena that exist in some universal and timeless state that awaited human relations science to discover and apply them. Both the concepts and the practices that confer on them some kind of material reality are a product of changes in the organization of work, which were themselves the results of the dominance of some interest over others, and of owners over labors (Hollway 1991). Abilities and training have determined that employees have performed their job well, while motivation determined that employees have done it as the best with full efficiency (Hertel and Wittchen 2008). No matter how motivated an employee is, his or her performance is going to suffer if there is not a supportive work environment (Robbins et al. 2013). The most powerful workplace motivator is recognition, recognition, and more recognition (Robbins et al. 2013). Motivation factors determine the degree of job satisfaction of the employees (Hertel and Wittchen 2008). Recognition is especially relevant in the motivation of workers. It costs little and helps to build employee self-esteem (Robbins et al. 2013). Recognizing good work leads to high energy, great feelings, high-quality performance, and terrific results while not acknowledging good work causes lethargy, resentment, sorrow, and withdrawal (Umlas 2007). Gaining respect for the productive efforts worked as a motivation for the leader, and in the desire of such recognition, he performs his duty in a well-organized manner.

The Implication of Acknowledgment in Enhancing Team Performance Employment has positive effects on people’s mental health by providing a social status, income security, a time structure, and a sense of identity and achievement (Gurría 2014). The very fabric of our life revolves around work. Our entire identity encompasses the type of work we are doing – or not doing, for that matter (Akabas and Kurzman 2005). In the workplace, dignity is an equally strong drive to take pride in one’s daily work (Hodson 2001a). The workplace is a functional community in which individuals have roles and relationships (Akabas and Kurzman 2005). Employees have been recognized for their achievements, but also be valued as human beings because they have respect for who they are, not just what they do (Ventrice 2003). Life has a concerned attitude and conscious resonance for others (Brudney 2010). When employees get recognized for their work, they attain confidence and encouragement to take further challenges and identify their original strengths (Cameron et al. 1997). Ensuring the dignity of employees is equally important for organizations as they attempt to make effective use of their human and social resources (Hodson 2001a). Truthful, heartfelt, and deserved acknowledgments always make a difference, sometimes a profound one, in a person’s life and work (Umlas 2007). We need to apply the necessary skills, competencies, knowledge, and values in such a way that

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we are positively influencing this process we call work (Akabas and Kurzman 2005). Acknowledgment has diminished resentment and lethargy while building enthusiasm, focus, excitement, and commitment (Umlas 2007). Leaders and managers have to demonstrate a keen understanding of the role the workplace plays in the social fabric of their employees and their families (Russo 2010). Acknowledging someone has a positive effect not only on the person acknowledged but on the acknowledger as well (Umlas 2007). Dignity is achieved through camaraderie and solidarity with coworkers (Hodson 2001a). In the ordinary group or an organizational group, the concept of respect is quite similar because the assessment of respect in groups is subjective, psychological assessment of worth to a group. Respect represents the group’s opinion, and important in-group opinions should be more influential in shaping feelings of self-worth than are outgroup opinions (Tyler and Smith 2014). Simon (2014) argues that when people find a place especially important or attractive, they use that place in their definition of themselves to create a category that they can use to frame themselves. Furthermore, they are likely to construe that they share that place with similar others (“we”) and to define others as members of a group with them if the others share salient common features. Organizations are increasingly relying on teams to solve complex problems, often across multiple disciplines. In doing so, they are moving away from traditional hierarchies and toward team-based organizational structures. The term team is often used in the workplace to denote a group of individuals who share a common purpose (Hodson 2001b). Teams are historically and demonstrably essential to the functioning of organizations and society (Salas et al. 2017). Team characteristics are useful for describing the characteristics of the team, which allows for a better understanding of how teams interact to accomplish work (Thayer et al. 2013). The ultimate well-being of workers and the success of organizations are a result of the complex interaction of structure and agency, and of organizations and employees engaged in a simultaneously collaborative and conflictual agenda of production (Hodson 2001a). Team development requires that individuals learn and practice new behaviors essential for teamwork, and these behaviors have recognized for their continued development. Such recognition has been categorized as informal and as simple as a few words of praise at the team meeting (Yeatts and Hyten 1997). A rare compliment is worth more than a frequent acknowledgment; it has treasured more than any entity (Umlas 2007). Dream teams are characterized by transformational leadership that reinforces an inspiring and motivating team purpose-focused sharply on the needs of the team stakeholders which encourages all team members to value the diversity of its membership (West 2012). Cooper (2016) suggests that a leader’s humor has a strong impact on the leader-subordinate relationship in the organization. A defining characteristic of the cognitive approach is the way that represents human information processing (Friedenberg and Silverman 2006). A recognition plan is a formalized system that reinforces the process of improving performance through people (McAdams 1996). Team cognition is facilitated by trust, a crucial concept in teamwork, among members, and it has been recognized as one of the most noteworthy developments, in team research (Salas et al. 2017). Organizations must foster a supportive culture to teams for working successfully (Gautier 2015).

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Competencies are the work-related knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors needed to effectively perform in a role (Rothmann and Cooper 2015). The pursuit of dignity at work is a creative endeavor (Hodson 2001a). Work is a great source of satisfaction and growth and a central cause of distress in people’s lives (Akabas and Kurzman 2005). Gratitude and acknowledgment help well-being alertness and energy diminish stress and feelings of negativity, actually boosting the immune system (Umlas 2007). The most effective human resource people are those who are sensitive to the needs of the individual and the organization (Akabas and Kurzman 2005). Effectiveness includes the well-being and development of team members as well as the level of innovation in the team (West 2012). Group membership, such as that of a group of colleagues, can be central to our identity. The efficient cooperation of individuals in a group is central to successful organizational functioning (Hodson 2001b). Work tasks are made up of a sequence of actions carried out to achieve certain goals. Well-learned skills enable us to operate in a generally efficient manner to work goals (Hockey 2002). Work is an activity with a purpose beyond the enjoyment of the activity itself. It has an arduous and/or tedious, involving effort and persistence beyond the point at which it is pleasurable (Warr 2011). Behavioral psychology has introduced by J. B. Watson in 1913 and concerned with observable behavior, its prediction, and control (Statt 2012). In the study of human behavior, the psychologist has concerned with a repertoire of behavior that is both observable (e.g., walking and talking) and unobservable (e.g., feeling and thinking) (McKenna 2000). Emotional regulation refers to an individual’s ability to manage and cope successfully with various levels of emotional arousal, including negative emotions, in response to external events and internal stimulation (Hanania and Davidov 2004). Humor is essential to a well-rounded life, and it is vital in the workplace (Robert 2016). For organizations, humor can be used to signal organizational culture, and as a way of generating positive affect that can be associated with the organization (Veiga 2016). Happy employees mean bigger profits. The more invested and enthusiastic people are about their work, the more successful their organization is on a variety of metrics (Friedman 2014). Being thankful for another identifies a person’s excellent behavior, and regarded as the first reward of the worker for the successful completion of the work because the use of “thank you” word gives an introduction to tenderness, understanding, and goodwill of a grateful serene heart.

The Conception of Human Values in Indian Literature and SanatanaVedic-Dharma Honor has special importance in almost all philosophies of the world, and it introduces morality in humans. In the inclusion of Indian scriptures, it has been regarded as the respect for humanity and respecting every living being means to give respect to the divinity within them. Being grateful to others for their smaller deeds shows the characteristics of morality and affection for humankind. Many cultures have great respect for their older generations, for their wisdom and life experience

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(O’Brien 2015). Hindu religion is the oldest surviving religion in the world. The original name of the Hindu religion is Sanatana-Vedic-Dharma (Eternal or Universal Righteousness). Sanatana-Vedic-Dharma flourished from the prehistoric times in India in the form of a monotheistic Hindu pantheon. The major milestones in the development of the Hindu religious tradition include Rig Vedic period (6500 or earlier 2000 BCE), Brahmana or Aranyaka period (2000–1500 BCE), Sutra period (1500–500 BCE), Epic period (700 BCE–300 AD), Puranic period (300–1500 AD), Darshana period (750–1000 AD), Bhakti movement (1000–1800 AD), and Modern Hindu Renaissance. This religion is to be like a huge tree, and this tree is rooted in the rich soil of the Vedas and the Upanishads. The Vedas have represented the religious tradition, whereas the Upanishads have represented the philosophy upon which that tradition is based (Pandit 2001). It is necessary to delve into the fundamentals of Hinduism to comprehend its position on human dignity, human rights, etc. (Madhav 2008). The Vedas, which stand at the head of the entire Sanskrit Literature, is full of ideas (Dwivedi 2009). The Vedas have a referential galore to the importance of human rights in society. A true human being, as extolled by the Vedas, is one who contributes to making the collective life beautiful (Kumar 2017). Sanatan-Vedic-Dharma has a significantly eternal and universal approach for all beings. (Avari 2016). Arvind Sharma observes, “For example, two human beings A and B, both possess human dignity within themselves in their awareness that they are human beings. B’s recognition of this human dignity of A gives rise to A’s human rights, which is B’s duty to respect” (Sharma 2010, p. 127). Ajyesthaaso Akanisthaasa Yete Sam Bhraataro Vaavrudhuh Soubhagaya [Rig Veda, Mandala-5, Sukta-60, Mantra-5]

Mandagadde Rama Jois finds, “No one is superior (ajyestasaha) or inferior (akanishatasaha). All are brothers (ete bhrataraha). All should strive for the interest of all and should progress collectively (sowbhagaya sam va vridhuhu)” (Jois 1987, p. 23). In the Vedas, the rights have complemented with duties. One has to perform his or her duties (Dwivedi 2009). The Rig Veda defines that a person who infringes on the rights of others has checked for the well-being of the society (Kumar 2017). Hinduism does not recognize human beings as mere material beings. Its understanding of human identity is more ethical-spiritual than material (Madhav 2008). The Rig Veda has been regarded as one of the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism, and as the earliest document that mentions the idea of human rights (Parmar 2015). The doctrine of Sanatana-Vedic-Dharma says that treat sages, saints, holy men and women, teachers, parents, and all elders with respect and reverence (Pandit 2001). Hinduism is the religion of bliss. It considers the Right of Happiness to be the highest fundamental right of all humans (Madhav 2008). Mohanty (2000) observes that the right to happiness is essential for the improvement of every individual. It is the most important human right, which is very much comprehensive and comprises all features relating to self-fulfillment and satisfaction. Similarly, the right to equality (Samanta) has regarded as an important power without which happiness is not

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possible. Vedas preach dharma, and a charter of equality has incorporated in the Rig Veda and Atharva Veda as well. Human or natural rights are essential for all the individuals as they are consonant with freedom and dignity and are conducive to physical, moral, social, and spiritual welfare. They are inalienable, sacrosanct, and transcendental (Dwivedi 2009). Rational thought and inference are considered important tools for attaining knowledge and cognition of the physical world (Pandit 2001). Vedic and Upanishadic literature abounds in ideas that proclaim universal oneness and universal well-being. Hinduism is the essence of all that wisdom handed down to generations after generations (Madhav 2008). The spirit of Hinduism has expressed in various ways through rituals, modes of worship, temples, philosophy, theology, dance, music, festivals, values, and beliefs, but all have their base in Vedic concepts (Tiwari 2015). As per the ancient Hindu philosophy, the ideals of happiness, justice, and social harmony have been achieved through dharma. The ancient Hindu texts not only provide for traces of the ideas on human rights, but they do also lay special emphasis on the duties (Parmar 2015). The spirituality and philosophy of ancient India recognized a degree of divinity and sanctity in all beings, and it has held that all beings have treated each other with respect and dignity (Singh and Saradananda 2008). The idea of respecting and adhering to all is well-mentioned in our Vedic texts, and this thought has been reflected in the ideology of Vasudhaive Kutumbakam as well. Because being prudent regarding every person’s happiness and following their interests is a thoughtful task, which is only possible when we genuinely understand human values and respect them. Swami Jyotir Maya Nanda has included the significant Shanti-Mantra and proclaims its usefulness for human beings. Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah Sarve Santu Nir-Aamayaah | Sarve Bhadraanni Pashyantu Maa Kashcid-Duhkha-Bhaag-Bhavet | (Nanda 1970, p. 91).

Explanation: Let all be Happy Let all be free from diseases Let all see the auspicious things Let no-body suffer from grief.

Aruna Goel and S. L. Goel have identified the importance of human values in ancient literary writings. ‘Human rights and duties are beautifully ingrained in the ancient Sanskrit literature, which is quite evident from the concept of Vasudhaive Kutumbakam (the whole universe is a family), and Nara-Narayana Universal prayers in Vedic benediction also support the same view’ (Goel and Goel 2005, p. 71). Effectively implementing the process of expressing gratitude in daily functioning is a very important objective of any organization, which is only possible through constant practice and a sense of respect for humanity.

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Religious values have formed a strong foundation for the workers learning so that they have appreciated their (humanity) existence and creation, and values which have been taught to these people, developed a respect for humanity in the right form from their initial stage of learning. It has taken care of equality and respect for work at the workplace (Abidi 2002). The value of human dignity and belief in justice has been found in almost all the religious texts or practices of the world (Parmar 2015). Indian psychology indicates the conceptual framework of psychological changes and transformation, while Western psychology includes physical and social dimensions (Cornelissen et al. 2010). Indian scriptures accord mind the highest tribute, next only to God in terms of its immense potentialities (Singh and Saradananda 2008). The idea of dharma encompasses the social as well as the natural order. In this view, there is respect for the idea of shred existence and recognition that others too like to seek freedom and autonomy (Gaur and Matthijs 2010). The right to happiness is considered to be the highest fundamental right (Parmar 2015). Swami Vivekananda has believed that every individual is a center for the manifestation of a certain force. This force has stored up as the resultant of our previous works, and each one of us is born with this force at our back (Vivekananda 1899). The development of morality has been of particular significance to psychological literature because of its significant contribution to the development of one’s personality (Srivastava et al. 2013). Folk psychological theories, to a large extent, consist of tacit knowledge (Fletcher 2013). Stories or the narrative mode of thought is considered in building a special type of organizational knowledge that compliments or even outperforms codified knowledge and analytical thought in modern organizations (Schreyögg and Koch 2005). Stories form a lasting impression on the mind, and folk stories that use morals would be instrumental in instructing people (Abidi 2002). The narrative defines the situation in which it is considered to be valid. Thus, the validation criteria are themselves embedded in the narrative form (Schreyögg and Koch 2005). Indians have nourished on the fables, parables, and the legends, during their childhood, and moreover, they have not carried a deep impression of them in their subconscious. From ancient works like Vishnu Sharma’s Panchatantra to Ruskin Bond’s Tales and Legends from India (1990), many Indian writers have presented the Indian folklore. Thus, these writers have written in various Indian languages recognized folklore as extremely useful. However, they have used these fables differently in their works (Raja and Benson 2004). The Panchatantra tales is one of the best-known classics of ancient India. The stories were composed in Sanskrit about 1600 years ago. It was a unique contribution of India to the world of literature. These fables have carved a prominent place for themselves in the world of classics (Mehta 2016). Narratives are assumed to build coherent identities and shape social practices (Schreyögg and Koch 2005). Hertel (1908) observes the worldwide existence of this scripture that not only in Europe and Western Asia has the Panchatantra had a notable history, but in its native India also the collection has existed as a collection for some 21 centuries, while the substance of the stories embodied in it is even older than that. The tales have glorified the clever animals which survived by outwitting their covert enemies. The good man has asked to be clever too. He has excused for being innocent but suffers immediately for not

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playing clever during the crisis. The Panchatantra tales are essentially didactic with a focus on niti, the art of running the kingdom. The term niti, tantra, and yukti have been used in India with a wide scope of importance in political science. The word niti means roughly the wide spectrum of life. Thus the terms tantra, yukti, and niti have been used with great importance. From “polity” up to “morality,” they varied according to the context (Mehta 2016). The narrative tells something about the success or failure, effective or failed solutions to problems, about good luck, justice, strategy, beauty, etc. Through listening to the narrative, the audience (aside from being entertained) is supposed to understand the clue, the claim, and linkages in question or inquiry (Schreyögg and Koch 2005). The Panchatantra Story – The Monkey and the Snake Charmer has contained a significant lesson for the modern leaders and entrepreneurs. There was once a snake charmer. He owned some snakes and a monkey. He was very mean to his pets. One night, after being beaten by his owner, the monkey ran away. The snake charmer noticed that people were not enjoying his shows without the monkey. So, he went in search of him and found him sitting on the branches of a tree. “Oh, dear pet. I have missed you so much! Let’s go home!” he cried. “Liar, you came looking for me not out of love but because you have realized that without me, your earnings have gone down!” the monkey said. The snake charmer had to return home empty-handed, but learned an important lesson: one must show love and respect to his co-workers as well (Om 2010). Its moral states that one should treat one and all, even the lowest, with respect. This statement defines that the respect of the work is above any materialistic benefits and shows the importance of human well-being at workplace. Thus, this creative work of literature has a powerful contribution to understanding the importance of moral values and helpful for a person to cross all stages of life successfully as well. Ancient wisdom enshrined in the Vedas, Upanishads, Smritis, Sutras, Dharmashastras, and the witty Folklore witnessed during the mighty ruling dynasties is the chief solvent of old ideas in India and the main source from which new ones have generated. This voluntary character of the thoughts and feelings of the people, who made the unique Indian social, political, and economic fabric down the ages, needs to be shrinkingly illuminated not only to each of the millions of Indians but among the world populace. The well-known scholar and thinker of ancient India who has contributed the field of wisdom is Tenali Rama Krishna (1514–1575). He has enriched the field of literature, politics, and philosophy, and their treatises on wit and humor are still relevant to this modern era as well. Tenali Raman was a populist philosopher, and a wise man remembered to this day for his stories and anecdotes laced with wit and intelligence. A devotee of Goddess Kali, Tenali Raman became the court jester of the King Krishna Dev Raya with his wit and intelligence and shined among the eight poets known as Ashtadiggajas (the pillars of the literary assembly) and other courtiers as a precious gem in the diamond-studded crown (Goyal 2015). Folk psychology defines the ways of thinking the same or different aspects through different perspectives of the thinker (Botterill and Carruthers 1999). Goyal (2015) describes the significance of life learning lessons given by Tenali Raman. His lessons from his wealth of concise, usable, quote-worthy wit and

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wisdom revealed by the stories are useful for today’s managers. In his folktale Guessing Game, he has given the commendable lesson for human beings that “no one in a land/island is sufficient into himself, and for the success of countries or corporates, we need the contribution of leaders and followers, achievers, sustainers, and a balance of thinkers and doers. Everyone’s role is significant.” Hence, people are the power of the country, and the assurance of their well-being is the utmost duty of any organization. The successor business of a country depends on its people. A management concept is meaningless without a shrewd understanding of people and respecting them. A narrative has the power to reveal and teach unexpected insights into accepted practices, personal and clan beliefs, and organizational culture to management people (Oliver and Snowden 2005). From darkness, let us reach out for light; from untruth, let us reach out for truth; and from death, destruction, and transience, let us reach out for permanence. This is a deep stated desire of the mind that seeks happiness. Conflict, resolution, appeasement of dark emotions, and energies and the fears that arise from time to time have handled with a resolve that we will not say a word when we are most angry. This helps keep life simple (Sperling and Sperling 2010). Various scholars, through their constructive practice, have identified the functionality and uniqueness of the primordial literature, and by reflecting their uniqueness, they consider these works important to guide the well-being of humans. In all these texts of literature, there is a treasure of wisdom that still enriches modern literature.

Role of Work Psychology in Maintaining Well-Being at Workplace Psychology, as a science, is a discipline that has been in existence for over 100 years (Hazelton 2013). In the early stages of studying the behavior of people in organizations across Europe and the United States, Wilhelm Wundt (1839–1920) known as the father of psychology, and James Cattell (1860–1944) was the first professor of psychology in the United States, and French Psychologist Alfred Binet (1857–1911) was preoccupied with the field of mental testing. Outside the traditional sphere, Hugo Munsterberg (1863–1916) sought to understand the mechanism of worker fatigue and work potential and their direct links with job satisfaction, while Walter Dill Scott (1869–1955) became known as the first researcher to apply experimental psychology in the workplace; similarly, Raoul Hausmann (1886–1971) and Myers (1929) examined the relationship between job satisfaction and motivation (Gautier 2015). Positive psychology is about accruing a body of knowledge that is useful to people who want to live good, long, happy, and productive lives (Lewis 2011). A positive psychology-based understanding of aspects and elements of organizational life offers us an ethically viable choice about how to be leaders and managers (Lewis 2011). Work psychology includes people’s behavior, emotions, and perspectives toward work (Peeters et al. 2013). Work is usually defined to indicate that it is an activity directed to valued goals beyond the enjoyment of the activity itself (Warr 2002).

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Work has been seen as central to identity in the twentieth century. The implications of the scientific management of changes from blue- to white-collar working for men and the notion of the feminization of work have been introduced (Hodson 2001b). In the early 1500s, the first truly scientific texts on the association between work and health appeared and documented by Georgius Agricola (1494–1555) in De Re Metallica (1556) and by Bernardino Ramazzini (1633–1714) in De Morbis Artificum Diatriba (1700), and these texts are known as occupational medicine (Peeters et al. 2013). The industrial revolution of the 1750–1850s marked a transition toward new manufacturing processes, in that production processes were increasingly mechanized and industrialized. These changes reformed the economic system into that of industrial capitalism, transforming the social and physical landscape in the process, and working people found increased opportunities for employment in the new mills and factories, leading to increased urbanization. The nature of the tasks conducted in this new era was different from the preindustrial preceding it through a workpsychology perspective (Porfeli 2009). The ideas of Max Weber, Henry Fayol, Frederick W. Taylor, Hugo Munsterberg, James Cattell, and Kurt Lewin have been very influential in work psychology, and their contribution to work psychology thinking remains to this day very important (Furnham 2012). The branch of the discipline that deals with the people at work has been variously labeled as industrial, occupational, work, or organizational psychology (Warr 2002). Industrialization, the introduction of machines, scientific management, and labor resistance set the scene for the emergence of industrial or work psychology (Hollway 1991). Industrial/organizational psychology means psychology focused on the application of psychological principles to understanding people in the workplace (Truxillo et al. 2015). Organizational psychology is a field that utilizes scientific methodology to better understand the behavior of individuals working in organizational settings (Jex and Britt 2008). Work and organizational psychology have been defined as an applied division of psychology concerned with the study of human behavior related to work, organizations, and productivity (Rothmann and Cooper 2015). Work tasks are made up of a sequence of actions carried out to achieve certain goals. Well-learned skills enable us to operate in a generally efficient manner with respect to work goals (Hockey 2002). The history of industrial or organizational psychology is rich and diverse. The field has emerged as the confluence of several forces, developed, and grew through global conflict, and has woven into the societal fabric of which it is a part. Today this aspect of psychology is multidisciplinary in both its content and its methods of inquiry (Muchinsky 2006). Work and organizational psychology fields have emerged in the early twentieth century to identify the complexity of organizations (Doyle 2003). Work psychology focuses on human resource management, including human resource planning, job analysis, description and job satisfaction, recruitment and selection, induction and training, career development, job evaluation and compensation, and performance appraisal (Rothmann and Cooper 2015). The modus operandi of work psychology is to diagnose and identify both problems and opportunities to improve productiveness and satisfaction (Furnham 2012). Work behavior of interest includes job performance, discretionary activities, specific skills, absence from work, and staff turnover (Warr 2002).

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Since management first emerged in the late nineteenth century, so the mechanism of workplace model also emerged during this period. The earliest strategy for managing work goes right back to the classical eighteenth-century economist Adam Smith (1723–1790), right at the beginning of the industrial revolution, and Charles Babbage (1791–1871), the nineteenth-century computer pioneer, who took the division of labor idea a stage further by relating human labor to the most effective use of machines. But it was Fredrick W. Taylor (1856–1915) who had the most profound influence on the practical applications of the division of labor (Statt 2012). The ways in which organizations today conduct business are changing drastically, both in existing jobs and in new jobs that are being created. Today’s workers want quality management, and their keywords are empowerment, involvement, and participation (Schultz and Schultz 2015). Psychology in work settings has described in broad terms as the study of employees’ well-being, behavior, and attitude (Warr 2002). The literary works by Carl Rogers like Client-Centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications and Theory (1951) and Theory of Therapy, Personality and Interpersonal Relationships as Developed in the Client-centered Framework (1959) have enriched the field of psychology, and the self in this context comprises the patterns of perception, feelings, attitudes, and values that individuals consider to be unique to themselves (McKenna 2000). The most critical and central aspect of today’s organizational environment is the respect and recognition of the work done by workers for an organization to be worthy. The work assignment specifies the goal of the activities, and the goal of work is realized under certain working conditions. The result of the activities has to meet certain standards and temporal restraints. The stringency of such standards and restraints determines the level of decision latitude. Together, these factors determine the work demands on which the input the system is based. The demands of the work are evaluated by the operators in terms of personal cognition, experiences, skills, emotions, and motivations. These motivations yield a plan of action, in which at a mental level, the specified goal and the demands are represented as an internal goal and perceived task demands, respectively. These representation control work procedures, which have been adjusted to possible changes in the computational and energetic processes due to performance (Meijman and Mulder 1998). M. S. Norton observes, “An employee who had neither negative nor positive attitudes towards his job would become a satisfied worker if the factors of achievement, recognition, meaningful work, job responsibility, and advancement were present” (Norton 2008, p. 52). Honesty consistently ranks at the top of most people’s list of characteristics they admire in their leaders (Robbins et al. 2013). People at work are happier if their job contains features that are generally desirable and if their characteristics and mental processes encourage the presence of happiness (Warr 2011). People who have persuaded their work as a career generally enjoyed more discretion and engagement in their work (Schwartz 2015). To show worthiness, the manager should discuss relevant issues with subordinates and to respect their suggestions (McKenna 2000). Investing in workplace happiness does not cost the organization money, although it ensures they stay on top (Friedman 2014).

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Respect has an important motivation influence on everyone, and when we give honor to the working people, we are respecting humanity in actuality, and it is a moral duty of everybody to respect all human beings. Expressing gratitude for the work done is a distinguishing feature of one’s character. When a person has gained respect for his performance, he obtained the true value of his work, which has not any expression in the monetary terms, but it is a feeling of satisfaction and happiness in actual terms. These acknowledgments, whether written or verbal, have an emotional effect on the employees, and they feel suitable in the organizational settings. The practice of gratitude has a direct effect on employees and enriched their moral standards. It enhances their performance positively and helps in creating an atmosphere of peace and harmony at the workplace, which is perfect for well-being. A leader should be grateful for the commendable efforts of its team members, and this expression of gratitude helps to create an inextricable link with understanding and respect between them and introduces the respect for the human values of an organization.

Conclusion The practice of gratitude and recognition of work has a fruitful contribution to the process of maintaining the happiness, motivation, and well-being of the employees at the workplace. These expressions are extremely helpful in enhancing the performance, humanizing, and developing the personality of individuals. An organization’s concern for the protection of human rights and acknowledgment of the contribution of every team member reflects the respect for humankind and morality at the workplace ultimately, and observing positivism at work shows the systematic functioning and mechanism of work psychology of the organizational tasks. The act of respecting others and recognizing their efforts reflects the gratefulness for morality and humanity in one’s personality because this is a way of showing gratitude to the divine within a human being, and accordingly, the practice of honoring work in the group-tasks always has an encouraging effect on the employees.

Relevant Lessons That Can Be Drawn from the Chapter • To give recognition and respect to the work done by coworkers reflects the morality of any organization. • Adhering to gratitude in behavior works as a motivation for the group members. Acknowledgment of work has a positive impact on the employee’s performance and increases their efficacy as well. • Ancient literary writings and narratives have enriched modern ways of learning human values and respect for the work. • Wisdom of organizational psychology also reflects the significant impact of observing gratitude and acknowledgment at the workplace.

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Reflection Questions 1. What is the importance of giving respect to work, and how its practice is beneficial at the workplace? 2. How gratitude makes a positive impact and helpful in motivation and well-being? 3. How acknowledgment and recognition of work are useful in enhancing team efficiency? 4. How human values are elaborated in old scriptures, and how narrative approach is significant in defining morality? 5. What is the role of work-psychology in learning respect and gratitude at the workplace?

Cross-References ▶ Enhancing Workplace Well-Being Through Understanding the Three Personality Types: Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas According to Samkhya ▶ What Are the Key Components of Workplace Well-Being?: Examining Real-Life Experiences in Different Work Contexts ▶ Yoga Sutras and Well-Being

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“What Contributes to Family Therapist Trainees’ Health?” An Investigation into the Context of Professional and Workplace Health and Well-Being

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Claude-Hélène Mayer and Rudolf Oosthuizen

Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Professional and Workplace Health and Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Holistic Wellness of Family Therapy Trainees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Development of Subjective Health of Family Therapist Trainees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Research Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Data Collection and Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ethical Considerations and Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What Contributes to FTTs’ Subjective Health? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What Contributes to the Subjective Health of FTTs in Their Profession? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Implications of Subjective Health for FTTs’ Professional Health and Workplace Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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C.-H. Mayer (*) Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa Institut für Therapeutische Kommunikation und Sprachgebrauch, Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany e-mail: [email protected] R. Oosthuizen Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, School of Management Sciences, College of Economic and Management Sciences, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 S. Dhiman (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30025-8_64

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Abstract

This chapter explores the subjective health concepts in family therapy trainees (FTTs) in a systemic family therapy (SFT) organizational training setting in which individuals study to become certified family therapists (FTs) within a 3-year training period. Subjective health concepts and their development within organizational contexts are studied. The aim of the chapter is to contribute to a discourse on the development of subjective, personal health concepts and their impact on the development of a broader organizational culture of health and wellbeing. The chapter is based on a longitudinal hermeneutical case study design. The sample consisted of 65 FTTs, enrolled for a 3-year training course in SFT to become future FTs. Questionnaires were used to collect data with three measurements, one measurement per year of the FTTs. The data was analyzed through content analysis. The findings show that subjective health concepts of FTTs changed over the 3-year training period with regard to perceptions on aspects that support health and how professional health is conceptualized within the organizational training context. The development of subjective health concepts has implications for the FTTs’ work and their perceptions, attitude, and behavior in therapeutical work contexts. The findings provide further insights on how subjective health concepts develop in professional FTTs, who work within social and therapeutical organizations, and how this impacts on the broader organizational well-being. The conclusions indicate how subjective health concepts and organizational well-being relate and recommendations for future theory and practice regarding the development of FTTs’ health concepts on a personal and organizational level are given. Keywords

Systemic family therapy (SFT) · Family therapy trainees (FTTs) · Family therapist (FT) · Workplace health and well-being · Adult education · Personal development · Subjective health

Introduction Over the past few decades, systemic family therapy (SFT) has developed into a well-recognized therapeutic method (Carr 2016; Glebova et al. 2012; Richter 2012; Von Schlippe and Schweitzer 2013). Many family therapy trainees (FTTs) receive training every year in private institutes across Germany (Retzlaff 2013, 2014). Originally, SFT was inspired by psychoanalysis (Mikes-Liu 2016), and it is currently a broadly recognized therapy concept in Germany (Nichols 2001; Welter-Enderlin 2015). To become a FT in Germany, a FTT has to undergo 3 years of professional training, including at least 900 h of workplace training, conducted by private institutes (Ludewig 2003). This training includes a focus on SFT and its developments, supervision in family therapy practices, the development of critical

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self-reflection, practical therapeutic work, and self-study (Ludewig 2003). In Australian contexts, formal training in SFT is a costly undertaking (Stiefel et al. 2013). Therefore, as suggested for Australian FTTs, skills are usually acquired in formal training, as well as in informal peer group training and collegial consultancy during which specific skills are acquired (Celano et al. 2010; Stiefel et al. 2013). FTTs are trained in therapeutic self-management, the ability to undertake selfreferenced observation, understanding of complexities, networking, and the management of insecurities (Schiepek 1999). This self-management ability relates to therapeutic core competencies such as conceptual, perceptual, executive, evaluative, and professional skills. These skills, which are promoted by SFT in different countries, include the ability to conceptualize family therapy sessions and interventions when being trained in perceptions and systemic family worldviews. In addition, the ability to execute certain interventions and evaluate one’s own and clients’ thoughts, feelings, ideas, behaviors, and visions is learnt; and, finally, the ability to learn professionalism and apply professional skills and ethics within family therapy is acquired (AAMFT 2004; Hecker 2010; Northey 2005; Shaw 2011). Scientists have increased their focus on health-related issues in therapies and therapeutic workplaces, including research on subjective health (Mayer and Boness 2011). Subjective health is created through the interaction of individuals, social groups, and the physical environment (Naidoo and Wills 2016) and has become extremely important in workplaces that contribute to workplace health and wellbeing on physical, psychological, and spiritual levels (Mayer 2011). According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2004), health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” It is a positive, holistic concept, which includes various dimensions, such as physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual, and sexual health (Naidoo and Wills 2016, p. 4). Brinkmann (1993, p. 34) emphasizes that individuals create “health knowledge,” which links the various dimensions of health relating to the relationship of health behavior and outcomes (Adams 2010). With increasing health awareness, the use of health-related practices and resources is usually established (Centers for Disease Control 2013), and an increasing workplace health and well-being can be experienced. In therapy, health-related resources are discussed, focusing on mental and behavioral resources, to remain healthy (Bischoff et al. 2009; Legare and Gelman 2009; Mayer and Boness 2011; Walsh 2012). Subjective health knowledge and resources have only been discussed minimally in SFT (Hansson and Cederblad 2004) and FT training. This is rather surprising, since the influence and importance of subjective health have generally been described in psychological and therapy practice (WHO 2004; Gurman and Kniskern 2014) and have become majorly important for therapists and their long-term health and well-being in the workplace. Previous research has emphasized that biomedical models in which healthcare professionals diagnose and treat disease in Western countries negatively influence professional identity and resilience in therapists. This model focuses on purely biological factors and excludes psychological, environmental, and social influences. In addition, professional identity and resilience in therapists are negatively

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influenced by psychological theories, while supported and enhanced through a valuing perspective on health (Ashby et al. 2012). It is thus important to explore the perspective of FTTs on subjective health to contribute to workplace health and well-being. These insights could inform SFT training institutes, employees, and managers of therapy workplaces about the concept of subjective health and the impact thereof on professional training and within professional workplaces. The aim of this chapter is therefore to explore the development of subjective health concepts among FTTs in a selected SFT training organization in Germany over a 3-year training period. The findings contribute to filling the void in the research literature on the development of subjective health concepts in future therapists and the creation of healthy workplaces in the context of therapeutical practice. It provides SFT trainers, training institutions, and therapeutical workplaces with new ideas and awareness on dealing with health concepts in regard to FTTs and SFT professional training and workplaces.

Literature Review Professional and Workplace Health and Well-Being The constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO 1948) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (Johanson et al. 2007; World Health Organization 2002). At the same time, Stellman (1998, p. 28) states that occupational health should aim at the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental, and social well-being of workers in all occupations. Workers should be protected from illness caused by their working conditions as well as the protection of workers in their employment situation from risks resulting from factors adverse to health. The placing and maintenance of the worker in an occupational environment adapted to their physiological and psychological needs and capabilities are important factors for professional and workplace health and well-being (Mayer and Boness 2011). The topic of health and well-being in organizations has recently gained major interest in scientific research (Mayer and Boness 2009), and the question of “what keeps people healthy?” (Antonovsky 1979) has also gained popularity (e.g., Rothmann and Cilliers 2007). This is due to the fact that illnesses and diseases cause high costs in the global economy (Rantanen et al. 2004) but also due to increased interest in organizational and management studies to explore humanistic topics impacting on organizations and their management. Well-being can furthermore be conceptualized as “optimal psychological functioning and experience,” and well-being research has included facets such as pleasure, health, and satisfaction (Ryan and Deci 2001, p. 142). Although affect is typically considered a facet of well-being, Ryan and Deci (2001) have suggested that well-being is not merely the enjoyment of positive affect but also includes a deep sense of wellness. Historically, this research has tried to identify “what constitutes

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the good life” (Ryan and Deci 2001, p. 142) at a general level, but recent studies have connected life in general with the work domain (Heller et al. 2006; Sonnentag and Bayer 2005). Well-being has also been related to a number of important work outcomes, for example, job performance, retention, and profitability (Ilies et al. 2017; Wright and Huang 2012). In addition to examining between-person differences in well-being, employee well-being increasingly relies on dynamic examinations of within-individual variability as it unfolds naturally across time. This is evidenced by a number of studies adopting longitudinal designs and experiencing sampling methodologies (Ilies et al. 2015; Sonnentag and Ilies 2011; Xanthopoulou et al. 2012). Research on withinperson variability in employee well-being offers a series of important insights. Firstly, it takes into consideration temporality the day-to-day variation in employee well-being over time. Secondly, it gives a more fine-grained understanding of how employee well-being changes and evolves over time and how it relates to person and situation factors. Thirdly, it considers the immediate assessment of well-being derived from the work experience itself and does not rely on