Plurality within contemporary organizations: Evidence of complexity of value variations and similarities across religions
Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal
ISSN: 1352-7606
Article publication date: 29 April 2014
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to expand the burgeoning research, which provides evidence relating to the influence of religion upon work-related values.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employed a survey methodology to collect data across seven countries and six religions.
Findings
The study provides evidence of differences as well as similarities in the way people belonging to different religions rank personal values. Thus, on the one hand, the authors can argue that religion helps shape our behavior and attitudes in the workplace, whilst at the same time, however, accepting the converging influence of globalization and/or the universality of some values that they include in their analysis. This finding leads the authors to focus upon a complex pattern of value variations and similarities across religions.
Originality/value
Overall, the findings provide a glimpse into what the paper interprets as (just one dimension of) plurality within contemporary organizations to support the paradox perspective, popularized by Lewis and Smith and Lewis, who contend that organizations embed multiple tensions and dilemmas in an ongoing cyclical process. Hence the paper argues that the similarities and differences across religious affiliations are not “either/or” choices but dualities that must be dynamically balanced in order to simultaneously meet multiple employee needs. The paper concludes that managers and employees need to articulate and embrace paradoxes related to religion, in order to create an awareness of the influence of religion that leads to being inclusive.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would also like to thank the following individuals for their contribution to the paper: Sankalp Chaturvedi, Paraskevi T. Christoforou, Jaime A. Ruiz-Gutierrez, Miguel Olivas-Lujan, Dora M Luk, Silvia Ines Monserrat Lluna, Sergio Madero, Terrell Manyak, Neusa Maria Bastos F. Santos, William Teeple, Arnel Onesimo O. Uy and Mark D. Woodhull.
Citation
E. Khilji, S., F. Murphy, E., A. Greenwood, R. and G. Mujtaba, B. (2014), "Plurality within contemporary organizations: Evidence of complexity of value variations and similarities across religions", Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 219-244. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCM-04-2013-0056
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited