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Following September 11, 2001, spirituality has become an even more important issue. Research projects have been done to address the need of spirituality in the corporate workplace. The issue of spirituality in the academic workplace is even more vital since it is from within the higher academic institutions that the leaders of tomorrow emerge. Yet, little has been done. This research is an attempt to fulfill this need. This project examined the spirituality of professors and the spiritual culture found in a private secular college, a private Christian college and a state university, all located in southern California. The design of the research was based on the work of Ian Mitroff and Parker Palmer. The results showed that there was a difference in the spiritual culture between these three campuses and that the spirituality of the professors was a reflection of the spiritual culture found on the campuses.

This paper is an introduction to the special issue on “The leading edge in research on spirituality and organizations”. The paper discusses some of the issues concerning the outer world of worldly activities and the inner world of spirituality and religion in modern Western society, with particular emphasis on how this affects organizations. The aims of the special issue are put forward and the papers within it are briefly discussed.

This paper describes how one specialist learning disability health service has attempted to increase its focus on meeting the complex needs of people with profound learning disability (PLD) both with and without additional physical, sensory and medical impairment. Through individual assessment and intervention, carer consultation, training and supervision, research, and audit and advice to management, a multi‐disciplinary group has influenced the development of more proactive community teams for people with learning disability. This is in the context of both the publication of Signposts for Success (NHSE, 1998) and of a changing organisational culture which has embraced essential lifestyle planning, person‐centred teams, supported living and direct payments. The challenge remains of ring‐fencing sufficient resources (of time, skill and equipment), given the high‐profile and competing demands of people with milder learning disabilities but with complex mental health needs and/or challenging behaviour.