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Debate over the definition of “spirit at work” continues in both the popular and academic literatures. The lack of a clear, accepted definition has hindered the development of useful measures and has delayed research that would advance our understanding of the conditions/characteristics that influence the experience of spirit at work and the individual and organizational outcomes that result from spirit at work. To obtain a clearer understanding of an individual level construct of spirit at work, an exploratory, qualitative study was conducted. A total of 14 professionals, who not only experienced spirit at work, but whose work also involved researching or promoting spirit at work, participated through face‐to‐face interviews, telephone interviews, or written surveys. Participants were asked about what is spirit at work and then they were asked to describe a personal experience of spirit at work. Although most people had difficulty providing a comprehensive definition for spirit at work, they found it very easy to recall and describe such an experience. These rich descriptions of their personal experiences of spirit at work revealed much consistency in experiences among individuals. Participants’ descriptions revealed that spirit at work is a distinct state that has physical, affective, cognitive, interpersonal, spiritual, and mystical dimensions. This state involves physiological arousal, positive affect, a belief that one's work makes a contribution, a sense of connection to others and common purpose, a sense of connection to something larger than self, and a sense of perfection and transcendence. The usefulness of a clear, comprehensive definition of spirit at work to advancing theory, research, and practice is discussed.

This study sought to identify organizational factors that foster an individual's experience of spirit at work.

Ten women and three men, ranging in age from 26 to 81, who were in full‐time paid employment in a variety of occupations, and who self‐identified as having high spirit at work, participated in in‐depth, reflective interviews.

Inspired leadership emerged as central to influencing individual experiences of spirit at work and was strongly linked to six other organizational factors (strong organizational foundation; organizational integrity; positive workplace culture and space; sense of community among members; opportunities for personal fulfillment, continuous learning, and development; and appreciation and regard for employees and their contribution).

Future research needs to investigate how each of these conditions is related to measured levels of spirit at work in a larger, representative sample, and how measured spirit at work is related to work outcomes.

Although this study did not investigate specific practices or strategies to increase spirit at work, results suggest that organizations wishing to enhance their employees' spirit at work could focus efforts on creating organizational conditions that encourage inspiring leadership and mentorship and the other six identified factors.

The paper raises awareness and highlights issues surrounding organizational factors that foster an individual's experience of spirit at work.

This chapter investigates the relationship between organizational climate, social support, and loneliness in the workplace. Data were collected from 362 employees from various occupational groups. Regression analyses presented support for predicted links between community spirit at work, a climate of fear in an organization, work-based support from co-workers and supervisors, and loneliness at work. The results support the hypothesis that a negative emotional climate and lack of collegial support adversely influences the experience of loneliness in workers. The results suggest that addressing interpersonal problems in the workplace and improving the psychological work environment within an organization may enhance the social and emotional well-being of employees.

Summarizes the basic principles of Bioenergetics along with its origin in Riechian psychology. Clarifies that Bioenergetics is used at Cranfield not as psychotherapy, but as an aid to personal development for a specific population of high‐functioning individuals, i.e. managers. Places the Bioenergetic body‐mind notion into a philosophical context of human goodness and potential; thus expanding the focus to body‐mind‐spirit. Examines five body‐mind types through the following aspects: how they operate at work; how they were formed; key attitudes; unique gifts; body shape; development path; how they are best managed. Case histories illustrating the different types in various modes of consultant intervention, i.e. individual development, team building and culture change.

To describe ways in which non‐managerial workers could contribute toward establishing spirituality at work.

The subject scope is spirituality at work. The methods are literature review, and two qualitative (phenomenological) studies. The approach to the topic is defining the phenomenon; examining internal, integrated and external drivers; presentation of the ripple effect.

Finds that spirituality at work is an inside‐out approach; workers at different levels can help establish spirit at work. Some workplaces are just not susceptible toward a spiritual mindset.

The studies reviewed, although in‐depth, applied to a small sample, which makes generalization riskier. Although interrater reliability was successfully applied in the first phenomenological study, there may be some bias in this approach, because the researcher is the instrument. Suggestions for future research: applying a quantitative study on a broader sample of workers in diverse work environments to detect their opinion about how they could establish spirit at work; elaborating on possible linkages between workers' emotional intelligence and the establishment of spirituality at work.

That workers may reflect on the various aspects of the ripple effect and actually try with enhanced energy to apply this approach.

The viewpoint of spirituality at work, established by workers at non‐managerial levels is new. This paper is valuable for all members of the corporate world, particularly those who consider workplace spirituality only possible with management involvement.

Animal spirits in modern economics has a specific meaning; it refers to the restless and inconsistent element in the economy as well as the peculiar relationship people have with ambiguity and uncertainty, which tends to lead to paralysis or incredible confidence and energy in decision‐making and risk taking. Animal spirits have also been used to explain peaceful periods and instability or interpret track records of success and periods of disarray or spectacular failure, high levels of trust and confidence or extreme pessimism and distrust. Willingness to undertake extreme effort or self‐sacrifice to get things done is another expression of animal spirits, which can again go in the opposite direction with people shirking responsibilities, and practicing generalized selfishness or individualism. Such behaviours can have visible effects on the performance of public agencies or civil service agencies, in the behaviour of leaders in the public or private sector, or in the economic performance of a country. Differences across agencies and countries over time can also be explained if one is able to distinguish the effect of animal spirits. Using a logistic model, this paper tests for the existence of “animal spirits” in the capacity development interventions spearheaded by the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)‐funded institutions. The analysis and findings highlight, amongst others, the importance of non‐economic factors in shaping the capacity development sphere. Understanding this nature of animal spirits is critical to designing and implementing effective programs for capacity development in Africa. It is particularly important to focus on issues of leadership and leadership development, including the capacity for leaders to instil confidence and piece together stories that motivate people into a common vision of the future or to achieve common objectives.

Exponential growth in interest of workplace spirituality has led to the development of numerous theories based on various religious faiths. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the underlying dimensions of workplace spirituality in Islam by developing a scale to measure it and to present a subset of knowledge on workplace spirituality from both western and Islamic perspectives.

The authors collected data from 223 employees working at Islamic-based institutions in Indonesia. They tested the validity and reliability of the proposed indicators of Islamic workplace spirituality using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.

This study enhances the literature in the field of human resources development, especially in the area of workplace spirituality, by empirically assessing the extent of spirituality in the Islamic workplace. The findings revealed 13 indicators that define Islamic workplace spirituality in the Indonesian business organizational context.

This study was limited to Indonesia. In order to apply the 13 indicators in a broader, more global context, researchers need to conduct similar studies on a number of institutions worldwide.

Scholars and professionals may use the research findings to justify their efforts in designing, developing, and implementing appropriate learning and performance improvement interventions, so that Islamic spirituality can increase continuously among employees.

This study provides guidelines to the human resources managers of Islamic-based institution to assess the degree of spirituality of each job applicants during job selection.

This study is one of the first attempts to examine and measure Islamic spirituality in the workplace, not only in Indonesia, but also worldwide. The 13 indicators, drawn from religious psychology, provide a new scale to measure spirituality.

This chapter aims to consider workplace spirituality from a cross-cultural perspective. The terms workplace spirituality and culture are so intangible, and both start with the attitude and behavior of humans but are meaningful in a community. Because of the constraint of understanding these abstract settings, it is necessary to define and specify the dimensions of both concepts to achieve the aim of this chapter. In this regard, the section starts with the conceptuality of workplace spirituality and the dimensions of the term, which cumulate at individual, group, and organizational levels. It goes with the part of cultural dimensions in the light of Hofstede's (2001) direction, Chhokar, Brodbeck, and House's (2007) extension, and Sharma's (2010) derivation of cultural dimensions for national, organizational, and individual levels, respectively. After joining the dots, the chapter focuses on one of the most sacred research areas for academic literature, cross-cultural differences, and workplace spirituality. The last part of the chapter is the conclusion to point to final notes about the concepts and help guide future studies.

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to trigger a transcendental concern toward building the spiritual capital (SC) particularly focused on the highly relevant domain of work. In doing so, this conceptual framework focuses on potential antecedents and outcomes of the SC.

Such an endeavor is premised on the Christian's teaching that advocates the need for gathering spiritual treasures (i.e. capital). Secondly, the foray into Spiritism Doctrine (SD) literature is due to the fact that this doctrine considers the spiritual construct as the cornerstone of its principles and tenets. Thirdly, it also examines the related perceptions and approaches from the fields of positive psychology, positive organizational scholarship, workplace spirituality and psychology of religion.

The model invites the individual to capitalize on salient virtues and remarkable human qualities so as to build a SC, namely: humility, compassion, forgiveness, empathy, positive emotions, connections/relationships and sense of cooperation. Finally, it is envisaged that the attempt to create a SC may lead the individual to a feeling of well-being and more resilience at work.

At last, the implications to develop a SC in the context of work are sizeable. After all, it implies to add more concerns to one's career much beyond those strictly functional or professional ones. Rather, it means to regard the work domain through unusual lens.

By bringing the conceptual framework of SC to the forefront of management, spirituality and religion studies through an interdisciplinary approach showed that it is not an elusive or mythical topic. On the contrary, this analysis revealed that this is a serious and surprisingly neglected issue that deserves further attention in light of the benefits that it can potentially yield.

The work community is becoming the most significant community for many people. We are coming to expect our work ‐ where we spend most of our time ‐ to satisfy our deeply held needs for wholeness and to help provide spiritual support for our values and our aspirations for personal as well as economic growth. Reports on original research which supports a growing literature attesting to the centrality of work in meeting both economic and spiritual needs. Spirit refers to the vital, energizing force or principle in the person, the core of self. Respondent managers understand spirit in its secular connotation as defining self meaning and motivation for action. Begins a definition of a model of leadership based on this kind of spiritual relationship, one founded on morality, stewardship and community. Also lists some critical issues that this emerging leadership model faces.