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This article reviews research published in secular management journals that examines what the world’s largest religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, and Islam) say about management. In terms of how religion informs management, the literature identifies two basic means: (1) written scriptures (e.g., Analects, Bible, Quran) and (2) experiential spiritual practices (e.g., prayer, mindfulness). In terms of what religion says about management, the emphasis tends to be either on (1) enhancing, or (2) liberating mainstream management. Studies based on scriptures typically either enhance or liberate management, whereas empirical research based on spiritual disciplines consistently point to liberation. Implications are discussed.

This chapter is a narrative account of the implementation of decision-based learning (DBL) in an introductory religion course for the purpose of helping students acquire conditional knowledge of a scriptural text. Descriptions are offered of the instructional decisions for redesigning a portion of the course and developing an expert decision model. The narrative covers multiple semesters describing the use of PowerPoint as the primary tool for DBL and then software designed specifically for DBL. Examples of DBL assessments and assignments are also included. A simple student survey consisting of scaled and open-ended questions was administered to students to gather feedback. Finally, further possibilities for implementation and research are discussed.

The study aims to propose a conceptual Bhartiya (Indian) model of workplace spirituality (WPS) in non-profit organisations (NPOs) in the context of burnout and resilience by synthesising the concepts of the east and the west. The researchers have kept an open approach by exploring various dimensions of WPS by reviewing the extant literature of both the east and the west. The researchers delved into Bhartiya (Indian) scriptures to identify the concepts that have similarity with the dimensions of WPS so that it may further assist in facilitating those dimensions in NPOs. Furthermore, to propose a conceptual Bhartiya model for NPOs, the researchers synthesised the literature pool of Bhartiya studies on WPS. They examined how WPS decreases burnout and leads to resilience. The study’s findings reveal that concepts from Bhartiya scriptures such as Karm Yog (Nishkam Karm, self-abnegation, swadharm), parasparam bhavayantaha, loksangrah, daivi sampat and kritagyata are instrumental in facilitating the constructs of WPS. Meaningful work is facilitated through karm yog; sense of community is facilitated through parasparam bhavayantaha and loksangrah; and alignment with organisational values is facilitated through daivi sampat and kritagyata. The findings further suggest that WPS is an antidote to burnout and an enabler of resilience.

This paper aims to argue that markets need a foundation of morality to promote the long-run success of an economy.

Three types of ethical theories are discussed and compared with what the sacred scriptures of Islam and Christianity say and with what economic theory says. Examples from China are provided.

Markets need morality.

There are more religions in the world than just Islam and Christianity; however, space limitations force me to only consider those two religions. Furthermore, there are more countries in the world than just China. However, space limitations force me to only pull examples from China.

Economists should recognize that markets need morality, and they should start teaching that to their students.

If markets are built on a foundation of ethics, then society prospers. In the absence of that foundation, societies falter. When a government, business and religious institutions see each other as complementary forces, then ethics can evolve.

The author knows of no other studies that explain the three types of ethical theories, compares those theories to what the sacred scriptures of Islam and Christianity say and to what economic theory says, and then uses examples from China to illustrate the need for morality.

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a ground-breaking survey into people's experiences of church and Spiritual Abuse (SA), in a context of issues of safeguarding and policy.

The survey was delivered online between April 2011 and December 2012.

The findings showed many people had encountered negative church experiences. Most respondents had very limited knowledge and understanding of SA and related support and intervention.

This survey represents the views of a small percentage of those who attend, or have attended, church and further more extensive research is required to provide a more comprehensive understanding. Additionally research is required within other faiths and cultural contexts.

It is evident that there is clearly a need to strengthen current safeguarding policy and practice with regards to SA.

This paper offers an initial insight into the challenges for safeguarding together with some suggested intervention strategies.

Leaders today are continuously seeking models to navigate through the challenges posed by the pandemic times, so as to help the organizations flourish in the volatile business environment. This paper attempts to explore the alignment of insights drawn from the ancient Indian scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, with today’s leadership requirements, towards the betterment of both the leaders and organizations.

A qualitative approach with thematic analysis is used to identify leadership qualities pertinent in difficult times through interviews with 15 employees at leadership positions. It establishes the alignment of the qualities with the sapient advice from the Holy Scripture, maneuvered by today’s leaders to become more purposeful and impactful.

The discernments from the Bhagavad Gita holistically entwine the emotional, intellectual and spiritual aspects of resilient leaders and provide guidance on the leaders’ attitude towards work, behaviour and self management, to help steer through the challenging environment. With turbulent changes during the COVID-19 pandemic, conventional leadership skills would be outmoded, and hence the leaders need to strengthen the critical shifts in their own established sets of attitudes as well as that of their workforce.

Under the changing work environment, while the new leadership narrative of the world beyond takes shape, this study delves both into ancient Indian wisdom and current opinion to identify a template of workable practices that would differentiate extraordinary leaders from the rest.

This chapter engages with both religion and paradox in leadership and organization research by focusing on three sources of paradoxical tensions and how they are shaped by religion: worldly limits, diverse interpretations, and emerging relationships. First, regarding worldly limits, religion is predicated on an additional “very macro” level of reality, transcendence. This belief offers a distinct way of engaging with paradoxes as it extends the worldly realm’s boundaries. Second, contradictory interpretations of religions may rise, even among members of the same faith, leading to new cognitive paradoxes. Dynamizing boundaries between contradictory elements may allow organizations to maintain unity in a diversity of interpretations. Third, concerning emerging relationships, religions are global phenomena that are experienced side by side in multiple societal terrains. They cut across diverse social systems and give rise to novel relationships. This creates new tensions and paradoxical encounters, as religions traverse borders and boundaries and encounter existing social beliefs, structures, and practices. The expansion, dynamization, and shifting of boundaries then shapes persistent contradictions among interdependent elements. Our field should appreciate and embrace conflicting mysteries and paradoxes across boundaries. We may only need some faith.

Postcommunist democratization opened many former communist societies to a freedom of religious expression that stimulates the birth of new forms of evangelism. Using the example of Poland, this chapter analyzes the forms of evangelism that became available and were most frequently practiced in democratizing Poland. It also investigates the results of evangelization in terms of change in the scope and degree of faith of Polish society, depicting changes in expressed religious practices.

Chapter 1 is entitled “Normative Scripture – Christian and American.” Here Pelikan considers the normative status of the two documents. Though their texts were “originally composed under very specific circumstances,” illumined by later scholarship, they have been “adopted by a community as its normative Great Code…occupying a position that in some profound sense stands beyond its own history” (pp. 4–5).That normative status is based on the assumption that it can be applied to any and all of the radically changed situations of later times, many of which the writers who originally framed it could not themselves conceivable have foreseen…. Therefore its words and phrases have for centuries called forth meticulous and sophisticated – and sometimes painfully convoluted – interpretation, as well as continual reinterpretation.…a massive corpus of authoritative, if often controversial, commentary. (p. 5)