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Spiritual Climate in business organisations and its impact on customers’ experience

Ashish Pandey & Rajen K. Gupta

Introduction

In the midst of dynamic economic forces and technological breakthroughs, business corporations are set to play the lead role in shaping and creating modern society. If the revenues of governments and corporations are listed together, 77 of the top 100 are corporations (Assadourian, 2006). The top 100 Trans National Corporations alone account for one-tenth of the gross world product. With their tremendous resources and being embedded in the social system, corporations can exert extraordinary influence over the civic, economic, and cultural life of society.

The source of the market value of firms is shifting towards more and more intangible resources (Henson, 2003). Innovation, tacit knowledge, creativity and perhaps most interestingly, spirituality are recognized as new sources of competitive advantage. The suggestion of Mitroff and Denton (1999) about spirituality as the ultimate competitive advantage is based on their observation that now people, as part of their spiritual journey, are struggling with what this means for their work. Similarly, Nichols (1994) observed that creating meaning and purpose would be the most important managerial task in the 21st century. She emphasized that companies find ways to harness soul searching on the job. From this realization has come a call for nurturing and integrating at work all four aspects of human existence — the physical, mental (intellectual), emotional, and spiritual (Moxley, 2000).

In the Indian culture, ordinary vocations of life are accepted as a medium of spiritual growth. Vocations like farming or trading when undertaken with the intent of larger societal well-being and not only for selfish pursuits become practice of karma yoga, one of the three predominant methods of attaining spiritual enlightenment explained in the Bhagavad Gītā. This article takes forward these notions, adopting an approach of synthesis of contemporary research in the field of spirituality in management and thoughts in Indian traditional wisdom. A major thesis of this research is that spirituality of employees is reflected in the work climate. This may in turn affect the employees’ service to the customers.

This study primarily aims at three things:

• to trace the conceptual underpinnings of the notion of spirituality in different streams of knowledge, particularly relevant in management,
• to present the development and validation process of the inventory to measure spirituality in the organisation climate, and
• to report empirically derived findings about the impact of Spiritual Climate on customers’ service experience in business organisations.

With these objectives in view, first we describe the conceptual and theoretical foundation of spirituality presented in the social science streams of ‘well-being’, positive and humanistic psychology and the Indian wisdom tradition of Vedānta. We then present some parallel thoughts amongst these streams and their relevance to spirituality in management. Third, we identify the conceptual convergence in ‘spirituality in management’ and report on the existing state of research in this field. Fourth, we describe how spirituality in management can be conceptualized as the Spiritual Climate at the workplace and also briefly present the process of developing and validating a scale on Spiritual Climate. Fifth, we present the study of the impact of Spiritual Climate on customers’ service experience. We conclude by discussing the nature of hypothesized relationships, and the theoretical and managerial implications of this work.

Conceptual and theoretical foundation

Human personality and its functioning are studied in the human wellness stream. ‘Human Wellness’ literature conceptualizes human functioning as body (soma), soul (psyche) and spirit (pneuma). In the humanistic school of ‘wellness’, human functioning is viewed as a synthesized whole, and each component is seen as inextricably interrelated with the other components (Addis, 1995). Theorists in the field of well-being (e.g. Bensley, 1991) believe that the spiritual dimension is an innate component of human functioning that acts to integrate the other components. Within this philosophical framework, spiritual functioning has equal relevance to physical, mental, and emotional functioning; one cannot treat an illness or disturbance with one component without understanding the balance and interaction between all the components. Spiritual wellness represents the openness to the spiritual dimension. This openness permits the integration of one’s spirituality with the other dimensions of life, thus maximizing the potential for growth and self-actualization. Charlene (1996) deciphers the four components of spiritual wellness:

1. meaning and purpose in life,
2. intrinsic values,
3. transcendent beliefs/experience, and
4. community/relationship.

Many authors, thinkers, and researchers in the field of humanistic and positive psychology have written about one or more of these factors. The following section briefly reviews the notions of some prominent psychologists about the spiritual aspect of human personality.

Spirituality in Positive and Humanistic psychology

Jung viewed religion and spirituality as reflective of the soul and did not discard them as delusion and distortion as Freud did. Religious ideas and experiences are psychically real, fundamental to human experience, and represent psychic evolution for Jung. Psychological problems are essentially religious problems for him. Jung (1978, quoted in: Keating and Fretz, 1990) said:

A psychoneurosis must be understood, ultimately, as the suffering of a soul which has not discovered its meaning … the cause of the suffering is spiritual stagnation or psychic sterility.

Jung thought that neither intellectual nor moral insight alone was sufficient and he found that for his patients over the age of 35, the real problem was finding a spiritual perspective.

In the later twentieth century, Freudian views were seriously challenged by humanistic psychologists. Taking the ‘potential view’ of the human psyche, most humanistic or positive psychologists indicated the tendencies of self-development, reflection, and transcendence in human beings. In his work, On Becoming a Person, Rogers (1961) expressed his beliefs about people having basically a positive direction toward their true being, the power to reflect and transcend in the ‘fully functioning personality’, and the innate capacity to flourish in the right condition.

In the same vein, Frankl (1978), in his book, The Unheard Cry for Meaning, recognized that the search for meaning is a vital avenue of human development. The views of Fromm (2003) are particularly important because he examined human development issues in the larger economic, social, and cultural contexts. According to him, humanistic alternatives of development are only a matter of awareness of being human. Describing the path of development for mankind in his book, The Search for a Humanistic Alternative, he writes:

In this frame [humanistic development frame] of reference the goal of life is the fullest development of human powers, specifically those of reason and of love, including the transcending of the narrowness of one’s ego.

Maslow (1968, 1971, 1996) expressed his human development views referring to ‘being values’ like wholeness, goodness, self-sufficiency etc. He considered these values as part of the human self. These being-values are not the same as deficiency-needs. They are meta-needs or growth-needs with which we can never get bored. This is in direct contrast to the basic needs, which we can definitely satisfy. Under good conditions people can integrate these values in daily life. Maslow (1971) described such integration in terms of transcendent self-actualization. For him, transcendent self-actualization carries a spiritual significance and manifests itself in the recognition of the sacred in life.

Positive organisational scholarship and spirituality

A complementary effort that draws on positive psychology is positive organisational scholarship, better known as positive organisational behaviour (POB). Luthans and Church (2002) define POB as “the study and application of positively oriented human resource strengths and psychological capacities that can be measured, developed and effectively managed for performance improvement in today’s workplace”. POB carves an agenda for how a focus on the positive opens up new and important ways of seeing and understanding organisations (Roberts, 2006). In recent years many studies have been conducted on the human tendency of self-growth and ego transcendence and its positive relation to mental health (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), creativity (Larson, 2000), and learning (Howard, 2002; Senge et al., 2005). Notions of spirituality as an intrinsic drive and motivation to seek meaning in life as having a place in the larger schema of existence are well established in the field of positive psychology and in many other disciplines in the social and natural sciences (Fry, 2003). Spirituality as an aspect of human potential is defined as the highest reach of human development (Wilber, 2004) and is apt to be part of positive organisational scholarship.

Spirituality and work: Drawing from the Indian wisdom tradition

Most of the wisdom traditions in the world have shown concern for spiritual growth. Vedānta, Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, have all emphasized the importance of nurturing the spiritual aspect of the human being. The importance of these traditions lies in the fact that they are based on both philosophical and experiential pillars. In the form of meditation, prayer, zen, or yoga, these traditions have produced many time-tested experiential methods to attain spiritual experience.

In Vedic literature ‘truth’ is analogue to dharma. The word dharma has originated from the root word dhri, meaning to uphold, sustain or support. The Bhagavad Gītā (3-35) teaches that to find out and follow one’s own truth of right action (swadharma) is the ideal of human life. Manas, buddhi and ahamkara are the dimensions of the human self that act as modifiers in this search. One never gets fed-up of one’s swadharma. One is not worried about results when performing one’s swadharma. A true artist is not worried whether his art is appreciated or not. To him, the act of painting or singing is a reward by itself. One’s swadharma gives maximum satisfaction and joy to oneself. A deeper connectedness with the work is the reflection of swadharma at the workplace. In contemporary literature this state is indicated in the book by Maslow (1971), Psychology of Being. He refers to the “intrinsic conscience” and writes that:

This (intrinsic conscience) is based upon the unconscious and preconscious perceptions of our own ‘call’ in life. It insists that we be true to our inner nature and that we do not deny it out of weakness or for advantage or for any other reason.

Rogerian and personal growth psychologists also talk about ‘discovering’ the self. In the organisational change and leadership literature, Quinn (2005) explained that leaders are at their best when performing on the basis of their deepest values. The internal state while performing on the basis of one’s deepest values refers to the ‘fundamental state of leadership’ or ‘moments of greatness’. It is like being aware of our true nature or dharma and finding ways to express this in the job. Hence we take ‘swadharma’ as a sub-construct from traditional literature for explaining spirituality in business organisations.

In Indian culture ordinary vocations of life are accepted to be a medium of spiritual growth. Action with heightened awareness becomes a spiritual pursuit and is called loksangrah. Radhakrishnan (1951) translated and defined loksangrah as ‘doing work for world maintenance’. The Bhagavad Gītā says:

Saktah karmany avidvamso

Yatha kurvanti bharats

Kuryad vidvams tatha saktas

Cikrsur loksangraham (3, 25)

As the unlearned act from attachment to their work, should the learned also act, O Bharata (Arjuna), but without any attachment, from the desire to maintain the world-order (trans. Radhakrishnan, 1951).

Loksangrah symbolizes the ‘path of action’ (karma yoga, one of the three major paths of spiritual awakening) and is nested in the thought of interconnectedness in the world. In its discourse on karma yoga, the Bhagavad Gītā elaborates on the interconnectedness of the world.

Annad-bhavanti bhootani

parjanyaad-annasambhava

Yagyaatbhavati parjanyo

yagyah karmsamdbhavah (3,14)

From food creatures come into being; from rain is the birth of food; from sacrifice rain comes into being and sacrifice is born of work.

Aivam parivartitam chakram

nanuvartyateehya ya

aghaayur-induryaaraamo mogham

paarrathah sa jeevati (3,16)

Arjuna, he who does not follow the wheel of creation thus set going in this world (i.e., does not perform his duties), sinful and sensual, he lives in vain.

The Bhagavad Gītā suggests that life is to be seen as an integrated, whole system and is to be lived with the awareness of wholeness. Worldly action, performed in harmony with the self (according to swadharma) and for ‘world maintenance’ (not for one’s pleasure) becomes a spiritual pursuit.

Spirituality in management: Contemporary literature

Management academics has never been totally blind to the spiritual perspective of work. Quatro (2004) posited this point referring to the writings of Follett (1918) in classical management literature. Weber (1958) also called for developing management theories and practices by de-emphasizing materialism and individualism. In 1997 the Academy of Management (USA) set up an interest group on spirituality and religion at the workplace. Many academic journals like the Journal of Management Education, Journal of Organisational Change Management, Leadership Quarterly, Organisation, Journal of Social Economics, Pfeiffer annual of training and consulting, etc. have brought out special issues or published articles on different aspects of spirituality. Many terms like ‘divinity’, ‘soul’, ‘managing with love’ and ‘rediscovering the soul’ have started appearing in contemporary management academic and popular literature. Academic management researchers, management consultants and gurus, and practicing CEO’s have all written about it. Corporate spirituality may well shape the organisation of the future (Zohar and Marshall, 2004). Organisations and groups like ‘Spirit at Work’ (www.spiritatwork.org) and Global Dharma Centre (www.globaldharma.com) are tirelessly propagating the ideas of spirituality at work for last many years in different parts of America, Europe, and Asia.

Spirituality at the workplace: The conceptual convergence

Thompson (2001) denotes that spirituality at the workplace has to do with how you feel about your work, whether it is a job or a calling. Sanders et al. (2004) define spirituality in the workplace as the extent to which the organisation encourages a sense of meaning and interconnectedness among their employees. Sheep (2004) defines spirituality at the workplace through four components: self-workplace integration, meaning in work, transcendence of self, and personal growth of one’s inner life at work. Viewing the fundamental conceptualization of spirituality and definitions given in contemporary literature indicate that spirituality is a multidimensional, multi-level phenomenon. Acknowledging that consensus is lacking in the spirituality literature on how spirituality should be defined, we nonetheless propose that a conceptual convergence can be traced in the workplace spirituality literature: harmony with self, harmony in social and natural environment, and transcendence. While having the relational aspect more pronounced, the feministic view of spirituality also involves these three aspects (Fischer, 1988; Harris, 1989). Spirituality in management is a dynamic balance of these three factors.

Harmony with self

Organisations are places where individuals find meaning for themselves and evolve in their sense of meaning. Spirituality in organisations represents a specific form of connection to work that energizes actions. This aspect refers to the individuals’ alignment to their work. It is about finding meaning and purpose in work (e.g. Ashmos and Duchon, 2000). This observation is parallel to the notion of swadharma explained earlier. Variables like the quest for feeling good, a profound feeling of well-being, and joy at work also indicate the underlying theme of ‘harmony with self’ at work. Inner life at work, self-actualization, or development of one’s full potential represents this aspect of the literature.

Harmony in the work environment

The second dimension of spirituality the literature suggests is relational. This is manifested in the relation with social and natural environment. This spiritual dimension is manifested through a sense of community, being comfortable with the world, work place integration, connectedness, compassion, respect, humility and courage (Heaton et al., 2004), common purpose, inclusiveness and interconnectedness (Kinjerski and Skrypnek, 2004). This aspect of spirituality in management is seen in the form of a greater kindness and fairness and industrial democracy and shared responsibility (Biberman and Whitty, 1997; Marques, 2005).

Transcendence: The underlying aspect

In management literature, the transcendental aspect is related to a ‘connection to something greater than oneself’. Ashforth and Pratt (2003) explain that the “something” can be “other people, cause, nature, or a belief in a higher power”. McCormick (1994) talks about meditative work and describes it as the experience of being absorbed in work, losing the sense of self, and becoming one with the activity. Mirvis (1997) explains that the ‘individual self’ can transcend in four concentric circles of consciousness:

1. consciousness of self;
2. consciousness of others;
3. group consciousness;
4. to organise in harmony with the unseen order of things.

This explanation and observation is comparable with the notion of loksangrah explained earlier. Mirvis (1997) explained that transcendence at the workplace results in “company as community” and wrote that “Community is built upon transcendence of human differences rather than on commonalities”. Transcendence results in the employees rising above traditionally divisive boundaries of hierarchy, demography, spiritual orientation, etc. (Sheep, 2004).

Impact of spirituality in organisations

The impact of spirituality in the business organisation has been studied in terms of job behaviour of employees and overall organisational performance. The literature correlating workplace spirituality related factors to employees’ job behaviour converge into three areas: motivation, commitment, and adaptability (Jurkiewicz and Giacalone, 2004). The study by Scott (2002) demonstrated that organisations high on spiritual values outperform those with lesser degree of that, on the parameters of growth, efficiencies, and returns on investments. Nur (2003) reported in his doctoral research work that organisations managed by spiritual virtues (MBV’s) earned better returns in the duration of 5 years. Colvin (2006) in his analysis (in Fortune magazine) of ‘Best Places to Work’ in the USA does not use the word spirituality but writes that these are the places where people find a purpose to work other than their pay cheques. The meta-analysis of Dent et al. (2005) showed the positive association of spirituality and productivity. Marques (2005) suggested that spirituality results in a unified pleasant performance and quality orientation of workforce which in turn result in excellent output and community orientation.

Need for study

Review of the relevant literature shows that spirituality at the workplace is reflected in the culture and climate. The literature also incorporates the linkage between spirituality at the workplace and certain job behaviours of employees which in turn affect the organisational performance. Our review suggests that conceptualization of spirituality and related constructs is a foundational requirement for better theorizing in the field of spirituality in management. The potential contribution of wisdom traditions is acknowledged in the literature at many places but systematic attempts at examining and integrating this with contemporary thinking are few in number. Predictive studies examining association of spirituality with organisational performance outcome are very few. To address these needs of research, first we made an attempt to develop the construct of Spiritual Climate in Business Organisations and studied the impact of the same on organisational processes like learning in teams (Pandey, 2010), organisational outcomes like customer service (Pandey et al., 2008), and antecedents of the construct (Pandey et al., 2013).

Development and validation of the construct ‘Spiritual Climate at the workplace’

Workplace spirituality is intended to provide a means for individuals to integrate their work and their spirituality, which will provide them with direction, connectedness, and wholeness at work. Spirituality is reflected in the values framework of the organisation (Jurkiewicz and Giacalone, 2004) and values are reflected in the organisational climate. Hence, the concept of work climate may be a promising mechanism for understanding spirituality at the workplace.

A work climate is defined by the perceptions that are psychologically meaningful descriptions that people agree characterize a system (Schneider, 1975). The majority of the climate types are aggregations of perceptions of the organisation (Victor and Cullen, 1988). The prevailing perception about the work and immediate work group that have spiritual content constitute the Spiritual Climate. Like most other climate research, this is also grounded in the Gestalt psychology of Kurt Lewin. Organisational climate is a gestalt — ‘whole’ — that is based on perceived patterns in the specific experiences and behaviours of people in an organisation. A broad definition of spirituality is employed in developing a construct of Spiritual Climate that includes general and pervasive characteristics of the work group, and is defined as the collective perception of the employees about the workplace that it facilitates harmony with ‘self’ through meaningful work, transcendence from the limited ‘self’, and that it operates in harmony with the social and natural environment, having a sense of interconnectedness within it.

Variables of Spiritual Climate in business organisations

Connection with and responsibility towards the whole, recognition of the interconnectedness between different forms of life and existence, compassion, concern for the larger social and natural environment, these have been the basic tenets of spirituality propagated in the various wisdom traditions in the world. These variables are also common in contemporary literature on spirituality in management (Pandey, 2008). The construct of Spiritual Climate based on the synthesis of traditional and contemporary literature is elaborated in the current section.

Climate is a gestalt — ‘a whole’ — that is based on perceived patterns in the specific experiences and behaviours of people in an organisation. The perception of the work environment refers to organisation climate (Rousseau, 1988). These perceptions represent how work environments are cognitively appraised and represented in terms of their meaning and significance for individual employees in organisations (James & Jones, 1974). This is the intervening variable between the context of an organisation and the behaviour of its members, and attempts to understand how employees experience their organisations (Patterson et al., 2005).

Schneider (1975, 2000) suggested general multidimensional measures of climate and advocated a facet-specific climate approach where the climate is focused on something of interest. This line of argument facilitated the development of the measures of several dimensions of climate such as service, innovation (Anderson & West, 1998) etc.

Spirituality is reflected in the values framework of the organisation (Jurkiewicz and Giacalone, 2004) and values are reflected in the organisational climate. Hence, the concept of work climate was considered to be a promising mechanism for understanding spirituality at the workplace (Pandey, Gupta and Arora, 2009). The prevailing perceptions about the work and the immediate work group that have spiritual content constitute the Spiritual Climate. Based on the contemporary literature of spirituality in management and Indic wisdom traditions, the following variables of spirituality in organisations are identified which are proposed to converge into three streams: harmony with self, harmony in team environment, and transcendence or loksangrah (Pandey and Gupta, 2008).

• Meaningful work: Meaningfulness refers to work for life, not only for livelihood (Ashmos and Duchon, 2000). The work of Jung and Jaques King and Nicol (1999) suggests that the search for self, and inner self and fulfilment is the individual’s spiritual quest which is realized through the medium of the work place.
• Meditative work: This is the deep experiential aspect of spirituality which is deeper than cognition and involves the affective, behavioural part of the self. It involves the experience of being absorbed in work, losing the sense of self, and becoming one with the activity (McCormick, 1994).
• Hopefulness: ‘Hope’ is an element in the emerging theme of ‘workplace spirituality’ (Fry and Matherly, 2006). ‘Hope’ refers to individual determination that goals can be achieved, and the belief that successful plans can be formulated and pathways can be identified to attain the goal (Snyder, 2000).
• Sense of community: This aspect of Spiritual Climate is about interconnectedness and interdependence of employees (Jurkiewicz and Giacalone, 2004). This spiritual dimension is manifested through a sense of community, being comfortable with the world, work place integration, connectedness, compassion, respect, humility and courage, inclusiveness and interconnectedness. These factors are reflected in the ease of collaborative problem solving at the work place.
• Authenticity: Authenticity is not just genuineness and openness, though that forms a central part of being authentic, but it is also socially situated. Authenticity is integral to the inner life which is nourished through self-reflection and meditation (Gardner et al., 2005). This aspect is operationally defined as alignment of people’s actions and behaviours with their core, and internalized values and beliefs.
• Respect for diversity: The Indian wisdom tradition maintains that the ultimate truth can be explained and attained in different ways. Adapting a plural way of accommodating the multiplicities and diversities of societies and individuals, it operates on shared opportunity and shared responsibility (Zohar and Marshall, 2004).
• Transcendence or loksangrah: This aspect and construct is drawn from traditional Indian literature; it is about the concern for the larger social and natural environment and defined as working for world maintenance. In the contemporary management literature it is echoed in terms of transcendence which is related to ‘connection to something greater than oneself’ that can be ‘other people, cause, nature, or a belief in a higher power’.

Distinguishing Spiritual Climate from related constructs

As part of our conceptual development of the Spiritual Climate construct, we distinguish it from related constructs of Employees’ Engagement, Ethical Climate, and Service Climate.

First, Engagement is similar to Spiritual Climate in that it refers to a deeper involvement in work and a feeling of connectedness at the workplace. However, Engagement and Spiritual Climate have important differences in terms of level of construct and contributing factors of the construct. First, Employees’ Engagement (of which Q12 is the most widely used assessment tool) covers both individual level variables like role clarity and learning opportunity. It also covers dyadic level constructs like Appreciation, and collective level constructs like Enabling Environment, whereas Spiritual Climate is purely a collective level construct. Second, a sense of contribution to the larger social and natural environment, authenticity, and meaningful work are constituting variables of the Spiritual Climate which are not part of the Employees’ Engagement construct.

Spiritual Climate is distinct from Ethical Environment also. Ethical Climate typically involves rules, laws, codes, along with caring and independence (Victor and Cullen, 1988). Similar to Spiritual Climate, Ethical Climate involves caring, but the scope of the Spiritual Climate construct puts it close to the spiritual aspects of the workplace unlike the Ethical Climate which focuses on the ethical temperament of the people creating the organisational climate.

Spiritual Climate is also conceptually distinct from Service Climate (Schneider, 1994). Service Climate captures the managerial behaviour and branch administration, whereas Spiritual Climate goes beyond the behaviour and captures the employees’ experience of work and work group, but does not include administrative aspects.

The Spiritual Climate construct is also distinct from the ‘Spirituality in Management’ construct proposed by Ashmos and Duchon (2000). Like the Spiritual Climate construct, Spirituality in Management involves inner life, sense of community, and meaningful work. However, conceptualizing spirituality at the workplace as a climatic construct and inclusion of loksangrah (concern for social and natural environment), authenticity, and concern for family, extend the scope of the construct from the existing conceptualization proposed by Ashmos and Duchon (2000).

Exploratory factor analysis

Spiritual Climate is a collective (macro) level construct. Data from the employees of the manufacturing sector were used for exploratory factor analysis. This choice was justified based on the theory which suggests that core spiritual concerns remain the same in different walks of life (Maslow, 1996). Data of 162 executives from Indian public sector firms were used for scale development using exploratory factor analysis. The second phase of the study was aimed at validating the scale and to examine the impact of Spiritual Climate on customers’ experience of employees and learning in teams.

Development and validation of the Spiritual Climate inventory

A theory-driven (construct-oriented) approach was adopted for the scale development of Spiritual Climate. Sub-construct and related items were decided based on the review of empirical, philosophical and spiritual literature. Perceptions about work and work environment amongst organisational members were collected on a Likert type scale format to assess the Spiritual Climate of the organisation. The development of the ‘Spiritual Climate’ inventory was completed in three major steps:

• Item creation,
• Validity check, and
• Reliability testing.

Scale development and validation process is given in detail in Pandey et al. (2009). Confirmatory factor analysis on the eight Spiritual Climate variables was conducted by Pandey et al. (2013) using AMOS. To assess whether the observed covariance matrix fits the construct model, we used the comparative fit index (CFI), normed fit index (NFI), incremental fit index (IFI), and the standard root-mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), and found acceptable results supporting the conceptually proposed factor structure of the Spiritual Climate construct. In a separate study Pandey et al. (2013) found similar factor structure of the construct of Spiritual Climate taking data from a cross-section of business organisations through Confirmatory Factor Analysis.

Spiritual Climate of the organisation and customers’ service experience

Service satisfaction is a function of consumers’ experiences and reactions to a provider’s behaviour during the service encounter and service setting (Nicholls et al.,1998). Every service organisation routinely experiences opportunities to personally interact with their customers through their employees. Lack of concreteness of many services increase the criticality of employee service in the formation of customers’ perception about service quality (Crosby et al., 1990). Thus, behaviour of the employee plays an important role in shaping the customer’s perception of the service quality (Crosby , 1990), which in turn affects the future consumption behaviour (Chandon et al., 1997).

Behaviour is a function of the characteristics of the person and the environment. There has been an increasing awareness of the impact of organisational climate on employee behaviours. Studies examining specific dimensions of climate, such as innovation climate (Anderson and West, 1998), safety climate (Hofmann and Stetzer, 1996), and transfer of training climate (Tracey et al., 1995) have explained significant variance in specific employees’ behaviours. In the same way the current study examines the impact of Spiritual Climate of the workplace on employees’ service performance.

Literature review suggested that spirituality at the workplace makes the employees motivated, adaptable, and committed to their work. These qualities of employees should logically be reflected in service enounters. ‘Moments of truth’ are created in these encounters (Carlzon, 1997). During these encounters, the customer is mentally evaluating the service they are experiencing and forming a lasting opinion about the organisation. Additionally, spirituality at the workplace results in a unified pleasant performance and quality orientation of the workforce. Other things being equal, employees working in a Spiritual Climate are more likely to provide a better service experience to their customers. Hence, we proposed that:

H1:	Workplace showing higher Spiritual Climate is experienced by the customers as providing better employees’ service.
The following sub-hypotheses are proposed based on different aspects of Spiritual Climate:
H1a:	Customers experience better employees’ service in the workplace where employees find their work meaningful.
H1b:	Customers experience better employees’ service in the workplace where employees experience sense of community.
H1c:	Customers experience better employees’ service in the workplace where employees are concerned about each other’s families.
H1d:	Customers experience better employees’ service in the workplace where employees perceive authenticity in behaviour at work place.
H1e:	Customers experience better employees’ service in the workplace where employees work with a feeling of loksangrah, i.e., as if they are working for world-maintenance.
H1f:	Customers experience better employees’ service in the workplace where employees experience meditative work at the work place.

Customers’ service experience: Nature of the construct

The logic of Grace and O’Cass (2004) was followed in this study where they describe three contributing factors of service experience, i.e., core service, service-scape, and employees’ service. The factor, employees’ service, is a function of variables like Prompt Service, Helpfulness, Availability, Trust, Safety, Politeness, Understanding behaviour, Personal attention, Being well informed, and Keeping promises. The statements in the scale were sentences like ‘Employees in this branch give prompt service’, ‘Employees in this branch are polite’, etc. Customers’ responses were collected on a Likert type (1–5) scale based on these variables.

Responses from 15-20 randomly chosen customers were collected from each branch. Data of 462 customers from 28 branches were used for the study. The value of KMO and Bartlett’s test was found 0.923 and the Reliability coefficient was 0.91 for the scale used for customers’ service experience.

Testing hypotheses

To ensure the logical adequacy of the proposed relationship, the nature of antecedents and consequents were specified in the previous section. Respondents for the antecedent variable (spirituality in organisation) were employees of the branches, whereas respondents for the consequent variable (service experience) were the customers of the particular branch.

In order to meet the empirical adequacy criterion, variability in the nature of branches of the bank was ensured while collecting data.

Schneider (1987) states that it is the employees’ behaviours that make organisations what they are. Drexler (1977) and Schneider (1987) argue for the validity of using employee perception to measure organisational (collective) level characteristics. Based on these recommendations the average scores of Spiritual Climate and employees’ service of 28 branches were used to test the hypothesis. In order to check the strength of causality, regression analysis was performed on these scores.

The value of R was 0.411; R² and adjusted R² were 0.169 and 0.137 respectively. The standard error of estimate (0.195), F change (5.276) was significant at 0.03 p value and corresponding significance level, and the Durbin-Watson statistic value was 1.691.

This output shows that Spiritual Climate explains only 16.9% of the variance in customer service experience for this sample. R² is close to adjusted R² because there is only one independent variable. Significant F statistics indicate the overall significance of the model.

The Durbin-Watson statistic is a test to see if the assumption of independent observations is met, which is the same as testing to see if autocorrelation is present. As a rule of thumb, a Durbin–Watson statistic in the range of 1.5–2.5 means the researcher may reject the notion that data are auto-correlated (serially dependent) and instead may assume independence of observations, as is the case here.

Correlation between average scores of Spiritual Climate of the branches and their respective average customers’ service experience was 0.41 at a p value of 0.03. This correlation score also supports the positive direction of the hypothesized relationship but does not reflect a strong relationship between Spiritual Climate and customers’ service experience.

Findings of regression and correlation suggested that the linear relationship between Spiritual Climate of the branches and customers’ experience of employees’ service, though present, is not very strong. In order to clearly examine the impact of Spiritual Climate and employees’ service we did further statistical analysis, i.e., t-test and Analysis of Variance, which are more sensitive and can bring out more clearly the difference in employees’ service scores corresponding to Spiritual Climate scores.

Branches were classified as low and high based on their Spiritual Climate scores. Fourteen branches in each category were identified. The average employees’ services scores of corresponding branches were compared through a t-test. The difference was found to be significant, p values less than 0.05.

Significant score of t-test for difference of means supports the main hypothesis (H1) that branches showing higher Spiritual Climate are experienced by customers as providing better employee service. Findings of t-test further strengthened the assumption that impact of Spiritual Climate is more pronounced in extreme cases.

To check this possibility the five highest (H5) and five lowest (L5) branches in terms of Spiritual Climate were identified. The difference of the combined mean scores of employees’ service was checked through Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results of ANOVA showed that impact of Spiritual Climate is more pronounced in extreme cases.

Discussion

Our paper intends to contribute to the relatively sparse, but growing literature on spiritual aspects of work and its connection with business-related outcome, as little is known about the spiritual aspects of work and workplace. Following the suggestion of Whetton (1989), our aim was to parsimoniously organise and clearly communicate about the Spiritual Climate construct.

We hypothesized a positive relationship between Spiritual Climate and customers’ experience of employees’ service. An important criterion for the explanatory potential of the hypothesis is specificity of the substantive nature of the relationship between the antecedent and the consequent. A note on ‘necessary or sufficient’ conditions is called for at this stage. Findings of regression and correlation analysis suggest that the linear relationship between the dependent and independent constructs is not very strong. Empirical findings suggest that at least one variable, that is, the ‘size of the branch’ has also resulted in significant variance on customers’ experience of employees’ service. Other forms of organisational climate that affect the customer service have also been identified in literature (e.g., service climate, psychological climate etc.). These findings indicate that ‘Spiritual Climate’ is one of the necessary conditions for better customers’ experience of employees’ service but not a sufficient one. In furtherance to the discussion section we summarize the key theoretical implications of this research.

Theoretical implications

This study is a response to the call of Gupta (1996) for examining whether there is any place for the sacred in organisations and their development. Spirituality is a sacred aspect of the human self and a form of human potential. For some, it represents the highest reach of human development (Wilber, 2004). This study being focused on an aspect of human potential is aimed to contribute toward positive organisational behaviour (POB). POB scholars also seek to identify the role of organisational climate and its impact on sustained performance (Roberts, 2006). As mentioned in the review section, positive psychologists like Maslow, Frankl, and Rogers indicate that the human tendencies of search for meaning and purpose in life contribute to their larger social and natural environment. Like most of the POB research, this work sharpens the focus of spirituality as a dimension of human potential in the organisational context, conceptualizes spirituality as a climatic variable, and incorporates the generative mechanism of it in the form of employees’ service.

This study draws on positive psychology and aims to carve a broader agenda for how a focus on the positive opens up different ways of seeing and understanding organisations and people working with them. Most existing foundational theoretical perspectives draw on agency cost theory and transactional cost theory. Transaction cost theory advocates tight monitoring and control of people to prevent “opportunistic behaviour” (Williamson, 1975). The agency theory subscribes to the assumption that managers cannot be trusted to do their job, which is to maximize shareholder value (Jensen and Meckling, 1976). Management education in general subscribes to these theories. Although the actual theories may not be presented to students and executives directly, they learn to subscribe to these theories and associated worldviews because they have been in the air, shaping the intellectual and normative order (Ghoshal, 2005).

These theories and the world views associated with them are useful in certain ways but do not capture the full essence of humanness (Ghoshal, 2005). The fact remains that human agents, on one hand demonstrate opportunistic behaviour but on the other hand also search for meaning and purpose in their work. In business, share holders’ value is a sure deliverable (as transaction cost view suggests), but concern for the larger social and natural environment cannot be ignored. The rising problem of industrial pollution is largely a result of a myopic view of business and its deliverables. Now it is a widely recognized fact that sustainable development is possible only through sensible business with a concern for the larger good. Business organisations on one hand are sites of production and delivery of material and services, but on the other hand they are also sites of living where individual meaning and purpose are created, shaped and shared amongst the organisational members.

Spirituality represents the positive aspect of a human being which goes beyond opportunity-seeking tendencies. Vedānta views human beings as ‘amritasya putrah’, children of immortality. It views human beings as multi-potential, spiritual entities, seeking meaning in life and a place in the larger schema of existence. This view of the human being is an alternate for the ‘utility optimizer’ or ‘opportunity seeking’ view of the human being which at best considers a human being as a ‘resource’ for meeting business objectives. This study demonstrates that spirituality at work, i.e., harmony with self at work, harmony in the social and the natural environment and transcendence are meaningful to employees. These aspects go beyond the opportunity seeking and utility optimizing behaviour of employees. The study also demonstrates within the limitations given below that spirituality at work results in better service to customers. Indian culture, from time immemorial proposes four objectives of human life, the purushārtha: Dharma (Righteousness), artha (material wealth), kāma (satisfaction of worldly desires) and moksha (liberation). All these objectives are important and need to be pursued in harmony with each other. The findings of this study indicate that spirituality at work (related to dharma) and business outcome (customers’ service in this case and related to artha) cannot only coexist but can be of complementary nature. The findings also suggest that positive organisational scholarship in general and spirituality in management in particular can enrich the foundational theoretical discourse in management. This may result in theories which can incorporate more wholesome perspectives of individual and organisational realities.

Managerial implications

The findings of this research indicate that facilitating employees to find meaning and purpose in their job can positively impact their service performance. The findings substantiate the observation of Nichols (1994) that creating a sense of meaning and purpose in the job may be the most important managerial task in the twenty-first century. Colvin (2006) in his report on ‘Best Places to Work at America’ also mentioned that these are the places where people find it meaningful to work. This study empirically validates these notions to some extent. Employees may derive meaning out of their job from the organisational philosophy, the nature of work, the organisational policies, leadership etc. Hence, strategic and leadership issues should be dealt with, keeping in view the human quest for meaning and purpose in life.

Pruzan (2001) suggested that socially responsible behaviour of the organisation positively affects the service quality. Empirical findings of the current study substantiate this notion and point out that a concern for the larger social and natural environment amongst the employees is reflected in customers’ perception of the service. If employees perceive their work as a means or opportunity to contribute to a higher purpose toward community, society, or mankind, the work climate will be more positive and the customers’ experience will get better.

Schneider et al. (1998) reasoned that specific strategic climates are unlikely to achieve the intended outcomes unless they are built on a strong foundation of generic work-facilitation climate. Spiritual Climate is one of the generic climates on which other strategically important climates (service climate, transfer of training climate, innovation climate etc.) can be built.

Research findings may be useful for Organisational Development (OD) work which aims at creating performance-oriented and humanistic culture. OD efforts can facilitate employees and leaders to find meaning and purpose in their work. Developmental work in the organisation should include efforts for building authenticity, and a sense of community at the workplace for better performance and results.

Limitations

At the level of conceptualization, this study is limited in terms of the number of wisdom traditions it surveys. The study largely refers to the Vedāntic traditional wisdom. Acknowledged here is that this is but one of the many wisdom traditions evolved in different cultures across the world.

This study was conducted in the positivist paradigm with the usual limitations of survey research design. This design is suitable for bringing out commonality amongst the respondents and leaves out the uniqueness of the individuals being studied.

This study is limited by its objectives and scope and does not accommodate the aspect of person-organisation fit. The study does not, for example, deal with situations where the people working in the organisation have a higher level of spirituality than the organisation and eventually do not find it meaningful to work with that particular organisation.

ADDENDUM

Spiritual Climate inventory (1 to 5 scale on agreement)

Harmony with self at work

1. My job helps me to understand my life’s purpose. (Meaningfulness)
2. Working here makes my life meaningful. (Meaningfulness)
3. Working here is a means for realizing my real self. (Meaningfulness)
4. Work itself is enjoyable for me. (Meditative Work)
5. I am deeply involved in my work here. (Meditative Work)
6. I feel frustrated after working here (reverse). (Meditative Work)
7. People here feel that they are in charge of their own destinies. (Feeling Empowered)
8. People here are able to use their talents at work. (Feeling Empowered)
9. People in the group/department are able to apply their creativity at work. (Feeling Empowered)
10. People generally believe that business targets of the group/department can be achieved. (Hopefulness)
11. People doubt the success of any new plan for business growth (reverse). (Hopefulness)

Harmony in work environment

12. When stuck with a problem, people feel free to ask for (choose a number for each one): (Sense of Community)

1. advice from colleagues
2. advice from a superior
3. help from their colleagues
4. help from a superior

13. People’s actions here are aligned with their words. (Authenticity)

14. People own up to mistakes with others in the group. (Authenticity)

15. Manipulation is the way people perform their jobs here (reverse). (Authenticity)

16. Diversity of views is accepted in my group/ department. (Sense of Community)

17. People here are concerned about each other’s family responsibilities. (Sense of Community)

Transcendence

18. People here perform their duties as if they contribute to (choose a number for one): (loksangrah)

1. the community
2. the larger society
3. mankind in general

19. People here try to avoid wastage of any kind (paper, electricity etc.). (Loksangrah)

20. People are concerned about the natural environment while working here. (Loksangrah)

The 2009 Pfeiffer Annual: Consulting. Copyright © 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Pfeiffer, an Imprint of Wiley. www.pfeiffer.com

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