Page 1
SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING OF WORKERS:
EXPLORING A NEGLECTED
PERFORMANCE ANTECEDENT
by
James B. Maginnis II, B.S.
An Applications of Technology Management project
submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of
Masters of Business Administration
University of Phoenix
September 18, 2001
Approved by Steven Cook
Applications of Technology Management Instructor
Program Authorized
to Offer Degree Business Administration / Technology Management
Date September 18, 2001
Page 2
Maginnis i
University of Phoenix
ABSTRACT
Spiritual Well-Being of Workers: Exploring a Neglected Performance Antecedent
by James Maginnis
Project Instructor: Professor Steven Cook
Department: Business Administration
Although it has been suggested that U.S. investors often check corporate values
and ethics, it would seem that the principal criteria is usually only whether the executive
team is perceived as having the necessary management skills to carry the company.
Most organizations, unfortunately, are wholly over-managed and under-led with
bureaucratic, arrogant, and uncreative cultures. MBA schools that turn out managers
and not leaders may partly lie at the root of this situation. The result is poorly
implemented strategies, acquisitions without the needed synergy, costly re-engineering,
and downsizing and quality programs that fail to deliver. Other spiritual theorists and this
study substantiate that worker performance and corporate profits, however, can be
increased by efforts specifically aimed at boosting personal and workplace spirituality. In
a completed pilot study, strong correlations were found between the standard Ellison
Spiritual Well-Being Scale and a developed Spiritual Development Scale. In addition,
strong correlations were found between a Workplace Spirituality Well-Being Scale
(based on the Open Organizational Profile survey and assessments guidelines from
Kotter and Mitroff) individually with a developed Workplace Commitment, Satisfaction,
Attachment, and Values Scale as well as with a Profit Scale.
Page 3
Maginnis ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................... i
TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................... ii
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... v
GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................ vi
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1
The Situation .............................................................................................................. 5
In Church .............................................................................................................. 5
In Government and War ....................................................................................... 7
In Business ......................................................................................................... 16
Research Background ............................................................................................. 20
Research Questionnaires and Hypotheses .............................................................. 22
LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................................... 24
Acknowledging the Human Spirit ............................................................................. 25
Psychological States ................................................................................................ 28
Organizational Climate ............................................................................................. 29
Spiritual Theory ........................................................................................................ 31
Characteristics of the Open Organization ................................................................ 32
Workplace Models for Fostering Spirituality ............................................................. 35
METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................................. 37
Page 4
Maginnis iii
Design ...................................................................................................................... 37
Population and Sample ............................................................................................ 38
Instrumentation ........................................................................................................ 39
Personal Information ................................................................................................ 39
Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale ............................................................................ 39
Spiritual Development Scale .................................................................................... 40
Worldview Attitudes Scale ....................................................................................... 41
General Self-Efficacy Scale ..................................................................................... 41
Workplace Spirituality Well-Being Scale .................................................................. 41
Workplace Values, Satisfaction, and Attachment .................................................... 42
Religion and Spirituality Questionnaire .................................................................... 44
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION ................................................................................ 45
Characteristics of Respondents ............................................................................... 45
Analysis of the data .................................................................................................. 46
Research Question 1 – SDS vs. Ellison Scale.................................................... 46
Research Question 2 – WAPS vs. Ellison Scale ................................................ 47
Research Question 3 – Generalized Open Organizational Profile ...................... 48
Research Question 4 – WVSA and Profit vs. WSWB ......................................... 49
IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................. 53
Review of the Study ................................................................................................. 53
Implications for Human Resource Development ...................................................... 55
Creating and Maintaining an Environment of Vision ................................................ 59
Page 5
Maginnis iv
SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 62
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................... 64
APPENDIX A - Project Surveys ........................................................................................ 76
Project Overview ................................................................................................. 77
Consent Form ...................................................................................................... 79
Personal Information for Research Questionnaires .................................... 80
Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale ................................................................... 81
Spiritual Development Scale ............................................................................ 82
Worldview Attitudes and Personality Scale ................................................... 83
General Self-Efficacy Scale .............................................................................. 84
Workplace Spiritual Well-Being Scale ............................................................ 85
Workplace Values, Satisfaction, and Attachment Scale ............................ 89
Religion and Spirituality Questionnaire .......................................................... 92
APPENDIX B – PowerPoint Presentation: What‟s Wrong, Part 1 ..................................... 95
APPENDIX C – PowerPoint Presentation: What‟s Wrong, Part 2 ................................... 106
Page 6
Maginnis v
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 – The Open Organization Model ..................................................................... 31
Figure 2 – Mitroff and Denton Business Models for Fostering Spirituality ..................... 37
Figure 3 – Spiritual Development Scale vs. Ellison Scale ............................................. 46
Figure 4 – Worldview Attitude Scale vs. Ellison Scale................................................... 47
Figure 5 – The Completed Open Organization Model ................................................... 48
Figure 6 – Comparison of WVSA and Profit vs. WSWB ................................................ 49
Figure 7 – Affective, Normative, and Continuance vs. Ellison SWBS............................ 50
Figure 8 – Comparison of All Scales to Ellison SWB .................................................... 51
Figure 9 – Pearson-r Correlation Analysis of Primary Scales ........................................ 51
Figure 10 – Pearson-r Correlation Analysis of Subscales ............................................. 52
Figure 11 – Comparing 20th and 21st Century Organizational Cultures ....................... 61
Page 7
Maginnis vi
GLOSSARY
Work. Is any labor, task, duty, and/or activity associated with an individuals‟ means of
livelihood. (Merriam-Webster)
Spirituality. Is the quality or state of being free from corrupting influences. (Merriam-
Webster) The basic desire to find and model an ultimate personal meaning and purpose
in an interconnected life. (Maginnis, 2001) It has been described as a process or sacred
journey; the essence of life principle of a person; the experience of the radical truth of
things; a belief that relates a person to the world; giving meaning to existence; any
personal transcendence beyond the present context of reality; a personal quest to find
meaning and purpose in life; and a relationship or sense of connection with Mystery,
Higher Being, God, or Universe. (Burkhardt, Holistic Nursing Practice, 1989)
Spiritual Well-Being. An indicator or expression of satisfaction with one‟s life and a
perception of life as having meaning and ultimate purpose (Moberg, 1971; Ellison, 1983;
Paloutzian and Ellison, 1982; Stoll, 1989) across three dimensions of relationships (Stoll,
1979; Banks, 1980; Hunelmann et al., 1985): transpersonal (i.e. with a Higher
Being/God), interpersonal (i..e. with family, friends, and significant others), and
intrapersonal (i.e. with one‟s inner self). Spiritual Well-Being is operationalized by scores
on the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) (Ellison, 1983) and described by the categories
and properties discovered by Hundelmann et al. (1985).
Page 8
Maginnis vii
Spiritual Dimension. Has been described as a unifying force within individuals
integrating and transcending all other dimensions; providing meaning in life; a common
bond between individuals including God; and a perception of faith. (Burkhardt, Holistic
Nursing Practice, 1989)
Spiritual Distress. Is evidenced when an individual expresses concern with the meaning
of life/death; manifests anger towards a Higher Being/God; verbalizes internal conflicts;
questions meaning of one‟s existence; seeks spiritual assistance; questions ethical
implication of circumstances; and uses gallows humor. (Kim, The North American Nursing
Diagnosis Association, 1987)
Self-Efficacy. Is an individual‟s judgment of his/her capacity to successfully accomplish a
particular outcome, and so is task specific. (Bandura, 1977)
General Self-Efficacy. Is an individual‟s judgment of his/her capacity to successfully
accomplish outcomes in new situations characterized by unfamiliarity, uncertainty, and
ambiguity. General self-efficacy is operationalized by scores on the General Self-efficacy
Scale (GSES). (Sherer et al., 1982; Sherer and Adams, 1983) The GSES along with a 6-
item Social Self-Efficacy subscale and 7 filler items make up a less employed 30-item
Self-Efficacy Scale.
Affective Commitment. Is present when employees remain with an organization
because they want to, instead of remaining because they need to. Affective commitment
is the relative strength of identification with and involvement in an organization that is
Page 9
Maginnis viii
characterized by three factors: 1) a strong belief in and acceptance of the organization‟s
goals and values; 2) a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the
organization; and 3) a strong desire to maintain membership in an organization. (Porter et
al., 1974, 1984) Affective Commitment is operationalized by scores on the Affective
Commitment Scale (ACS). (Meyer and Allen, 1991)
Normative Commitment. Refers to a worker‟s feeling of obligation to remain with an
organization. A worker is influenced by pre-entry experiences (e.g. familial/cultural
socialization) as well as post-entry experiences (e.g. organizational socialization) that
stress the importance of loyalty. Normative Commitment is operationalized by scores on
the Normative Commitment Scale (NCS). (Meyer and Allen, 1991)
Continuance Commitment. Is the commitment based upon the costs that a worker
associates with leaving an organization. As time accrues with an organization, a worker
begins to recognize the accumulation of investments such as benefits, skills training, and
seniority privileges. As a worker recognizes the accumulation of individually made
investments, referred to by Becker (1960) as “side bets,” the availability of alternatives
becomes increasingly limited. He/she begins to feel the need to remain associated with a
particular organization to maintain this investment. Continuance Commitment is
operationalized by scores on the Continuance Commitment Scale (CCS). (Meyer and
Allen, 1991)
Organizational Climate. Is a relatively enduring characteristic of an organization that
distinguishes it from other organizations; and (a) embodies members collective
Page 10
Maginnis ix
perceptions about their organization with respect to such dimensions as autonomy, trust,
cohesiveness, support, recognition, innovation, and fairness; (b) is produced by member
interaction; (c) serves as a basis for interpreting the situation; (d) reflects the prevalent
norms, values, and attitudes of the organization‟s culture; and (e) acts as a source of
influence for shaping behavior. (Moran and Volkwien, 1992, p.20)
Transpersonal Relationship with a Higher Being/God. Evidenced when an individual
believes in a Supreme Being, trusts in God relative to life situations and outcomes,
expresses love of God, communicates with God through prayer, and participates in
religious practices. (Hungelmann et al., 1985)
Interpersonal Relationship with Others/Nature. Evidenced when an individual
accepts/tolerate differences with others, expresses mutual love and concern, expresses
mutual forgiveness, accepts and give help, appreciates nature. (Hungelmann et al., 1985)
Intrapersonal Relationship with One’s Inner Self. Evidenced when an individual
accepts self and life situations, values inner self, values self-determination, has a positive
attitude, and expresses life satisfaction. (Hungelmann et al., 1985)
Connectedness with Past Experiences. Evidenced when an individual recognizes
parental/other influences, expresses socio-cultural ties with past, describes ties with
formal belief system, describes past religious practices/rituals, expresses growth and
change over time. (Hungelmann et al., 1985)
Page 11
Maginnis x
Connectedness with Present Circumstance. Evidenced when an individual lives up to
potential, expresses congruence between vales/practices, is open to growth/change,
participates in communal prayer/rituals, finds meaning and purpose in life situations.
(Hungelmann et al., 1985)
Connectedness with Future Aspirations. Evidenced when an individual set goals,
hopes in ultimate integrations, hopes in afterlife, and searches for meaning and purpose
in life. (Hungelmann et al., 1985)
Page 12
Maginnis 1
INTRODUCTION
The ability of government, business, and religious work groups to be successful
is difficult to predict. This is true whether the group works with an open “no one at the
top” management style or with a strong charismatic leadership. Shallow individuals are
often more successful that those with high personal and managerial qualities. It even
seems lying is often necessary to be successful – “bad apples” are not born but are a
normal product of the established atmosphere. Organizational environment
characteristics should help elucidate this situation and an MBA education customarily
includes a discussion of commonly held erroneous beliefs surrounding workforce
motivation as well as many business performance terms. The organizational behavior
community, however, has still not been able to reliably predict long-term performance.
This conundrum was the motivation for the author to build this compilation of spirituality
research in an effort to describe a potentially missing performance determinant and
consequently provide facilitation to improve organizations that are underachieving.
In the “real world,” egos, nepotism, and codependent relationships often produce
personal goals that conflict with appropriate business or community missions. Executive
teams and corporate adaptability are often entirely undermined by pervasive distrust
caused by isolated and self-serving functional teams. A global market with increased
deceitful business practices, corruption, and a lack of a global legal system provides
only more problems for the American executive to deal with. The task of building trust is
becoming increasingly complicated in an era of such high-tech telecommunications as
Page 13
Maginnis 2
email and video-conferencing. As managers struggle to figure out (or cover up) why
their elaborately planned programs do not work, why morale is low, and trust is absent,
it may be as simple as the estrangement of spirituality and the workplace.
There are many good reasons for spirituality, religion, ethics, and values in the
workplace to be explored. The blueprint for building communities of trust within any
organizational setting must include ethical and spiritual principles and communicated
practices. From the creation of mission statements to their tactical implementations, the
broad application of values can enable organizations to better nourish its human
systems. Further, the organizational models that best accommodate a particular
workplace‟s spirituality should be identified and advanced. This study continues an
ongoing academic discussion of the spiritual dimension of work and explores the
correlations between various indicators of spiritual well-being.
While spirituality runs counterintuitive to the prevailing thoughts of money, profit
margins, job security, market share, and the pursuit of power, McKnight (1984) felt that
when organizations deny the spiritual nature of our being that the loss is enormous in
terms of reduced enthusiasm, effort, collaboration, creativity, sense of commitment, goal
setting, performance quality, persistence, and habitually demonstrated courage. He
suggested that the problem was a lack of the kind of leadership that encourages people
to engage in some kind of greater purpose. Peters and Waterman (1982) have
observed the central function of spirituality in realizing organizational excellence. One of
their findings in examining 75 successful companies was that leadership vision and
Page 14
Maginnis 3
personal goals that go beyond mere financial and performance objectives provide
greater employee morale, loyalty, effort, and profitability.
A person is born conscious of everything but quickly learns that suppression is
required for survival as disappointment is a normal part of life and thusly one builds a
subconscious to hold repressed desires and memories. Repression efficiency is then
the measure of a person‟s mental heath. One simple example of normal repression is
the suppression of pain during combat. For example, it is not uncommon for a person to
complete in a martial art match with a broken thumb, bow, turn to exit the mat, and fall
to the ground in pain (to at last properly experience the pain). It is likewise normal for a
person to understand finally the underlying forces of a memorable childhood event only
to end up afterwards forgetting all about it.
Neurotic behavior is exhibited by the transference of poorly repressed events into
daily decision-making and commonly produces desires for sex without love, drugs
without illness, and food without hunger. Thus, diets are problematic in that they only
deal with the symptom. Psychotic episodes (such as paranoid ideations or idiosyncratic
reasoning) and intense anger (along with irritability, volatility, and impulsivity) are when
the subconscious has completely taken over decision-making. Quite commonly, children
decide to circumvent future choices with decisions like sex is dirty or that anything is
better than feeling powerless and these decisions become permanent cerebral
pathways. Addictive personalities are thusly not merely examples of poor choices, but of
choice having been surrendered. Consequently, the fearsome images of our nightmares
or co-dependent lifestyles are only reproductions of our own self-image. It is also normal
Page 15
Maginnis 4
to model our egos on experiences with bullies. Studies show, for example, that 100% of
children of a single non-custodial narcissistic parent will model a self-absorbed
personality after the distant and abusive parent rather than be associated with the
seemingly pathetic weaknesses of the normal one. As a result, children of abusive
childhoods develop abusive personalities.
After these personalities have seemingly become a hardwired fixture of their
analog brains, their only hope for change is through developing an understanding and
acceptance of themselves. Success at overcoming these addictive or psychosomatic
traits can be said to be a measure of one‟s spiritual maturity as one learns to live on
faith rather than on reason at times when reason is not available (and treatment
programs based on improving only rational processes have exhibited a zero long-term
success rate). Freud wrote that the best remedy for neuroses is the fixation of the
unconscious libido on love. One fundamental tenet of psychology is that everyone, to
some extent, is mentally ill. Likewise, since the science of organizational psychology
assumes that organizational behaviors and culture is based on similar crucial mobilizing
factors that set the stage for individual personalities, every organization can likewise be
said to exhibit deviant and irrational behaviors for which only faith can over come.
Kurt Lewin, founder of action research, says, “You cannot understand a system
unless you change it.” He and others, like Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline,
refer to the hidden shift in awareness required for change as presence. Taoism calls it
turning “chi” life force into “shin” spiritual energy, Buddhism calls it “cessation” of self,
Islam calls it “opening the heart,” and Christianity calls it a revelation of the Holy Spirit.
Page 16
Maginnis 5
The Situation
In Church
According to surveys conducted by the Gallup Organization in May 1999, 71% of
Americans are members of churches, synagogues, or other religious institutions, 40%
attend church or synagogue at least once a week, and 58% said religion was very
important in their lives. (MSNBC News, Oct 1st and 2nd 1999) A more recent News / PBS
poll returned even higher numbers with two-thirds stating religion was very important in
their lives and half attending worship at least once a week. (Rex Cain‟s Newsletter)
Even though most Americans still claim a serious "religious commitment," all the same,
church attendance is down roughly 25%-50% from the 1950s. (Putnam, 1996)
Moreover, American Churches encounter the same problems common to any
organization concerning production delays, integration headaches, and office politics.
For example, even well respected Christian churches often refuse to work with
neighboring churches over minor differences (e.g. women wearing pants, how baptisms
are performed, and the theory of evolution). In addition, Pastors are far more likely to
meet with peers nationally than with those of churches just down the road.
While most Christian church vision statements talk about focusing on the
“unsaved,” over 70% of Christian church growth in America is deliberately accomplished
at the expense of “saved” membership of neighboring churches (Berger, 1999) and
much of the rest is “biological” from the children of existing members. TV evangelists
also generally have little effect on converting viewers. Despite strong vision statements
Page 17
Maginnis 6
for converting, metrics are rarely made or publicized concerning successful efforts
towards such a vision. While arguing that money and numeric attendance are not the
prime goals, Sunday‟s revenue and turnout is frequently the only reported measure of
success. Over half of the people who made a first-time decision for Christ lose any
connection to any Christian church within 2 months (Barna, 1997). Segregation of the
races as well occurs most dramatically in America in its churches, and elders and core
members complain that pastoral staffs are often the worst examples of grace.
Research studies have shown that nine out ten evangelical churches are “lacking
in any real marketing” (Barna, 1993). Despite increasing poverty and decreasing
welfare, the average church spends $6 on facilities for every $1 it spends on ministries
for the poor. Europe and America has done a "repositioning of religion as a commodity
that we consume, rather than one in which we invest ourselves." While most enter full-
time ministry to teach, few churchgoers want to be taught. Most enter full-time ministry
because they want to teach while few churchgoers have any desire to be taught (much
like education). (Barna, 1997) People often complain that churches are out of touch and
irrelevant to their lives. In fact, 68% of Americans have negative feelings about religion
(Mitroff, 1999). While many churches have grown to become modern mega-churches
with thousands and tens of thousands of members, they usually exhibit high turn over
rates at the same time. Lastly, all of the three dozen churchgoers and non-churchgoers,
including an elder of one of Tucson‟s largest churches, informally surveyed by the
author indicated considerable hesitation in freely expressing opinions within their
Page 18
Maginnis 7
churches for fear of being ostracized or belittled. Evidently, a strong sense of religious
doctrine does not guarantee an environment of enthusiastic collaboration of values.
In Government and War
While our nation‟s founding fathers clearly intended for the separation of religion
and state, they also clearly did not mean to separate it from spirituality. Words of
spirituality and faith can be found inscribed on our national monuments, printed on our
currency, and ingrained in our law. The words of the Soviet constitution may sound
better than that of the United States, but justice requires that the spirit and not the word
of the law be applied. Yet, honesty, hard work, integrity, and compassion are not our
first thoughts when considering government employees or our elected officials. For
example, from 1995 to 1998, 23 senior and general Army officers were accused of
criminal offences, but all were allowed early retirement without prosecution. In addition,
an American has a 51% chance of being found guilty of a felony with a 50-50 chance of
being innocent. Currently, 31% of blacks in Florida have already been found guilty of
felony crimes and even more significant than how “black” are those found guilty, is how
“white” the victims are. Finally, there are no rich convicts on America‟s death rows.
In Tucson Arizona, 50% of those found guilty of first-degree murders are later
shown to be innocent and in the surrounding Pima County, the number jumps to 70%. A
man whose conviction of murdering his wife was later overturned by a later DNA test
started innocentproject.org to provide free DNA testing for convicted felons. About a
third of those tested are found to be innocent, about a third of those exonerated
involved homicides, and about a quarter involved false confessions caused by undue
Page 19
Maginnis 8
law enforcement pressures and inadequate counsel. Yet, DNA testing is not yet a
standard law enforcement tool just as polygraphs and voice stress analysis are not
allowed in courts because they would likely disprove most cases. It is often argued that
capital punishment does not make sense since the appeal system for death row
inmates is more expensive than life imprisonment. The appeal money from reinstating
the death penalty in Illinois allowed more than half of the death row inmates to prove
their innocence. The governor rescinded capital punishment in the state and funded a
yearlong investigation that concluded in 2002 that the problem was systemic problems
with “embarrassingly incompetent” DAs and “overtly corrupt” police. In 1999, six officers
pleaded guilty in Philadelphia to routinely framing and beating suspects as well as lying
under oath in court. In 1984 in that same city, a squad of officers was found guilty of
dressing up as mugging victims and arresting innocent people to inflate their overtime
pay in court.
The Lexow investigation into the New York City Police Department in 1894
showed $300.00 to be the acceptable cost for an appointment as a police officer – the
cost small compared with how much they could make to look the other way. In Boston,
they called it the "union wage." The salaries that officers (or "thugs with badges")
received were insignificant compared to the profits derived from payoffs. The findings of
the Lexow investigation resulted in the election of a reform mayor in New York City,
William Strong, who selected Theodore Roosevelt as Police Commissioner to clean up
the troubled department. His efforts, however, were completely unsuccessful because
Page 20
Maginnis 9
corruption had become too widespread and acceptable, the public apathetic, and a
reluctance of witnesses to testify. Our country has yet to resolve these issues.
During the 1960's and early 1970's came a proliferation of blue-ribbon
commissions to examine police misconduct and brutality during racial confrontations,
anti-war protests, and the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention rioting. The
Knapp Commission was formed in response to the case of Frank Serpico and showed
that corruption was so systemic that honest officers feared coming to work from the
possible retaliation they might encounter from corrupt coworkers. "The corruption in the
system was able to thrive not only because of the abuses of high-ranking officials, but
also because the police demanded loyalty from their peers. 'Never hurt another cop'
was a by-word of the force." The subsequent Los Angeles Christopher Commission
found that unreported misconduct, a lack of accountability, and the code of silence was
as strong as ever.
The Mollen Commission was created after NYC police officers were identified
selling narcotics and committing robberies while in uniform. The Mollen Commission
repeated the same conclusion as the Knapp report in that misconduct was systemic and
that the problem did not only involve isolated 'rogue cops,' as NYPD continues to claim.
The Mollen report, however, additionally observed a new character in the nature of
police corruption in the 1990's. "The modern corrupt officer is paid not only to turn a
'blind eye' to criminal activity but to work hand-in-hand with the criminal to actively
facilitate criminal activities. In New York City, the officers became drug dealers and
helped to operate large drug rings. Today's corrupt offices do not simply bump into
Page 21
Maginnis 10
opportunities, the corruption includes 'crews' of police officers who protect and assist
each other‟s criminal activities. Similarly, methods for evading detection have achieved
new levels, including ways to receive payoffs to avoid internal investigations."
Mollen Commissioner Harold Baer referring to the history of investigations into
New York law enforcement (Lexow, 1895; Curran, 1913; Seabury, 1932; Hefland, 1954;
Knapp, 1972; and Mollen, 1994) noted that over “the past hundred years, New York City
has experienced a twenty-year cycle of corruption, scandal, reform, backslide and fresh
scandal in the New York City Police Department.” The only results of these
commissions are as successful stepping-stones for the careers of prominent lawyers
towards prosecutorial and judicial offices. Since the days of Tom Dewey, investigators
have routinely had just as many connections with criminal elements as any other aspect
of law enforcement. The LA Rampart investigation recently had to give up after four
years of “struggling to address one of the worst police scandals in American history,”
concluding that city and federal law enforcement was no longer capable of supporting
an honest investigation into the use of force by the police. The investigation was started
when it became clear that numerous LAPD divisions regularly stole and sold drugs,
extorted drug dealers, and even shot citizens in connection with these crimes and
framing the victims, leaving up to 30,000 convictions needing to be reviewed (which is
expected to take years). “While crime declined in LA during the 1990s” (for example,
from 2.9 in 1990 to 1.0 in 1998 homicides per 10,000 in LA and NY) virtually no one has
seriously suggested that local law enforcement deserves the credit.” (Katz, 2001)
Page 22
Maginnis 11
New Orleans is infamous for having the most corrupt police department in the
United States. The FBI acquired a wire tape of an officer (Len Davis) ordering the killing
of a 32-year-old mother of three (Kim Groves) who had filed a police brutality complaint
against him. The FBI just happened to overhear the murder plot while conducting a drug
sting against 10 officers who were selling 286 pounds of cocaine. The FBI sat on the
tape until a new police chief came into office, which was too late to help. Kim Groves
was shot in the head while standing in front of her house. One of the reasons the FBI
waited was that they were unfamiliar with the street lingo used by the officer and so they
were not sure what they were overhearing. Since 1993, more than 50 officers of the
department have been arrested for felonies, including bank robberies and rape. Officer
Antoinette Frank was found guilty of executing a fellow officer moonlighting and two
family members of the restaurant she was robbing. Frank was the fourth officer in the
city charged with murder that year alone.
“Crimes that are statistically representative are always systematically
unrepresented in crime news, because crime news everywhere is never essentially
about crime” (Katz, 1987), but about managing social stereotypes. Law enforcement
reform today is facing the same realities it faced in the 1800's and 1900's. Vice
enforcement and low income areas still attract corruption. Police executives refuse to
admit organizational problems and insist on blaming a few "rotten apples" or doing the
reorganizational shuffle. The public is apathetic about crime and misconduct as long as
it is contained. Poor HR practices and a lack of supervisory accountability are key
factors in encouraging misconduct. Finally, investigations into misconduct are extremely
Page 23
Maginnis 12
difficult due to a strong "code of silence." Reform efforts, thusly, need to be directed at
enhancing organizational culture.
From the day officers join a police department, they are members of a
"brotherhood" that plays an important role in the way officers see themselves and the
world around them. Only when a zero tolerance approach is taken towards lying and
disregard for the law, will the effect of this code be reduced. While incidents of
misconduct serve to temporally damage the reputation of the department, damage
caused by "cover-ups" is immeasurable. Further, the "rotten apple" excuse only causes
the most communicated value to be just not to get caught. Honestly was the only item in
the values of Jack Welsh's management style. Any employee who was caught lying or
withholding information was dismissed, and Jack‟s cleaning house efforts removed 10%
of executive management every year. The loss of autonomy a police officer faces can
be catastrophic for both the individual and the organization. There are police bars,
police picnics, and police poker parties. Further, families of officers can expect
"professional courtesy" treatment. Officers are trained to "stick to your own." The most
important subject during academy and field training should be how to survive in the
police culture. This training should then continue into the squad briefings. NYC squad
briefings have recently included talks by officers found guilty freely discussing where
they went wrong.
Loyalty should be to a system that will train and promote fairly. Top positions,
however, are rarely developed from within the ranks. In addition, the pay difference from
top to bottom is too great. The job requirements, for example, for a FBI special agent
Page 24
Maginnis 13
(SA) are clear and demanding - likewise the job review requirements. The job
requirements, on the other hand, for an FBI supervisory special agent (SSA) are
ambiguous and less demanding for twice the pay. As you move up, the promotions and
job assignments are clearly more politically decided. Moreover, supervisors are never
held accountable for the acts of their subordinates while officers never receive
recognition for their community service whether on or off duty.
Over the past 75 years, civil service boards were created to govern police
personnel management in an attempt to remove politicians from hiring, promoting, and
firing officers as a form of political payback. It has just meant that Police chiefs now
deflect blame onto ineffective civil service boards and that they are still making
decisions based on politically appeasing an external group. During the 1960's and early
1970's came a proliferation of blue-ribbon commissions to examine police misconduct
and brutality during racial confrontations, anti-war protests, and the 1968 Chicago
Democratic National Convention rioting. The recommendations of the voluminous
reports contain insights that should continue to seed the strategic, technical, and
operational initiatives for policing.
Law enforcement reform today faces the same realities faced in the 1800's and
1900's. For example, vice enforcement and low income areas still attract corruption.
Police executives thus far refuse to admit organizational problems and insist on blaming
a few "rotten apples" or doing the reorganizational shuffle. The public remains apathetic
about crime and misconduct as long as it is contained. Moreover, poor HR practices
Page 25
Maginnis 14
and a lack of supervisory accountability continue to be key factors in encouraging
misconduct.
One of the best ways to measure the integrity of a presidential administration is
to track the presidential pardons. The day before the Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania was
to be charged with racketeering, for example, he was pardoned by President Carter.
When Clinton came into office, the application for a clearance had to be modified to
allow for presidential pardons for past felonies. The only pardons, however, were for
drug dealers from Arkansas in Clinton‟s staff. Many have been concerned over a
continual decline in corporate ethics and have suggested the need for legislative
changes. While corporate executives have been acquiring great personal wealth by
destroying corporate value to the tune of millions and possibly even billions of dollars,
inappropriate governmental practices are affecting losses well into the trillions. While
there had been a concern about corporate book keeping, the 2000 census, for example,
was logged as emergency spending (even though censuses have been regularly
conducted since the founding of the nation) so as not to appear on the annual federal
budget.
Further, Americans have greater access than ever to advanced education, yet
50%-70% of today‟s adults are functionally illiterate (that is, they cannot read and write
at an eighth grade level). The result of America‟s education system, in fact, is that our
youth rate last for reading, writing, and arithmetic when compared to all industrialized
nations (and even some unindustrialized ones) while being number one in the world for
self-esteem. The fact that there are now more self-help books for self-absorbed children
Page 26
Maginnis 15
of narcissistic parents than diet books also demonstrates this common arrested
personality development and general false sense of self. America‟s students and
teachers commonly cannot write complete sentences, spell at a sixth grade level, name
three state capitals or oceans, add fractions or provide change, answer who was
president during the Civil War, explain why there are seasons, or demonstrate basic
critical thinking skills. Foreign non-English schools requirements for English competency
are often greater than those in our own schools. The average Japanese thirty-plus blue-
collar worker who took algebra in school, for example, can demonstrate a greater
proficiency than the average American who just completed the class. While education is
a prominent issue, the desire to produce and measure actual learning success
continues to decline. Americans are the most ignorant, insane, and violent people on
the earth. Michael Moore attempted to ask why in his 2002 movie, Cowling for
Columbine, but provided few rational answers. Robert Putnam, in Bowling Alone, shows
another measurement of the problem as the rapid decline of social capital in America
(where bowling activities have increase even though league membership has waned).
The US Air Force hired Paul Torrance early in the Korean War to develop a
program to prepare pilots and crews to survive extreme danger, a wide range of
temperatures, and deprivation of food, water, and shelter. Torrance found that no matter
how much training people had on dealing with a variety of hostile conditions, real life
situations inevitable involved unexpected situations. Those who survived had to
integrate survival techniques learned in the field to solve immediate problems as well as
provide for an increased purpose required for continued adaptation.
Page 27
Maginnis 16
Viktor Frankl was a Nazi concentration camp survivor. His resolve to determine
the meaningfulness in his suffering provided the sustenance and will to survive and
escape the gas chambers. Frankl later became a well-known Humanistic Psychologist.
He felt that individuals could become actively involved in the creation of their existence
through the pursuit for meaningfulness in all situations. Furthermore, surviving
Vietnamese POWs repeatedly offer the same basic endurance rule of continual
communications, exercise, and prayer. Survival in the most difficult life situations, as in
the satisfactory application of justice and grace, requires that the mind, body, and spirit
be provided for. Orphanages in Bosnia have shown that babies with plenty of air, water,
food, clothing, shelter, and safety can still fail to thrive and quickly die just as a large
proportion (20.4%) of SIDS cases in America occur in sterile childcare settings.
In Business
The old model of corporate research and development that is disengaged from
the rest of the company is no longer adequate. Long-term, integral research in the
United States is not keeping pace with demand, especially in such areas as computer
software, computer architectures, communications, power generation and distribution,
and automotive engines. Just as obsolete is the Department of Defense development
and acquisition cycle, from which research takes at least seven to fifteen years to be
implemented. The ability to persistently capture and predictably iterate successes in a
viral fashion is becoming increasing strategic for business success.
Page 28
Maginnis 17
An MBA education is supposed to provide the tools to best determine how to
efficiently buy low, sell high, and split the profits. The quality of these tools and
judgments, however, are not consistently forecasting success. Simply providing larger
salaries is not nearly as successful at attracting and keeping talent as providing for the
personal development of employees. Business efforts have also been especially
unpredictable with teams built of multi- and cross- cultural workforces.
25% of the top 100 American corporations listed in the well-known book "In
Search for Excellence" were dropped from the list within just a few years. The book has
sold over seven million copies and Peters went on to become a megastar in the field of
management entertaining, able to charge up to $80,000 for a one-day show (Waterman
dropped out of public sight). Lanier, however, was a dead dinosaur of a company still
pushing dedicated word processors that had already been beaten out by a cheaper
Apple II running AppleWriter or an IBM PC with WordStar when the book was published
and DEC turned out to be one of history‟s best examples of an excellent product
company killed by poor management. Other now defunct companies include Data
General, Amdahl, and Wang. Xerox popularized the GUI, mouse, and Ethernet, and yet
failed to produce a single successful product (including the “Worm” 8-bit CP/M machine)
and Atari was close to death after releasing the worst computer game of all time (ET-
based on the movie). In fact, in 2002, Tom Peters announced that the data used to
“objectively” measure companies had been faked. In an article in the 2001 December
issue of Fast Company, Peters states, “This is pretty small beer, but for what it's worth,
okay, I confess: We faked the data.”
Page 29
Maginnis 18
Tyco's Dennis Kozlowski, Adelphia's John Rigas, and the Three Horsemen of the
Enron Apocalypse - Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Andrew Fastow - are not just a few bad
apples but manifestations of a megatrend in corporate leadership - the rise of a callous,
brazen, narcissistic, and avaricious mind-set that is wildly out of tune with the core
values of the average American. Moreover, an incompetent board, Arthur Anderson,
banks, and the U.S. government enabled and encouraged the corruption within the
Houston energy giant, Enron. Enron‟s board of directors never asked the most basic
questions that any director should ask and yet will likely never be held accountable for
their malfeasance. Jeff Skilling‟s arrogance seems to have been so great that he even
cooperated extensively with the Fortune Magazine investigation by McLean and Elkind
that set in motion his own downfall. WorldCom, Enron, Adelphia, Tyco, AOL, Xerox,
Merrill Lynch, and the other scandals are only the tip of the tip of America‟s corruption of
arrogance, appearance over substance, and self-delusion iceberg. Why are our best
business minds or Wall Street unable to do a better job of recognizing real success?
Might the missing performance antecedent be spiritual well-being?
Twenty years of management research by Kotter has shown that most
companies are over-managed and under-led with arrogant and bureaucratic cultures
designed simply to reinforce the status quo. Kotter has found most management fails to
appreciate the total value of customers and stockholders while actively preventing real
leaders from becoming hired and promoted. The result is poorly implemented
strategies, acquisitions without the needed synergy, costly re-engineering, and
downsizing and quality programs that fail to deliver. Effective management, says Kotter,
Page 30
Maginnis 19
is much more about aligning, motivating, and inspiring people than about the planning,
organizing, and controlling skills that educational institutions focus on. The author‟s
particular MBA education at the University of Phoenix, for example, omitted key
"relationship" classes in leadership training, sales, and negotiations, limiting its focus to
budgeting, resource allocation, and the monitoring of results.
The most essential responsibility of any Board of Directors is to produce a top
management that can inspire passion, a quest for learning, and a willingness to work
outside of the comfort zone. Business problems are usually the result of insufficient
authority and access to resources, low morale and trust, and low quality concerns.
Spiritual well-being is basically the measure of success in fulfilling the basic desire to
find and model an ultimate individual meaning and purpose in an interconnected
existence. This includes personal autonomy, integrated teamwork, honest and
meaningful tasks, and reliably integrating employee values and customer satisfaction.
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield of Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Anita Roddick of
the Body Shop, Paul Hawken of the Erewhon Trading Company, and Tom Chappell of
Tom's of Maine, represent a few entrepreneurs who have linked spirituality with
business success. In addition to the well know spiritual management styles of the
YMCA, the Salvation Army, Alcoholics Anonymous, General Electric, General Mills,
Chick-Fil-A, Rollerblade, ServiceMaster, The Carlson Companies, Kinston
Technologies, 3M, AT&T, Honeywell, and General Mills are also actively working to
develop deep spiritual corporate environments. Companies that support Torah, Bible,
and Koran study classes organized by employees include Microsoft, Intel, Northrop
Page 31
Maginnis 20
Grumman, and Boeing. One estimate is that there are almost 10,000 Christian study
groups in American workplaces, double the number of 10 years ago. Studies have
shown that 35% to 39% of institutional investment decisions are based on such non-
financial factors as management credibility and corporate values and ethics. (Low and
Siesfeld, 1998) Robert Hass, CEO of Levi Strauss, recently said, "In the next century, a
company will stand or fall on its values" just as one top Motorola executive claims his
company "hires for character and trains for skills.”
Research Background
Unfortunately, the spiritual dimension of work has not been adequately
addressed in the leading literature. Despite the importance of spirituality to one‟s overall
quality of life and sense of well being (e.g. Maslow, 1968; Buber, 1970; Campbell, 1976;
Diener, 1984; Fox, 1994; Paloutzian and Kirkpatrick, 1995), this personal dimension has
not been empirically addressed by organizational scientists (e.g. Follett, 1924; Barnard,
1938; Mayo, 1945; Argyris, 1957; Likert, 1961; Kanter, 1977; Mintzberg, 1983),
management theorists (e.g. Deming, 1951; Herzberg, 1959; McGregor, 1960; Lippitt,
1982; Schein, 1985; Drucker, 1994), or other workplace scholars (e.g. Weick, 1979;
Pfeffer, 1981; Smircich, 1983; Morgon, 1986; Shakeshaft, 1987; Senge, 1991; Wheatly,
1992). Extensive research into employee motivation has suggested that humans are
basically reactive; that is, we generate responses to stimuli (Skinner, 1969, 1976) such
as certain physiological, social, and psychological needs (Maslow, 1968), or certain
satisfiers and dissatisfiers (Herzberg, Mausner, and Snyderman, 1959), expected
payoffs and the prevailing environment (Porter and Lawler, 1968; Vroom and Yetton,
Page 32
Maginnis 21
1974), individual specific goals (Locke, 1968), or by expectancy cognitive processes
(Hoy and Miskel, 1991).
The quantity of wide-ranging viewpoints, in fact, has lead to the increasing
likelihood that “conceptual clarity will not result in one unified theory of motivation”
(Pintrich, 1991, p. 201) and the need “to consider frameworks larger than the self”
(Weiner, 1990, p 621). In 1968 Maslow said, “I consider [Humanistic Psychology] to be
transitional, a preparation for still „higher‟ psychology, transpersonal, transhuman,
centered in the cosmos rather than in human needs and interest, going beyond
humanness, identity, self-actualization, and the like … Without the transcendent and the
transpersonal, we get sick, violent, and nihilistic, or else hopeless and apathetic. We
need something „bigger than we are‟ to be awed by and to commit ourselves to in a
new, naturalistic, empirical, non-churchly sense.” More recently, Woodruff and
Cashman (1993, p.431) have also advocated the need of a “spiritual” dimension.
In order to identify and quantify the effects from the loss of more personal ideals
in traditional organizations, the spiritual dimension of the workplace warrants further
investigation (Sergiovanni, 1992). One phenomenological study was made of the
spiritual practice of selfless service within the context of for-profit organizations in the
doctorial dissertation of Krista Kurth at George Washington University (1995). A more
comprehensive empirical study was done by David Trott at the University of Texas in his
doctorial paper “Spiritual Well-Being of Workers: Exploring the Influences of Spirituality
in Everyday Work Activities” (1996). Recently, Mitroff and Denton completed a
significant academic study in “A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America” at the Marshall
Page 33
Maginnis 22
School of Business at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (1999). The
study that follows contributes to these efforts by continuing an academic discussion of
the spiritual dimension of work without religious posturing and by exploring the
relationships between various personal and workplace indicators of spirituality.
Research Questionnaires and Hypotheses
Since this study is utilizing voluntary participation without blind population
sampling, the findings may not be fully generalized. Besides the Ellison questionnaire,
survey questions came from work by Herth, Oxman, Blaik, Kelsen, Craigie, Trott,
Mitroff, and about another dozen other researchers in the field. Groups of questions
normally represented specific subscales measuring, say, attachment to management or
employee burnout. The question "I often pray or meditate at work" is one of a group of
ten measuring the ability to fully express oneself at work that, for example, is question
#46 of the Mitroff survey. About half of the questionnaires are standard investigative
tools that have been rigorously tested for reliability and internal consistency. The other
half was built mostly from more general assessment guidelines. The author personally
generated wholly only the worldview survey and about another dozen of the other
questions. Numerous other edits were made, however, for grammar corrections and for
minor modifications such as replacing “God” with the term “Higher Being.”
It is expected that participants will indicate like levels of spiritual well-being on
each of the two well-being scales as well as the worldview attitudes. It is also
anticipated that high levels of organizational openness will correlated to levels of
Page 34
Maginnis 23
commitment, accomplishment, and a positive workplace assessment as well as to a
measurement of corporate success.
“To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society” -
Theodore Roosevelt (“What then of an entire generation” - Steve Farrell)
“I have long been convinced that our enemies (the British) have made it an object, to
eradicate from the minds of the people in general a sense of true religion and virtue, in
hopes thereby the more easily to carry their point of enslaving them ...” - Sam Adams
"Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right
thing." - Warren Bennis, Ph.D. "On Becoming a Leader"
Page 35
Maginnis 24
LITERATURE REVIEW
According to peer Viktor Frankl, a person‟s aspirations for a meaningful existence
deal with the spiritual dimension of human existence (1959). Humanistic Psychologist
Sidney M. Jourard submitted, “At the time organization is optimum, the human person is
characterized subjectively by such states as absorbing, interest, intense commitment to
some goal or value, faith in God. Some assumption such as that of „spirit; and
„inspiriting‟ is necessary to account for a broad range of phenomena not understood,
though reliably observed.” (1964, p.80) Richard McKnight defined spirituality “as the
animating force that inspires one toward purposes that are beyond one‟s self and that
give one‟s life meaning and direction.” (1984, p. 142)
Halbert Dunn (1959, 1961, 1977) introduced the concept of wellness that is
widely associated with today‟s emphasis on health and wellness programs. Dunn (1961)
put forward five basic dimensions of human nature. The first is the totality of one‟s
personality, since he perceived an individual as needing challenges to mind, body, and
spirit to function at our best. The second aspect is a person‟s uniqueness. The other
three are that humans are dynamic energy systems, the exchange of knowledge with
individual environmental requirements, and the interrelationship between self-integration
and methods in energy use. As Dunn stated in 1959, “Unless there is a reason for living,
unless there is a purpose in our life, we cannot possibly achieve high-level wellness.”
(p.11) Since then, wellness proponents have generally focused on physical fitness and
health, avoiding the spiritual context. The popular issues include nutrition, weight
Page 36
Maginnis 25
control, cancer reduction, sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse, and injury
prevention.
Floyd likewise believes that spiritual well-being “helps us define what life is and
helps us establish long-range goals based on a wider perspective of time and values”
and that “the unifying bond to wellness is spiritual growth.” (et al. 1993, p. 140) Similarly,
wellness for Greenberg and Pargman (1989) is achieved through the balancing the
integration of the social, mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual heath components in
one‟s everyday lifestyle.
Acknowledging the Human Spirit
Two models have been developed to measure spiritual well-being: the Stoll,
Banks, Hungelmann, and Brukhardt Web model and the Mobherg, Ellison, and
Paloutzian Cruciform Model.
Nursing has fueled the greatest interest in spiritual concerns, especially for the
treatment of the terminally ill and Native American patients. Since the 1930‟s, the
Nurses Christian Fellowship (NCF) has consistently dedicated energy and resources
towards conducting research and seminars on spiritual care giving (Fish and Shelly,
1978). NCF research findings have identified four areas of spiritual needs: “relief from
fear of death, a knowledge of God‟s presence, expression of caring and support from
another person, and receiving the sacraments” and studies indicated that “spiritual
matters gave [patients] a sense of increased power and control in coping with life‟s
challenges.” (Martin, Burrows, and Pomilio, 1976; Stevenson, 1980) The North
Page 37
Maginnis 26
American Nursing Diagnosis Association identifies spiritual distress, spiritual concerns,
and spiritual despair as official diagnoses (Monahan, Drake, and Neighbors, 1994).
Stoll (1979, 1989) conceptualized spiritual well-being along four dimensions as
an attempt to provide an appropriate classification framework for health givers. These
dimensions are one‟s concept of God or deity, source of strength and hope, significance
given to religious practices and rituals, and the perceived relationship between one‟s
spiritual practices and health. Banks (1980) also identified four component of spiritual
well-being: a unifying force integrating the other three components, a life purpose that
sustains everyday activities, an inner connection between individuals that could include
a commitment to God, selflessness, or a set of ethics, and the individual perception or
faith in their unique worldview. Hungelmann et al. (1985) identified a total of six core
categories. Burkhardt (1989, p. 70) condensed these various conceptualizations as “life-
affirming relationships or harmonious interconnectedness with deity, self, community,
and environment; a process of being and becoming through being; the health of the
totality on the inner resources of a person; the wholeness of one‟s spirit and unifying
dimension of health; a process of transcendence; and a perception of life as having
meaning.” Stoll (1981) generated his Guidelines for Spiritual Assessment, while Hess
(1980) produced the Spiritual Needs Survey.
Moberg and other attendees of the 1971 White House Conference on Aging
(WHCA) conceptualized spiritual well-being as the effective understanding of the
meaning of God and the meaning of humanity as an effort relevant to addressing the
needs of the elderly. Later work (1978) used the frequently ignored religious dimension
Page 38
Maginnis 27
as vertical and the sense of existential dimension as horizontal. Moberg (1981)
formalized this in an 82-item, True/False and 4-point scale, Subjective Measurement of
Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire using scales for Christian faith, self-satisfaction,
personal piety, subjective well being, optimism, religious cynicism, and elitism.
Paloutzian and Ellison (1982) refined the work within the widely used 20-item, 5-point
scale, Spiritual Well-Being Scale (see Appendix A).
Later investigations found the SWB scale to be significantly related to depression
and loneliness (Paloutzian and Ellison, 1982), self-esteem (Campise, Ellison, and
Kinsman, 1979; Marto, 1983), response to treatment of chronic pain (Mullins, 1985),
hypertension (Hawkins, 1986; Mullins, 1985; Sherman, 1986), eating disorder patient
groupings (Sherman, 1986), marital satisfaction (Mashburn, 1986), anxiety
(Kaczorowski, 1989), coping with terminal illness (Reed, 1987, 1992), as well as coping
skills and feelings of connectedness. The scale has been found to correlate highly with
more religious oriented factors including intrinsic religious orientation (Ellison and
Economos, 1981), church attendance (Sherman, 1986), Christian counseling
techniques (Adams, 1993), devotional time and support groups (Clarke, 1986), couples
communication skills training (Upshaw, 1984), employment status among Chinese
churchgoers, and family closeness (Jang, 1986). The Spiritual Well-Being Scale is the
most extensively examined instrument, and it has been proven highly reliable for
assessing one‟s general level of spiritual well-being (Brinkman, 1989).
Page 39
Maginnis 28
Psychological States
Social Learning theory explains human behavior as cognitive responses to
stimuli characterized by continuous interaction and individual learning. Bandura (1977)
conceptualized self-efficacy expectations as a predictor of commitment strength. For
example, recurring successful mastery experiences, observing similar experiences by
others, hearing of such experiences, and positive emotional responses to those
experience all generate a strong sense of efficaciousness. Sherer, Maddux,
Mercandante, Prentice-Dunn, Jacobs, and Rogers (1982) as well as Woodruff, and
Cashman (1993) developed a Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) focusing on
three areas, “(a) willingness to initiate behavior, (b) willingness to expend effort in
completing the behavior, and (c) persistence in the face of adversity” (Sherer et al.,
1982, p.665).
Commitment strength can be characterized by the measure of consistent
behavior to an organization or activity over other alternatives. Motivations for such
commitments can be the accumulation of investments such as benefits, training, and
seniority that limit the availability of competitive alternatives. Besides economical “side-
bets,” cultural expectations to remain with one employer and personal identities with
dependability can encourage consistent association with an organization. This
“Continuance Commitment” was conceptualized by Becker (1960) and is
operationalized by scores on the Continuance Commitment Scale (CCS) (Meyer and
Allen, 1991).
Page 40
Maginnis 29
Organizational Climate
Moran and Volkwein (1992) expounded four groupings of methods for analyzing
the development of an organizational climate: the structural, the perceptual, the
interactive, and the cultural. The structural perspective holds that the perceptions of
workers are independent of attributes including size, nature of the technologies used,
and the extent of bureaucratic operations. This approach is limited since it fails to
account for individual subjectivity. In contrast, the perceptual perspective incorporates
the individual ability to build a psychologically significant explanation of situational
behaviors including communication processes, leadership style, decision-making
patterns, and personality traits to the previous structural model. This approach is limited
as a result of failing to account for worker interactions. The interactive perspective
includes the effects of deeper and more subjective dimensions of values, norms, myths,
and taboos, recognizes such shared agreements. Finally, the cultural perspective on the
organizational climate focuses on the active formation of a system of meanings,
patterns of behaviors, and collective beliefs by employees.
Ludwig von Bertalanffy et al. (1956) put forward that attributes across a wide field
of scientific disciplines could be unified within an open systems approach. They argued
that every system is represented by connections among independent interacting parts,
be they mechanical, organic, psychological, or social, and then vary by dependencies,
complexity, and patterns of energy flow. Katz and Kahn (1966) later detailed nine
characteristics common to open organizational systems: (1) the need for energy from
the external environment, (2) a process of “through-put” products and/or services by
Page 41
Maginnis 30
transforming energy, (3) final products are returned to the environment, (4) structures
are associated with dynamic cycle of events involving energy input, through-put, and
output, (5) a fixed negative entopic move towards disorganization and death requires
constant replenishment to survive, (6) a system‟s coded processes determines its
energetic and informational inputs as well as its negative feedbacks, (7) while in
constant change, a balance of energy exchanges and internal relationships tend
towards a steady state, (8) despite changing interactions, systems move progressively
towards greater role specialization and structure differentialization, and (9) multiple
pathways and conditions ultimately lead to the same final organizational state. Much of
the work in open organizational systems has been founded on these concepts.
Mink and Owen (1994) developed an open organizational model that looks at
three properties (unity, internal and external responsiveness) across three levels of
worker interactions (individual, group, and organization). Unity measures the shared
knowledge, values, and goals producing a congruent path to a higher purpose. Internal
responsiveness is the awareness of the needs and capacity to stay functional. External
responsiveness is the interaction with customer desires and community responsibilities.
See Figure 1.
Page 42
Maginnis 31
1
Values
2
Congru-
ence
3
Connec-
tion
4
Shared
Purpose
5
Quality
Relation-
ships
6
Collabor
ation
7
Shared
Vision
8
Alignment
9
Contri-
bution
UnityInternal
Responsiveness
External
Responsiveness
Indiv
idual
Gro
up
Org
aniz
ation
Business Environment
Healthy
Person
Intermediate
Outcome
Long Term
Outcome
Personal
Effective-
ness
Functional
Team
First-Rate
Function
& Quality
Adaptive
Organiz-
ation
Exceed
Customer
Expecta-
tions
Figure 1 – The Open Organization Model
Spiritual Theory
According to Moberg‟s theory of spiritual well-being, every person has an intense
internal essential value that operates as a driving resource for managing one‟s personal
life. A person‟s spiritual well-being is connected to one‟s mutual associations as well as
the psychosocial components of the existing organizational climate. Thus, personal
spiritual well-being is an important dimension of the well-being at work. General self-
efficacy, organizational commitments, and the open organizational climate are also
important dimensions since they include the perceptions of personal competence, the
influences from organizational relationships, and the interactions with properties of the
business environment.
Page 43
Maginnis 32
Although many of the concepts of spiritual well-being theory have been covered
by countless academic efforts, they are frequently not identified specifically as spiritual
in nature. Self-efficacy theory ties individual judgment and intellect to a willingness to
initiate and persist effort in the face of adversity. Organizational commitment theorists
have classified the clearly dissimilar elements of job commitment (affective, normative,
and continuance) that contribute to the individual desire to be associated with a
particular organization. Organizational climate modeling highlights integration for
optimum adaptability, honesty, leadership, and attentiveness to customer needs. These
theoretical aspects can be extrapolated and linked for the intent of developing a
framework for this study. Spiritual well-being theory focuses on (a) the importance of
relationships, transpersonal, interpersonal, and intrapersonal, (b) the role of the human
spirit in driving a meaningful life purpose, (c) the contribution of spiritual well-being to an
overall sense of well-being, and (d) a dynamic interconnected life-affirming approach to
living in the moment (Trott, 1996). Key to the current dialog from the spiritual theoretic
perspective is what counts is not only what individuals and organizations do and how
they do it, but the inner place from which they operate. (Claus Otto Scharmer, 2002)
Characteristics of the Open Organization
Many have observed that an organization‟s fitness and innovation is a result not
just of its human capital, but also of its social systems (Burt, 1992; see also Burt, 1997;
Granovetter, 1985; Masterson, 2000; Settoon, 1996; and Uhl-Bien, Graen, & Scandura
2000). Bottom-up activity yields far greater complex behavior that can be produced by
top-down management (Kauffman, 1993; Marion, 1999; Marion & Uhl- Bien, 2001).
Page 44
Maginnis 33
Leadership that appreciates this and cultivates an environment that encourages bottom-
up coordination will be more effective in maximizing interaction capital (Drath, 2001;
Marion & Uhl-Bien, 2001).
In open organizations, everybody is a leader, everybody is responsible, and
everybody acts. They are places known for honesty, respect, encouragement,
collaboration, and a fanatical commitment to quality. Organizational structure is based
on small, independent teams. Performance standards as well as the company vision,
structure, values, and procedures are well defined and communicated. The more
important the information, in fact, the greater number of members it is communicated to.
Additional group effort is spent on detailing ambitious expectations with greater freedom
for the means (processes and resources) of achieving those results. Management
typically sets ever-increasing standards for themselves and they insist on being held
accountable for broad measures of performance. Consequences for success and failure
are well known and problems and conflicts are dealt with quickly and face-to-face.
Hiring practices increase in importance, as they are key to ensuring that individuals that
can function in a high-trust environment are being hired and kept. Despite increased
freedoms, controls and performance measurements are actually more common. Most
importantly, open organizations exhibit excellent track records for meeting objectives.
Unfortunately, computer hacker gangs and terrorist cells are more likely to exhibit these
characteristics than are American law enforcement and corporate workplaces.
When the level of trust and openness in a company is high enough that people
believe they will not suffer due to change, they are more likely to support new
Page 45
Maginnis 34
approaches as well as be more adaptable in general. Employees must trust
management‟s vision for the future and in their ability to lead the company through
difficult times. Management must trust that employees care about the health and
competitiveness of the firm. Trust in both directions in corporate America, however, is in
crisis. Closed cultures where everything is locked up, people are fired without warning,
closed-door impromptu meetings are common, and voluminous outdated operating
procedures overwhelm any chance for innovation is unfortunately the norm.
Shaw (1997) models the process of building organizational trust on parameters
of integrity, concern, results, and modeling. “Integrity” is a measurement of a consistent
and cohesive approach in following a set of values and practices that affirm the rights of
customers, partners, and employees. “Concern” is a measurement of the “establishment
of a larger sense of identity that transcends individual and team points of view,” faith in
people‟s abilities, formal and informal communication processes, and adequate
recognition and rewards for contributions. “Results” is a measurement of clear,
ambitious performance targets, with sufficient resources and clear consequences.
Fundamental to the Shaw system is the promotion of aggressive business targets, and
Motorola‟s ambition to reach Six Sigma quality standards is a good example. “Modeling”
is a measurement of connectedness, autonomy to complete tasks, and the freedom to
take risks and express views. Shaw operationalized these parameters in a 32-item
assessment survey to measure organizational trust as well as a second 30-item
instrument to evaluate individual trust leadership.
Page 46
Maginnis 35
Jack Welsh once described his reaction to results and values, “No one at GE
loses a job because of a missed quarter, a missed year, or a mistake. That‟s nonsense
and everyone knows it. A company would be paralyzed in an environment like that.
People get second chances. Many get thirds and fourths, along with the training, help,
and even different jobs. There is only one performance failure where there is no second
chance. That‟s a clear integrity violation. If you commit one of those, you‟re out.” Trust, it
is said, must be “earned.” If, however, one hits a rabid dog repeatedly with a stick and
then gives him a hand, would one reasonably talk disparagingly of the dog when it
bites? Was not the dog, in fact, completely trustworthy and true to its nature and the
person the one who needed to “earn” an improvement in the relationship? Answering
whether one can trust another is actually a measure of whether one can exhibit
conscious and trustworthy behavior. It must also be remembered that trust is like a farm
implement, you cannot eat it but it is critical to own in order for one to eat. Trust is not
the end product, but a tool crucial for building a sound business strategy.
“In essentials unity, in action freedom, and in all things trust.” (Aristotle)
Workplace Models for Fostering Spirituality
If organizations need to grow (just as individuals) to be more spiritual, how can
this be achieved without offending or proselytizing members? Figure 2 reviews five
major and distinct models that represent noteworthy alternatives to the common policy
of detaching spirituality from the workplace. Each of the different models normally
Page 47
Maginnis 36
occurs due to a basic development of optimism and fundamental philosophy in
response to how best confront and overcome a crisis or series of tragedies. Each model
makes proactive use of active listening and a guiding principle that specifies the
purpose of profits. Management is the most fundamental of all human behaviors. Daily,
each must manage hundreds of immediate and long-range activities. Of all the acts of
management, the management of spirituality is one of the most important as well as
complex and emotional. For an organization to successfully develop workplace
spirituality requires as much energy and commitment as would any Total Quality
Management or reengineering effort.
Religion-Based Organization (example: Desert Cattle and Citrus Ranch,
Orlando Florida, Mormon) Autocratic with rigid Biblical values. Spirit and Soul
are real and essential to all aspects of life.
Evolutionary Organization (example: YMCA and Tom‟s of Maine)
Motivated by social injustice and open change, and is opposed to
utilitarianism and discrimination.
Recovering Organization (example: Alcoholic Anonymous) True democracy
with explicit rules to overcome previous inabilities to learn from failure.
Socially Responsible Organization (example: Ben & Jerry‟s) Strong
commitment to the environment and social causes without traditional MBA
values and practices.
Values-Based Organization (example: Kinston Technology Company and
General Electric) Relies strongly on professional management and is
motivated by consciousness without religion. Family oriented with common
values. Spirit and soul are not relevant to day-to-day activities.
Page 48
Maginnis 37
Figure 2 – Mitroff and Denton Business Models for Fostering Spirituality
"Faith is not what today is so often called a „mystical experience,‟
something that can apparently be induced by the proper breathing exercises
or by prolonged exposure to Bach (not to mention drugs).
It can be attained only through despair, through suffering,
through a painful and ceaseless struggle."
- Peter F. Drucker -
METHODOLOGY
This chapter will discuss the methodology that was used to study the
relationships between the various scales of personal and workplace spiritual well-being,
including the research design, a description of the population and sample, six scaled
instruments, and a survey on religion and spirituality. Due to time and resource
limitations, only a pilot study was completed. The small population size clearly limited
the ability to provide complete statistical resolution for the research questions.
Design
The pilot study combined qualitative and quantitative methods. Six quantitative
Likert style instruments were developed and utilized. Despite various original scales, all
were normalized to a consistent 6-value rating scale from Strongly Agree to Strongly
Page 49
Maginnis 38
Disagree. Responses were converted to values from 6 to 1. A seventh questionnaire
included 15 write-in questions and 8 categorical inputs, and an eighth questionnaire
requested personal information. Input was acquired completely through the survey
without feedback or interviews.
Population and Sample
The pilot survey population consisted of 12 surveys returned from the 60 issued
forms (15 electronically, and 45 via hardcopy). Only two of the surveys sent to friends or
family or to a few unfamiliar professional persons were returned. When the reason for
declining was given, it was always either over a concern of confidentiality due to the
small population size and close relationship with the investigator or a lack of recognition
of the investigator. One response was that only someone looking to be fired would
answer the types of questions being put forward. Potential participants commonly asked
about the number of surveys that had been sent out. It took several such questions
before a connection with the concern for confidentiality was determined. Participants
and non-participants reported being far more internal concerning their opinions then
was originally expected. Friends of friends and family was another matter. The inclusion
of an introduction seemed to allow for sufficient recognition yet still provide sufficient
distance to allow for a comfortable amount of anonymity. This middle group was far
more excited about participating and provided more complete responses to the write-in
questions. As for the experiences of others researchers, the Mitroff study experienced
only a 6% return rate of surveys sent blindly to 1,000 HR Directors while 75% to 100%
Page 50
Maginnis 39
return rates were encountered by other investigators utilizing survey requests that
included corporate and university letters of introduction and sponsorship.
Instrumentation
Seven of eight developed instruments were used to explore the relationships
between various personal and workplace indicators of spirituality. The complete forms
can be found in the Appendix and are listed subsequently. They are: 1) Personal
Information, 2) Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale, 3) Spiritual Development Scale, 4)
The General Self-Efficacy Scale, 5) Worldview Attitudes Scale, 6) Workplace Spirituality
Well-Being Scale, 7) Workplace Values Satisfaction and Attachment, and 8) Religion
and Spirituality Questionnaire. The General Self-Efficacy Scale was not used.
Personal Information
Following an overview of the project and a consent form, the first part of the
survey asked participants a variety of personal information questions designed to assist
in characterizing the respondent. These results will be compared against national
averages to indicate the ability of the sample to represent a larger population.
Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale
The Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) is composed of the Religious
Well-Being (RWB) subscale as odd questions and the Existential Well-Being (EWB)
subscale as even questions. The SWBS has been used in 400 studies, primarily in the
areas of health care, counseling, and congregational assessment (Paloutzian, 1995).
Page 51
Maginnis 40
Initial and subsequent examinations have confirmed the scale‟s reliability and validity.
The scale‟s particular strength is in providing a good indication of general spiritual well-
being, sensitivity to measuring low spiritual well-being scores, and use for non-religious
studies. The terminology of “Higher Being” was added to the initial use of “God” alone.
Items numbered 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, 16, and 18 are negatively scored. The Ellison
Spiritual Well-Being Scale has published norms.
Spiritual Development Scale
The author developed this scale from the work of Herth, Oxman, Blaik, Kelsen,
Craigie, and especially Trott. The language of the Religious Spiritual Well-Being
(RSWB) subscale is plainly derived from a Judeo-Christian belief in a personal
relationship with a Higher Being or God. Participants with differing religious
backgrounds may have difficulty with these terms while still possessing significant levels
of religious well-being. The Spiritual Development Scale was developed as an attempt
to extend the previous dimensions (meaning, having and using gifts and capacities, self-
perceived spirituality, connectedness, optimism, and religious behavior) of spiritual well-
being. This study will allow a comparison against the Ellison scale, but further work is
warranted. Questions 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, and 40 were
derived from the aforementioned work, while the author added 23, 28, 31, 32, and 39.
All items are positively scored.
Page 52
Maginnis 41
Worldview Attitudes Scale
The Worldview Attitudes Scale involves questions 41 through 60 and was
created wholly by the author as a second attempt to provide a secular alternative to the
Ellison scale by using measurements concerning the participant‟s agreement with
various Machiavellian attitudes expressed in the book, “The Prince.” Items 41 through
54 are negatively scored. Due to the negative wording, a high WAS score would
indicate a strong disagreement with Machiavellian attitudes.
General Self-Efficacy Scale
The General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) measures initiation and persistence.
Since the initial examination by Sherer and Adams, the GSES has become a well-
known organizational behavior research tool due to its vocational emphasis (Woodruff
and Cashman (1993, pp 430-431). The GSES has also shown itself to be reliable and
internally consistent with significant correlations to other indicators of individual
determinism, success, and overall effort. In one study in particular, supervisors were
able to increase worker performance by efforts specifically aimed at boosting self-
efficacy (Eden and Kinnar, 1991). Items 62, 64, 65, 66, 67, 70, 71, 72, 74, 76, and 77
are negatively scored. The 17-item GSES was not implemented in the pilot study.
Workplace Spirituality Well-Being Scale
The Workplace Spirituality Well-Being Scale consists of eleven subscales: 1)
Basic beliefs and values, 2) Self-awareness, 3) Responding to others, 4) Teambuilding
and goal identification, 5) Interpersonal skills, 6) Cooperation for common purposes, 7)
Page 53
Maginnis 42
Level of participation, 8) Data sharing and human relationships, 9) Organizational
Responsiveness, 10) Management overall adaptability, and 11) Opportunity to bring all
of one‟s self to the workplace. The first nine subscales are based on the standard Open
Organizational Profile (OOP) that was developed to measure the nine characteristics of
Mink and Owen‟s Open Organization Model (see Figure 1). An open organization
promotes awareness, efficient communications, and adaptability for the individual,
group, and organization. For example, the first dimension attempts to measure “an
individual‟s capacity to adapt to an organizational culture based on shared goals and
purposes.” In addition, dimension # 2 measures self-realization, -acceptance, -
awareness, and -management, dimension #7 measures shared values, leadership,
mission, and organizing, and dimension #9 assesses social relevance, profitability,
productivity, and quality. The initial investigation with 509 participants showed the test to
be reliable and valid. General assessment guidelines by Kotter and the Mitroff survey
provided the foundation for the latter two sections. All items are scaled statements
scored positively, except for question 187 that requests the amount of downsizing over
the last three years.
Workplace Values, Satisfaction, and Attachment
This test is built from a hodgepodge of numerous assessment tools. The first
section started with the Meyer and Allen commitment scales for affective, normative,
and continuance commitment scales. Much of the Meyer test was merged with 14 other
attachment-to-management statements to produce a 32-item commitment subscale
Page 54
Maginnis 43
from items 188 through 219. Items 207 through 214, 216, and 218 are negatively
scored.
Items 220 through 232 assess employee attitudes about the workplace with 13 of
the 22 Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) questions (rewritten in behavior terms by
Charles Glazier at the University of Huston). The complete inventory measures
emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Most of the
emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment questions were combined with
other success measuring questions. Emotional exhaustion gauges the mind-set of being
psychologically fatigued and overspent by one‟s workday, and personal
accomplishment assesses the mind-set of proficiency and successful with people during
the workday. Items 220 through 224 are negatively scored.
Items 233 through 273 are a collection from a wide number of general workplace
assessment sources on training, open communications, and ethics for a comprehensive
41-item measurement of a participant‟s belief in and acceptance of the organization‟s
goals and values. Items 242, 256, 257, 258, 259, and 273 are negatively scored.
Items 274 through 277 are all fundamental questions concerning corporate
success and profit, and all are scored positively. The three questions concerning
employee work satisfaction are averaged with company profitability. The commitment,
burnout, values, and success subscales together make up the total Workplace Values,
Satisfaction, and Attachment score.
Page 55
Maginnis 44
Religion and Spirituality Questionnaire
The Religion and Spirituality questionnaire included 15 write-in questions and
eight categorical inputs. The write-in questions asked the participant to provide their
personal definitions of religion, spirituality, and the perceived differences between the
two. Other inquires requested information about individual values, communications, and
experiences with personal spirituality, and values as well as recommendations for the
workplace. The categorical inputs related to religious affiliations and practices, work
programs, work and home characterization as well as whether the individual was
outspoken, rating strength of faith, and experience with baptisms.
Page 56
Maginnis 45
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
Using the results from the described surveys, scatter plots, t-tests, and Pearson-r
correlation coefficients (index from -1.0 to 1.0 reflecting the relationship between two
data sets) were used to address the following four main research questions.
1) How does the developed Spiritual Development Scale compare with the
Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale?
2) How does the developed Worldview Attitude Scale compare with the
Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale?
3) What is the Generalize Open Organizational Profile (OOP) for the
employers of all participants?
4) Is a Workplace Spiritual Well-Being Scale, based on combing the OOP
with the developed adaptability and full-self subscales, a good predictor of
job satisfaction and attachment as measured by the developed scale for
Workplace Values, Satisfaction, and Attachment as well as a good
predictor of corporate profits and employee success?
Characteristics of Respondents
Respondents responded with a wide range of personal information, except for
race. The average time spent with a company was 9.6 years. Many expressed the
opinion that spirituality had nothing to do with the workplace. For example, one
participant suggested, “Work is what one has to do, maybe you should ask more about
volunteerism (or what people want to do).”
Page 57
Maginnis 46
Analysis of the data
Research Question 1 – SDS vs. Ellison Scale
Consistent with several other studies (but inconsistent with published norms), the
existential orientation was the primary contributor of overall spiritual well being. The
existential mean was 4.68 (norm is 4.63) while the religious mean was 4.07 (norm is
4.8). The mean SDS score was 4.35 and the mean Ellison SWBS score was 4.38 (norm
is 4.70). The new Spiritual Development Scale related well to the Ellison Spiritual Well-
Being Scale (see Figure 3). The Pearson-r correlation coefficient is .91. SDS and the
Ellison SWBS scores had, however, a low correlation with Profit (.54 and .22).
SDS vs Ellison SWBS
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00
Ellison SWBS
SD
S
Figure 3 – Spiritual Development Scale vs. Ellison Scale
Page 58
Maginnis 47
Research Question 2 – WAPS vs. Ellison Scale
The values for the new Worldview Attitudes Scale did not correlated as well to
the Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Values. See Figure 4. The study results also produced a
lower Pearson-r correlation coefficient of .57.
WAS vs Ellison SWBS
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00
Ellison SWBS
WA
S
Figure 4 – Worldview Attitude Scale vs. Ellison Scale
Page 59
Maginnis 48
Research Question 3 – Generalized Open Organizational Profile
The responses to the standard Open Organizational Profile (OOP) were used to
fill in the nine characteristics of Mink and Owen‟s Open Organization Model (see Figure
5). The overall average for the nine subscales was 74% (the Trott study had a mean of
69%). Comparatively strong response existed in the individual beliefs and values while
comparatively weak ones in the individual internal responsiveness, and the unity and
external responsiveness of the entire organization. Overall, the adaptability as the whole
organization was the weakest. The average Standard Error for the OPP values was
6.55 percentiles; a TINV of 2.23 for a confidence level of .05 and the small population
size would produce a statistical range of plus or minus 14.6 percentiles.
80%
Values
69%
Congru-
ence
77%
Connec-
tion
77%
Shared
Purpose
77%
Quality
Relation-
ships
76%
Collabor
ation
70%
Shared
Vision
74%
Alignment
68%
Contri-
bution
76%
Unity
73%
Internal
Respons.
74%
External
Respons.
Ind
ivid
ua
lG
rou
pO
rga
niz
ati
on
Business Environment
75%
Healthy
Person
Intermediate
Outcome
Long Term
Outcome
Personal
Effective-
ness
77%
Functional
Team
First-Rate
Function &
Quality
71%
Adaptive
Organiz-
ation
Exceed
Customer
Expecta-
tions
Figure 5 – The Completed Open Organization Model
Page 60
Maginnis 49
Research Question 4 – WVSA and Profit vs. WSWB
Of the components from the Emotional Exhaustion and Personal
Accomplishment Maslach subscales, the pilot data provided averages of 3.2 and 4.0
respectively. Norms for those subscales are 3.1 and 5.0 respectively. Both the
Workplace Values, Satisfaction, and Attachment scores and the Organizational Profit
numbers correlated well to the Workplace Spiritual Well-Being Values. See Figure 6.
Profit and WVSA had high Pearson-r correlation coefficients in relation to the Workplace
Spiritual Well-Being of .93 and .95 respectively.
WVSA and Profit vs WSWB
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00
Workplace Spiritual Well-Being
Wo
rkp
lac
e V
alu
e,
Sa
t, A
tt a
nd
Pro
fit
WVSA Profit
Figure 6 – Comparison of WVSA and Profit vs. WSWB
Page 61
Maginnis 50
The applied components of the Affective, Normative, and Continuance
Commitments subscales were compared to the Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale.
Previous research has shown positive correlations for the Ellison SWBS to Affective and
Normative Commitments while negative correlation with Continuant Commitment. The
results from this study, however, were inconsistent with those previous results, and
showed a lack of such correlations. See Figure 7 and Figure 8.
Affect, Norm, and Cont Committment vs Ellison SWBS
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00
Ellison SWBS
Aff
ec
tiv
e,
No
rma
tiv
e,
an
d C
on
tin
ua
nc
e
Affect Comm Norm Comm Cont Comm
Figure 7 – Affective, Normative, and Continuance vs. Ellison SWBS
Confidence intervals and Pearson-r correlation coefficients were determined for
all scales, plus the Average Time of Employment (ATE). See Figure 8 and Figure 9.
Page 62
Maginnis 51
Particularly high coefficients are bolded. When looking at subscales, it was noticed that
of the nine measured OOP factors, Individual Values and Individual Congruence had
the highest Pearson-r correlation coefficients when compared to Profit of .95 and .97
respectively. No values over .9 occurred between any of the personal SWB scales and
organization environment scales. See Figure 10.
Mean StDev DF SE Conf Lower C Upper C P-r Same?
SWBS 4.38 1.10
SDS 4.35 0.95 10 0.29 0.05 3.71 4.99 0.91 YES
WAS 4.51 0.60 10 0.18 0.05 4.11 4.91 0.57
Affect Comm 3.51 1.13 10 0.34 0.05 2.75 4.27 0.61 NO?
Norm Comm 3.68 0.93 10 0.28 0.05 3.06 4.31 0.47 NO?
Cont Comm 3.15 0.74 10 0.22 0.05 2.65 3.64 0.54 NO?
WSWB 4.30 1.16 10 0.35 0.05 3.52 5.08 0.43
WVSA 3.97 0.75 10 0.23 0.05 3.46 4.47 0.51
Profit 3.89 0.89 10 0.27 0.05 3.29 4.48 0.54
Figure 8 – Comparison of All Scales to Ellison SWB
SWBS SDS WAS WSWB WVSA Profit ATE
SWBS 1.00 0.91 0.57 0.43 0.51 0.54 -0.01
SDS 1.00 0.62 0.11 0.18 0.22 -0.10
WAS 1.00 0.29 0.27 0.31 0.24
WSWB 1.00 0.97 0.93 0.17
WVSA 1.00 0.95 0.28
Profit 1.00 0.24
ATE 1.00
Figure 9 – Pearson-r Correlation Analysis of Primary Scales
Page 63
Maginnis 52
SWBS RWB EWB SDS WSWB Burnout Profit Mean Women Men
ATE -0.01 -0.11 0.14 -0.10 0.17 0.19 0.24 9.55 5.83 8.09
SWBS 0.93 0.81 0.91 0.43 0.39 0.54 4.38 4.92 4.18
RWB 0.93 0.53 0.94 0.16 0.08 0.37 4.07 4.67 3.85
EWB 0.81 0.53 0.60 0.73 0.76 0.77 4.68 5.17 4.50
SDS 0.91 0.94 0.60 0.11 0.08 0.22 4.35 4.78 4.14
WAS 0.57 0.43 0.63 0.62 0.29 0.35 0.31 4.51 4.83 4.35
1-Beliefs 0.52 0.21 0.83 0.21 0.95 0.90 0.95 4.78 5.27 4.60
2-Self-aware 0.54 0.28 0.77 0.22 0.88 0.79 0.97 4.12 4.23 4.07
3-Others Res 0.37 0.08 0.73 0.05 0.96 0.89 0.91 4.61 5.20 4.39
4-Team 0.24 -0.04 0.61 -0.05 0.96 0.87 0.81 4.61 5.23 4.38
5-Interpersonal 0.29 -0.01 0.68 -0.01 0.97 0.89 0.89 4.63 5.30 4.38
6-Purpose 0.18 -0.10 0.57 -0.10 0.94 0.87 0.78 4.54 5.33 4.24
7-Participate 0.29 0.01 0.65 -0.05 0.96 0.89 0.81 4.23 4.97 3.95
8-Sharing 0.33 0.06 0.64 0.00 0.98 0.84 0.90 4.43 5.23 4.13
9-Org Res 0.34 0.09 0.62 0.04 0.95 0.77 0.83 4.10 4.97 3.78
10-Change 0.50 0.30 0.66 0.22 0.93 0.76 0.84 3.71 4.80 3.30
11-Total Self 0.73 0.63 0.66 0.52 0.71 0.55 0.70 3.55 4.33 3.26
WSWB 0.43 0.16 0.73 0.11 0.88 0.93 4.30 4.99 4.04
Affect Comm 0.61 0.41 0.76 0.31 0.72 0.77 0.78 3.51 3.67 3.45
Norm Comm 0.47 0.28 0.61 0.18 0.78 0.69 0.68 3.68 3.92 3.59
Cont Comm 0.54 0.51 0.42 0.41 0.43 0.17 0.67 3.15 3.20 3.13
Commitment 0.60 0.37 0.78 0.27 0.91 0.84 0.94 3.82 4.19 3.69
Burnout 0.39 0.08 0.76 0.08 0.88 0.81 4.05 4.36 3.93
Values 0.40 0.19 0.62 0.12 0.92 0.69 0.91 4.03 4.42 3.88
WVSA 0.51 0.25 0.77 0.18 0.97 0.89 0.95 3.97 4.12 3.82
Profit 0.54 0.30 0.77 0.22 0.93 0.81 3.89 4.19 3.77
Figure 10 – Pearson-r Correlation Analysis of Subscales
Page 64
Maginnis 53
IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Review of the Study
This study proposed to explore the spiritual dimension of a holistic discussion of
successful work environment measurements. The measurements of values,
connectedness, and personal meaning were found to be extremely relevant.
Unfortunately, profit-driven companies do not typically associate with spiritual maters
and thus rarely do such considerations occur. The same limitations can just as easily
occur within the structure of organized religion, necessitating that one think of spirituality
in terms separate from such a formal perspective.
Overall, participants in the pilot study exhibited moderate levels of personal and
workplace spirituality. The two lowest sets of scores of data reported by Bufford,
Paloutzian, and Ellison (1991) were for eating disorder patients and sociopathic convicts
with means of 3.89 (n=35, SD=0.75) and 3.81 (n=25, SD=0.81) respectively. Similarly,
Trott recommends using scores below 3.85 to indicate “spiritual distress.” This would
signify that perhaps two and clearly a third participant in this study warranted concern,
for a total of 25% of the participants. Using such guidelines, Trott‟s 1996 study yielded
15% of their 184 construction/engineering population with such scores. When people
describe themselves as “burnt out,” they also often communicate disillusionment, being
overworked, and feelings that their investments no longer have meaning. Relationships
lacking integrity, self-centered leadership, and abusive environments clearly undermine
Page 65
Maginnis 54
any sense of meaningful connectedness or belonging and foster feelings of
helplessness.
Consistent with other studies, the three women had higher mean Ellison SWB
scores (mean = 4.92) than the men (mean = 4.18). Moreover, all of the mean scores of
the three women were higher than their male counterparts except for the subscale
mean measuring feelings of personal accomplishment. The connection between the
Religious subscale (assuming a Protestant work ethic) and organizational commitment
made by Mathieu and Zajac (1990) was not found. In the Pearson-r correlation
comparison of subscales, for example, the Religious subscale was found in particular to
have less of a connection to burnout scores. Additionally, an average employer layoff of
16% over the last 3 years was reported.
One documentation lesson was concerning the importance of being careful about
copying and pasting Excel graphs. While the printing of such efforts looks and prints
satisfactorily, the electronic version originally contained all of the raw data the author
had guaranteed in the consent form not to include in the final report, requiring a new
spreadsheet to be created and the graphs re-pasted.
It had been assumed that the types of questions in the organizational goals and
values subscale section would be those most similar to ones likely asked by capital
investors endeavoring to evaluate corporate values and ethics. For this reason, this is
the largest subscale section of the investigation. The author was unable, however, to
identify investors who regularly requested this type of information. A limited investigation
indicated that primary efforts were persistently focused on simply whether the executive
Page 66
Maginnis 55
team had the management skills necessary. Numerous other studies have shown that
open organizations “garner trust and a sense of belonging” (Vallen, 1993) that directly
contributes to reducing burnout and increasing commitment. This is well supported by
the results of this study. The subscale analysis of this study also demonstrated that the
success of the individual is the strongest predictor of bottom-line organizational success
and profit. The three OOP subscales involving the individual worker interactions
exhibited Pearson-r correlations coefficients of 0.91, 0.95, and 0.97.
Implications for Human Resource Development
The results of spiritual research have basic implications for the theory, practice,
and research of human resource development and leadership theory. While utilizing
techniques such as goal setting, time management, and appraisal systems motivate
workers, the concept of a personally meaningful rewards of work suggest that the self-
influencing system is the ultimate system of control. Self-leadership theory (Manz, 1996;
Neck and Milliman, 1994) underscores the intrinsic motivational force of self-influence in
occupational interests. Internal standards allows for a wider range of influences and
self-control strategies from values while more fully incorporating the role of intrinsic
qualities. A super-ordinate goal such as a personal mission, a spiritual value, or
inspirational mentor leads the worker towards higher performance. (Senge, 1991: p.
157) Extrinsic motivators from outside an individual often undermine creative thought
from an excessive focus on surrounding artificial reward systems including manipulation
through merit and incentive pay and externally imposed time and quota pressures.
Page 67
Maginnis 56
Normal managerial practices crush creativity by imposing destructive criticism,
turfism, and resistance to change and handling business increases by enforcing
unrealistic expectations with insufficient time and constant distractions. Tight controls,
constant evaluations, oversold resources, poor cooperation, and emphasis on the status
quo are unfortunate business norms in America. Organizations require “a mechanism
for considering new ideas, a corporate climate marked by cooperation and collaboration
across levels and divisions, and an atmosphere where innovation is prized and failure is
not fatal" (Amabile, 1988, p. 147). An employee‟s intrinsic motivation is high when well-
matched assignments provide challenge without becoming overwhelming.
Environments that stimulate creativity exhibit individual autonomy, good project
management, supervisory encouragement and recognition, honest servant leadership,
sufficient resources and time, team integration, and appropriate challenge and pressure
to provide personally meaningful tasks. The resulting high morale, trust, and access
provide long-term employee effectiveness, product quality, and customer satisfaction.
Domain relevant skills, creativity relevant skills, and intrinsic motivations are the keys to
corporate creativity and basic to Deming‟s 14 Points for Management. (1951)
To what extent are all workers involved in daily operations and long-term goals?
How free are people to decide how to do their job? Is there time to think about things
before having to act? Do people feel safe speaking their minds and offering different
points of view? Is it okay to fail? Do people engage in lively debates about the issues
facing the organization? How well do people handle interpersonal conflict resolution? Is
it okay to have fun? (Moulder) An average 5 year old laughs 113 times a day, an 8 year
Page 68
Maginnis 57
old 83 times a day, and a 44 year old 11 times a day. (Thompson, 1996) How does the
company compare on this scale?
The two prevailing perspectives on spiritual well-being are the Web and
Cruciform models. The Cruciform model suggests descriptors such as ladder,
patriarchal, vertical/horizontal, and a sense of meaning and purpose as viewed by the
two relationships with God and community. The Web model brings to mind descriptors
such as expansive/inclusive and a sense of connectedness as viewed by one‟s web of
relationships. Greenleaf conceptualized the theory of servant leadership (1991) and
believes that leadership performance in only possible to the extent that one has actively
demonstrated a capacity to follow. The theories of spiritual well-being, self-leadership,
and servant leadership can provide a direction for organizational enactment of spiritual
values that link personal passion with organizational service. Moreover, the open
systems theory reinforces the importance of not dichotomizing business problems.
During the nearly forty years since Dunn conceptualized high-level wellness,
corporations have spent considerable time and money cultivating programs that
address only the physical dimension of wellness. Dunn wrote in 1959, “if we are to
move in the direction of high-level wellness for man and society, we cannot ignore the
spirit of man in any discipline.” HR departments are commonly bound by bureaucratic
personnel functions that discourage leadership, so that breaking from this pattern is not
easy. Recruiting and hiring systems must be up to date and able to attract the right
people. Human resource development requires a common vocabulary, educational
opportunities at work, and mechanisms that encourage spiritual values. Companies
Page 69
Maginnis 58
need to end business-building programs and begin constructing people-building
processes using collaboration (teamwork), content (meaningfulness), and choice
(autonomy).
Investigations into law enforcement misconduct are extremely difficult due to the
strong "code of silence." From the day officers join a police department, they are
members of a "brotherhood" that plays an important role in the way officers see
themselves and the world around them. The loss of autonomy a police officer faces can
be catastrophic for both the individual as well as the organization. There are police bars,
police picnics, and police poker parties. Further, families of officers can expect
"professional courtesy" treatment. Officers are trained to "stick to your own." Only when
a zero tolerance approach is taken towards lying and disregard for the law, will the
effect of this code be reduced. While incidents of misconduct serve to temporally
damage the reputation of the department, damage caused by "cover-ups" is
immeasurable. Further, the "rotten apple" excuse only causes the most communicated
value to be just not to get caught. Honesty was the only item in the values of Jack
Welsh's management style. Any employee who was caught lying or withholding
information was dismissed, and Jack cleaning house efforts removed 10% of executive
management every year. The most important subject during academy and field training
should be how to survive in the police culture. This training should then continue into the
squad briefings. NYC squad briefings, in fact, have recently included talks by officers
found guilty freely discussing where they went wrong. A similar effort is essential part of
employee education in all business and governmental organizations.
Page 70
Maginnis 59
Creating and Maintaining an Environment of Vision
Our business schools and work organizations continue to turn out great
managers, not great leaders, who tend to make use of a command-and-control
management style. Management skills include planning and budgeting, organizing and
staffing, and controlling and problem solving. These produce a degree of predictability
and order with the potential to consistently produce the short-term results expected by
various stakeholders (e.g., for customers, being on time; for stockholders, being on
budget). Leadership, on the other hand, means developing a vision for the future, and
most importantly motivating, inspiring, and aligning people around that vision. These
have the potential to produce extremely useful change (e.g., new products that
customers want, new approaches to labor relations that help make a firm more
competitive). If one asks a manager what his or her vision is, one will likely hear about
an operating plan. A plan by no means, however, can lead and inspire the way a vision
can. More than a strategic effort of gauging systemic assets and opportunities, building
a vision includes getting in touch with our values and how they define us. Most of us
know something about using our heads, but little about using our hearts.
Many companies seemed to be directed by the brusque mission statement of
simply, “To become a firm that pays the very lowest wages possible, charges the
highest prices the market will bear, and divides the spoils between the stockholders and
senior executives, mostly the later.” (Kotter, 1996) A better vision is not found in just
balancing the interests of all involved, but in better serving all. Defining such a vision
demands an acceptance for diverse, sentimental, disorganized, imprecise, and deadline
Page 71
Maginnis 60
dysfunctional personalities in order to mushroom innovation and commitment. With
sincere and full participation, though, constituents will not need to be persuaded on
decisions. By integrating all proposals and addressing all objections, the final decision
will already be a declaration of action. See Figure 11 for Howard Owen‟s description of
the modern organization. (1997)
Trying to change the basic style of a company can be as hard as trying to quit
smoking, drinking, and over eating all at the same time. To establish and maintain a
sense of urgency, however, long-term attempts for change must be supported with
short-term wins. Short-term results build the credibility needed to sustain efforts over the
long haul. A vision cannot survive if it produces few results. Good short-term results can
go a long way by themselves, but only such short-term results based on a strong vision
can offer the best chance for sustaining continual success. Useful change will depend
on the HR department no longer screening new hires according to the old norms and
values, compensation decisions not being based on just not making mistakes; and on
annual performance evaluations and promotions not overlooking the new vision.
“Unless you have had enough disagreement to understand what you are doing, you are
likely to give the right answer to the wrong question.” (Drucker)
Page 72
Maginnis 61
Twentieth Century Twenty-First Century
Structure: Bureaucratic Non-Bureaucratic, With Fewer Rules And Employees
Multileveled Limited To Fewer Levels
Organized With The Expectation That Senior Management Will
Manage
Organized With The Expectation That Management Will Lead And Lower-
Level Employees Will Manage
Characterized By Policies And Procedures That Create Many
Complicated Internal Interdependencies
Characterized By Policies And Procedures That Produce The
Minimal Internal Interdependence Needed To Serve Customers
Systems: Depend On Few Performance Information Systems
Depend On Many Performance Information Systems, Especially Providing Data On Customers
Distribute Performance Data To Executives Only
Distribute Performance Data Widely
Offer Management Training And Support Systems To Senior
People Only
Offer Management Training And Support Systems To Many People
Culture: Inwardly Focused Externally Focused
Centralized Empowering
Slow To Make Decisions Quick To Make Decisions
Political Open And Candid
Risk Averse More Risk Tolerant
Figure 11 – Howard Owen’s Comparing 20th and 21st Organizational Cultures
Page 73
Maginnis 62
SUMMARY
In a poll of 1,000 working people, 80 percent said that a single coworker
contributed significant stress to their workday. (Cavaiola, 2000) Most corporations seem
to support corporate ruthlessness and bullies. British research has linked workplace
bullying to between one-third and one-half of all stress related illness (Joyner). Over the
past five years, only 3.75% of equity mutual funds beat the market causing money to
flood into index funds. (Morningstar, 2001) Leadership and work places that are missing
a balance of mental, physical, and spiritual health promote these two statistics of
business failure. Practical, tough-minded, and commanding top managers usually
encourage hostile, stressful workplaces and kill creativity. Tomorrow‟s leading
companies need upright senior managers who have vision, creativity, flexibility, and a
broad perspective. As T. Ohno, the leader of Toyota, has observed, success comes not
from an organization‟s formal systems but from the spirit that supports those systems.
There is a widely held misconception that “spirituality” is synonymous with
“religion.” Spiritual well-being, however, is a concept widely used in research studies. It
focuses on the quality of relationships while religion focuses on specific theological
doctrines, rituals, and creeds. Those not understanding this distinction often balk at any
discussion of spirituality issues. There is a second widely held misconception that
spiritual matters are not work-related issues; we prefer to think of work only in terms of
profit, market share, and power. Yet, when we ignore the spiritual values at work, we
inhibit the best in people. Finally, there is a general cultural taboo against open
Page 74
Maginnis 63
spirituality discussions founded in a fear that such can only generate unresolvable
conflict. Continuing only when politically correct deliberations, however, provides ample
opportunities for sappy, vague, and unsupported compositions to be mistaken as
professionally academic. The constructive resolution of vocabulary and the need to
overcome conflict are fundamental to every problem facing organizations today.
Further study in measuring the spiritual health of employees and their workplaces
is warranted. The Ellison and Spiritual Development Scales are good measures of
personal spiritual well-being, while the Workplace Spiritual Well-Being and Workplace
Values, Satisfaction, and Attachment Scales are strong measures of workplace spiritual
well-being. Although the Worldview Attitude Scale was a thought-provoking endeavor, it
did not seem to warrant continued use as a well-being indicator. Likewise, the write-in
sections provided no strong indicators of personal or workplace health, despite
providing interesting responses. The General Self-Efficacy Scale, on the other hand,
would likely well contribute to future investigations. The WSWB and WVSA scales are
clearly antecedents of profit with Pearson-r correlation coefficients over 0.93.
Humbly serving others and common values can and will help produce
prosperous companies and organizations that optimize the development of their "human
capital." Our schools, churches, and work organizations continue to produce good
managers, but fail at providing healthy environments for great leaders. It is, however,
the prerequisite for empowered teams and the virally exponential growth of innovation.
“Now,” said the doctor, “we will begin, yes?” Portnoy‟s Complaint by Philip Roth
Page 75
Maginnis 64
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adams, Samuel A. “Spiritual well-being, religiosity, and demographic variables as
predictors of the use of Christian counseling techniques among members of
CAPS/USA.” Diss. George Fox College, 1993.
Alan A., Cavaiola, Neil J. Toxic Coworkers: How to Deal with Dysfunctional People on
the Job, 1st edition. New Harbinger, January 15, 2000.
Amabile, Teresa M. “How to Kill Creativity.” Harvard Business Review Sep./Oct. 1998.
Amabile, Teresa. “A Model of Creativity and Innovation in Organizations.” Research in
Organization Behavior. Greenwich: JAI Press, 1988: 123 – 167.
Argyris, C. Personality and organization: The conflict between system and the
individual. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1957.
Bandura, A. Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological
Review. Vol. 37, No. 2 (1977): 122-147.
Bandura, A. Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1977.
Banks, R. “Health and the spiritual dimension: Relationships and implications for
professional preparation programs.” The Journal of School Health. (Apr. 1980):
195 – 202.
Bardard, E. “Being whole: spiritual well-being of Appalachian women – a
phenomenological study.” Diss, Nursing College, The University at Austin, 1989.
Barna, George. Marketing the Church. Ninth Printing, Colorado Springs: VavPress
Books, 1993.
Barna, George. The Second Coming of the Church. Word Publishing, 1998.
Page 76
Maginnis 65
Becker, H. “Notes on the concept of commitment. American Journal of Sociology. Vol.
66 (1960): 32 – 42.
Berger, Kurt. Personal interview. 22 Sep. 1999.
Bertalanffy, L. (1956) “General Systems Theory.” In Trott, Spiritual well-being of
workers. The University of Texas, 1996.
Brinkman, D. “An evaluation of the Spiritual Well-Being Scale: Reliability and response
measurement.” Diss, Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1989.
Buber, M. I and Thou. New York: Charles Scribner‟s Sons, 1970.
Bufford, R., R. Paloutzian, and C. Ellison. “Norms for the spiritual well-being scale.”
Journal of Psychology and Theology. Vol. 19, No. 1 (1991): 56-70.
Burkhardt, M. A. “Spirituality: An analysis of the concept.” Holistic Nursing Practice. Vol.
3 (1989): 69 – 77.
Burt, R. S. (1992). Structural holes: The social structure of competition. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Burt, R. S. (1997). The contingent value of social capital. Administrative Science
Quarterly, 42, 339-365.
Campbell, A. “Subjective measures of well-being.” American Psychologist. (Feb. 1976):
117 – 124.
Campise, R., C. Ellison, and R. Kinsman. “Spiritual well-being: Some exploratory
relationship.” Journal of Psychology and Theology. Vol. 11, No. 4 (1979): 330 –
340.
Page 77
Maginnis 66
Clarke, D. “Predictors of spiritual well-being among full-time Youth for Christ/USA
members.” Diss, Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1986.
Davis, D. Business Research For Decision Making. 4th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth,
1996.
Deming, W. Edwards. Out of Crisis. Cambridge, MA. MIT Center for Advanced
Engineering Study, 1951.
Diener, E. “Subjective well-being.” Psychological Bulletin. Vol. 95, No. 3 (1984): 542 –
575.
Drucker, P. “The Age of social transformation.” The Atlantic Monthly. (Nov. 1994): 53 –
80.
Dunn, H. “High-level wellness for man and his society.” American Journal of Public
Health. Vol. 49, No. 6 (1959): 786 – 792.
Dunn, H. “What high-level wellness means.” Journal of Religion and Health. Vol. 24, No.
2 (1977): 147 – 153.
Dunn, H. High level wellness. Arlington, R. W. Beatty, Ltd., 1961.
Eden, D. and J. Kinnar. Modeling Galatea: “Boosting self-efficacy to increase
volunteering.” Journal of Applied Psychology. Vol. 76, No. 6 (1991): 770 – 780.
Ellison, C. “Spiritual well-being: conceptualization and measurement.” Journal of
Psychology and Theology. Vol. 11, No. 4 (1983): 330 – 340.
Ellison, C. and T. Economos. “Religious orientation and quality of life.” Journal of
Psychology. Vol 11, No. 4 (1981): 330 – 340.
Page 78
Maginnis 67
Fish, S. and J. Shelly. “Spiritual care: The nurse‟s role.” Journal of Religion and Health.
Vol 24, No. 2 (1978): 147 – 153.
Floyd, P. and K. Johnson. Wellness: A lifetime commitment. Winston-Salem: Hunter
Textbooks, 1993.
Follett, M. Creative experience. New York: Longmans, Green, and Company, 1924.
Fox, M. The reinvention of work: A new vision of livelihood for our time. San Francisco:
Harper, 1994.
Frankl, Viktor. Man‟s search for meaning. New York: Beacon Press. 1959.
Glazier, C. “Assessment of burnout: The development of a behavioral rating scale.”
Diss. The University of Houston, 1996.
Granovetter, M. (1985). Economic action and social structure: A theory of
embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology, 82, 929-964.
Greenburg, J. and D. Pargman. Physical fitness: a wellness approach. Englewood
Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1989.
Greenleaf, R. Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and
greatness. Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1991.
Hambly, Bob. “Numbers.” Time Magazine 2 Mar. 1998:25.
Hawkins, D. “Interpersonal behavior traits, spiritual well-being, and their relationship to
blood pressure.” Diss, Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1986.
Herzberg, F., B. Mausner, and B. Snyderman. The motivation to work. New York: Wiley,
1959.
Page 79
Maginnis 68
Hess. “Spiritual Needs Survey” Spiritual Care: The Nurse's Role. Downers Grove:
University Press; 1983.
Hoy, W. and C. Miskel. Educational administration: theory, research, and practice. New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1991.
Hungelmann, J. et al. “Spiritual well-being in older adults: Harmonious
interconnectedness.” Journal of Religion and Health. Vol. 24, No. 2 (1985): 147 –
153.
Jang, S. “The effects of acculturation and age on spiritual well-being among ethnic
Chinese church-goers.” Diss, Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1986.
Jourard, S. The transparent self. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1964.
Kaczorowski, J. “Spiritual well-being and anxiety in adults diagnosed with cancer.” The
Hospice Journal. Vol. 5, Nos. 3 – 4 (1989): 105 – 116.
Kanter, R. Men and Women of the corporation. New York: John Wiley, 1966.
Katz, D. and R. Kahn. The social psychology of organizations. New York: John Wiley,
1966.
Kauffman, S. A. (1993). The origins of order. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kim, M. “Pocket guide to nursing diagnoses.” (1984) In Burkhardt, M. “Spirituality: An
analysis of the concept.” Holistic Nursing Practice. Vol 3, No. 3 (1989): 69 – 77.
Kotter, John P. Leading Change. 1st ed. Harvard Business School Press, 1996.
Kurth, K. “A Research Summary: An exploration of the expression and perceived impact
of selfless service in for-profit organizations.” Diss. The George Washington
University, 1995.
Page 80
Maginnis 69
Likert, R. New patterns of management. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961.
Lippitt, G. Organizational renewal: A holistic approach to organization development.
Englewood Cliff: Prentice-Hall, 1982.
Locke, E. A theory of goal setting and task performance. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-
Hall, 1990.
Locke, E. Goal setting in personnel management. Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall, 1984.
Low, J. and T. Siesfeld. “Measures that Matter: Non-financial Performance.” Strategy
and Leadership, Vol. 26, No. 2 (1998).
Maginnis, James. “What‟s Missing, Part 1.” UOP MGT 595 Presentation. 7 Aug. 2001.
Manz, C. “Self-leadership: Toward an expanded theory of self-influence processes in
organization.” Academy of Management Review. Vol. 11, No. 3 (1986): 585 –
600.
Marion, R. (1999). The edge of organization: Chaos and complexity theories of formal
social organization. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Marion, R., & Uhl-Bien, M. (2001). Leadership in complex organizations. Leadership
Quarterly, 12, 389-418.
Martin, Burrows, and Pomilio. State University of New York State Spiritual Needs of
Patients Study. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1976.
Marto, R. “A father‟s locus of control, spiritual well-being, and self-esteem and their
relationship to his child‟s self-esteem in a Catholic parochial high school.” Diss.
Portland: Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1983.
Page 81
Maginnis 70
Mashburn, D. Effects of sex-role combinations in couples on marital satisfaction and
spiritual well-being. Diss. Portland: Western Conservative Baptist Seminary,
1986.
Maslow, A. Toward a Psychology of Being. Princeton: Van Nostrand, 1968.
Masterson, S. (2000). Integrating justice and social exchange: The differing effects of
fair procedures and treatment on work relationships. Academy of Management
Journal, 43(4), 738-749.
Mathieu, J. and D. Zajac. “A review and meta-analysis of the antecedents, correlates,
and consequences of organizational commitment.” Psychological Bulletin. Vol.
108, No. 2 (1990): 171-194.
Mayo, E. The social problems of an industrial civilization. Andover: The Andover Press,
1945.
McGregor, D. The human side of enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960.
McKnight, R. “Spirituality in the workplace.” Transforming work: A collection of
organizational transformation readings. Alexandria: Miles River press, 1984: 138
–153.
Merriam-Webster‟s collegiate dictionary. Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 1998.
Meyer, J. and N. Allen. “A three-component conceptualization of organizational
commitment.” Human Resource Management Review. Vol. 1, No. 1 (1991): 61 –
89.
Mink, O. and K. Owen. Open Organization Profile. Austin: Organization and Human
Resources Development Associates, 1994.
Page 82
Maginnis 71
Mintzberg, H. Structures in fives. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1983.
Mitroff, Denton. A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America. Jossey-Bass Inc, 1999.
Moberg, D. “Subjective measures of spiritual well-being.” Review of Religious Research,
Vol. 25, No. 4 (1984): 351 – 364.
Moberg, D. Spiritual well-being: Background and issues. Washington: White House
Conference on Aging, 1971.
Monahon, F., M. Drake, and M. Neighbors. Nursing care of adults. Philadelphia: W. B.
Saunders Company, 1994.
Moran, E. and J. Volkwein. “The cultural approach to the formation of organizational
climate.” Human Relations. Vol. 45, No1. (1992): 19 – 47.
Morgan, G. Images of organization. Newbury Park: Sage Publications, 1986.
Moulder, James. The Situational Outlook Questionnaire. Online Posting.
http://forum.learningspace.com.au/web1/James/Read6340.nsf/504ca249c786e2
0f85256284006da7ab/3a29b60cf8001ff7ca25694b004efe98?OpenDocument
Updated July 6, 2000.
Mowday, R. T., Porter, L. W. & Steers, R. M. Employee-organizational linkages. New
York: Academic Press, 1982.
Mullins, W. “Chronic pain: a study of treatment outcomes as it relates to coping
behaviors, assertiveness, spiritual well-being, and MMPI scores.” Diss. Western
Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1985.
Page 83
Maginnis 72
Neck, C. and J., Milliman. “Thought self-leadership: Finding spiritual fulfillment in
organizational life.” Journal of Managerial Psychology. Vol. 9, No. 6 (1994): 9 –
16.
Oden, H. Managing Corporate Culture, Innovation, and Intrepreneurship. Westport:
Quorum Books, 1997.
Paloutzian and Kirpatrick. “Introduction: The scope of religious influences on personal
and spiritual well-being." Journal of Social Issues. Vol. 51, No. 2 (1995): 1 – 11.
Paloutzian, R. and C. Ellison. “Loneliness, spiritual well-being and quality of life.”
Loneliness: a sourcebook of current theory, research, and therapy. New York:
Wiley Interscience, 1982: 224 – 236.
Peters, T., and R. Waterman. In search of excellence: Lessons from American‟s best
run companies. New York: Harper and Row, 1982.
Pfeffer, J. Power in organizations. Marshfield: Pitman Publishing, 1981.
Pintrich, P. “Editor‟s comments.” Educational Psychology. Vol. 26, Nos. 3 – 4 (1991):
199-205.
Porter, L. and E. Lawler. “Managerial attitudes and performance.” Educational
administration: theory, research, and practice. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968.
Porter, L. et al. “Organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover among
psychiatric technicians.” Journal of Applied Psychology. Vol. 59, No. 5 (1974):
603 – 609.
Putnam, Robert D. “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community”
Simon and Schuster, 2000.
Page 84
Maginnis 73
Reed, P. “An emerging paradigm for the investigation of spirituality in nursing.”
Research in Nursing & Health. Vol. 15 (1992): 349 – 357.
Reed, P. “Spirituality and well-being in terminally ill hospitalized adults.” Research in
Nursing & Health. Vol 10 (1987): 335 – 344.
Schein, E. Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1985.
Senge, P. The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. New
York: A Currency Book, 1991.
Sergiovanni, T. Moral leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992.
Settoon, R., Bennett, N., & Liden, R. (1996). Social exchange in organizations:
Perceived organizational support, leader-member exchange, and employee
reciprocity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81(3), 219-227.
Shakeshaft, C. Women in educational administration. Newbury: Sage, 1987.
Shaw, Robert. Trust in the balance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997.
Sherer, M. and C. Adams. “Construct validation of the self-efficacy scale.” Psychological
Reports. Vol. 53 (1983): 889 –902.
Sherer, M. et al. “The self-efficacy scale: Construction and validation.” Psychological
Reports. Vol. 51. (1982): 663 – 671.
Sherman, D. “A comparison of interpersonal behavior traits and spiritual well-being
among eating disordered patients and medical outpatients.” Diss, Western
Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1986.
Skinner, B. About behaviorism. Vintage Publishers, 1976.
Page 85
Maginnis 74
Smircich, L. “Organizations as shared meanings.” Classics of Organizational Theory. 3rd
ed. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole, 1983.
Stevenson, J. “Load, power, and margin in older adults.” Journal of Religion and Health.
Vol. 24, No. 2. (1985): 147 – 153.
Stoll, R. “Guidelines for Spiritual Assessment.” American Journal of Nursing. Sep. 1979:
1574 – 1577.
Stoll, R. “The essence of spirituality.” Spiritual dimensions of nursing practice.
Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 1989: 4 – 23.
Thompson, Chic. “Being the change you seek in the world” Speech Feb. 28, 1996.
Trott, Spiritual well-being of workers. The University of Texas, 1996.
Uhl-Bien, M., Graen, G. B., & Scandura, T. (2000). Implications of Leader-Member
Exchange (LMX) for Strategic Human Resource Management Systems:
Relationships as Social Capital for Competitive Advantage. In G. Ferris (Ed.),
Research in Personnel and Human Resource Management (Vol. 18, pp. 137-
185). Greenwich, Conn: JAI Press.
Upshaw, F. “The effects of a communication skills training program on marital
satisfaction, commitment, social desirability, and spiritual well-being.” Diss.
Western Baptist Conservative Seminary, 1984.
Vallen, G. “Organizational climate and burnout.” The Cornell H.R.A. Quarterly. Cornell
University, 1993: 54 – 59.
Vroom, V. and P. Yetton. “Leadership and decision-making.” Educational administration:
theory, research, and practice. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974.
Page 86
Maginnis 75
Weick, K. The social psychology of organizing. 2nd ed. Reading: Addison-Wesley, 1979.
Weiner, B. “History of motivational research in education.” Journal of Educational
Psychology. Vol. 82, No. 4 (1990): 616 – 622.
Wheatly, M. Leadership and the new science: Learning about organization from an
orderly universe. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1992.
Woodruff, S. and J. Cashman. “Task domain, and general efficacy: A reexamination of
the Self-Efficacy Scale.” Psychological Reports. Vol. 72 (1993): 423 – 432.
Page 87
Maginnis 76
APPENDIX A - Project Surveys
Page 88
Maginnis 77
Project Overview
Spiritual Well-Being of Workers:
Exploring a Neglected Performance Antecedent
Twenty years of management research by Kotter has shown that most companies are over-managed and
under-led with arrogant and bureaucratic cultures designed simply to reinforce the status quo. The result is poorly
implemented strategies, acquisitions without the needed synergy, costly re-engineering, and downsizing and quality
programs that fail to deliver. Effective management, says Kotter, is much more about aligning, motivating, and
inspiring people than about the planning, organizing, and controlling skills that educational institutions focus on. My
own UOP MBA education omitted key "relationship" classes in leadership training, sales, and negotiations, limiting
its focus to budgeting, resource allocation, and the monitoring of results. I found it interesting that 25% of the top
American corporations listed in the well-known book "Search for Excellence" were dropped from the list within just
a few years. Why are our best business minds unable to do a better job of predicting success? Is the parameter they
are failing to measure, spiritual well-being?
While spirituality runs counterintuitive to the prevailing thoughts of money, profit margins, job security,
market share, and the pursuit of power, McKnight (1984) felt that when organizations deny the spiritual nature of our
being that the loss is enormous in terms of reduced enthusiasm, effort, collaboration, creativity, sense of
commitment, goal setting, performance quality, persistence, and habitually demonstrated courage. He suggested that
the problem was a lack of business leadership that encourages employees to engage in some kind of greater purpose.
Peters and Waterman (1982) have observed the central function of spirituality in realizing organizational excellence.
One of their findings in examining 75 successful companies was that leadership vision and personal goals that go
beyond mere financial and performance objectives provide greater employee morale, loyalty, effort, and profitability.
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield of Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Anita Roddick of the Body Shop, Paul
Hawken of the Erewhon Trading Company, and Tom Chappell of Tom's of Maine, represent a few entrepreneurs
who have linked spirituality with business success. In addition to the well know spiritual management styles of the
YMCA and AA, GE, General Mills, Chick-Fil-A, Rollerblade, ServiceMaster, The Carlson Companies, Kinston
Technologies, 3M, AT&T, Honeywell, and General Mills are actively working to develop deep spiritual corporate
environments. Moreover, 39% of U.S. investors try to evaluate corporate values and ethics before investing. Robert
Hass, CEO of Levi Strauss, recently said, "In the next century, a company will stand or fall on its values" just as one
top Motorola executive claims his company "hires for character and trains for skills."
Business problems can usually be traced to insufficient authority and access to resources, low morale and
trust, and low quality concerns, while spiritual well-being is basically the measure of success in fulfilling the basic
desire to find and model an ultimate individual meaning and purpose in an interconnected existence. Companies that
support Torah, Bible, and Koran study classes organized by employees include Microsoft, Intel, Northrop Grumman,
and Boeing. One estimate is that there are almost 10,000 Christian study groups in American workplaces, double the
number of 10 years ago. Some of the Universities offering classes on the role of spirituality and religion in health
care include Loyola University, Morehouse School of Medicine, Brown University, Georgetown University, Oregon
Health Science University, University of Chicago, and the University of Rochester.
Unfortunately, the spiritual dimension of work has not been adequately dealt with in the leading literature.
Despite the importance of spirituality to one‟s overall quality of life and sense of well being (e.g. Frankl, 1963;
Maslow, 1968; Buber, 1970; Campbell, 1976; Diener, 1984; Fox, 1994; Paloutzian and Kirkpatrick, 1995), this
personal dimension has not been empirically addressed. Extensive research into employee motivation has suggested
that humans are basically reactive; that is, we generate responses to stimuli such as certain physiological, social, and
psychological needs, or certain satisfiers and dissatisfiers, expected payoffs and the prevailing environment,
individual specific goals, or by expectancy cognitive processes. The quantity of wide-ranging viewpoints, in fact, has
Page 89
Maginnis 78
lead to the increasing likelihood that “conceptual clarity will not result in one unified theory of motivation” (Pintrich,
1991) and the need “to consider frameworks larger than the self” (Weiner, 1990). In 1968 Maslow said, “I consider
[Humanistic Psychology] to be transitional, a preparation for still „higher‟ psychology, transpersonal, transhuman,
centered in the cosmos rather than in human needs and interest, going beyond humanness, identity, self-
actualization, and the like. Without the transcendent and the transpersonal, we get sick, violent, and nihilistic, or else
hopeless and apathetic. We need something „bigger than we are‟ to be awed by and to commit ourselves to in a new,
naturalistic, empirical, non-churchy sense.” More recently, Woodruff and Cashman (1993) have also advocated the
need of a “spiritual” dimension.
Nursing has fueled most of the research interest in spiritual concerns, especially for the treatment of the
terminally ill and Native American patients. Since the 1930‟s, the Nurses Christian Fellowship has consistently
dedicated energy and resources towards conducting research and seminars on spiritual care giving (Fish and Shelly,
1978). NCF research studies have indicated “spiritual matters gave [patients] a sense of increased power and control
in coping with life‟s challenges.” (Martin, Burrows, and Pomilio, 1976; Stevenson, 1980) The North American
Nursing Diagnosis Association identifies spiritual distress, spiritual concerns, and spiritual despair as official
diagnoses (Monahan, Drake, and Neighbors, 1994).
Moberg and other attendees of the 1971 White House Conference on Aging (WHCA) conceptualized
spiritual well-being as the effective understanding of the meaning of God and the meaning of humanity as an effort
relevant to addressing the needs of the elderly. Later work (1978) used the frequently ignored religious dimension as
vertical and the sense of existential dimension as horizontal. Paloutzian and Ellison (1982) refined this definition
within the widely used 20-item Spiritual Well-Being Scale (first of my well-being surveys) where the odd questions
refer to the Religious Well-Being subscale and the even questions to the Existential Well-Being subscale. Spiritual
well-being scores have been shown to correlate highly with indicators of self-esteem, assertiveness, coping skills,
and feelings of connectedness, and negatively with indicators of depression and loneliness (Ellison, 1983; Piplair and
Periman, 1982; Brinkman, 1989; Bufford, Paloutzian, and Ellison, 1991), variables that should also relate to
perceptions of self-efficacy. David Schanarch (1991) and Carl Jung (1961) have likewise identified spirituality as the
missing component of both Freudian based psychotherapy and the treatment of alcoholism.
In order to identify and quantify the effects from the loss of more personal ideals in traditional organizations,
the spiritual dimension of the workplace warrants further investigation (Sergiovanni, 1992). One phenomenological
study was made of the spiritual practice of selfless service within the context of for-profit organizations in the
doctorial dissertation of Krista Kurth at George Washington University (1995). A more comprehensive empirical
study was done by David Trott at the University of Texas in his doctorial paper “Spiritual Well-Being of Workers:
Exploring the Influences of Spirituality in Everyday Work Activities” (1996). Recently, Mitroff and Denton
completed a significant academic study in “A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America” at the Marshall School of
Business at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (1999). I hope to contribute to these efforts with
my project.
Besides the Ellison questionnaire, survey questions came from work by Herth, Oxman, Blaik, Kelsen,
Craigie, Trott, Mitroff, and about another dozen other researchers in the field. Usually every ten questions represents
another specific subscale measuring, say, organizational attachment or, perhaps, employee burnout. The question "I
often pray or meditate at work" is one of a group of ten measuring the ability to fully express oneself at work that,
for example, is question #46 of the Mitroff survey. About half of the questionnaires are standard investigative tools
that have been rigorously tested for reliability and internal consistency. The other half was built from more general
assessment guidelines. I independently generated only the worldview survey and about another dozen questions.
Page 90
Maginnis 79
Consent Form
Spiritual Well-Being of Workers:
Exploring a Neglected Performance Antecedent
This research study proposes to explore spiritual wellness in everyday workplace activities without religious
posturing and study the relationships between various personal and workplace indicators of spirituality. This is
an intriguing undertaking that piques the curiosity of many people but rarely gets the empirical attention it
deserves. This study is among the very few that will hopefully bring a clearer understanding to the topic and its
implications for business organizational settings.
I am an MBA candidate at the University of Phoenix. You are invited to participate in a very important research
project. You can be assured that your participation is voluntary and that in all cases, data gathered and reported
will remain confidential. No participants in connection with the study will be identified and the information will
only be reported together as a group. Thus, there will be no way of associating you with your answers in the
final report. If you decide to participate, you will be asked to complete the attached survey questionnaires
concerning spiritual well-being, your feelings of commitment, your sense of self-efficacy, your perceptions of
the prevailing organizational climate, as well as how you would define religion and spirituality. The
questionnaires will take about an hour to complete.
This survey contains a compilation of work developed by many other investigators and components may
involve the copyrights of those including Ellison, Paloutzian, Sherer, Meyer, Allen, Trott, Mitroff, and Denton.
You are under no obligation to participate in the study. Your completing and returning
the questionnaires will be taken as evidence of your willingness to participate and your
consent to have the information used for the purposes of the study.
I wish to thank you in advance for your thoughtful completion of the survey. I am confident that you will
weight the merits of this research effort with professional consideration as I look forward to receiving your
response.
Sincerely,
James B. Maginnis
Principal Investigator
Page 91
Maginnis 80
Personal Information for Research Questionnaires
Every other American adult (90 million people all told) works at least three hours a week as a volunteer for a nonprofit
organization. By the year 2010, the number of such unpaid staff is expected to rise to 120 million with their average hours
of work increasing to five per week. The main reason for this upsurge of volunteerism in the United States is not the
increase in need. The reason is the search for community, for commitment, and for contribution. People report that it is,
"Because here I know what I am doing. Here I contribute. Here I am part of a community." (Kotter) Research by Richard
Leider and David Shapiro (in Repacking Your Bags) shows that the number one fear in America is “Having lived a
meaningless life.”
Your participation is requested in a research project on spirituality and values in the workplace. It is hoped to better
understand the relationships between personal spiritual development, workplace values, and job satisfaction/effectiveness
for a results oriented look at organizations that are based on more than just a mission. For all of the following
questionnaires, please read each statement and decide to what extent it describes you. There are no right or wrong
answers. Try to answer them in order and to not spend too much time on any one question. Remember to fill out your
birth date information at the beginning of each questionnaire for identification purposes. First, please provide some
background information. Under no circumstances will your name or identifying characteristics be included in the final
report. Thank you.
1. Gender: - Male - Female
2. Race: - Caucasian - Hispanic - Asian - African-American - Other
3. Age:
4. Height:
5. Weight:
6. Birth date: ___/___/___
7. Marital Status: - Single - Married - Divorced - Widowed
8. Number of children:
9. Birthplace:
10. Education level: - High School - Associate - Bachelors - Masters - Doctorate
11. Income level: - Under $20,000 - $20,000 to $49,999 - $50,000 to $99,999 - Over $100,000
12. Current Position/Title:
13. Current Industry:
14. Total number of years employed in this Industry:
15. Number of employees you currently supervise:
16. Number of years working at your last five employers:
Current: Second: Third: Fourth: Fifth:
17. Reasons for leaving past positions:
18. Would you like to receive a copy of the results from this study? - Yes - No
Name: (Optional)
Email Address to send results: (Optional)
Page 92
Maginnis 81
Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale
(Birth date: ___/___/___)
For each of the following statements check the box that best indicates the extent of your agreement or disagreement as it
describes your personal experience. Interpret the words a Higher Being/God in whatever manner you find personally
meaningful (i.e.: any unifying guiding force that has the concept of faith at its core).
SA = Strongly Agree
MA = Moderately Agree
A = Agree to some extent
D = Disagree to some extent
MD = Moderately Disagree
SD = Strongly Disagree
SA MA A D MD SD
1. I do not find much satisfaction in private prayer with a Higher Being/God.
2. I do not know who I am, where I came from, or where I am going.
3. I believe that a Higher Being/God loves me and cares about me.
4. I feel that life is a positive experience.
5. Any Higher Being/God is impersonal and not interested in my daily situations.
6. I feel unsettled about my future.
7. I have a personally meaningful relationship with a Higher Being/God.
8. I feel very fulfilled and satisfied with life.
9. I do not get much personal strength and support from my Higher Being/God.
10. I feel a sense of well-being about the direction my life is headed in.
11. I believe that a Higher Being/God is concerned about my problems.
12. I do not enjoy much about life.
13. I do not have a personally satisfying relationship with a Higher Being/God.
14. I feel good about my future.
15. My relationship with a Higher Being/God helps me to not feel lonely.
16. I feel that life is full of conflict and unhappiness.
17. I feel most fulfilled when I am in close communion with a Higher Being/God.
18. Life does not have much meaning.
19. My relationship with a Higher Being/God contributes to my sense of well-being.
20. I believe there is some real purpose for my life.
Page 93
Maginnis 82
Spiritual Development Scale
(Birth date: ___/___/___)
For each of the following statements check the box that best indicates the extent of your agreement or disagreement as it
describes your personal experience. Be truthful and describe yourself as you are - not as you would like to be.
SA = Strongly Agree
MA = Moderately Agree
A = Agree to some extent
D = Disagree to some extent
MD = Moderately Disagree
SD = Strongly Disagree
SA MA A D MD SD
21. I feel my life has value and worth.
22. My life has a clear purpose that is important to me.
23. I believe that a higher power/God disciplines me.
24. I have talents, skills, or abilities that I take pride in.
25. I take pride in my personal integrity and character.
26. I am doing something to make life better for people in my family and/or community.
27. My spirituality is a very important part of my life.
28. It is important to me that I share my beliefs with others when there is an appropriate
opportunity.
29. My spirituality helps me to have a sense of strength and comfort.
30. I trust in the existence of something greater than myself.
31. I keep a prayer list pray for the persons and concerns on the list regularly.
32. I have experienced a specific answer to prayer during the last month.
33. There are people in my life that I love and care about, and who love and care about me.
34. I know what to do and why, who I am, and where I belong in life.
35. I have been enriched by my earlier life experiences.
36. I have a positive outlook towards life.
37. I am hopeful about my future.
38. I regularly go to church, synagogue, or other gatherings to express my spiritual beliefs.
39. I read the Bible, Torah, Koran, or other personally spiritual text each day.
40. I meditate, pray, or have a quiet time every day.
Page 94
Maginnis 83
Worldview Attitudes and Personality Scale
(Birth date: ___/___/___)
For each of the following statements check the box that best indicates the extent of your agreement or disagreement as it
describes your personal experience. Be truthful and describe yourself as you are - not as you would like to be.
SA = Strongly Agree
MA = Moderately Agree
A = Agree to some extent
D = Disagree to some extent
MD = Moderately Disagree
SD = Strongly Disagree
SA MA A D MD SD
41. I can carry a grudge for a long time.
42. The best way to handle people is to tell them what they want to hear.
43. When you ask someone to do something, it is best to give reasons that might carry more
weight rather than the real reasons.
44. I am not as reliable as I should be.
45. Anyone who completely trusts anyone else is asking for trouble.
46. I am sensitive to how I convey myself in social situations and try to fit in by creating the
desired impression in order to be the best person I can.
47. I like to create an environment with plenty of excitement.
48. It is hard to get ahead without cutting corners and bending the rules.
49. All people have a vicious streak, and it will come out if given a chance.
50. I worry a lot.
51. Some people who know me believe me to be cold and sly.
52. Most people will work hard only when they are forced to.
53. Most people forget more easily the death of their father than the loss of their property.
54. I have a lot of curiosity about people‟s activities.
55. An outright lie is never right.
56. Most people are basically good and kind.
57. Other people find it easy to confide in me.
58. It is important to stay true to values and opinions and be the best "me" that I can, no
matter who may be listening or what the consequences.
59. I tithe.
60. I have numerous and varied hobbies separate from my work life.
Page 95
Maginnis 84
General Self-Efficacy Scale
(Birth date: ___/___/___)
For each of the following statements check the box that best indicates the extent of your agreement or disagreement as it
describes your personal experience. Be truthful and describe yourself as you are - not as you would like to be.
SA = Strongly Agree
MA = Moderately Agree
A = Agree to some extent
D = Disagree to some extent
MD = Moderately Disagree
SD = Strongly Disagree
SA MA A D MD SD
61. When I make plans, I am certain I can make them work.
62. One of my problems is that I cannot get down to work when I should.
63. If I cannot do a job the first time, I keep trying until I can.
64. When I set important goals for myself, I rarely achieve them.
65. I give up on things before completing them.
66. I avoid facing difficulties.
67. If something looks too complicated, I will not even bother to try it.
68. When I have something unpleasant to do, I stick to it until I finish it.
69. When I decide to do something, I go right to work on it.
70. When trying to learn something new, I soon give up if I am not initially successful.
71. When unexpected problems occur, I do not handle them well.
72. I avoid trying to learn new things when they look too difficult for me.
73. Failure just makes me try harder.
74. I feel insecure about my ability to do things.
75. I am a self-reliant person.
76. I give up easily.
77. I do not seem capable of dealing with most problems that come up in my life.
Page 96
Maginnis 85
Workplace Spiritual Well-Being Scale
(Birth date: ___/___/___)
For each of the following statements, check the box that best indicates the extent of your agreement or disagreement as it
describes your experience with your organization. Please, do not describe things as you would like them to be.
SA = Strongly Agree
MA = Moderately Agree
A = Agree to some extent
D = Disagree to some extent
MD = Moderately Disagree
SD = Strongly Disagree
SA MA A D MD SD
78. I am treated fairly by my organization.
79. I feel there is purpose and meaning in my work.
80. This organization meets my needs (compensation, security, achievement, growth).
81. I believe that the organization maintains an environment of honesty.
82. This organization encourages me to be myself.
83. I feel valued and respected.
84. The things that are important to the organization are important to me.
85. I am able to act in a way that is consistent with my values.
86. I understand what I need to do to contribute to the purpose of the organization.
87. I believe my work contributes to the organization‟s ultimate purpose.
88. I am aware of how I feel (sad, scared, joyful) and feel free to act in a manner consistent
with those feelings in my workplace environment.
89. My complaints are heard, accepted, and responded to.
90. I can take actions in order to satisfy my own needs.
91. I can express my feelings without fear of punishment from people in this organization.
92. The organization tries to respond effectively to the needs of its employees.
93. Fostering good human relations among the employees is a high priority here.
94. There is an openness in this organization in dealing with work-related problems.
95. Employees here are encouraged to express their opinions, even when such opinions differ
from those of other people.
96. Management keeps track of how well things are going in the organization.
97. Supervisors seek feedback from their employees, even when it may be negative.
98. Employees here seek out other points of view and try to understand them.
99. Individuals‟ skills and talents are recognized and appreciated by their coworkers.
100. Feedback from the organization‟s management is fair and unbiased.
101. Conflicts between individuals are generally dealt with openly and effectively.
102. The people I work with try to help one another to be successful.
Page 97
Maginnis 86
SA MA A D MD SD
103. Employees have a genuine interest in one another‟s welfare.
104. Coworkers are willing to talk with each other about their work.
105. Coworkers are willing to help one another whenever possible.
106. Feedback between people is face-to-face, instead of behind people‟s backs.
107. Employees here generally treat their coworkers with respect.
108. In my work group, all of the members are involved in making decisions that are
important to the group.
109. My work group‟s goals and objectives are understood by all of its members.
110. Group members are committed to the goals and objectives of the group.
111. Members of my group share common goals, objectives, and values and always try to
achieve them.
112. Problems in my team are clearly defined and quickly brought out into the open.
113. Team members share ideas and communicate with one another when setting goals and
when planning.
114. Team members in my group respect on another‟s ideas.
115. The work group encourages teamwork and fair competition in working toward shared
goals.
116. Members have a strong sense of belonging and loyalty in this group.
117. When confronted with problems, team members ask for suggestions from each other.
118. The members of my work group enjoy working with one another.
119. Members of my work group communicate well with one another.
120. It is OK in my work group for individuals to talk about their feelings about work.
121. The members of my work group know how to listen to each other.
122. Members of my work group are interested in each other‟s concerns and problems.
123. Members of my work group are effective in solving problems as a group / team.
124. In my group, we have a high level of trust for each other.
125. Conflicts between individuals are resolved quickly and effectively.
126. Relationships between individual members in my work group are mostly positive.
127. Team members are sensitive to how their actions affect others.
128. Managers encourage groups to work with one another.
129. Cooperation is more highly valued than cutthroat competition among groups in this
organization.
130. Cooperation among groups takes place readily and is not strained.
131. When different groups work together on a shared project, they stress flexibility rather
than structure.
132. Upper management involves work groups at different levels in reaching decisions.
133. Teams work together to establish goals and priorities.
134. The organization encourages informal communications among different teams.
135. Healthy relationships are generally maintained among various work groups.
Page 98
Maginnis 87
SA MA A D MD SD
136. Other teams share information with my work group when it is needed.
137. Information is adequately exchanged among teams to achieve high quality decisions.
138. Management in the organization is easy to approach.
139. Decision are made at those levels where the best information in available.
140. Decisions are made after information is obtained from those who actually do the job.
141. Decision making is directed towards achieving the organization‟s mission.
142. The organization involves employees at different levels in decision-making.
143. Management in this organization is more concerned with getting things done rather than
controlling the staff.
144. There is honest commitment to involving people in making decisions.
145. Decisions are not made until input is received from those affected by the decisions.
146. When confronted with problems, the organization broadly asks for suggestions.
147. There is an open forum for discussing organizational goals and priorities.
148. Important information is freely exchanged throughout the organization.
149. Changes in organizational policy or procedures are effectively communicated to the
people affected.
150. The organization communicates that it genuinely cares for its employees.
151. Crises are handled openly rather than behind the scenes.
152. New directions or initiatives in the organization are communicated to employees.
153. People are valued more than things in this organization.
154. The organization asks for news ideas from all levels.
155. Unusual behavior is tolerated with reasonable limits.
156. A high degree of trust is common among members of the organization.
157. The organization‟s structure, policies, and procedures are well defined and effectively
communicated to new employees.
158. This organization encourages innovation and experimentation in order to cope with
changes in the environment.
159. Task forces (or other such groups) are regularly appointed to help the organization
understand new situations or problems.
160. Organizational structures, policies, and procedures are quickly and efficiently modified in
response inside and outside new situations or problems.
161. The organization demonstrates responsibility for its impact on the community and
environment.
162. The organization responds swiftly to opportunities.
163. The organization regularly and systematically seeks new information to improve its
products and services.
164. Once a commitment is made to a new way of doing things, the organization provides
enough energy and resources to support it.
165. The organization adapts to changing situations, rather than functioning in a mechanical or
robot-like way.
Page 99
Maginnis 88
SA MA A D MD SD
166. The organization displays an interest in the core needs of its customers and clients.
167. The organization supports the community by providing assistance where needed.
168. Well thought out rewards exist for people willing to discuss problems.
169. Management normally sets ever-increasing standards for themselves, in addition, they
insist on being held accountable for broad measures of performance.
170. Management explicitly releases information concerning new major opportunities,
potential rewards, and the business resources required to pursue those opportunities.
171. Offices for the organization‟s top management look more like a command center than
simply signs of excessiveness and opulence (i.e. not called, “Mahogany Row”).
172. Management is cautious of baseless “happy” talk regarding business conditions.
173. By design, everybody is a leader, everybody is responsible, and everybody acts.
174. The organization sponsors carefully plans retreats focused on intellectual tasks aimed at
the head while also bonding the hearts of team members to foster unity.
175. As most employees, I understand the organization‟s vision and mission statements.
176. Specific steps and timetables to achieve this mission have been clearly detailed.
177. As most employees, I participated in developing or updating the organization‟s statement
of values and guiding principles. I am also personally proud of the results.
178. My work contributes to the general meaning of my life.
179. I have often had a strong spiritual experience at work.
180. The organization formally hires for character and trains for skills.
181. I often pray or meditate at work.
182. I am able to express much of my total self at work.
183. I am able to express much of my complete creativity at work.
184. I am able to express much of my total feelings at work.
185. I am able to express much of my complete soul at work.
186. I am able to express much of my total intelligence at work
187. I am able to express much of my full humor at work.
188. How much downsizing has occurred over the last three years -0%, -25%, -50%, -75%, or -100%
Page 100
Maginnis 89
Workplace Values, Satisfaction, and Attachment Scale
(Birth date: ___/___/___)
For each of the following statements check the box that best indicates the extent of your agreement or disagreement as it
describes your personal experience with the company or organization for which you are currently employed.
SA = Strongly Agree
MA = Moderately Agree
A = Agree to some extent
D = Disagree to some extent
MD = Moderately Disagree
SD = Strongly Disagree
SA MA A D MD SD
189. My organization is sincere in its attempt to understand my point of view.
190. My organization creates an environment of openness and trust.
191. I trust the leadership of my organization.
192. My organization treats employees with respect.
193. I am satisfied with the face-to-face communications that I have with my manager.
194. My organization is receptive to my ideas that would improve out business.
195. My organization encourages me to seek out new and better ways of doing things.
196. My organization wants to know about service and operational problems so they can be
fixed effectively and the solutions become well-documented parts of the new processes.
197. I have the opportunity to let members of my organization know how I feel.
198. This organization has a great deal of personal meaning to me.
199. I am proud to say that I work for my organization.
200. I care about the future of my organization.
201. Few things are more important to me than work.
202. I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with this organization.
203. I feel “part of the family” at my organization.
204. It would take significant change in my present circumstances to cause me to leave.
205. I really feel as if this organization‟s problems are my own.
206. One of the major reasons I continue to work for this organization is that I believe loyalty
is important and therefore I feel a sense of moral obligation to remain.
207. Things were better in the days when people stayed with one organization for most of their
careers.
208. Employees tend to stay about two years or less at my organization.
209. I am not afraid of what might happen if I quit my job without another one lined up.
210. I do not believe that a person must always be loyal to his or her organization.
211. Jumping from organization to organization does not seem at all unethical to me.
212. I have actively sought employment at another organization in the last 12 months.
213. When I took this position, it was not my first choice.
Page 101
Maginnis 90
SA MA A D MD SD
214. This is just a job for now; I plan to get a job somewhere else in the future.
215. I intend to change departments or employers in the near future.
216. My life would be overly disrupted if I decided to leave my organization right now.
217. I think I could easily become as attached to another organization as I am to this one.
218. I feel that I have too few options to consider leaving this organization.
219. I do not think that wanting to be a company man or woman is sensible anymore.
220. I continue to work for this organization because leaving would require considerable
sacrifice, as a new organization may not match the overall benefits I have here.
221. I feel emotionally “used up” at the end of the day.
222. I feel I am working too hard at my job.
223. I feel fatigued when I get up in the morning and have to face another day on the job.
224. I feel frustrated by my job.
225. I feel like I am at the end of my rope.
226. I feel I am positively influencing other people‟s lives through my work.
227. I feel exhilarated after a day at work.
228. The organization inspires the very best in me.
229. My abilities are being put to good work.
230. I have accomplished many worthwhile things in this job.
231. In my work, I deal with emotional problems very calmly.
232. My working conditions are conducive and pleasant.
233. My co-workers get along with each other.
234. My management creates an awareness of customer needs.
235. I am able to keep busy all of the time.
236. My job is secure.
237. My organization recognizes and rewards me well when I take on extra duties and
responsibilities in my work.
238. I usually show up at work a little early and then the mornings just seem to fly by.
239. My company provides educational opportunities that are well tied to business goals.
240. My values are similar to those of the organization.
241. I am aware of the amount and type of training that my organization is planning for me in
the coming year.
242. My manager provides sufficient coaching and guidance to help me achieve my work
objectives.
243. I often find it difficult to agree with the organization‟s policies on important matters
relating to its employees.
244. I am proud of my organization‟s involvement in the community.
245. I am treated fairly at my organization.
246. Sexual (or other) harassment is not a problem at my organization.
Page 102
Maginnis 91
SA MA A D MD SD
247. The information that I receive from the organization is credible and straightforward.
248. I understand expected performance standards, and they include ethical behavior.
249. I know and feel comfortable with my organization‟s code of conduct.
250. Complaints are handled professionally at my organization.
251. My organization demonstrates value for being a well-regarded employer.
252. My company provides educational opportunities that are well tied to business goals.
253. My organization has a mission, vision, values, and objectives that are clearly
communicated and enforced.
254. The employee handbook clearly communicated the organization‟s stance with respect to
values, purposes, standards, and motivations.
255. My organization values diversity.
256. My management is flexible, customer oriented, and clearly focused on their goals.
257. Backstabbing and office gossip are common at my organization.
258. At my organization, people laugh when you mention work / life balance.
259. I am aware of situations of bullying, bribing, bait-and-switch, or planned obsolescence
marketing techniques at my organization.
260. My management usually makes short-term quick fix and politically expedient decisions.
261. My organization aggressively supports quality programs, such as TQM, SEI CMM, or
ISO 9000.
262. I feel my organization is proactive, compassionate, and honorable.
263. My organization‟s HR department‟s know-how provides a competitive advantage.
264. I know what I need to do in order to be considered for promotion.
265. My organization provides excellent benefits.
266. My organization has an excellent retirement program.
267. I am able to use the latest technology in my job effectively.
268. My manager provides sufficient coaching and guidance to help me achieve my work
objectives.
269. My manager provides me advice on specific opportunities for exposure or visibility.
270. In the last year, my manager has shared information with me about problems or trends in
the company that influenced my career plans.
271. I have discussed my career goals with my supervisor or manager over the last year.
272. I would freely reveal undiscovered mistakes to my supervisor or manager.
273. I often discuss personal or trivial matters with my supervisor or manager.
274. When my supervisor walks into the room, it suddenly gets quiet.
275. My organization is a better place to work than most others.
276. My organization is enormously profitable.
277. My organization has a long history of strong healthy growth.
278. I would recommend my job to a friend.
279. I owe a great deal to my organization.
Page 103
Maginnis 92
Religion and Spirituality Questionnaire
(Birth date: ___/___/___)
All responses will be treated in strict confidence. In no case will the names of individuals or organizations be disclosed.
280. Please write the current religious affiliations, if any, of your parents, yourself, and your spouse.
Mother: Father: Self: Spouse:
281. How often do you attend religious services: -Every Week -Occasionally -At Holidays -Never
282. How would you define religion? How important is it in your life?
283. How would you define spirituality? How important is it in your life?
284. Very briefly, what are the main differences between religion and spirituality for you?
285. Please list briefly some of the basic values that guide your life.
286. Do you feel that your sense of spirituality has made a difference in your work life? Please explain.
287. Very briefly, describe what you feel the role of spirituality has in the workplace.
Page 104
Maginnis 93
288. Any recommendations on how organizations might foster a fruitful role for spirituality in the workplace?
289. What topics of Spirituality have you ever discussed with your co-workers?
290. What are the things you most often pray for?
291. What gets you through hard times at work?
292. What things has your organization done that you are most proud of?
293. What things has your organization done that you are most ashamed of?
294. Please give the name, if any, of an organization or individual that you would regard as a role model in fostering
spiritual values at work:
295. How many of the following programs does your organization have? (Check all that apply)
a. -Twelve Step programs f. -Community service news k. - Psychotherapy
b. -Wellness groups g. -C.S. at company expense l. -Mandatory drug/coordination testing
c. -Health programs h. - Flextime m. -Diversity training
d. -Consciousness raising i. - Mediation groups n. -Prayer groups
e. -Family counseling j. - Stress Management o. -Other:
Page 105
Maginnis 94
296. How would you describe the organization that you work for (Check only one)?
a. -Religion-Based organization (example: Desert Cattle and Citrus Ranch, Orlando Florida (Mormon)
Autocratic with rigid Biblical values. Spirit and Soul are real and essential to all aspects of life.
b. -Evolutionary organization (example: YMCA and Tom‟s of Maine)
Motivated by social injustice and open change, and is opposed to utilitarianism and discrimination.
c. -Recovering organization (example: Alcoholic Anonymous)
True democracy with explicit rules to overcome previous inabilities to learn from failure.
d. -Socially Responsible organization (example: Ben & Jerry‟s)
Strong commitment to the environment and social causes without traditional MBA values and practices.
e. -Values-Based organization (example: Kinston Technology Company or General Electric)
Relies strongly on professional management and is motivated by consciousness without religion. Family
oriented with common values, where Spirit and Soul are not relevant to day-to-day activities.
f. -Not based on any type of deep commitments organization
297. How would you describe the home that you live in (Check only one)?
a. -Religion-Based b. -Evolutionary c. -Recovering
d. -Socially Responsible e. -Values-Based f. -Without any deep commitments
298. Are you more -Outspoken or more -Internal concerning your spiritual beliefs?
299. Describe any situations when you experienced, if any, a deity or higher power at work in your life.
300. What do you know first hand about a Higher Power/God, that which you have not read or heard about to know?
301. How would you define faith? How important is it in your life?
302. Would you describe your faith as -Strong, -Weak, -Lost, -Without Faith, or -Unsure?
303. How would you describe that faith in acquaintances as well as your own personal faith was developed?
304. If you believe in the Christian “Great Commission” ( -Yes, -No), how many people have you baptized in the
last 5 years and how many have they baptized? Baptized by me: _____ Baptized by those I baptized: _____
Page 106
Maginnis 95
APPENDIX B – PowerPoint Presentation: What’s Wrong, Part 1
Page 117
Maginnis 106
APPENDIX C – PowerPoint Presentation: What’s Wrong, Part 2
