In the last two decades, there is an emergence of a new paradigm, namely the spirituality paradigm in the business management discipline. Organizations have realised the importance of spirituality for organizational performance. However, the concept is underutilised and needs to be leveraged beyond the human resource function.
- Rise of Spirituality Dimension: Spirituality has a very long history. It has been discussed and debated over the centuries. What is new and is of interest for this article is the use of spirituality in the business management discipline. In the last two decades, there is a new dimension, namely the spiritual dimension is on the rise in business management.
- Search for meanings through spirituality: Spirituality is defined in a number of ways, and there are different views on its definition, which is beyond the scope of this article. Though, one of the main parts of these definitions is the search for meaning in life and the role of spirituality in fulfilling this meaning in life. It is totally an isolated process from Religion, though common people try to mix up both in ignorance. While religion is usually a doctrinal set of beliefs and practices, spirituality is an individualistic practice that is to leverage a sense of purpose in life.
- Benefits of Spirituality Dimension: Organizations have realised the importance of spirituality for organizational performance. In the Indian context, there are a few studies in which researchers have done empirical studies and found that in workplaces where spirituality is nurtured, respected and motivated, their employees are more consistent, satisfied and committed, and their productivity is high (Pillania, 2021).
- Underutilised Concept: However, initially and even today, the use and research on spirituality are, to a good extent is limited to the human resource function. By doing so, to be honest, the concept is not given the place that it deserves, and in fact, the concept is underutilised. Even within human resource function, its use has not reached a level to which it can be leveraged for driving organizational performance in the Indian context.
- Leveraging Spiratulity Dimension: The concept of the spirituality dimension is a powerful concept, and it should be leveraged strategically across functional areas.
Before organizations go for leveraging spirituality dimensions in India, they need to understand the state of spirituality in India and its different parts, as India is a diverse country (Pillania, 2021; Pillania, 2020). Once this part is taken care of organizations need to look for ways and means to leverage spirituality beyond the human resource function.
In the international context, there is a rise in the use of the spirituality dimension in marketing. Though the use of the spirituality dimension in the corporate sector is limited in India, the spiritual/religious gurus have started using marketing to reach out to their followers and get new followers. Some of these have also started selling their products using the spirituality aspects.
Spirituality is basically a concept that transcends the Human Resource function. Being spiritually oriented tranquilises a person and hence forges better focus and indirectly better performance at the workplace. It also improves resilience in a person by making them mentally strong. It is imperative here to note that spirituality is an intrinsic aspect that can drive ethical and value-oriented decision-making and hence, must not be confined to Human Resource alone. Rather, it is something that should be practised as an inherent culture across the organization for improved performance. Thus, spirituality can be leveraged in every organization beyond the human resource function for improved performance.