New Age or Age Old: Classical Management Theory and Traditional Organized Religion as Underpinnings of the Contemporary Organizational Spirituality Movement

Abstract

Spirituality in the workplace is a particularly prominent topic in the contemporary business world, as well as in the academic one. To date, this movement has been positioned in the literature as a decidedly modern phenomena rooted in contemporary organizational theory and so-called new age spirituality. This article posits that such a perspective is incomplete at best and at worst lacks academic integrity. Thus, the major objective of this article is to trace the influence of long-established, seminal management theory and traditional organized religion on the spirituality in the workplace movement, demonstrating that it is at least partially these socalled age old theories and belief systems that have undergirded and spawned this new age phenomena.