Spiritual and religious struggles in the workplace

Abstract

Recent research on spirituality in the workplace has documented its potential benefits. This article complements these prior writings by providing a brief overview of spiritual and religious struggles in work settings. Struggles could occur at the organizational level, as leaders wrestle with decisions about whether and how to encourage expressions of spirituality or religion in the workplace. Other conflicts could surround interpersonal disagreements in religious beliefs or values. Some employees may also experience more private spiritual struggles at work involving the pursuit of virtue, doubts and shifts in belief, crises of meaning, and anger or other negative feelings toward God or a Higher Power. Although any of these spiritual or religious challenges could create stress in work settings, they could also serve as catalysts for growth and positive change. We propose that the time is ripe for increased research on spiritual and religious struggles within the workplace.