Spirituality and Leader Forgiveness: The Role of Spiritual Self- Regulation

Abstract

This article makes a case for forgiveness by organizational leaders and argues that spirituality empowers leaders to overcome the psychological difficulty of forgiveness. The role of spirituality in transforming the meaning of phenomena related to forgiveness is discussed in the context of monotheistic religions. It is argued that leader’s spirituality replaces leader’s self- centered self-regulation (which is focused on gaining mundane resources) with a spiritual self-regulation which involves consciousness of spiritual goals, calmness due to transformed meaning of phenomena including suffering, and empathy and compassion toward the transgressor. Spiritual self-regulation is argued to reduce the likelihood of perceiving transgressions, and when transgressions are perceived, to increase the likelihood of forgiveness by leaders.