In the beginning was the word : the discursive construction of spiritual work and spiritual workers

Abstract

The methods of critical discourse analysis are used to shed light onto workplace spirituality. This research is premised upon the idea that reality is socially constructed, and language is the central mechanism through which constructed realities take shape. Using a representative corpus for the purpose of analysis, insights are offered into the objects, concepts and subject positions established by the discourse of workplace spirituality to better understand the particular reality authors of these texts are attempting to construct. The manifestation of workplace spirituality is evident to the extent that workers have developed higher levels of consciousness, appreciate the interconnected reality of their organizational role, and improve upon their capacity to lead in particular ways. These collectively are the signs of spiritual workers, and it is largely incumbent upon members of organizations to construct their realities accordingly as an existential exercise. Once workers have changed, spiritual work can happen - the second manifestation of workplace spirituality. Spiritual work is constructed to be motivating, personally meaningful, and to some extent socially responsible. Although there are specific qualities of spiritual work presented, it rests largely upon the workers' capacity to make sense of their work in particular ways. The work organization is also advised to adopt several practices to help facilitate this change. The combined development of spirituality in organizations is made meaningful as advantageous, most commonly in ways that promote the economic objectives of organizations. To the extent that this discourse subsumes spirituality as a means to economic ends, it does ideological work. The actors who participate in constructing this reality employ various strategies of legitimization to reinforce their message and bolster their subject positions as credible agents of change. Moreover, the meanings they attach to spiritual work and spiritual workers are drawn from numerous other texts embedded with ideas about spirituality and other discourses prominent within organizational studies. The tracing of these intertextual linkages, combined with the appreciation of power and strategy, and the location of the discourse of workplace spirituality within a broader social context, all contribute to our understanding of how this discourse came to be structured as such.