Maximizing Employee Performance: The Relationship Between Workplace Spirituality & Organizational Effectiveness

Introduction

In the Western world, the objective of organizations is to maximize shareholder value. There is a relationship between workplace spirituality and the performance of employees. World business leaders have developed management models to support organizational effectiveness, and they include Great Man theory and trait theory as well as behavioral theory (Brooker & Boyce, 2017). According to contingency theory, managers should develop flexible approaches to management concepts depending on the prevailing circumstances. The spiritual criticism of this theory is that they do not explain leadership from the religious point of view. Instead, the models concentrate on how to develop effective and efficient business leaders, and they tend to be statistic making them less responsive to the changing business environment. The DeVoe School of Business thought it wise to emerge these leadership theories with the Scriptures from the Bible to develop a link between kingdom and leadership. DeVoe's virtuous business model is based on the model of developing leaders which has been applicable in the US Army for many years. From the spiritual point of view, successful leaders must combine the body, mind, and soul. The central image of these leadership elements and domains is Jesus Christ who exhibits values of a virtuous leader. The scripture supports leadership development skills.

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According to DeVoe Report, virtue is the moral behavior of a person. A virtuous person shows characteristics that indicate good practice that not many people have and portray in their daily lives (Brooker & Boyce, 2017). According to Cam, Zack and Sarah (2015) virtue is the aspect of upholding moral standards as a leader to deliver value to the stakeholders (Cam, Zack & Sarah, 2015). They see ethical benefits as part of their obligations even though many organizations do not emphasize on such factors.

The Virtuous Business Model

A virtuous business model is the management model that helps to evaluate market trends and develop new circles that would help to exploit new opportunities and deliver value to the customers. The new cycles impact businesses positively by strengthening the business model (Casadesus-Masanell & Ricart, 2011). Companies using static models find it difficult to compete effectively in the related industries due to their slow response to changes in the market. Therefore, a virtuous model is the management framework encompassing new behaviors that would improve organizational performance.

The purpose of the model is to weaken the cycles of the competitors. Every business decision has positive or negative impacts. For example, technological disruption in an organization depends on the internal and external factors (Casadesus-Masanell & Ricart, 2011). A good organization would adopt new technologies quickly than the competitors weakening their competitiveness. For example, moral organizations apply techniques like expanding their social activities and press releases to enhance interaction with the stakeholders; thus building trust.

The virtuous business model was developed to improve the social activities of organizations. World business leaders have realized that as they engage in business, they must consider the interdependence of business partners (Casadesus-Masanell & Ricart, 2011). The purpose of an organization goes beyond just realizing profits. They believe the impact of their social activities on the environment and society. Businesses implement the virtuous business model by adding cycles that create value to the stakeholders and sustain business operations. Through market research, organizations understand new cycles that add value.

Case Study Question Response

The human resource function can support the organization's mission of reducing the impact on the environment by enhancing process redesign. The human resource function influences the process activities, but it can achieve this by ensuring adequate training and development (Anoe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart & Wright, 2015). It should ensure design engineers undergo specialized training to develop their skills of devising the products in a way that reduces wastage. It is a good idea for the management to have a seminary professor since he will help the executive understand fundamental ethical decisions and its value in the company and the stakeholders.

Virtuous business model can be used in place of a seminary professor to make ethical decisions since the model helps the leadership map on moral reasoning to change the mindset of the stakeholders and support social values (Crossan, Mazutis & Seijts, 2014). On the contrary, seminary professor may not exhaust all avenues of moral activities and does not encourage creativity among the employees since the leadership makes decisions based on lectures. However, in both cases, managers find important facts to make ethical decisions.

The primary strength of virtuous business model is that it focuses on changing character of the stakeholders. Human character is central in determining the culture and structure of an organization. Once implemented successfully, it is not easy to change the behavior to unethical behaviors; hence it offers lasting solutions (Anoe et al. 2015). However, the area to improve is the fact that values and virtues come from culture, and this is because people have different cultures which might be destructive to others.

On the other hand, the first initiative to take in implementing virtuous model is ensuring effective employee training and development so that they acquire, moral values and practice them in the workplace (Anoe et al. 2015). The purpose of developing employee skills is to change their behavior and acquire new values including virtues. However, the organization will not just initiate training without assessing employee needs to know their weaknesses.

Additionally, there will be employee engagement in the planning process and this is the initiative that supports transparency and accountability. The leadership must hear the voice of the employees and their concerns regarding business values. Involving them from the beginning changes their mindset and focus on ways of fostering integrity and trust as well as improving their commitment. Therefore, the initiatives contribute to developing a virtuous organization and leaders.

Conclusion

Global business leaders understand the importance of interdependence between organizations. Profit generation is not the only responsibility of an organization. The role of virtuous business model is to develop cycles that add value to the stakeholders by increasing organizational competitiveness while weakening competitors' cycles (Crossan et al. 2014). Virtues considered in business include transparency, honesty, integrity, respect, and engagement. Managers should focus on ethical decisions by employing a virtuous business model.

References

Anoe, R. Hollenbeck, J. Gerhart, B & Wright, P. (2015). Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

Brooker, M & Boyce, J. (2017). Virtuous leaders & organizations. The DeVoe Report Spring/Summer 2017 edition.

Cam, C. Zack, H & Sarah, S. (2015). Virtuous leadership - insights for the 21st century. The Journal of Management Development 34 (9), 1-22.

Crossan, M. Mazutis, D & Seijts, G. (2014). In Search of Virtue: The Role of Virtues, Values and Character Strengths in Ethical Decision Making. Journal of Business Ethics 113(4), 567-581.

Casadesus-Masanell, R & Ricart, J. (2011). How to Design a Winning Business Model. Harvard Business Review.