Spirituality in the workplace: The new frontier of HRD

Citation

Fenwick T & Lange EA (1998) Spirituality in the workplace: The new frontier of HRD. Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, 12 (1), pp. 63-87. http://journals.msvu.ca/index.php/cjsae/article/download/2017/1759

Abstract
In this critical essay we argue that recent human resource development (HRD) initiatives in building learning communities and appropriating employees' holistic development are exploiting spiritual needs and offering promises traditionally fulfilled through spiritual search and worship. We trace HRD's expanding curriculum into areas of spirituality and critically analyse examples of spirituality-based HRD programs, showing how such programs embed contradictions, are pervaded by a fundamentalist zeal, invade individuals' privacy, demand surrender while resisting critical discernment, appropriate selected promises of spirituality, and meld whole persons to the global marketplace. Finally, we explore how spirituality might be integrated with work and learning through alternative approaches that are more ethical, ecumenical, ecological, and inclusive.

Journal
Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education: Volume 12, Issue 1

People

Professor Tara Fenwick

Emeritus Professor, Education