I'd like to mention that Denny Kernochan, Judith White and I have an article on "Spirituality and the Management Teacher: Reflections of Three Buddhists on Compassion, Mindfulness, and Selflessness in the Classroom" in the new issue of The Journal of Management Inquiry. I've reproduced the abstract and a small part of the whole article below, as I thought some members of the list might be interested in it.
ABSTRACT
Despite the growing importance of spirituality in management, the management educa-
tion literature says little concerning the teacher's self and even less concerning a
teacher's spiritual self. This article addresses the issue of integrating spiritual values and
teaching by reflecting on the experiences of three management teachers. To explore indi-
vidual aspects of their Buddhist practices, one author examines how the spiritual value
of compassion has changed the experience of teaching, a second discusses mindfulness,
and a third the no-self. They then reflect collectively on those experiences, indicate oppor-
tunities for research, and call for further discussion with management professors from
diverse spiritual traditions. Their experience suggests that integrating spiritual values
into the teaching workplace is highly rewarding and also less problematic than might be
expected.
EXCERPTS
Thus far, management teachers with an interest in spirituality have largely focused on pedagogy, course structure and content... Largely absent from this discussion on teaching spirituality is the question of how teachers can integrate their personal spiritual values into their own workplace. This omission is remarkable for several reasons. First, a logical extension of the topic of management, spirituality and religion would seem to be the integration of teaching with the teacher's personal spirituality...
...Palmer's (1998) The Courage to Teach has made the inner life of the teacher a prominent subject. Palmer characterizes the education literature as an inquiry into four questions: (1) "the 'what' question-what subjects shall we teach?" (2) "the 'how' question-what methods and techniques are required to teach well?," (3) "the 'why' question-for what purpose and to what ends do we teach?," and (4) "the 'who' question-who is the self that teaches?" (1998, p. 4).
This paper explores "the 'who' question."...
Despite its importance in the field of education, the management education literature provides little guidance about teaching management with either the whole or spiritual self...
This paper addresses the issue of the teacher's spiritual self in the management classroom by reflecting on the efforts of three teachers to integrate their spiritual values into their teaching. Although our mutual starting point was Buddhism and Buddhist values, the paper is primarily concerned with the broader question of integrating the spiritual self with everyday management teaching...
It would be stimulating to read articles by our colleagues of various traditions such as Muslim, Mormon, Taoist, Christian, Sufi, agnostic, Hindu, Wiccan and others. How do they integrate their spiritual lives with their work as management teachers? What obstacles do they face and how do they overcome them? Has their perspective on teaching changed?
- Don McCormick