Jerry Biberman and Len Tischler are happy to announce the publication by Palgrave Macmillan of their new edited book, Spirituality in Business: Theory, Practice, and Future Directions.  The book contains original contributions by many MSR members.

            In its opening chapter, Jerry Biberman and Len Tischler present a  model for understanding and researching spirituality in organizations.         Keiko Krahnke and David Cooperrider follow with a discussion of how Appreciative Inquiry (AI) provides a way to move mankind beyond the machine model of human organizations toward a model of unleashing the wisdom within us.  Gerry Cavanagh and Mary Ann Hazen show how  spiritual discernment during decision-making supports sustainability.

            Marjo Lips-Wiersma and Venkataraman Nilakant try to move the discussion from what spirituality can do for a company to its intrinsic value and goodness.  Pete Olden addresses Spirituality in health care.  He shows that through patients increasingly asking for spirituality as part of their treatment, health care practitioners and organizations are being forced to change their approaches to include spirituality.   

David Steingard describes Intentional Intelligence: achievement is based on action, action is based on thought, and thought is based on a flow of connection between mind and "The Field".  By enhancing this connection between mind and the Field, one's thinking, actions and achievement are enhanced.  Jody Fry explains how Spiritual Leadership is an emerging concept that describes how a leader's inner life (developed by spiritual practices) positively impacts effort, performance and reward. 

            Dennis Heaton and Jane Schmidt-Wilk demonstrate that human development is needed for leadership development to have its intended impacts, and that human development at its most advanced stages is associated with spiritual intelligence, which can come from systematic cultivation of the Transcendent.          Margaret Benefiel and Kerry Hamilton offer two in-depth examples – of a company and an executive – of using cooperative inquiry (a form of action research) to help participants dive more deeply inside, develop new frames, arrive at new choices and decisions, and gain deeper wisdom. 

David Boje discusses how, although critical theorists have often been critical of spirituality in business, critical theory and spirituality in business can co-habitate.  Kathy Lund Dean, Charles Fornaciari, and Scott R. Safranski map and explain the ethical problems that can arise when enacting spirituality in organizations.  They offer us guidelines for staying ethically correct. 

            Robert Marx, Judi Neal, Karen Manz, and Charles Manz  provide exercises (approaches) for introducing spirituality to an audience in a non-intimidating manner.

            Finally, Len Tischler and Jerry Biberman examine the need to expand the discussion of spirituality in business into non-linear areas, and whether, in order to do so, it is necessary to come up with a totally new paradigm, or, conversely, whether it is possible to do so within the confines of the current paradigm.

            Individual orders may be purchased from Palgrave with a 20% discount by using the form below:

NEW AT PALGRAVE!

Spirituality in Business

Theory, Practice, and Future Directions

Edited by Jerry Biberman and Len Tischler

An innovative look at some of the latest research on the intersection of spirituality and business.

JERRY BIBERMAN is Professor of Management at the <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Scranton</st1:placename>

LEN TISCHLER is Professor of Management and Chair of the Management and Marketing Department at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Scranton</st1:placename></st1:place>

240 pp. / 0-230-60371-8 / $79.95 cl.