Workplace Spirituality

SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING OF WORKERS:
EXPLORING A NEGLECTED
PERFORMANCE ANTECEDENT
by
James B. Maginnis II, B.S.
An Applications of Technology Management project
submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of
Masters of Business Administration
University of Phoenix
September 18, 2001
Approved by Steven Cook
Applications of Technology Management Instructor
Program Authorized
to Offer Degree Business Administration / Technology Management
Date September 18, 2001

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University of Phoenix
ABSTRACT
Spiritual Well-Being of Workers: Exploring a Neglected Performance Antecedent
by James Maginnis
Project Instructor: Professor Steven Cook
Department: Business Administration
Although it has been suggested that U.S. investors often check corporate values
and ethics, it would seem that the principal criteria is usually only whether the executive
team is perceived as having the necessary management skills to carry the company.
Sadly, most organizations are wholly over-managed and under-led with bureaucratic,
arrogant, and uncreative cultures. MBA schools that turn out managers and not leaders
certainly don't help. The result is poorly implemented strategies, acquisitions without the
needed synergy, costly re-engineering, and downsizing and quality programs that fail to
deliver. Other spiritual theorists and this study substantiate that worker performance and
corporate profits, however, can be increased by efforts specifically aimed at boosting
personal and workplace spirituality. Dr. Scharmer calls it the "Blind Spot" of a leadership
stuck in the past. In a completed pilot study, strong correlations were found between the
standard Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale and a developed Spiritual Development
Scale. In addition, strong correlations were also found between a Workplace Spirituality
Well-Being Scale (based on the Open Organizational Profile survey and assessments
guidelines from Kotter and Mitroff) individually each with a developed Workplace
Commitment, Satisfaction, Attachment, and Values Scale as well as with a Profit Scale.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ...........................................................................................................................i
TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................ii
LIST OF FIGURES...............................................................................................................v
GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................vi
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................. 1
The Situation.............................................................................................................. 5
In Church.............................................................................................................. 5
In Government and War ....................................................................................... 7
In Business......................................................................................................... 16
Research Background ............................................................................................. 20
Research Questionnaires and Hypotheses.............................................................. 22
LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................................................... 24
Acknowledging the Human Spirit ............................................................................. 25
Psychological States................................................................................................ 28
Organizational Climate............................................................................................. 29
Spiritual Theory........................................................................................................ 31
Characteristics of the Open Organization ................................................................ 32
Workplace Models for Fostering Spirituality............................................................. 35
METHODOLOGY.............................................................................................................. 38

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Design...................................................................................................................... 38
Population and Sample............................................................................................ 38
Instrumentation ........................................................................................................ 39
Personal Information................................................................................................ 40
Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale ............................................................................ 40
Spiritual Development Scale.................................................................................... 40
Worldview Attitudes Scale ....................................................................................... 41
General Self-Efficacy Scale ..................................................................................... 41
Workplace Spirituality Well-Being Scale .................................................................. 42
Workplace Values, Satisfaction, and Attachment .................................................... 43
Religion and Spirituality Questionnaire .................................................................... 44
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION................................................................................ 45
Characteristics of Respondents ............................................................................... 45
Analysis of the data.................................................................................................. 46
Research Question 1 – SDS vs. Ellison Scale.................................................... 46
Research Question 2 – WAPS vs. Ellison Scale ................................................ 47
Research Question 3 – Generalized Open Organizational Profile...................... 48
Research Question 4 – WVSA and Profit vs. WSWB......................................... 49
IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................. 53
Review of the Study................................................................................................. 53
Implications for Human Resource Development...................................................... 55
Creating and Maintaining an Environment of Vision ................................................ 59

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SUMMARY........................................................................................................................ 62
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................... 65
APPENDIX A - Project Surveys ........................................................................................ 77
Project Overview ................................................................................................. 78
Consent Form ...................................................................................................... 80
Personal Information for Research Questionnaires.................................... 81
Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale ................................................................... 82
Spiritual Development Scale ............................................................................ 83
Worldview Attitudes and Personality Scale................................................... 84
General Self-Efficacy Scale.............................................................................. 85
Workplace Spiritual Well-Being Scale............................................................ 86
Workplace Values, Satisfaction, and Attachment Scale ............................ 90
Religion and Spirituality Questionnaire.......................................................... 93
APPENDIX B – PowerPoint Presentation: What's Wrong, Part 1...................................... 96
APPENDIX C – PowerPoint Presentation: What's Wrong, Part 2.......................... 107

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 – The Open Organization Model ..................................................................... 31
Figure 2 – Mitroff and Denton Business Models for Fostering Spirituality ..................... 36
Figure 3 – Spiritual Development Scale vs. Ellison Scale ............................................. 46
Figure 4 – Worldview Attitude Scale vs. Ellison Scale................................................... 47
Figure 5 – The Completed Open Organization Model................................................... 48
Figure 6 – Comparison of WVSA and Profit vs. WSWB................................................ 49
Figure 7 – Affective, Normative, and Continuance vs. Ellison SWBS............................ 50
Figure 8 – Comparison of All Scales to Ellison SWB .................................................... 51
Figure 9 – Pearson-r Correlation Analysis of Primary Scales........................................ 51
Figure 10 – Pearson-r Correlation Analysis of Subscales ............................................. 52
Figure 11 – Comparing 20th and 21st Century Organizational Cultures ....................... 61

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GLOSSARY
Work. Is any labor, task, duty, and/or activity associated with an individuals' means of
livelihood. (Merriam-Webster)
Spirituality. Is the quality or state of being free from corrupting influences. (Merriam-
Webster) The basic desire to find and model an ultimate personal meaning and purpose
in an interconnected life. (Maginnis, 2001) It has been described as a process or sacred
journey; the essence of life principle of a person; the experience of the radical truth of
things; a belief that relates a person to the world; giving meaning to existence; any
personal transcendence beyond the present context of reality; a personal quest to find
meaning and purpose in life; and a relationship or sense of connection with Mystery,
Higher Being, God, or Universe. (Burkhardt, Holistic Nursing Practice, 1989)
Spiritual Well-Being. An indicator or expression of satisfaction with one's life and a
perception of life as having meaning and ultimate purpose (Moberg, 1971; Ellison, 1983;
Paloutzian and Ellison, 1982; Stoll, 1989) across three dimensions of relationships (Stoll,
1979; Banks, 1980; Hunelmann et al., 1985): transpersonal (i.e. with a Higher
Being/God), interpersonal (i..e. with family, friends, and significant others), and
intrapersonal (i.e. with one's inner self). Spiritual Well-Being is operationalized by scores
on the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) (Ellison, 1983) and described by the categories
and properties discovered by Hundelmann et al. (1985).

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Spiritual Dimension. Has been described as a unifying force within individuals
integrating and transcending all other dimensions; providing meaning in life; a common
bond between individuals including God; and a perception of faith. (Burkhardt, Holistic
Nursing Practice, 1989)
Spiritual Distress. Is evidenced when an individual expresses concern with the meaning
of life/death; manifests anger towards a Higher Being/God; verbalizes internal conflicts;
questions meaning of one's existence; seeks spiritual assistance; questions ethical
implication of circumstances; and uses gallows humor. (Kim, The North American Nursing
Diagnosis Association, 1987)
Self-Efficacy. Is an individual's judgment of his/her capacity to successfully accomplish a
particular outcome, and so is task specific. (Bandura, 1977)
General Self-Efficacy. Is an individual's judgment of his/her capacity to successfully
accomplish outcomes in new situations characterized by unfamiliarity, uncertainty, and
ambiguity. General self-efficacy is operationalized by scores on the General Self-efficacy
Scale (GSES). (Sherer et al., 1982; Sherer and Adams, 1983) The GSES along with a 6-
item Social Self-Efficacy subscale and 7 filler items make up a less employed 30-item
Self-Efficacy Scale.
Affective Commitment. Is present when employees remain with an organization
because they want to, instead of remaining because they need to. Affective commitment
is the relative strength of identification with and involvement in an organization that is

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characterized by three factors: 1) a strong belief in and acceptance of the organization's
goals and values; 2) a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the
organization; and 3) a strong desire to maintain membership in an organization. (Porter et
al., 1974, 1984) Affective Commitment is operationalized by scores on the Affective
Commitment Scale (ACS). (Meyer and Allen, 1991)
Normative Commitment. Refers to a worker's feeling of obligation to remain with an
organization. A worker is influenced by pre-entry experiences (e.g. familial/cultural
socialization) as well as post-entry experiences (e.g. organizational socialization) that
stress the importance of loyalty. Normative Commitment is operationalized by scores on
the Normative Commitment Scale (NCS). (Meyer and Allen, 1991)
Continuance Commitment. Is the commitment based upon the costs that a worker
associates with leaving an organization. As time accrues with an organization, a worker
begins to recognize the accumulation of investments such as benefits, skills training, and
seniority privileges. As a worker recognizes the accumulation of individually made
investments, referred to by Becker (1960) as "side bets," the availability of alternatives
becomes increasingly limited. He/she begins to feel the need to remain associated with a
particular organization to maintain this investment. Continuance Commitment is
operationalized by scores on the Continuance Commitment Scale (CCS). (Meyer and
Allen, 1991)
Organizational Climate. Is a relatively enduring characteristic of an organization that
distinguishes it from other organizations; and (a) embodies members collective

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perceptions about their organization with respect to such dimensions as autonomy, trust,
cohesiveness, support, recognition, innovation, and fairness; (b) is produced by member
interaction; (c) serves as a basis for interpreting the situation; (d) reflects the prevalent
norms, values, and attitudes of the organization's culture; and (e) acts as a source of
influence for shaping behavior. (Moran and Volkwien, 1992, p.20)
Transpersonal Relationship with a Higher Being/God. Evidenced when an individual
believes in a Supreme Being, trusts in God relative to life situations and outcomes,
expresses love of God, communicates with God through prayer, and participates in
religious practices. (Hungelmann et al., 1985)
Interpersonal Relationship with Others/Nature. Evidenced when an individual
accepts/tolerate differences with others, expresses mutual love and concern, expresses
mutual forgiveness, accepts and give help, appreciates nature. (Hungelmann et al., 1985)
Intrapersonal Relationship with One's Inner Self. Evidenced when an individual
accepts self and life situations, values inner self, values self-determination, has a positive
attitude, and expresses life satisfaction. (Hungelmann et al., 1985)
Connectedness with Past Experiences. Evidenced when an individual recognizes
parental/other influences, expresses socio-cultural ties with past, describes ties with
formal belief system, describes past religious practices/rituals, expresses growth and
change over time. (Hungelmann et al., 1985)

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Connectedness with Present Circumstance. Evidenced when an individual lives up to
potential, expresses congruence between vales/practices, is open to growth/change,
participates in communal prayer/rituals, finds meaning and purpose in life situations.
(Hungelmann et al., 1985)
Connectedness with Future Aspirations. Evidenced when an individual set goals,
hopes in ultimate integrations, hopes in afterlife, and searches for meaning and purpose
in life. (Hungelmann et al., 1985)

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INTRODUCTION
The ability of government, business, and religious work groups to be successful
is difficult to predict. This is true whether the group works with an open "no one at the
top" management style or with a strong charismatic leadership. Shallow individuals are
often more successful that those with high personal and managerial qualities. It even
seems lying is often necessary to be successful – "bad apples" are not born but are a
normal product of the established business atmosphere. Organizational environment
characteristics should help elucidate this situation and an MBA education customarily
includes a discussion of commonly held erroneous beliefs surrounding workforce
motivation as well as many business performance terms. The organizational behavior
community, however, has still not been able to reliably predict long-term performance.
This conundrum was the motivation for the author to build this compilation of spirituality
research in an effort to describe a potentially missing performance determinant and
consequently provide facilitation to improve organizations that are underachieving.
In the "real world," egos, nepotism, and codependent relationships often produce
personal goals that conflict with appropriate business or community missions. Executive
teams and corporate adaptability are often entirely undermined by pervasive distrust
caused by isolated and self-serving functional teams. A global market with increased
deceitful business practices, corruption, and a lack of a global legal system provides
only more problems for the American executive to deal with. The task of building trust is
becoming increasingly complicated in an era of such high-tech telecommunications as

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email and video-conferencing. As managers struggle to figure out (or cover up) why
their elaborately planned programs do not work, why morale is low, and trust is absent,
it may be as simple as the estrangement of spirituality and the workplace.
There are many good reasons for spirituality, religion, ethics, and values in the
workplace to be explored. The blueprint for building communities of trust within any
organizational setting must include ethical and spiritual principles and communicated
practices. From the creation of mission statements to their tactical implementations, the
broad application of values can enable organizations to better nourish its human
systems. Further, the organizational models that best accommodate a particular
workplace's spirituality should be identified and advanced. This study continues an
ongoing academic discussion of the spiritual dimension of work and explores the
correlations between various indicators of spiritual well-being.
While spirituality runs counterintuitive to the prevailing thoughts of money, profit
margins, job security, market share, and the pursuit of power, McKnight (1984) felt that
when organizations deny the spiritual nature of our being that the loss is enormous in
terms of reduced enthusiasm, effort, collaboration, creativity, sense of commitment, goal
setting, performance quality, persistence, and habitually demonstrated courage. He
suggested that the problem was a lack of the kind of leadership that encourages people
to engage in some kind of greater purpose. Peters and Waterman (1982) have
observed the central function of spirituality in realizing organizational excellence. One of
their findings in examining 75 successful companies was that leadership vision and

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personal goals that go beyond mere financial and performance objectives provide
greater employee morale, loyalty, effort, and profitability.
A person is born conscious of everything but quickly learns that suppression is
required for survival as disappointment is a normal part of life and thusly one builds a
subconscious to hold repressed desires and memories. Repression efficiency is then
the measure of a person's mental heath. One simple example of normal repression is
the suppression of pain during combat. For example, it is not uncommon for a person to
complete in a martial art match with a broken thumb, bow, turn to exit the mat, and fall
to the ground in pain (to at last properly experience the pain). It is likewise normal for a
person to understand finally the underlying forces of a memorable childhood event only
to end up afterwards forgetting all about it.
Neurotic behavior is exhibited by the transference of poorly repressed events into
daily decision-making and commonly produces desires for sex without love, drugs
without illness, and food without hunger. Thus, diets are problematic in that they only
deal with the symptom. Psychotic episodes (such as paranoid ideations or idiosyncratic
reasoning) and intense anger (along with irritability, volatility, and impulsivity) are when
the subconscious has completely taken over decision-making. Quite commonly, children
decide to circumvent future choices with decisions like sex is dirty or that anything is
better than feeling powerless and these decisions become permanent cerebral
pathways. Addictive personalities are thusly not merely examples of poor choices, but of
choice having been surrendered. Consequently, the fearsome images of our nightmares
or co-dependent lifestyles are only reproductions of our own self-image. It is also normal

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to model our egos on experiences with bullies. Studies show, for example, that 100% of
children of a single non-custodial narcissistic parent will model a self-absorbed
personality after the distant and abusive parent rather than be associated with the
seemingly pathetic weaknesses of the normal one. As a result, children of abusive
childhoods develop abusive personalities.
After these personalities have seemingly become a hardwired fixture of their
analog brains, their only hope for change is through developing an understanding and
acceptance of themselves. Success at overcoming these addictive or psychosomatic
traits can be said to be a measure of one's spiritual maturity as one learns to live on
faith rather than on reason at times when reason is not available (and treatment
programs based on improving only rational processes have exhibited a zero long-term
success rate). Freud wrote that the best remedy for neuroses is the fixation of the
unconscious libido on love. One fundamental tenet of psychology is that everyone, to
some extent, is mentally ill. Likewise, since the science of organizational psychology
assumes that organizational behaviors and culture is based on similar crucial mobilizing
factors that set the stage for individual personalities, every organization can likewise be
said to exhibit deviant and irrational behaviors for which only faith can over come.
Kurt Lewin, founder of action research, says, "You cannot understand a system
unless you change it." He and others, like Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline,
refer to the hidden shift in awareness required for change as presence. Taoism calls it
turning "chi" life force into "shin" spiritual energy, Buddhism calls it "cessation" of self,
Islam calls it "opening the heart," and Christianity calls it a revelation of the Holy Spirit.

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The Situation
In Church
According to surveys conducted by the Gallup Organization in May 1999, 71% of
Americans are members of churches, synagogues, or other religious institutions, 40%
attend church or synagogue at least once a week, and 58% said religion was very
important in their lives. (MSNBC News, Oct 1st
and 2nd
1999) A more recent News / PBS
poll returned even higher numbers with two-thirds stating religion was very important in
their lives and half attending worship at least once a week. (Rex Cain's Newsletter)
Even though most Americans still claim a serious "religious commitment," all the same,
church attendance is down roughly 25%-50% from the 1950s. (Putnam, 1996)
Moreover, American Churches encounter the same problems common to any
organization concerning production delays, integration headaches, and office politics.
For example, even well respected Christian churches often refuse to work with
neighboring churches over minor differences (e.g. women wearing pants, how baptisms
are performed, and the theory of evolution). In addition, Pastors are far more likely to
meet with peers nationally than with those of churches just down the road.
While most Christian church vision statements talk about focusing on the
"unsaved," over 70% of Christian church growth in America is deliberately accomplished
at the expense of "saved" membership of neighboring churches (Berger, 1999) and
much of the rest is "biological" from the children of existing members. TV evangelists
also generally have little effect on converting viewers. Despite strong vision statements

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for converting, metrics are rarely made or publicized concerning successful efforts
towards such a vision. While arguing that money and numeric attendance are not the
prime goals, Sunday's revenue and turnout is frequently the only reported measure of
success. Over half of the people who made a first-time decision for Christ lose any
connection to any Christian church within 2 months (Barna, 1997). Segregation of the
races as well occurs most dramatically in America in its churches, and elders and core
members complain that pastoral staffs are often the worst examples of grace.
Research studies have shown that nine out ten evangelical churches are "lacking
in any real marketing" (Barna, 1993). Despite increasing poverty and decreasing
welfare, the average church spends $6 on facilities for every $1 it spends on ministries
for the poor. Europe and America has done a "repositioning of religion as a commodity
that we consume, rather than one in which we invest ourselves." While most enter full-
time ministry to teach, few churchgoers want to be taught (much like education as per
Barna, 1997. People often complain that churches are out of touch and irrelevant to
their lives. In fact, 68% of Americans have negative feelings about religion (Mitroff,
1999). While many churches have grown to become modern mega-churches with
thousands and tens of thousands of members, they usually exhibit high turnover rates
at the same time. Lastly, all of the three dozen churchgoers and non-churchgoers,
including an elder of one of Tucson's largest churches, informally surveyed by the
author indicated considerable hesitation in freely expressing opinions within their
churches for fear of being ostracized or belittled. Evidently, a strong sense of religious
doctrine does not guarantee an environment of enthusiastic collaboration of values.

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In Government and War
While our nation's founding fathers clearly intended for the separation of religion
and state, they also clearly did not mean to separate it from spirituality. Words of
spirituality and faith can be found inscribed on our national monuments, printed on our
currency, and ingrained in our law. The words of the Soviet constitution may sound
better than that of the United States, but justice requires that the spirit and not the word
of the law be applied. Yet, honesty, hard work, integrity, and compassion are not our
first thoughts when considering government employees or our elected officials. For
example, from 1995 to 1998, 23 senior and general Army officers were accused of
criminal offences, but all were allowed early retirement without prosecution. In addition,
an American has a 51% chance of being found guilty of a felony despite a 50-50 chance
of being innocent. Currently, 31% of blacks in Florida have already been found guilty of
felony crimes and even more significant than how "black" are those found guilty, is how
"white" the victims are. Finally, there are no rich convicts on America's death rows.
In Tucson Arizona, 50% of those found guilty of first-degree murders are later
shown to be innocent and in the surrounding Pima County, the number jumps to 70%. A
man whose conviction of murdering his wife was later overturned by a later DNA test
started innocentproject.org to provide free DNA testing for convicted felons. About a
third of those tested are found to be innocent, about a third of those exonerated
involved homicides, and about a quarter involved false confessions caused by undue
law enforcement pressures and inadequate counsel. Yet, DNA testing is not yet a
standard law enforcement tool just as polygraphs and voice stress analysis are not

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allowed in courts (possibly because they would likely disprove most charges). It is often
argued capital punishment does not make sense since the appeal system for death row
inmates is more expensive than life imprisonment. The appeal money from reinstating
the death penalty in Illinois allowed more than half of the death row inmates to prove
their innocence (as but an assignment for some law school students). The governor
rescinded capital punishment in the state and funded a yearlong investigation that
concluded the problem was systemic problems with "embarrassingly incompetent" DAs
and "overtly corrupt" law enforcement. In 1999, six officers pleaded guilty in
Philadelphia to routinely framing and beating suspects as well as lying under oath in
court. In 1984 in that same city, a squad of officers was found guilty of dressing up as
mugging victims and arresting innocent people simply to inflate their overtime pay in
court.
The Lexow investigation into the New York City Police Department in 1894
showed $300.00 to be the acceptable cost for an appointment as a police officer – the
cost was small compared with how much they could make to look the other way. In
Boston, they simply called it the "union wage." The salaries that officers (or "thugs with
badges") received were insignificant compared to the profits derived from payoffs. The
findings of the Lexow investigation resulted in the election of a reform mayor in New
York City, William Strong, who selected Theodore Roosevelt as Police Commissioner to
clean up the troubled department. His efforts, however, were completely unsuccessful
because corruption had become too widespread and acceptable, the public apathetic,
and a reluctance of witnesses to testify. Our country has yet to resolve these issues.

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During the 1960's and early 1970's there came a proliferation of blue-ribbon
commissions to examine police misconduct and brutality during racial confrontations,
anti-war protests, and the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention rioting. The
Knapp Commission was formed in response to the case of Frank Serpico and showed
corruption was so systemic that honest officers feared coming to work from the possible
retaliation they might encounter from corrupt coworkers. "The corruption in the system
was able to thrive not only because of the abuses of high-ranking officials, but also
because the police demanded loyalty from their peers. 'Never hurt another cop' was a
by-word of the force." The later Los Angeles Christopher Commission found unreported
misconduct, a lack of accountability, and the code of silence was as strong as ever.
The Mollen Commission was created after NYC police officers were identified
selling narcotics and committing robberies while in uniform. The Mollen Commission
repeated the same conclusion as the Knapp report in that misconduct was systemic and
that the problem did not only involve isolated "rogue cops," as NYPD continues to claim.
The Mollen report, however, additionally observed a new character in the nature of
police corruption in the 1990's. "The modern corrupt officer is paid not only to turn a
'blind eye' to criminal activity but to work hand-in-hand with the criminal to actively
facilitate criminal activities. In New York City, the officers became drug dealers and
helped to operate large drug rings. Today's corrupt offices do not simply bump into
opportunities, the corruption includes 'crews' of police officers who protect and assist
each other's criminal activities. Similarly, methods for evading detection have achieved
new levels, including ways to receive payoffs to avoid internal investigations."

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Mollen Commissioner Harold Baer referring to the history of investigations into
New York law enforcement (Lexow, 1895; Curran, 1913; Seabury, 1932; Hefland, 1954;
Knapp, 1972; and Mollen, 1994) noted that over "the past hundred years, New York City
has experienced a twenty-year cycle of corruption, scandal, reform, backslide and fresh
scandal in the New York City Police Department." The only consequences of these
commissions are being successful stepping-stones for the careers of prominent lawyers
towards prosecutorial and judicial offices. Since the days of Tom Dewey, investigators
have routinely had just as many connections with criminal elements as any other aspect
of law enforcement. The LA Rampart investigation recently had to give up after four
years of "struggling to address one of the worst police scandals in American history,"
concluding that city and federal law enforcement was no longer capable of supporting
an honest investigation into the use of force by the police. The investigation was started
when it became clear that numerous LAPD divisions regularly stole and sold drugs,
extorted drug dealers, and even shot citizens in connection with these crimes and
framing the victims, leaving up to 30,000 convictions needing to be reviewed (which is
expected to take years). "While crime declined in LA during the 1990s" (for example,
from 2.9 in 1990 to 1.0 in 1998 homicides per 10,000 in LA and NY) virtually no one has
seriously suggested that local law enforcement deserves the credit." (Katz, 2001)
New Orleans is infamous for having the most corrupt police department in the
United States. The FBI acquired a wire tape of an officer (Len Davis) ordering the killing
of a 32-year-old mother of three (Kim Groves) who had filed a police brutality complaint
against him. The FBI just happened to overhear the murder plot while conducting a drug

Maginnis 11
sting against 10 officers who were selling 286 pounds of cocaine. The FBI sat on the
tape until a new police chief came into office, which was too late to help. Kim Groves
was shot in the head while standing in front of her house. One of the reasons the FBI
waited was that they were unfamiliar with the street lingo used by the officer and so they
were not sure what they were overhearing. Since 1993, more than 50 officers of the
department have been arrested for felonies, including bank robberies and rape. Officer
Antoinette Frank was found guilty of executing a fellow officer moonlighting and two
family members of the restaurant she was robbing. Frank was the fourth officer in the
city charged with murder that year alone.
"Crimes that are statistically representative are always systematically
unrepresented in crime news, because crime news everywhere is never essentially
about crime" (Katz, 1987), but about managing social stereotypes. Law enforcement
reform today is facing the same realities it faced in the 1800's and 1900's. Vice
enforcement and low income areas still attract corruption. Police executives refuse to
admit organizational problems and insist on blaming a few "rotten apples" or doing the
reorganizational shuffle. The public is apathetic about crime and misconduct as long as
it is contained. Poor HR practices and a lack of supervisory accountability are key
factors in encouraging misconduct. Finally, investigations into misconduct are extremely
difficult due to a strong "code of silence." Reform efforts, thusly, need to be directed at
enhancing organizational culture.
From the day officers join a police department, they are members of a
"brotherhood" that plays an important role in the way officers see themselves and the

Maginnis 12
world around them. Only when a zero tolerance approach is taken towards lying and
disregard for the law, will the effect of this code be reduced. While incidents of
misconduct serve to temporally damage the reputation of the department, damage
caused by "cover-ups" is immeasurable. Further, the "rotten apple" excuse only causes
the most communicated value to be just not to get caught. Honestly was the only item in
the values of Jack Welsh's management style. Any employee who was caught lying or
withholding information was dismissed, and Jack's cleaning house efforts removed 10%
of executive management every year. The loss of autonomy a police officer faces can
be catastrophic for both the individual and the organization. There are police bars,
police picnics, and police poker parties. Further, families of officers can expect
"professional courtesy" treatment. Officers are trained to "stick to your own." The most
important subject during academy and field training should be how to survive in the
police culture. This training should then continue into the squad briefings. NYC squad
briefings have recently included talks by officers found guilty freely discussing where
they went wrong but they have been sporadic and never part of a coordinated effort.
Loyalty should be to a system that will train and promote fairly. Top positions,
however, are rarely developed from within the ranks. In addition, the pay difference from
top to bottom is too great. The job requirements, for example, for a FBI special agent
(SA) are clear and demanding - likewise the job review requirements. The job
requirements, on the other hand, for an FBI supervisory special agent (SSA) are
ambiguous and less demanding for twice the pay. As you move up, the promotions and
job assignments are clearly more politically decided. Moreover, supervisors are never

Maginnis 13
held accountable for the acts of their subordinates while officers never receive
recognition for their community service whether on or off duty.
Over the past 75 years, civil service boards were created to govern police
personnel management in an attempt to remove politicians from hiring, promoting, and
firing officers as a form of political payback. It has just meant that Police Chiefs now
only deflect blame onto ineffective civil service boards and so they still make decisions
based only on politically appeasing an external group. During the 1960's and early
1970's there came a proliferation of blue-ribbon commissions to examine police
misconduct and brutality during racial confrontations, anti-war protests, as well as the
1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention rioting. The recommendations of the
voluminous reports contain insights that should continue to seed the strategic, technical,
and operational initiatives for policing are sadly, for the most part, but wholly ignored.
Law enforcement reform today faces the same realities faced in the 1800's and
1900's. For example, vice enforcement and low income areas still attract corruption.
Police executives still refuse to admit organizational problems and continue insisting on
blaming but a few "rotten apples" or simply doing the reorganizational shuffle. Moreover,
the public remains apathetic about crime and misconduct (as long as it is contained).
Poor HR practices and a lack of supervisory accountability continue to be key factors in
encouraging gross misconduct.
One of the best ways to measure the integrity of a presidential administration is
to track the presidential pardons. The day before the Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania was
to be charged with racketeering, for example, he was pardoned by President Carter.

Maginnis 14
When Clinton came into office, the application for a clearance had to be modified to
allow for presidential pardons for past felonies. The only pardons, however, were for
drug dealers from Arkansas in Clinton's staff. Many have been concerned over a
continual decline in corporate ethics and have suggested the need for legislative
changes. While corporate executives have been acquiring great personal wealth by
destroying corporate value to the tune of millions and possibly even billions of dollars,
inappropriate governmental practices are affecting losses well into the trillions. Despite
a growing concern about corporate book keeping, the 2000 census, for example, was
logged as emergency spending (even though censuses have been regularly conducted
since the founding of the nation) so as not to appear on the annual federal budget.
Further, Americans have greater access than ever to advanced education, yet
50%-70% of today's adults are functionally illiterate (that is, they cannot read and write
at an eighth grade level). The result of America's education system, in fact, is that our
youth rate last for reading, writing, and arithmetic when compared to all industrialized
nations (and even some unindustrialized ones) while being number one in the world for
self-esteem. The fact that there are now more self-help books for self-absorbed children
of narcissistic parents than diet books also demonstrates this common arrested
personality development and general false sense of self. America's students and
teachers commonly cannot write complete sentences, spell at a sixth grade level, name
three state capitals or oceans, add fractions or provide change, answer who was
president during the Civil War, explain why there are seasons, or demonstrate basic
critical thinking skills. Foreign non-English schools requirements for English competency

Maginnis 15
are often greater than those in our own schools. The average Japanese thirty-plus blue-
collar worker who took algebra in school, for example, can demonstrate a greater
proficiency than the average American who just completed the class. While education is
a prominent issue, the desire to produce and measure actual learning success
continues to decline. Americans are the most ignorant, insane, and violent people on
the earth. Michael Moore attempted to ask why in his 2002 movie, Bowling for
Columbine, but provided few rational answers. Robert Putnam, in Bowling Alone, shows
another measurement of the problem as the rapid decline of social capital in America
(where bowling expenditures increase even though league membership has waned).
The US Air Force hired Paul Torrance early in the Korean War to develop a
program to prepare pilots and crews to survive extreme danger, a wide range of
temperatures, and deprivation of food, water, and shelter. Torrance found that no matter
how much training people had on dealing with a variety of hostile conditions, real life
situations inevitable involved unexpected situations. Those who survived had to
integrate survival techniques learned in the field to solve immediate problems as well as
provide for an increased purpose required for continued adaptation.
Viktor Frankl was a Nazi concentration camp survivor. His resolve to determine
the meaningfulness in his suffering provided the sustenance and will to survive and
escape the gas chambers. Frankl later became a well-known Humanistic Psychologist.
He felt that individuals could become actively involved in the creation of their existence
through the pursuit for meaningfulness in all situations. Furthermore, surviving
Vietnamese POWs repeatedly offer the same basic endurance rule of continual

Maginnis 16
communications, exercise, and prayer. Survival in the most difficult life situations, as in
the satisfactory application of justice and grace, requires that the mind, body, and spirit
be provided for. Orphanages in Bosnia have shown that babies with plenty of air, water,
food, clothing, shelter, and safety can still fail to thrive and quickly die just as a large
proportion (20.4%) of SIDS cases in America occur in sterile childcare settings.
In Business
The old model of corporate research and development that is disengaged from
the rest of the company seem to be no longer adequate. Long-term, integral research in
the United States is not keeping pace with demand, especially in such areas as
computer software, computer architectures, communications, power generation and
distribution, and automotive engines. Just as obsolete is the Department of Defense
development and acquisition cycle, from which research takes at least seven to fifteen
years to be implemented. The ability to persistently capture and predictably iterate
successes in a viral fashion is becoming increasing strategic for business survival.
An MBA education is supposed to provide the tools to best determine how to
efficiently buy low, sell high, and split the profits. The quality of these tools and
judgments, however, are not consistently forecasting success. Simply providing larger
salaries is not nearly as successful at attracting and keeping talent as providing for the
personal development of employees. Business efforts have also been especially
unpredictable with teams that are built of multi- and cross- cultural workforces.

Maginnis 17
25% of the top 100 American corporations listed in the well-known book "In
Search for Excellence" were dropped from the list within just a few years. The book has
sold over seven million copies and Peters went on to become a megastar in the field of
management entertaining, able to charge up to $80,000 for a one-day show (Waterman
dropped out of public sight). Lanier, however, was a dead dinosaur of a company still
pushing dedicated word processors that had already been beaten out by a cheaper
Apple II running AppleWriter or an IBM PC with WordStar when the book was published
and DEC turned out to be one of history's best examples of an excellent product
company killed by poor management. Other now defunct companies include Data
General, Amdahl, and Wang. Xerox popularized the GUI, mouse, and Ethernet, and yet
failed to produce a single successful product (including the "Worm" 8-bit CP/M machine)
and Atari was close to death after releasing the worst computer game of all time (ET-
based on the movie). In fact, Tom Peters has admitted the data used to "objectively"
measure companies had been faked. In an article in Fast Company, Dr. Peters states,
"This is pretty small beer, but for what it's worth, okay, I confess: We faked the data."
Tyco's Dennis Kozlowski, Adelphia's John Rigas, and the Three Horsemen of the
Enron Apocalypse - Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Andrew Fastow - are not just a few bad
apples but manifestations of a megatrend in corporate leadership - the rise of a callous,
brazen, narcissistic, and avaricious mind-set that is wildly out of tune with the core
values of the average American. Moreover, an incompetent board, Arthur Anderson,
banks, and the U.S. government enabled and encouraged the corruption within the
Houston energy giant, Enron. Enron's board of directors never asked the most basic

Maginnis 18
questions that any director should ask and yet will likely never be held accountable for
their malfeasance. Jeff Skilling's arrogance seems to have been so great that he even
cooperated extensively with the Fortune Magazine investigation by McLean and Elkind
that set in motion his own downfall. WorldCom, Enron, Adelphia, Tyco, AOL, Xerox,
Merrill Lynch, and the other scandals are only the tip of the tip of America's corruption of
arrogance, appearance over substance, and self-delusion iceberg. Why are our best
business minds or Wall Street unable to do a better job of recognizing real success?
Might the missing performance antecedent be spiritual well-being?
Twenty years of management research by Kotter has shown that most
companies are over-managed and under-led with arrogant and bureaucratic cultures
designed simply to reinforce the status quo. Kotter has found most management fails to
appreciate the total value of customers and stockholders while actively preventing real
leaders from becoming hired and promoted. The result is poorly implemented
strategies, acquisitions without the needed synergy, costly re-engineering, and
downsizing and quality programs that fail to deliver. Effective management, says Kotter,
is much more about aligning, motivating, and inspiring people than about the planning,
organizing, and controlling skills that educational institutions focus on. The author's
particular MBA education at the University of Phoenix, for example, omitted key
"relationship" classes in leadership training, sales, and negotiations, limiting its focus to
budgeting, resource allocation, and the monitoring of results.
The most essential responsibility of any Board of Directors is to produce a top
management that can inspire passion, a quest for learning, and a willingness to work

Maginnis 19
outside of the comfort zone. Business problems are usually the result of insufficient
authority and access to resources, low morale and trust, and low quality concerns.
Spiritual well-being is basically the measure of success in fulfilling the basic desire to
find and model an ultimate individual meaning and purpose in an interconnected
existence. This includes personal autonomy, integrated teamwork, honest and
meaningful tasks, and reliably integrating employee values and customer satisfaction.
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield of Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Anita Roddick of
the Body Shop, Paul Hawken of the Erewhon Trading Company, and Tom Chappell of
Tom's of Maine, represent a few entrepreneurs who have linked spirituality with
business success. In addition to the well know spiritual management styles of the
YMCA, the Salvation Army, Alcoholics Anonymous, General Electric, General Mills,
Chick-Fil-A, Rollerblade, ServiceMaster, The Carlson Companies, Kinston
Technologies, 3M, AT&T, Honeywell, and General Mills are also actively working to
develop deep spiritual corporate environments. Companies that support Torah, Bible,
and Koran study classes organized by employees include Microsoft, Intel, Northrop
Grumman, and Boeing. One estimate is that there are almost 10,000 Christian study
groups in American workplaces, double the number of 10 years ago. Studies have
shown that 35% to 39% of institutional investment decisions are based on such non-
financial factors as management credibility and corporate values and ethics. (Low and
Siesfeld, 1998) Robert Hass, CEO of Levi Strauss, recently stated, "In the next century,
a company will stand or fall on its values" and a top executive claims Motorola "hires for
character and trains for skills." But, neither provide hints on how to interview for values.

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Research Background
Unfortunately, the spiritual dimension of work has not been adequately
addressed in the leading literature. Despite the importance of spirituality to one's overall
quality of life and sense of well being (e.g. Maslow, 1968; Buber, 1970; Campbell, 1976;
Diener, 1984; Fox, 1994; Paloutzian and Kirkpatrick, 1995), this personal dimension has
not been empirically addressed by organizational scientists (e.g. Follett, 1924; Barnard,
1938; Mayo, 1945; Argyris, 1957; Likert, 1961; Kanter, 1977; Mintzberg, 1983),
management theorists (e.g. Deming, 1951; Herzberg, 1959; McGregor, 1960; Lippitt,
1982; Schein, 1985; Drucker, 1994), or other workplace scholars (e.g. Weick, 1979;
Pfeffer, 1981; Smircich, 1983; Morgon, 1986; Shakeshaft, 1987; Senge, 1991; Wheatly,
1992). Extensive research into employee motivation has suggested that humans are
basically reactive; that is, we generate responses to stimuli (Skinner, 1969, 1976) such
as certain physiological, social, and psychological needs (Maslow, 1968), or certain
satisfiers and dissatisfiers (Herzberg, Mausner, and Snyderman, 1959), expected
payoffs and the prevailing environment (Porter and Lawler, 1968; Vroom and Yetton,
1974), individual specific goals (Locke, 1968), or by expectancy cognitive processes
(Hoy and Miskel, 1991).
The quantity of wide-ranging viewpoints, in fact, has lead to the increasing
likelihood that "conceptual clarity will not result in one unified theory of motivation"
(Pintrich, 1991, p. 201) and the need "to consider frameworks larger than the self"
(Weiner, 1990, p 621). In 1968 Maslow said, "I consider [Humanistic Psychology] to be
transitional, a preparation for still 'higher' psychology, transpersonal, transhuman,

Maginnis 21
centered in the cosmos rather than in human needs and interest, going beyond
humanness, identity, self-actualization, and the like Without the transcendent and the
transpersonal, we get sick, violent, and nihilistic, or else hopeless and apathetic. We
need something 'bigger than we are' to be awed by and to commit ourselves to in a
new, naturalistic, empirical, non-churchly sense." More recently, Woodruff and
Cashman (1993, p.431) have also advocated the need of a "spiritual" dimension.
In order to identify and quantify the effects from the loss of more personal ideals
in traditional organizations, the spiritual dimension of the workplace warrants further
investigation (Sergiovanni, 1992). One phenomenological study was made of the
spiritual practice of selfless service within the context of for-profit organizations in the
doctorial dissertation of Krista Kurth at George Washington University (1995). A more
comprehensive empirical study was done by David Trott at the University of Texas in his
doctorial paper "Spiritual Well-Being of Workers: Exploring the Influences of Spirituality
in Everyday Work Activities" (1996). Recently, Mitroff and Denton completed a
significant academic study in "A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America" at the Marshall
School of Business at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (1999). The
study that follows contributes to these efforts by continuing an academic discussion of
the spiritual dimension of work without religious posturing and by exploring the
relationships between various personal and workplace indicators of spirituality.

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Research Questionnaires and Hypotheses
Since this study is utilizing voluntary participation without blind population
sampling, the findings may not be fully generalized. Besides the Ellison questionnaire,
survey questions came from work by Herth, Oxman, Blaik, Kelsen, Craigie, Trott,
Mitroff, and about another dozen other researchers in the field. Groups of questions
normally represented specific subscales measuring, say, attachment to management or
employee burnout. The question "I often pray or meditate at work" is one of a group of
ten measuring the ability to fully express oneself at work that, for example, is question
#46 of the Mitroff survey. About half of the questionnaires are standard investigative
tools that have been rigorously tested for reliability and internal consistency. The other
half was built mostly from more general assessment guidelines. The author personally
generated wholly only the worldview survey and about another dozen of the other
questions. Numerous other edits were made, however, for grammar corrections and for
minor modifications such as replacing "God" with the term "Higher Being."
It is expected that participants will indicate like levels of spiritual well-being on
each of the two well-being scales as well as the worldview attitudes. It is also
anticipated that high levels of organizational openness will correlated to levels of
commitment, accomplishment, and a positive workplace assessment as well as to a
measurement of corporate success.

Maginnis 23
"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society" -
Theodore Roosevelt ("What then of an entire generation" - Steve Farrell)
"I have long been convinced that our enemies (the British) have made it an object, to
eradicate from the minds of the people in general a sense of true religion and virtue, in
hopes thereby the more easily to carry their point of enslaving them ..." - Sam Adams
"Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right
thing." - Warren Bennis, Ph.D. "On Becoming a Leader"

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LITERATURE REVIEW
According to peer Viktor Frankl, a person's aspirations for a meaningful existence
deal with the spiritual dimension of human existence (1959). Humanistic Psychologist
Sidney M. Jourard submitted, "At the time organization is optimum, the human person is
characterized subjectively by such states as absorbing, interest, intense commitment to
some goal or value, faith in God. Some assumption such as that of 'spirit; and
'inspiriting' is necessary to account for a broad range of phenomena not understood,
though reliably observed." (1964, p.80) Richard McKnight defined spirituality "as the
animating force that inspires one toward purposes that are beyond one's self and that
give one's life meaning and direction." (1984, p. 142)
Halbert Dunn (1959, 1961, 1977) introduced the concept of wellness that is
widely associated with today's emphasis on health and wellness programs. Dunn (1961)
put forward five basic dimensions of human nature. The first is the totality of one's
personality, since he perceived an individual as needing challenges to mind, body, and
spirit to function at our best. The second aspect is a person's uniqueness. The other
three are that humans are dynamic energy systems, the exchange of knowledge with
individual environmental requirements, and the interrelationship between self-integration
and methods in energy use. As Dunn stated in 1959, "Unless there is a reason for living,
unless there is a purpose in our life, we cannot possibly achieve high-level wellness."
(p.11) Since then, wellness proponents have generally focused on physical fitness and
health, avoiding the spiritual context. The popular issues include nutrition, weight

Maginnis 25
control, cancer reduction, sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse, and injury
prevention.
Floyd likewise believes that spiritual well-being "helps us define what life is and
helps us establish long-range goals based on a wider perspective of time and values"
and that "the unifying bond to wellness is spiritual growth." (et al. 1993, p. 140)
Similarly, wellness for Greenberg and Pargman (1989) is achieved through the
balancing the integration of the social, mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual heath
components in one's everyday lifestyle.
Acknowledging the Human Spirit
Two models have been developed to measure spiritual well-being: the Stoll,
Banks, Hungelmann, and Brukhardt Web model and the Mobherg, Ellison, and
Paloutzian Cruciform Model.
Nursing has fueled the greatest interest in spiritual concerns, especially for the
treatment of the terminally ill and Native American patients. Since the 1930's, the
Nurses Christian Fellowship (NCF) has consistently dedicated energy and resources
towards conducting research and seminars on spiritual care giving (Fish and Shelly,
1978). NCF research findings have identified four areas of spiritual needs: "relief from
fear of death, a knowledge of God's presence, expression of caring and support from
another person, and receiving the sacraments" and studies indicated that "spiritual
matters gave [patients] a sense of increased power and control in coping with life's
challenges." (Martin, Burrows, and Pomilio, 1976; Stevenson, 1980) The North

Maginnis 26
American Nursing Diagnosis Association identifies spiritual distress, spiritual concerns,
and spiritual despair as official diagnoses (Monahan, Drake, and Neighbors, 1994).
Stoll (1979, 1989) conceptualized spiritual well-being along four dimensions as
an attempt to provide an appropriate classification framework for health givers. These
dimensions are one's concept of God or deity, source of strength and hope, significance
given to religious practices and rituals, and the perceived relationship between one's
spiritual practices and health. Banks (1980) also identified four component of spiritual
well-being: a unifying force integrating the other three components, a life purpose that
sustains everyday activities, an inner connection between individuals that could include
a commitment to God, selflessness, or a set of ethics, and the individual perception or
faith in their unique worldview. Hungelmann et al. (1985) identified a total of six core
categories. Burkhardt (1989, p. 70) condensed these various conceptualizations as "life-
affirming relationships or harmonious interconnectedness with deity, self, community,
and environment; a process of being and becoming through being; the health of the
totality on the inner resources of a person; the wholeness of one's spirit and unifying
dimension of health; a process of transcendence; and a perception of life as having
meaning." Stoll (1981) generated his Guidelines for Spiritual Assessment, while Hess
(1980) produced the Spiritual Needs Survey.
Moberg and other attendees of the 1971 White House Conference on Aging
(WHCA) conceptualized spiritual well-being as the effective understanding of the
meaning of God and the meaning of humanity as an effort relevant to addressing the
needs of the elderly. Later work (1978) used the frequently ignored religious dimension

Maginnis 27
as vertical and the sense of existential dimension as horizontal. Moberg (1981)
formalized this in an 82-item, True/False and 4-point scale, Subjective Measurement of
Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire using scales for Christian faith, self-satisfaction,
personal piety, subjective well being, optimism, religious cynicism, and elitism.
Paloutzian and Ellison (1982) refined the work within the widely used 20-item, 5-point
scale, Spiritual Well-Being Scale (see Appendix A).
Later investigations found the SWB scale to be significantly related to depression
and loneliness (Paloutzian and Ellison, 1982), self-esteem (Campise, Ellison, and
Kinsman, 1979; Marto, 1983), response to treatment of chronic pain (Mullins, 1985),
hypertension (Hawkins, 1986; Mullins, 1985; Sherman, 1986), eating disorder patient
groupings (Sherman, 1986), marital satisfaction (Mashburn, 1986), anxiety
(Kaczorowski, 1989), coping with terminal illness (Reed, 1987, 1992), as well as coping
skills and feelings of connectedness. The scale has been found to correlate highly with
more religious oriented factors including intrinsic religious orientation (Ellison and
Economos, 1981), church attendance (Sherman, 1986), Christian counseling
techniques (Adams, 1993), devotional time and support groups (Clarke, 1986), couples
communication skills training (Upshaw, 1984), employment status among Chinese
churchgoers, and family closeness (Jang, 1986). The Spiritual Well-Being Scale is the
most extensively examined instrument, and it has been proven highly reliable for
assessing one's general level of spiritual well-being (Brinkman, 1989).

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Psychological States
Social Learning theory explains human behavior as cognitive responses to
stimuli characterized by continuous interaction and individual learning. Bandura (1977)
conceptualized self-efficacy expectations as a predictor of commitment strength. For
example, recurring successful mastery experiences, observing similar experiences by
others, hearing of such experiences, and positive emotional responses to those
experience all generate a strong sense of efficaciousness. Sherer, Maddux,
Mercandante, Prentice-Dunn, Jacobs, and Rogers (1982) as well as Woodruff, and
Cashman (1993) developed a Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) focusing on
three areas, "(a) willingness to initiate behavior, (b) willingness to expend effort in
completing the behavior, and (c) persistence in the face of adversity" (Sherer et al.,
1982, p.665).
Commitment strength can be characterized by the measure of consistent
behavior to an organization or activity over other alternatives. Motivations for such
commitments can be the accumulation of investments such as benefits, training, and
seniority that limit the availability of competitive alternatives. Besides economical "side-
bets," cultural expectations to remain with one employer and personal identities with
dependability can encourage consistent association with an organization. This
"Continuance Commitment" was conceptualized by Becker (1960) and is
operationalized by scores on the Continuance Commitment Scale (CCS) (Meyer and
Allen, 1991).

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Organizational Climate
Moran and Volkwein (1992) expounded four groupings of methods for analyzing
the development of an organizational climate: the structural, the perceptual, the
interactive, and the cultural. The structural perspective holds that the perceptions of
workers are independent of attributes including size, nature of the technologies used,
and the extent of bureaucratic operations. This approach is limited since it fails to
account for individual subjectivity. In contrast, the perceptual perspective incorporates
the individual ability to build a psychologically significant explanation of situational
behaviors including communication processes, leadership style, decision-making
patterns, and personality traits to the previous structural model. This approach is limited
as a result of failing to account for worker interactions. The interactive perspective
includes the effects of deeper and more subjective dimensions of values, norms, myths,
and taboos, recognizes such shared agreements. Finally, the cultural perspective on the
organizational climate focuses on the active formation of a system of meanings,
patterns of behaviors, and collective beliefs by employees.
Ludwig von Bertalanffy et al. (1956) put forward that attributes across a wide field
of scientific disciplines could be unified within an open systems approach. They argued
that every system is represented by connections among independent interacting parts,
be they mechanical, organic, psychological, or social, and then vary by dependencies,
complexity, and patterns of energy flow. Katz and Kahn (1966) later detailed nine
characteristics common to open organizational systems: (1) the need for energy from
the external environment, (2) a process of "through-put" products and/or services by

Maginnis 30
transforming energy, (3) final products are returned to the environment, (4) structures
are associated with dynamic cycle of events involving energy input, through-put, and
output, (5) a fixed negative entopic move towards disorganization and death requires
constant replenishment to survive, (6) a system's coded processes determines its
energetic and informational inputs as well as its negative feedbacks, (7) while in
constant change, a balance of energy exchanges and internal relationships tend
towards a steady state, (8) despite changing interactions, systems move progressively
towards greater role specialization and structure differentialization, and (9) multiple
pathways and conditions ultimately lead to the same final organizational state. Much of
the work in open organizational systems has been founded on these concepts.
Mink and Owen (1994) developed an open organizational model that looks at
three properties (unity, internal and external responsiveness) across three levels of
worker interactions (individual, group, and organization). Unity measures the shared
knowledge, values, and goals producing a congruent path to a higher purpose. Internal
responsiveness is the awareness of the needs and capacity to stay functional. External
responsiveness is the interaction with customer desires and community responsibilities.
See Figure 1.

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1
Values
2
Congru-
ence
3
Connec-
tion
4
Shared
Purpose
5
Quality
Relation-
ships
6
Collabor
ation
7
Shared
Vision
8
Alignment
9
Contri-
bution
Unity
Internal
Responsiveness
External
Responsiveness
IndividualGroupOrganization
Business Environment
Healthy
Person
Intermediate
Outcome
Long Term
Outcome
Personal
Effective-
ness
Functional
Team
First-Rate
Function
& Quality
Adaptive
Organiz-
ation
Exceed
Customer
Expecta-
tions
Figure 1 – The Open Organization Model
Spiritual Theory
According to Moberg's theory of spiritual well-being, every person has an intense
internal essential value that operates as a driving resource for managing one's personal
life. A person's spiritual well-being is connected to one's mutual associations as well as
the psychosocial components of the existing organizational climate. Thus, personal
spiritual well-being is an important dimension of the well-being at work. General self-
efficacy, organizational commitments, and the open organizational climate are also
important dimensions since they include the perceptions of personal competence, the
influences from organizational relationships, and the interactions with properties of the
business environment.

Maginnis 32
Although many of the concepts of spiritual well-being theory have been covered
by countless academic efforts, they are frequently not identified specifically as spiritual
in nature. Self-efficacy theory ties individual judgment and intellect to a willingness to
initiate and persist effort in the face of adversity. Organizational commitment theorists
have classified the clearly dissimilar elements of job commitment (affective, normative,
and continuance) that contribute to the individual desire to be associated with a
particular organization. Organizational climate modeling highlights integration for
optimum adaptability, honesty, leadership, and attentiveness to customer needs. These
theoretical aspects can be extrapolated and linked for the intent of developing a
framework for this study. Spiritual well-being theory focuses on (a) the importance of
relationships, transpersonal, interpersonal, and intrapersonal, (b) the role of the human
spirit in driving a meaningful life purpose, (c) the contribution of spiritual well-being to an
overall sense of well-being, and (d) a dynamic interconnected life-affirming approach to
living in the moment (Trott, 1996). Key to the current dialog from the spiritual theoretic
perspective is what counts is not only what individuals and organizations do and how
they do it, but the inner place from which they operate. (Claus Otto Scharmer, 2002)
Characteristics of the Open Organization
Many have observed that an organization's fitness and innovation is a result not
just of its human capital, but also of its social systems (Burt, 1992; see also Burt, 1997;
Granovetter, 1985; Masterson, 2000; Settoon, 1996; and Uhl-Bien, Graen, & Scandura
2000). Bottom-up activity yields far more complex behavior that can be produced by
top-down management (Kauffman, 1993; Marion, 1999; Marion & Uhl- Bien, 2001).

Maginnis 33
Leadership that appreciates this and cultivates an environment that encourages bottom-
up coordination will be far more effective (Drath, 2001; Marion & Uhl-Bien, 2001).
In open organizations, everybody is a leader, everybody is responsible, and
everybody acts. They are places known for honesty, respect, encouragement,
collaboration, and a fanatical commitment to quality. Organizational structure is based
on small, independent teams. Performance standards as well as the company vision,
structure, values, and procedures are well defined and communicated. The more
important the information, in fact, the greater number of members it is communicated to.
Additional group effort is spent on detailing ambitious expectations with greater freedom
for the means (processes and resources) of achieving those results. Management
typically sets ever-increasing standards for themselves and they insist on being held
accountable for broad measures of performance. Consequences for success and failure
are well known and problems and conflicts are dealt with quickly and face-to-face.
Hiring practices increase in importance, as they are key to ensuring that individuals that
can function in a high-trust environment are being hired and kept. Despite increased
freedoms, controls and performance measurements are actually more common. Most
importantly, open organizations exhibit excellent track records for meeting objectives.
Unfortunately, computer hacker gangs and terrorist cells are more likely to exhibit these
characteristics than are American law enforcement and corporate workplaces.
When the level of trust and openness in a company is high enough that people
believe they will not suffer due to change, they are more likely to support new
approaches as well as be more adaptable in general. Employees must trust

Maginnis 34
management's vision for the future and in their ability to lead the company through
difficult times. Management must trust that employees care about the health and
competitiveness of the firm. Trust in both directions in corporate America, however, is in
crisis. Closed cultures where everything is locked up, people are fired without warning,
closed-door impromptu meetings are common, and voluminous outdated operating
procedures overwhelm any chance for innovation is unfortunately the norm.
Shaw (1997) models the process of building organizational trust on parameters
of integrity, concern, results, and modeling. "Integrity" is a measurement of a consistent
and cohesive approach in following a set of values and practices that affirm the rights of
customers, partners, and employees. "Concern" is a measurement of the
"establishment of a larger sense of identity that transcends individual and team points of
view," faith in people's abilities, formal and informal communication processes, and
adequate recognition and rewards for contributions. "Results" is a measurement of
clear, ambitious performance targets, with sufficient resources and clear consequences.
Fundamental to the Shaw system is the promotion of aggressive business targets, and
Motorola's ambition to reach Six Sigma quality standards is a good example. "Modeling"
is a measurement of connectedness, autonomy to complete tasks, and the freedom to
take risks and express views. Shaw operationalized these parameters in a 32-item
assessment survey to measure organizational trust as well as a second 30-item
instrument to evaluate individual trust leadership.
Jack Welsh once described his reaction to results and values, "No one at GE
loses a job because of a missed quarter, a missed year, or a mistake. That's nonsense

Maginnis 35
and everyone knows it. A company would be paralyzed in an environment like that.
People get second chances. Many get thirds and fourths, along with the training, help,
and even different jobs. There is only one performance failure where there is no second
chance. That's a clear integrity violation. If you commit one of those, you're out." Trust, it
is said, must be "earned." If, however, one hits a dog repeatedly with a stick and then
gives him a hand, would one reasonably talk disparagingly of the dog when it bites?
Was not the dog, in fact, completely trustworthy and true to its nature and the person
the one who needed to "earn" an improvement in the relationship? Answering whether
one can trust another is actually a measure of whether one can exhibit conscious and
trustworthy behavior. It must also be remembered that trust is like a farm implement,
you cannot eat it but it is critical to own in order for one to eat. Trust is not the end
product, but a tool crucial for building a sound business strategy.
"In essentials unity, in action freedom, and in all things trust." (Aristotle)
Workplace Models for Fostering Spirituality
If organizations need to grow (just as individuals) to be more spiritual, how can
this be achieved without offending or proselytizing members? Figure 2 reviews five
major and distinct models that represent noteworthy alternatives to the common policy
of detaching spirituality from the workplace. Each of the different models normally
occurs due to a basic development of optimism and fundamental philosophy in
response to how best confront and overcome a crisis or series of tragedies. Each model

Maginnis 36
makes proactive use of active listening and a guiding principle that specifies the
purpose of profits. Management is the most fundamental of all human behaviors. Daily,
each must manage hundreds of immediate and long-range activities. Of all the acts of
management, the management of spirituality is one of the most important as well as
complex and emotional. For an organization to successfully develop workplace
spirituality requires as much energy and commitment as would any Total Quality
Management or reengineering effort.
Religion-Based Organization (example: Desert Cattle and Citrus Ranch,
Orlando Florida, Mormon) Autocratic with rigid Biblical values. Spirit and Soul
are real and essential to all aspects of life.
Evolutionary Organization (example: YMCA and Tom's of Maine)
Motivated by social injustice and open change, and is opposed to
utilitarianism and discrimination.
Recovering Organization (example: Alcoholic Anonymous) True democracy
with explicit rules to overcome previous inabilities to learn from failure.
Socially Responsible Organization (example: Ben & Jerry's) Strong
commitment to the environment and social causes without traditional MBA
values and practices.
Values-Based Organization (example: Kinston Technology Company and
General Electric) Relies strongly on professional management and is
motivated by consciousness without religion. Family oriented with common
values. Spirit and soul are not relevant to day-to-day activities.
Figure 2 – Mitroff and Denton Business Models for Fostering Spirituality

Maginnis 37
"Faith is not what today is so often called a 'mystical experience,'
something that can apparently be induced by the proper breathing exercises
or by prolonged exposure to Bach (not to mention drugs).
It can be attained only through despair, through suffering,
through a painful and ceaseless struggle."
- Peter F. Drucker -

Maginnis 38
METHODOLOGY
This chapter will discuss the methodology that was used to study the
relationships between the various scales of personal and workplace spiritual well-being,
including the research design, a description of the population and sample, six scaled
instruments, and a survey on religion and spirituality. Due to time and resource
limitations, only a pilot study was completed. The small population size clearly limited
the ability to provide complete statistical resolution for the research questions.
Design
The pilot study combined qualitative and quantitative methods. Six quantitative
Likert style instruments were developed and utilized. Despite various original scales, all
were normalized to a consistent 6-value rating scale from Strongly Agree to Strongly
Disagree. Responses were converted to values from 6 to 1. A seventh questionnaire
included 15 write-in questions and 8 categorical inputs, and an eighth questionnaire
requested personal information. Input was acquired completely through the survey
without feedback or interviews.
Population and Sample
The pilot survey population consisted of 12 surveys returned from the 60 issued
forms (15 electronically, and 45 via hardcopy). Only two of the surveys sent to friends or
family or to a few unfamiliar professional persons were returned. When the reason for
declining was given, it was always either over a concern of confidentiality due to the

Maginnis 39
small population size and close relationship with the investigator or a lack of recognition
of the investigator. One response was that only someone looking to be fired would
answer the types of questions being put forward. Potential participants commonly asked
about the number of surveys that had been sent out. It took several such questions
before a connection with the concern for confidentiality was determined. Participants
and non-participants reported being far more internal concerning their opinions then
was originally expected. Friends of friends and family was another matter. The inclusion
of an introduction seemed to allow for sufficient recognition yet still provide sufficient
distance to allow for a comfortable amount of anonymity. This middle group was far
more excited about participating and provided more complete responses to the write-in
questions. As for the experiences of others researchers, the Mitroff study experienced
only a 6% return rate of surveys sent blindly to 1,000 HR Directors while 75% to 100%
return rates were encountered by other investigators utilizing survey requests that
included corporate and university letters of introduction and sponsorship.
Instrumentation
Seven of eight developed instruments were used to explore the relationships
between various personal and workplace indicators of spirituality. The complete forms
can be found in the Appendix and are listed subsequently. They are: 1) Personal
Information, 2) Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale, 3) Spiritual Development Scale, 4)
The General Self-Efficacy Scale, 5) Worldview Attitudes Scale, 6) Workplace Spirituality
Well-Being Scale, 7) Workplace Values Satisfaction and Attachment, and 8) Religion
and Spirituality Questionnaire. The General Self-Efficacy Scale was not used.

Maginnis 40
Personal Information
Following an overview of the project and a consent form, the first part of the
survey asked participants a variety of personal information questions designed to assist
in characterizing the respondent. These results will be compared against national
averages to indicate the ability of the sample to represent a larger population.
Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale
The Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) is composed of the Religious
Well-Being (RWB) subscale as odd questions and the Existential Well-Being (EWB)
subscale as even questions. The SWBS has been used in 400 studies, primarily in the
areas of health care, counseling, and congregational assessment (Paloutzian, 1995).
Initial and subsequent examinations have confirmed the scale's reliability and validity.
The scale's particular strength is in providing a good indication of general spiritual well-
being, sensitivity to measuring low spiritual well-being scores, and use for non-religious
studies. The terminology of "Higher Being" was added to the initial use of "God" alone.
Items numbered 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, 16, and 18 are negatively scored. The Ellison
Spiritual Well-Being Scale has published norms.
Spiritual Development Scale
The author developed this scale from the work of Herth, Oxman, Blaik, Kelsen,
Craigie, and especially Trott. The language of the Religious Spiritual Well-Being
(RSWB) subscale is plainly derived from a Judeo-Christian belief in a personal
relationship with a Higher Being or God. Participants with differing religious

Maginnis 41
backgrounds may have difficulty with these terms while still possessing significant levels
of religious well-being. The Spiritual Development Scale was developed as an attempt
to extend the previous dimensions (meaning, having and using gifts and capacities, self-
perceived spirituality, connectedness, optimism, and religious behavior) of spiritual well-
being. This study will allow a comparison against the Ellison scale, but further work is
warranted. Questions 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, and 40 were
derived from the aforementioned work, while the author added 23, 28, 31, 32, and 39.
All items are positively scored.
Worldview Attitudes Scale
The Worldview Attitudes Scale involves questions 41 through 60 and was
created wholly by the author as a second attempt to provide a secular alternative to the
Ellison scale by using measurements concerning the participant's agreement with
various Machiavellian attitudes expressed in the book, "The Prince." Items 41 through
54 are negatively scored. Due to the negative wording, a high WAS score would
indicate a strong disagreement with Machiavellian attitudes.
General Self-Efficacy Scale
The General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) measures initiation and persistence.
Since the initial examination by Sherer and Adams, the GSES has become a well-
known organizational behavior research tool due to its vocational emphasis (Woodruff
and Cashman (1993, pp 430-431). The GSES has also shown itself to be reliable and
internally consistent with significant correlations to other indicators of individual

Maginnis 42
determinism, success, and overall effort. In one study in particular, supervisors were
able to increase worker performance by efforts specifically aimed at boosting self-
efficacy (Eden and Kinnar, 1991). Items 62, 64, 65, 66, 67, 70, 71, 72, 74, 76, and 77
are negatively scored. The 17-item GSES was not implemented in the pilot study.
Workplace Spirituality Well-Being Scale
The Workplace Spirituality Well-Being Scale consists of eleven subscales: 1)
Basic beliefs and values, 2) Self-awareness, 3) Responding to others, 4) Teambuilding
and goal identification, 5) Interpersonal skills, 6) Cooperation for common purposes, 7)
Level of participation, 8) Data sharing and human relationships, 9) Organizational
Responsiveness, 10) Management overall adaptability, and 11) Opportunity to bring all
of one's self to the workplace. The first nine subscales are based on the standard Open
Organizational Profile (OOP) that was developed to measure the nine characteristics of
Mink and Owen's Open Organization Model (see Figure 1). An open organization
promotes awareness, efficient communications, and adaptability for the individual,
group, and organization. For example, the first dimension attempts to measure "an
individual's capacity to adapt to an organizational culture based on shared goals and
purposes." In addition, dimension # 2 measures self-realization, -acceptance, -
awareness, and -management, dimension #7 measures shared values, leadership,
mission, and organizing, and dimension #9 assesses social relevance, profitability,
productivity, and quality. The initial investigation with 509 participants showed the test to
be reliable and valid. General assessment guidelines by Kotter and the Mitroff survey
provided the foundation for the latter two sections. All items are scaled statements

Maginnis 43
scored positively, except for question 187 that requests the amount of downsizing over
the last three years.
Workplace Values, Satisfaction, and Attachment
This test is built from a hodgepodge of numerous assessment tools. The first
section started with the Meyer and Allen commitment scales for affective, normative,
and continuance commitment scales. Much of the Meyer test was merged with 14 other
attachment-to-management statements to produce a 32-item commitment subscale
from items 188 through 219. Items 207 through 214, 216, and 218 are negatively
scored.
Items 220 through 232 assess employee attitudes about the workplace with 13 of
the 22 Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) questions (rewritten in behavior terms by
Charles Glazier at the University of Huston). The complete inventory measures
emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Most of the
emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment questions were combined with
other success measuring questions. Emotional exhaustion gauges the mind-set of being
psychologically fatigued and overspent by one's workday, and personal accomplishment
assesses the mind-set of proficiency and successful with people during the workday.
Items 220 through 224 are negatively scored.
Items 233 through 273 are a collection from a wide number of general workplace
assessment sources on training, open communications, and ethics for a comprehensive
41-item measurement of a participant's belief in and acceptance of the organization's
goals and values. Items 242, 256, 257, 258, 259, and 273 are negatively scored.

Maginnis 44
Items 274 through 277 are all fundamental questions concerning corporate
success and profit, and all are scored positively. The three questions concerning
employee work satisfaction are averaged with company profitability. The commitment,
burnout, values, and success subscales together make up the total Workplace Values,
Satisfaction, and Attachment score.
Religion and Spirituality Questionnaire
The Religion and Spirituality questionnaire included 15 write-in questions and
eight categorical inputs. The write-in questions asked the participant to provide their
personal definitions of religion, spirituality, and the perceived differences between the
two. Other inquires requested information about individual values, communications, and
experiences with personal spirituality, and values as well as recommendations for the
workplace. The categorical inputs related to religious affiliations and practices, work
programs, work and home characterization as well as whether the individual was
outspoken, rating strength of faith, and experience with baptisms.

Maginnis 45
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
Using the results from the described surveys, scatter plots, t-tests, and Pearson-r
correlation coefficients (index from -1.0 to 1.0 reflecting the relationship between two
data sets) were used to address the following four main research questions.
1) How does the developed Spiritual Development Scale compare with the
Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale?
2) How does the developed Worldview Attitude Scale compare with the
Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale?
3) What is the Generalize Open Organizational Profile (OOP) for the
employers of all participants?
4) Is a Workplace Spiritual Well-Being Scale, based on combing the OOP
with the developed adaptability and full-self subscales, a good predictor of
job satisfaction and attachment as measured by the developed scale for
Workplace Values, Satisfaction, and Attachment as well as a good
predictor of corporate profits and employee success?
Characteristics of Respondents
Respondents responded with a wide range of personal information, except for
race. The average time spent with a company was 9.6 years. Many expressed the
opinion that spirituality had nothing to do with the workplace. For example, one
participant suggested, "Work is what one has to do, maybe you should ask more about
volunteerism (or what people want to do)."

Maginnis 46
Analysis of the data
Research Question 1 – SDS vs. Ellison Scale
Consistent with several other studies (but inconsistent with published norms), the
existential orientation was the primary contributor of overall spiritual well being. The
existential mean was 4.68 (norm is 4.63) while the religious mean was 4.07 (norm is
4.8). The mean SDS score was 4.35 and the mean Ellison SWBS score was 4.38 (norm
is 4.70). The new Spiritual Development Scale related well to the Ellison Spiritual Well-
Being Scale (see Figure 3). The Pearson-r correlation coefficient is .91. SDS and the
Ellison SWBS scores had, however, a low correlation with Profit (.54 and .22).
SDS vs Ellison SWBS
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00
Ellison SWBS
SDS
Figure 3 – Spiritual Development Scale vs. Ellison Scale

Maginnis 47
Research Question 2 – WAPS vs. Ellison Scale
The values for the new Worldview Attitudes Scale did not correlated as well to
the Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Values. See Figure 4. The study results also produced a
lower Pearson-r correlation coefficient of .57.
WAS vs Ellison SWBS
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00
Ellison SWBS
WAS
Figure 4 – Worldview Attitude Scale vs. Ellison Scale

Maginnis 48
Research Question 3 – Generalized Open Organizational Profile
The responses to the standard Open Organizational Profile (OOP) were used to
fill in the nine characteristics of Mink and Owen's Open Organization Model (see Figure
5). The overall average for the nine subscales was 74% (the Trott study had a mean of
69%). Comparatively strong response existed in the individual beliefs and values while
comparatively weak ones in the individual internal responsiveness, and the unity and
external responsiveness of the entire organization. Overall, the adaptability as the whole
organization was the weakest. The average Standard Error for the OPP values was
6.55 percentiles; a TINV of 2.23 for a confidence level of .05 and the small population
size would produce a statistical range of plus or minus 14.6 percentiles.
80%
Values
69%
Congru-
ence
77%
Connec-
tion
77%
Shared
Purpose
77%
Quality
Relation-
ships
76%
Collabor
ation
70%
Shared
Vision
74%
Alignment
68%
Contri-
bution
76%
Unity
73%
Internal
Respons.
74%
External
Respons.
IndividualGroupOrganization
Business Environment
75%
Healthy
Person
Intermediate
Outcome
Long Term
Outcome
Personal
Effective-
ness
77%
Functional
Team
First-Rate
Function &
Quality
71%
Adaptive
Organiz-
ation
Exceed
Customer
Expecta-
tions
Figure 5 – The Completed Open Organization Model

Maginnis 49
Research Question 4 – WVSA and Profit vs. WSWB
Of the components from the Emotional Exhaustion and Personal
Accomplishment Maslach subscales, the pilot data provided averages of 3.2 and 4.0
respectively. Norms for those subscales are 3.1 and 5.0 respectively. Both the
Workplace Values, Satisfaction, and Attachment scores and the Organizational Profit
numbers correlated well to the Workplace Spiritual Well-Being Values. See Figure 6.
Profit and WVSA had high Pearson-r correlation coefficients in relation to the Workplace
Spiritual Well-Being of .93 and .95 respectively.
WVSA and Profit vs WSWB
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00
Workplace Spiritual Well-Being
WorkplaceValue,Sat,AttandProfit
WVSA Profit
Figure 6 – Comparison of WVSA and Profit vs. WSWB

Maginnis 50
The applied components of the Affective, Normative, and Continuance
Commitments subscales were compared to the Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale.
Previous research has shown positive correlations for the Ellison SWBS to Affective and
Normative Commitments while negative correlation with Continuant Commitment. The
results from this study, however, were inconsistent with those previous results, and
showed a lack of such correlations. See Figure 7 and Figure 8.
Affect, Norm, and Cont Committment vs Ellison SWBS
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00
Ellison SWBS
Affective,Normative,andContinuance
Affect Comm Norm Comm Cont Comm
Figure 7 – Affective, Normative, and Continuance vs. Ellison SWBS
Confidence intervals and Pearson-r correlation coefficients were determined for
all scales, plus the Average Time of Employment (ATE). See Figure 8 and Figure 9.

Maginnis 51
Particularly high coefficients are bolded. When looking at subscales, it was noticed that
of the nine measured OOP factors, Individual Values and Individual Congruence had
the highest Pearson-r correlation coefficients when compared to Profit of .95 and .97
respectively. No values over .9 occurred between any of the personal SWB scales and
organization environment scales. See Figure 10.
Mean StDev DF SE Conf Lower C Upper C P-r Same?
SWBS 4.38 1.10
SDS 4.35 0.95 10 0.29 0.05 3.71 4.99 0.91 YES
WAS 4.51 0.60 10 0.18 0.05 4.11 4.91 0.57
Affect Comm 3.51 1.13 10 0.34 0.05 2.75 4.27 0.61 NO?
Norm Comm 3.68 0.93 10 0.28 0.05 3.06 4.31 0.47 NO?
Cont Comm 3.15 0.74 10 0.22 0.05 2.65 3.64 0.54 NO?
WSWB 4.30 1.16 10 0.35 0.05 3.52 5.08 0.43
WVSA 3.97 0.75 10 0.23 0.05 3.46 4.47 0.51
Profit 3.89 0.89 10 0.27 0.05 3.29 4.48 0.54
Figure 8 – Comparison of All Scales to Ellison SWB
SWBS SDS WAS WSWB WVSA Profit ATE
SWBS 1.00 0.91 0.57 0.43 0.51 0.54 -0.01
SDS 1.00 0.62 0.11 0.18 0.22 -0.10
WAS 1.00 0.29 0.27 0.31 0.24
WSWB 1.00 0.97 0.93 0.17
WVSA 1.00 0.95 0.28
Profit 1.00 0.24
ATE 1.00
Figure 9 – Pearson-r Correlation Analysis of Primary Scales

Maginnis 52
SWBS RWB EWB SDS WSWB Burnout Profit Mean Women Men
ATE -0.01 -0.11 0.14 -0.10 0.17 0.19 0.24 9.55 5.83 8.09
SWBS 0.93 0.81 0.91 0.43 0.39 0.54 4.38 4.92 4.18
RWB 0.93 0.53 0.94 0.16 0.08 0.37 4.07 4.67 3.85
EWB 0.81 0.53 0.60 0.73 0.76 0.77 4.68 5.17 4.50
SDS 0.91 0.94 0.60 0.11 0.08 0.22 4.35 4.78 4.14
WAS 0.57 0.43 0.63 0.62 0.29 0.35 0.31 4.51 4.83 4.35
1-Beliefs 0.52 0.21 0.83 0.21 0.95 0.90 0.95 4.78 5.27 4.60
2-Self-aware 0.54 0.28 0.77 0.22 0.88 0.79 0.97 4.12 4.23 4.07
3-Others Res 0.37 0.08 0.73 0.05 0.96 0.89 0.91 4.61 5.20 4.39
4-Team 0.24 -0.04 0.61 -0.05 0.96 0.87 0.81 4.61 5.23 4.38
5-Interpersonal 0.29 -0.01 0.68 -0.01 0.97 0.89 0.89 4.63 5.30 4.38
6-Purpose 0.18 -0.10 0.57 -0.10 0.94 0.87 0.78 4.54 5.33 4.24
7-Participate 0.29 0.01 0.65 -0.05 0.96 0.89 0.81 4.23 4.97 3.95
8-Sharing 0.33 0.06 0.64 0.00 0.98 0.84 0.90 4.43 5.23 4.13
9-Org Res 0.34 0.09 0.62 0.04 0.95 0.77 0.83 4.10 4.97 3.78
10-Change 0.50 0.30 0.66 0.22 0.93 0.76 0.84 3.71 4.80 3.30
11-Total Self 0.73 0.63 0.66 0.52 0.71 0.55 0.70 3.55 4.33 3.26
WSWB 0.43 0.16 0.73 0.11 0.88 0.93 4.30 4.99 4.04
Affect Comm 0.61 0.41 0.76 0.31 0.72 0.77 0.78 3.51 3.67 3.45
Norm Comm 0.47 0.28 0.61 0.18 0.78 0.69 0.68 3.68 3.92 3.59
Cont Comm 0.54 0.51 0.42 0.41 0.43 0.17 0.67 3.15 3.20 3.13
Commitment 0.60 0.37 0.78 0.27 0.91 0.84 0.94 3.82 4.19 3.69
Burnout 0.39 0.08 0.76 0.08 0.88 0.81 4.05 4.36 3.93
Values 0.40 0.19 0.62 0.12 0.92 0.69 0.91 4.03 4.42 3.88
WVSA 0.51 0.25 0.77 0.18 0.97 0.89 0.95 3.97 4.12 3.82
Profit 0.54 0.30 0.77 0.22 0.93 0.81 3.89 4.19 3.77
Figure 10 – Pearson-r Correlation Analysis of Subscales

Maginnis 53
IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Review of the Study
This study proposed to explore the spiritual dimension of a holistic discussion of
successful work environment measurements. The measurements of values,
connectedness, and personal meaning were found to be extremely relevant.
Unfortunately, profit-driven companies do not typically associate with spiritual matters
and thus rarely do such considerations occur. The same limitations can just as easily
occur within the structure of organized religion, necessitating that one think of spirituality
in terms separate from such a formal perspective.
Overall, participants in the pilot study exhibited moderate levels of personal and
workplace spirituality. The two lowest sets of scores of data reported by Bufford,
Paloutzian, and Ellison (1991) were for eating disorder patients and sociopathic convicts
with means of 3.89 (n=35, SD=0.75) and 3.81 (n=25, SD=0.81) respectively. Similarly,
Trott recommends using scores below 3.85 to indicate "spiritual distress." This would
signify that perhaps two and clearly a third participant in this study warranted concern,
for a total of 25% of the participants. Using such guidelines, Trott's 1996 study yielded
15% of their 184 construction/engineering population with such scores. When people
describe themselves as "burnt out," they also often communicate disillusionment, being
overworked, and feelings that their investments no longer have meaning. Relationships
lacking integrity, self-centered leadership, and abusive environments clearly undermine

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