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IMESO Institute for Medicine, Education, and Spirituality

at Ochsner

2012

Workplace Spirituality

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What is Spirituality Belief in immaterial realities or experiences of the immanent or

transcendent nature of the world. …Wikipedia

Spirituality is the personal quest for understanding answers to

ultimate questions about life, about meaning and about

relationship to the sacred or transcendent, which may (or may not)

lead to or arise from the development of religious rituals and the

formation of community. … King and Koenig, 2009, BMC Health

Sciences Research

The experience of consciously striving to integrate one’s life in

terms not of isolation and self-absorption but of self-

transcendence toward the ultimate value one perceives. …IMESO

(Schneiders, S. 1989. Spirituality in the Academy. Theological Studies

50:685.)

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Workplace spirituality refers to the ways we express

our spirituality at work, both for personal support and in

making ethical, just decisions.

-Nancy R. Smith, Workplace Spirituality: A Complete Guide

for Business Leaders, 2006

Important because it is directly related to employee

health…

Workplace Spirituality

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World Health Organization Constitution

Health is a dynamic state of complete physical, mental,

spiritual and social well-being and not merely the absence

of disease or infirmity.

NIH – National Center for Complementary and Alternative

Medicine

Recognizes spiritual treatment as a complementary

therapy.

CDC-NCCDPHP (National Center for Chronic Disease

Prevention and Health Promotion)

Championed a focus on wellness that acknowledges the

roles of mental health, spirituality, and complementary and

alternative medicine across the lifespan.

American Association for Integrative Medicine

Recognize Spirituality as a distinct health dimension

…Mind, Body, Spirit continuum.

And a dimension that is treatable through alternative

exercises and practices such as meditation, prayer and

visualization.

Rapid change and workplace uncertainty have eroded the employee sense

of stability; workers are looking for that inner center and returning to core

values.

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A culture of spirituality in the workplace

places the emphasis on PEOPLE

Leadership → Management→ Employees→ Consumers

To the extent WPS increases employee engagement

or well-being, it should also contribute to consumer

satisfaction. Employee definition….

7 From W. Thomas, 2011, “Systems Thinking”

8 From W. Thomas, 2011, “Systems Thinking”

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Holding employees accountable is unquestionably

necessary… but inevitably involves stress for the

employee.

Why? Because predictably, employees are held responsible

for outcomes that are not completely within their control.

This creates workplace STRESS. And while we know that

a modest amount of stress, judiciously applied, can increase

productivity and corresponding sense of accomplishment,

too much stress is counterproductive.

Leaders tend to be accountability, productivity, bottom line-driven people. Striving for efficiency, leaders may produce a work force full of hostility, stress and absenteeism.

• Otto Krueger, Type Talk at Work: How the 16 PersonalityTypes Determine Your Success on the Job.

• Isabel Briggs Myers, Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type.

• Naomi Quenk, Was that really me? How Everyday Stress Brings out our Hidden Personality.

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Then… Creativity Dies

• “Creativity in the workplace gets killed much more often

than it gets supported.”

– Teresa Amabile, Harvard Professor (expert on workplace

creativity), Harvard Business Review, 2010

Workplace stress can lead employees to feel:

-Lack of freedom (no control over their destiny)

-Indifference (lack of support from workplace superiors)

This in turn can lead to:

-Competition (for limited internal resources), loss of collegiality

And we are asking that employees

“…Do More With Less”.

Which can also contribute to the stressful environment, EVEN

in those employees that appear to be engaged and high-

functioning.

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Thus…

A major goal of IMESO is to

provide a culture that recognizes and dignifies the

spiritual nature of people thus enhancing the workplace

environment and the ability of employees to meet or

exceed expectations in a challenging workplace where

they are asked to…

“…do more with less”

Goal 1: To provide educational programs for the medical

students in the area of spirituality and medical practice.

Goal 2: To provide educational programs and small

groups for residents, physicians and nurses in the area

of spirituality.

Goal 3: To provide educational programs for

administration and staff for the inclusion of spirituality

in decision-making.

IMESO Three Year Objectives

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IMESO Three Year Objectives (cont.)

Goal 4: Essays and papers will be developed to be

published to the entire system’s employees on the IMESO

website.

Goal 5: A comprehensive conference will be designed

and offered to the wider community on Spirituality and

Healthcare.

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Why do we think that the IMESO initiatives

will improve/resurrect the Ochsner workplace

and contribute to organizational success?

Service-Profit Chain

Business Model

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Internal

Service

Quality

Employee

Satisfaction

Employee

Retention

Employee

Productivity

Employee

Service

Value

Customer

Satisfaction

Customer

Loyalty

Revenue

Growth

Profitability

Operating Strategy and Service Delivery System

• Workplace design

• Job design

• Employee selection

and development

• Employee rewards

and recognition

• Tools for serving

customers

• Service concept:

results for

customers

• Service designed

and delivered to

meet targeted

customers’ needs

• Retention

• Repeat business

• Referrals

The Links in Service-Profit Chain

Modified from Harvard Business

Review, July 2008

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Let’s look more closely at this portion of the chain…

Employee

Satisfaction

Employee

Retention

Employee

Productivity

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We postulate that IMESO-initiatives in the workplace will

contribute to employee self-transcendence and will improve

employee’s

-sense of belonging

-sense of worthiness Dr. Charles Stanley, “three-legged stool”

-sense of competence (spiritual parameters)

ultimately increasing organizational productivity.

Our model, which follows, expands on that postulated by

Milliman and colleagues, 2003 (Journal of Organizational

Change Management). They linked workplace dimensions

with attitudes. We now further link attitudes with measurable

behaviors, and behaviors with organizational success.

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Meaningful

Work Sense of Community Alignment with Org

Values

Workplace Spirituality Dimensions

Attitudes

•Organization Commitment .Intention to Quit

•Intrinsic Work Satisfaction .Job Involvement

•Job-related Self Esteem

Refs. 1 - 4

Milliman et al., 2003,

Workplace Spirituality…

Cited by 208 articles.

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Meaningful

Work Sense of Community Alignment with Org

Values

Workplace Spirituality Dimensions

Attitudes

Behaviors

Organizational

Success

•Organization Commitment .Intention to Quit

•Intrinsic Work Satisfaction .Job Involvement

•Job-related Self Esteem

Employee

Turnover Absenteeism

Employee

Complaints

Refs. 1 - 4

Productivity

Refs. 5 - 8

Refs. 9 - 15

Employee

Engagement

Patient Satisfaction

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Milliman’s group [College of Business (U Colorado)]

suggest that change efforts should incorporate feedback

mechanisms from:

Internal sources (employees) and

External sources (patients, consultants, suppliers),

to ensure that ongoing assessments occur regarding the

true impact of the workplace spirituality philosophies.

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IMESO Research Plan:

• Obtain system-wide baseline measurements on level of

workplace spirituality using the Milliman questionnaire.

Obtain baseline behavioral data from HR.

• Years 1 and 2: Implement IMESO training and educational

programs.

• Years 2 and 4: Re-measure system-wide workplace

spirituality using Milliman survey to determine effective-

ness of training programs. Obtain behavioral data from HR.

• Years 1-4: Continually monitor employee engagement

and patient satisfaction per status quo.

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Expectation

is that we will obtain measurable improvements

in attitudes and behaviors using our

survey instruments and data analysis tools.

but we would add…

Despite the fact that the practice of workplace spirituality should

contribute to Ochsner’s productivity, we believe that organiza-

tional change must be guided by the clear philosophy that it

represents enlightened behavior and that it is “the right thing

to do”, not because it may improve profits.

We are in agreement with Milliman and other experts in this

area of research that workplace spirituality must be

practiced in an authentic manner before it can have a

positive impact on employees or on the long-term success

of our organization.

IMESO, 2012

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One final thought…

The #1 responsibility of any Board of Directors is to

produce a leadership that can inspire passion, a

quest for learning, and a willingness to work outside

of the comfort zone.

-Jim Maginnis, 2001

Our leadership, in establishing and supporting IMESO,

have demonstrated progressive, enlightened philosophy which

should impact the Ochsner culture at many levels and provide

a distinct flavor to our education and training programs, and

a kinder, more caring and spirit-filled experience for our patients.

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References

1) Milliman et al. (2003) Workplace spirituality and employee work attitudes: An exploratory

Empirical assessment. J. Organiz Change Management 16(4): 426-447.

2) Ashmos and Duchon (2000) Spirituality at Work, A conceptualization and measure. J.

Management Inquiry 9(2):134-145.

3) B. S. Pawar, (2008) Two approaches to workplace spirituality facilitation: a comparison

and implications. Leadership & Organiz Development J. 29(6):544 – 567.

4) Moore and Casper (2006) An Examination of Proxy Measures of Workplace Spirituality:

A Profile Model of Multidimensional Constructs. Journal of Leadership & Organiz

Studies 12: 109-118.

5) Branham L. (2005) The 7 hidden reasons Employees Leave: How to recognize the subtle

signs and act before it’s too late. AMACOM publishers.

6) Stamford, D. (2008) Why employees leave an organization. www.helium.com

7) Hoxsey, D. (2010) Are happy employees healthy employees? Researching the effects

of employee engagement on absenteeism. Can Public Adm 53(4):551-571.

8) Tanja-Dijkstra and Pieterse (2011) The psychological effects of the physical healthcare

environment on healthcare personnel. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 1:CD006210.

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References (cont.)

9) Savage and Sales (2008) The anticipatory leader: futurist, strategist and integrator.

Strategy and Leadership 36(6):28-35.

10) Anderson, A. (2010) The effects of employee resignations on productivity.

www.ehow.com

11) Bliss, W.G. (2010) Cost of employee turnover. The Advisor, www.isquare.com.

12) Blake, R. (2006) Employee Retention: What employee turnover really costs your

company. www.webpronews.com

13) Jurkiewicz and Giacalone (2004) A values framework for measuring the impact of

workplace spirituality on organizational performance. J of Business Ethics

49(2):129-142.

14) Mehta and Joshi (2010) Impact of workplace spirituality on organization culture

through improved employee productivity. AIMS International Conference on

Value-Based Management.

15) Dent, E.B. et al. (2005) Spirituality and leadership: An empirical review of definitions,

distinctions, and embedded assumptions. The Leadership Quarterly 16:625–653.

THANK YOU

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