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This book fulfills a need expressed by many CEOs, managers and employees: a need for meaning. In North America, close to 90% of managers are searching for management models and tools to integrate into their organization more human and spiritual values while remaining skeptical of New Age thinking, dogmatic religions, cults and moralizing intolerance.

A fruit of the first International Forum on Management, Ethics and Spirituality - a world premiere held at a business school (HEC Montreal) - this book exposes the views of seven CEOs and six experts from Australia, Canada, the Unites States and Switzerland; it presents cases from six organizations in different sectors: banking, advertising, food, health, education and municipal governance; and it presents three dialogues among 200 professionals.

Its direct style and its concrete examples offer this book to leaders, CEOs, executives, managers, professionals and employees. Its theoretical content, scientific rigor and numerous references also offer it to educators, students and researchers. With its openness to the inter-religious as well as non-religious ethics and spiritualities, this book contributes to the vital dialogue we need in a world governed by economic values.

Thierry C. Pauchant is a professor of management at HEC, the University of Montreal 's business school, and author of more than 100 publications including six books. He acts as a researcher and consultant for private, public and associative organizations.

Introduction

Integrating ethics and spirituality into all facets of management and leadership of organizations has become an urgent need expressed by managers themselves. How to reconcile economic value and ethical or spiritual value becomes the fundamental question. This is a fascinating, serious and slippery subject. The potential pitfalls are numerous: ethics can devolve into legalism, dogmatism or abusive moralisation; spirituality can lead to fundamentalism, archaic superstitions or the growth of abusive sects; and both ethics and spirituality can be co-opted to manipulate people, employees and managers as a way to maximize profits.

Yet, introducing ethics and spirituality into the work place, the first more rational, the second more transcendent, could meet a fundamental human need: a need for meaning, a need for integration, a need for establishing roots, a need for transcendence.

In this introduction, I propose several reasons why the integration of ethics and spirituality is requested today, as well as proposing strategies for avoiding certain potential pitfalls. After presenting some of the reasons behind the present "crisis of meaning" in organizations, I describe the positive and less positive ways in which people generally react to crises. I then suggest that four major trends support the idea that introducing ethics and spirituality in the work place is not just another management fad but rather that it meets a deep and lasting need. I end by presenting the international network that we have put in place in order to promote the simultaneous attainment of economic value and ethical and spiritual value in organizations, the International Forum on Management, Ethics and Spirituality and I present the chapters of the book.

Chapter 1

Values and Ethics
One of the six most difficult issues to resolve in management

Jean-Marie Toulouse

Jean-Marie Toulouse, director of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales of Montreal (HEC), a business school affiliated to the University of Montreal, and the largest and oldest business school in Canada, wanted to personally inaugurate this forum. In his presentation, he refers to this forum as a World Premier. Never before have the notions of management, ethics and spirituality been explicitly brought together and publicly discussed in a business school. He also points out the direct link between the theme of the forum and the basic values animating the school since its founding at the beginning of the last century; in particular, its concern with preserving the balance between specialised and general education for managers. Finally, he stresses the fact that, openly discussing questions of ethics and spirituality in management, answers a genuine need in the business world; those issues being as difficult to resolve as issues of direction, efficiency, environment and entrepreneurship.

Chapter 2

Spirituality at work: the next major challenge in management

Ian I. Mitroff

In this chapter, Ian I. Mitroff, an influential management scholar and a renowned consultant, presents the results of one of the first scientific studies on spirituality at work. The study that he has recently conducted, includes 230 managers and top executives in the U.S. Many of the results are counter to what common knowledge would have us expect. We learn, for example, that 92% of managers would like to include spiritual principles in their organization but that they refrain to do so for different reasons including the lack of practical examples and models, their need to stay critical and not to be associated with the new age trend or the wish to be respectful of themselves and others. As another example, while these managers perceive differently the notions of spirituality and religion, all of them agree that more spirituality at work would allow them to live a more integrated and more systemic life as well as allow their organization to become a world class organization. Lastly we learn from this important research some of the conditions and processes required to develop a more spiritual or ethical organization . This includes, for example, the need of a crisis for starting the process of transformation; the need of a higher ethical plane and very different rules; or the need to challenge the traditional view that spiritual matters are only personal and to instead consider that they need to be institutionalized as well. The chapter concludes by providing a typology of the different paths that could be taken by organizations for transforming themselves and discloses the moral outrage experienced by the author by the lack of scientific research conducted on this paramount subject.

Chapter 3

The "crises of belief" in business and the need for a dialogue on the meaning of work

Solange Lefebvre

In this chapter, theologian and anthropologist, Solange Lefebvre, retraces the different meanings attributed to the notions of religion, spirituality and work through out the centuries. She suggests that a serious dialogue based on these ideas is required to address the "crisis of belief " observed today in business and in society at large. Based on in-depth interviews conducted in the business world, she tackles the taboos surrounding the notions of spirituality and religion in the business world and the negative connotations generally associated with work. She stresses the need for "respect" and "connection" pursued by many when confronted with the "fragmentation" of their life experience, a condition evoked by Ian I. Mitroff in the previous chapter.

Reminding us that happiness is also found in adversity, and that one of the functions of religion and spirituality is to allow people to become aware of their limits - to realise that they are not Gods and Goddesses - Solange Lefebvre proposes that an ethic and spirituality of work must be founded not on an escape from this world, but on the imperative of communal life and a reinterpretation of notion of work itself. She further suggests that the integration of ethics and spirituality in the business world must be supported by very specific policies, like the encouragement of mentors and work place rituals. Finally, she suggests that the world of business and the economy, which are at the base of vital exchanges, must integrate ethical and spiritual values in this century, during which "progress", as she beautifully puts it, "has penetrated our bodies".

Chapter 4

Dialogue on part one

As suggested in the introduction, a dialogue is much more than a question and answer session for the sake of argumentation and information. Its purpose is not only limited to "communication"; to encourage self-affirmation and attentiveness to others. More fundamentally, the practice of dialogue allows for the exploration of people's basic assumptions, without necessarily following some logic or a pre-established structure.

In the following dialogue, the reader will be able to detect the questions, hopes, experiences and anger of participants as well as their despair and pain, successes and joy. The obvious lack of structure in a dialogue seems particularly well adapted to the inherent ambiguity of the integration of ethics and spirituality in management and in the work place. Its unfolding is sometimes as baffling as the explored subject! This book contains three dialogues. This one is the first, held at the end of the first session of the forum. It presents some of the comments and questions discussed in an audience of about 200 participants, 140 of which work as consultants, executives and managers in private and public organizations, governments and associations.

Chapter 5

Ethics, spirituality and the cooperative movement in the banking industry

Claude Béland

In this chapter, Claude Beland, president of a very important financial institution, presents a philosophy and an organizational design that favors ethics and spirituality. President of the Desjardins movement that employs more than 43 000 people and manages assets of more than 70 billion dollars, he describes the spirit of the cooperative movement as a societal project, retraces the history of the Desjardins Movement through its founder Alphonse Desjardins, gives a brief summary of the recent changes that go against the cooperative movement's values, and presents specific examples of how his institution had to adapt to the reality of the economic market . In conclusion, Mr. Beland identifies the reasons why he thinks the cooperative movement is the way of the future in a world "in search for meaning" and pleads for the development in society of a real education in democracy, responsibility and solidarity so as to humanize society and the economy.
An example of an Evolutionary Organization, as described by Ian I. Mitroff (chapter 2), the Desjardins Movement succeeded in ensconcing Christian values in the cooperative movement and prospered in an industry governed by other values. These two victories have brought forth numerous critiques: Some say that it's not as capitalist as it should be and lacks efficiency and profitability. Others accuse it of selling its soul and interacting far too much with the capitalist world . But, as Claude Beland explains in a recent book, the Desjardins movement preserved its cooperative spirit . Still today, important decisions are taken by 14 000 people following the age long principle one person, one vote, and Desjardins was one of the rare financial institutions that opposed Canadian bank mergers. To be part of a dominant world while offering an alternative is the managerial paradox discussed by Claude Beland in this chapter.

Chapter 6

Ethics, spirituality and advertising: a feasible "menage à trois".

Madeleine Saint-Jacques

In this chapter, Madeleine St-Jacques, president of an important advertising agency in Montreal, proclaims her pride to be a publicist. She reminds us that despite the bad press and its perception as being manipulative, mercantile, advertising is primarily a means of communication conveying a message. To her, the ethics and spirituality of advertising is possible and should be evaluated according to the nature of the message, whether it is facile or course, whether it is meant to inform the public weal or to reach the depth of the human soul. Mrs Saint-Jacques believes that advertising must respect essential values, considering it is a very powerful instrument in our society using the omnipresent power of image-making - a person, in our modern world, is exposed on average to more than 2 500 advertisements a day! Having reminded us that the industry is controlled by a strict ethical code, she relates her own experience: In her agency, every message conveyed is in harmony with the personal and profound values of its president.

As Mr. Beland did in the previous chapter, in the context of the financial and banking sector, Mrs. Saint-Jacques explains how an advertising agency can function differently in spite of market's pressure. She suggests that advertising can if it wishes convey the message of the breath of life and to illustrate that, she shows us solid examples. She also suggests that our values have origins beyond our social environment, trends or institutions. As I suggested with the notion of levels of consciousness development in the introductory chapter, Mrs. Saint-Jacques talks about values originating from profound desires within. To be proud of her accomplishments, she feels she must give special attention to those desires, as Simone Weil liked to say (see chapter 12).

Chapter 7

Reconciling Human happiness and profitability: mission possible thanks to 16 new management tools

J.-Robert Ouimet

In this chapter, J.-Robert, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of three medium size food industry companies, describes how human and spiritual values have become institutionalized over the last twenty years within his businesses. Christian inspired, but open to other religions and spiritual traditions, this institutionalization is particularly sophisticated. It has been the subject of a great deal of research and experimentation during the last forty years; the subject of a doctoral thesis submitted recently by Mr. Ouimet; and it has integrated the observations of international personalities such as Mother Teresa. This institutionalization is based on the definition of the types of responsibilities and values to pursue. It has also given rise to the development of 16 innovative management tools whose efficiency has been evaluated by 19 systematic surveys at this point.
This case-study is a concrete demonstration of the necessity to use systemic thinking in management (see chapter 2), even if the experiment conducted by M. Ouimet is, for the time being, primarily focused within his organization (employees, managers, board of directors, etc.) He is adamant about the difference between the need to "humanize" and to "spiritualize" (see the introductory chapter). Mr. Ouimet, whose experiments have been covered in business magazines , concludes by affirming that the success of this institutionalization proves that it is possible to reconcile economic, ethical and spiritual wealth in a market economy and in an industry where competition is governed by huge corporations. He also suggests that this institutionalization is transferable to other companies and other cultures, if a minimum of three conditions are met.

Chapter 8

Managing a public organization: a projection of one's ethical and spiritual values

Vera Danyluk

In this chapter, Mrs. Danyluk, re-elected for a second mandate as President of the Executive Committee of the Montreal Urban Community, which represents more than 1.8 million citizens, shares a personal account of the role her spiritual life takes in the execution of her public leadership functions. She does not hide her discomfort at disclosing her intimate process and considers this sharing even more difficult than the carrying out of her political life. Taking a systemic point of view as well (see the previous chapter), Mrs. Danyluk describes her relations with the people's representatives, her employees and citizens. Although she refuses to impose her religious views and practices on others, she points to the fact that she draws numerous qualities essential to her leadership role from her spiritual life : the energy, detachment and serenity necessary to overcome difficult situations; the emphasis she puts on long term goals rather than immediate brilliant feats; the implementation of rigorous ethics for the sound management of "the common good"; an increase in congruence between words and action; her enthusiasm for serving her fellow citizens and her awareness of the nobility of this task; the possibility of going beyond the mediocrity inherent in any democratic system; and the inner strength she needs in order to publicly reveal the failures of her administration.

Stating that she encounters the divine mainly through people, Mrs. Danyluk also emphasizes the fact that she draws her refusal of hatred, rancor and resentment as well as her capacity to forgive from her spiritual life. In doing so, she meets the two conditions facing the complexity and irreversibility of human affairs proposed by the philosopher Anna Arendt: the power to promise, the promise binding what is uncertain in the future with contracts and laws and the power to forgive, which releases what was bound in the past . If Anna Arendt doubted that forgiveness could exist in politics, Vera Danyluk's leadership demonstrates the opposite.

Chapter 9

The Quality/Performance of Pastoral Care : Clientele Satisfaction and Efficiency of the Hospital Stay

Yves Benoît

In this chapter, Yves Benoît, general director of a major health care center, draws a lesson from the integration of pastoral care in the health network. The recent reform that shook up Quebec's health care system - and which is akin to other such reforms around the world - led the network itself to adopt a systemic approach, a key theme of this book. The various stakeholders of the system - doctors, nurses, directors, various governing bodies, professionals, union leaders, clients, representatives of the families of patients and so forth - started a dialogue on a key issue, that is, which values to favor. These values, namely respect, equity, immutability, transparency, responsibility, coherence and partnership, are similar to the ones proposed in the context of 'healthy management' (see the introduction) or those advocated by the cooperative system (see chapter 5).

In the midst of all these changes, pastoral care was asked to de-compartmentalise itself and to become part of multidisciplinary teams whose tasks are centred on the needs of clients. This had two major effects: first, a growing acknowledgement of the importance of pastoral care for health, while distinguishing between the spiritual and the religious needs of patients; second, the broadening of the very notion of care, from care of the body to care of the heart and of the mind. Finally, Mr. Benoît refers to numerous scientific studies which suggest that religious belief and spiritual practice has a positive effect on physical and mental health. This includes, for instance, a reduction of cardio-vascular diseases, of depression, of states of anxiety and a reduction of the length of convalescence. This has been confirmed by medical doctors from reputed research centres such as the Harvard Medical School, Duke University or Yale University. In conclusion, Mr. Benoit wishes to continue to encourage the ethical and spiritual contributions of pastoral care, for administrators and workers in the health network.

Chapter 10

Business, Values and Spirituality:
A Case Study of A Business School in Australia


Peter Sheldrake et James Hurley

In this chapter Peter Sheldrake, the director of an important Australian business school, and James Hurley, the head of its new DBA program , describe certain principles for the integration of ethics and spirituality in business education as well as its inherent difficulties. Like an echo of Ian Mitroff who seeks a radically different thinking and structure in management education (see chapter 2), the principles proposed by Sheldrake and Hurley include the necessity to conceive a program based on the true integration of personal growth and professional practice; the structure of the program must also be adapted to the values it professes and not the other way around; it should enhance a "learning community" which is developed by both participants and teachers alike as opposed to just accommodating individual students; as well, the program must change from one which is motivated by knowledge for the purpose of control to knowledge derived from compassion.

After describing the problems which arose from both students and professors, the administration and the general culture, Peter Sheldrake and James Hurley propose different mechanisms and processes which they find essential to insure the sucess of such a programme: the use of experiential learning, continued cross-fertilisation between personal development, knowledge, and practice; the development of a secure learning space; the use of art and literature; the solid footing in the notion of "a calling", both personal and institutional; the on-going training and supervision of instructors; promotion of a fundamental change in the university system; and the support of the programmes legitimacy by businesses themselves. Finally by way of a Quaker story, the authors remind us that ethical decision making originates in the depths of the soul and from a meaningfull dialogue with ones-self and others; a dominant theme in this book that will be taken up again in its concluding chapter.

Chapter 11

Dialogue on part two

As said before, a dialogue is more than a series of questions and answers between speakers and the audience (see introduction of chapter 4). In order to go beyond the "expert-novice" pattern, the dialogue sessions during the forum allowed participants to ask questions and also offer testimonies to express their point of views and emotions. The diversity expressed in those dialogues on management, ethics and spirituality, allows an initial evaluation of the themes preoccupying those working in businesses, as well as the their emotions. Most fundamentally, a dialogue allows for the apprehension of the "thought structure" of a group and its "assumptions", leading the group to a "profound conversation" in a "holding space", as suggested by Peter Sheldrake and James Hurley in the previous chapter.

Chapter 12

For A Spiritual Ethics of Work:
Some Inspiration from Simone Weil

Thierry C. Pauchant

In this chapter, I present some of the views of the philosopher Simone Weil (1909-1943) on the need to base our civilization on a spiritual ethics of work. First, I give an introduction to her life and work. Although having a significant influence in many milieus, Simone Weil is practically unknown in the field of administration - be it in business administration schools or in business itself. I will also suggest several reasons why the work of Simone Weil is fundamental when developing a spiritual ethics for work. I will then explain how she proposed a view of work that is both existentialist and spiritual, as for her the activity of work was the point of concordance between "thought" and "action" on the one side, and "gravity" and "grace" on the other.

Finally I propose ten suggestions given by Simone Weil to develop this spiritual ethics of work. These suggestions include the following needs: to limit the race for world domination; to rediscover the notion of limit; to see our business institutions as instruments of production and destruction as well; to go beyond purely economic considerations; to secure and democratize work; to favor concordance between thought and action; to root thought in the person; to reinvent politics; to develop a new adventure of the scientific spirit and to encourage the ability of subtle mindfulness.

In conclusion, I stress that the rediscovery of the works of Simone Weil - as well as those of authors such as Chester I Barnard, Abraham Maslow, Marie Parker Follet or E. F. Schumacher - is indispensable for developing a spiritual ethics of work in management, in our organizations and our societies. In my view, the profound meeting with a person who perceives the world and behaves in it from the transpersonal level of consciousness (see the introductory chapter) is one of the most powerful strategies for accomplishing the goals of the FIMES.

To define the paths and the practical tools that will spiritualize work, the current management and economic system will take time and will need the contribution of numerous people. These tasks are the very mission of the FIMES as suggested in the introductory chapter of this book (see also Annex 1 for a definition of this mission). In my opinion, Simone Weil's philosophy is one of the voices that must be heard concerning this or, better, one of the voices for which one must exert an "effort of mindfulness", the notions of "effort" and of "mindfulness" being quite cherished by her.

Chapter 13

Economic efficiency, ethical foun
dations and spiritual values in the management of organizations


Roger Berthouzoz

In order to integrate ethical and spiritual values into management and the economy, the theologian, ethicist and Dominican priest, Roger Berthouzoz an expert in economical and developmental ethics , draws from a precise source, the sociological and systemic theory of Niklas Luhmann. Developing one of this book's recurrent theme, the necessity to accept a systemic perspective, he reminds us that the fall of Marxism should not lead to an idealization of neo-liberalism. For Roger Berthouzoz, these two ideologies fragment the real, the first by the omnipresence of the state, and the second by the omnipresence of the market. By proposing that every system develops its own rationality and its own practices which give rise to its identity, he rejects both a "corrective ethic" imposed from without, and a "utilitarian ethic" appropriated by the system. He suggests an "integrative ethic" which must be discussed cooperatively, by all the partners within each system in order to genuinely improve decision making. As well, he postulates that ethics, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, should be inspired from above by noble values (human dignity, justice, solidarity, spiritual development), and from below by operating practices (charters of responsibility, codes of ethics and management tools).

Certain of the theories introduced by Roger Berthouzoz in this erudite text are currently used in the most avant-garde scientific research in administration - the nature of complexity, systemic analysis, the theory of self-organization, the different forms of anthropological reality etc.. If this "adventure of the scientific spirit", as Simone Weil calls it (see chapter 12), seems disconcerting at first, it is necessary if we truly wish to humanise and spiritualise our managerial practice and economic system, along with ourselves and the world in general.

Chapter 14

Business ethics and spirituality among Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Michel Dion

In this chapter, lawyer, theologian and ethics professor, Michel Dion compares the principles of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and relates them to the economic system, management and, more generally, to work. To do so, he comments on the inter-religious declaration initiated in 1984 by Prince Philip of Great Britain and Prince Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan, that has resulted in a code of ethics for international business signed in 1993. This declaration has been specifically designed to address the globalization of economic exchanges and to increase high moral standards in business practice.

Michel Dion comments on three fundamental themes: social justice and the search for common good; the management of Creation; and the principles of political economy including those related to competition, prosperity, the function of the State, human dignity and the environment. He concludes by arguing that the development of a collective ethic from these three monotheistic religions is not incompatible with the affirmation of their specific differences. A real inter-religious dialogue can overcome this paradox.

This dialogue can be seen as a continuation of the work on existing relationships between religions and economy initiated by the great sociologist Max Weber at the beginning of this century . Considering religion as the very foundations of our cultures and our societies, the work of Weber nonetheless had a certain bias; the author was interpreting each religion alone, and his standpoint was sociological hence more general. Michel Dion's commentary, based on the 1993 inter-faith declaration, is more faithful to the three religions themselves. His commentary emanates from a dialogue of each group's own members, and is particularly applied to the business world since each specific community has been invited to participate into the dialogue. In the concluding chapter I will introduce another statement of inter-religious ethics proposed by the Parliament of the world religions, established in 1893.

Chapter 15

Dialogue on part three

This is the third and last dialogue presented in this book. In this dialogue, participants address questions previously discussed in the Forum and also explore the proposed themes within this section of the book. At this point, the reader should be familiar with the unstructured nature of a dialogue.

I will come back to the relevance of the dialogue discipline in the concluding chapter. I will propose that such a discipline or practice is a process from which a "dialogical ethics" can emerge. I will also suggest that, under certain conditions, a dialogue can become a spiritual practice.

Conclusion

In this concluding chapter, I will present an evaluation of the conference as the participants themselves expressed it. I will also propose that management is first and foremost a manifestation of a particular notion of truth, goodness and beauty. A conceptualization of this kind has epistemological, ethical and aesthetic implications that are fundamental for the management of our organizations and their impact on the world.

Having commented on the current domination of our organizations on the structuring of our societies and of our lives, I conclude that we literally push forward philosophy and ethics : our only choice is to collectively institute a global ethic, one that will make those spiritual values and inspirations as socially oriented and as tangible as possible.

Returning to the notion of "levels of consciousness" presented in the opening chapter of this book, I will also present a systemic model that suggests that complex relationships exist between these levels of consciousness and the health of our bodies, the values that are predominant in our societies, and the technologies and management practices that we are developing. This systemic model not only enables us to precisely define the potential dangers associated with using ethics and spirituality in management, but also allows us to propose some necessities in their development and application.

Lastly, I will make 12 general observations from the content of this book and propose several priorities for the future activities of FIMES.

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