Journal of Spirituality, Leadership and Management
Volume 6: 2012
From growing convergence of spirituality and leadership towards a unified leadership theory
Puneet Bindlish
Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India
Priyanka Dutt
IIS University, Jaipur, India
Rupali Pardasani
Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India
ABSTRACT: pp. 3-22.
In recent times, researchers’ interest in understanding the nature of leadership’s relationship to spirituality has been fuelled by a striking commonality among successful leaders with regards to their spiritual propensities. More so, now that the issues such as business ethics, social responsibility and meaningfulness in work are taking prominence in organizations, the need for research is being felt to understand leadership from holistic dimensions. Traditionally, leadership and spirituality exist as two independent concepts, but leadership without spirituality is a state of “abridged development”, a state that can be described as an atom without a nucleus. The relationship between spirituality and leadership is fundamental in nature and spans across various leadership styles/theories. The paper’s intent is to share an in-depth view on this imbricating relationship, thus providing impetus to the growing need for a holistic approach to leadership. The paper concludes with a discussion on the need for a unified model of leadership, with spirituality forming its bedrock. Such a bedrock lays the foundation for an individual to harness the potential that spirituality provides for unheralded growth in the area of management.
Keywords: Spirituality; Leadership; Spiritual leadership; Confluence; Convergence; Integral; Unified