Religion and Spirituality in the Workplace Essay

The circumstances, images and fallout related to September 11, 2001 have caused many Americans to revisit their spiritual beliefs in attempt to process the horrific events of such an unimaginable day (Smith, 2003). In the years since the Fall of 2001, employees have developed an increasing desire to integrate their personal spirituality and religious beliefs with their professional lives (Cunningham, 2010). Managers are now faced with the difficult task of accommodating the varying spiritual beliefs of their workforce while tactfully mitigating religion-based issues in accordance with Title VII.

There is a ton of ways to show your love for religion in the workplace without having to wear it where it becomes noticeable. As companies continue to become more and more diverse, religion plays a significant role in workplace issues. According to Grossman (2008), “the growing number of successful faith-friendly and faith-based employers serves as a testament that religion and spirituality can flourish in the workplace. Implementation remains the key, if it is done carefully, faith-friendly employers may choose to celebrate religious and spiritual inclusiveness even if some people would prefer a secular

Religion in the workplace can introduce some of the most challenging concerns employers have to tackle. Solving these issues involves an understanding of the law as well as attempting to balance the business 's needs with an employee 's desire to practice his or her religion. One of the most controversial conflicts when dealing with religion in the workplace is between an employee 's desire to take time off to acknowledge religious days or holidays and the potential reduction in productivity and profitability.

Forbes Magazine listed True Religion Apparel, Inc. as #79 on its list of America’s Best Small Companies. The company was founded by Jeffery Lubell in 2002 where he started out selling his high-quality American made denim products out of a van in LA. The company now has expanded to six continents and boasts and impressing 439 million dollars (as of October 2012).

Kent Rhodes (2006) talks about how “workplace spirituality has continued to gain acceptance as a topic of study in various schools around the country, presumably with applications to practice within organizations.” He also reveals how workplace spirituality has evolve and most textbooks now have sections dealing with the topic along with various groups such as the Academy of Management are offering specific interest groups dealing with spirituality (Rhodes 2006).

when for an employer to ask the Muslim employee to remove their hijab at work. I think so.

Growing up, Sundays consisted of family and Church. My sister, brother and my parents would all get up early and go to Sunday Mass. We would meet my grandparents, sit together in the front row pew and listen to the priest deliver the Gospel. I always got excited at the end of the Gospel when we, the parishioners would recite, “Praise to you Lord, Jesus Christ” I knew that meant we could sit down for a while. After Church, we would venture down to the basement of our Catholic

Within the American workplace there is an unfortunate growing concern for Muslim workers in accordance to the other employees. This concern is co workers is just being blatantly ignorant to Islamic traditions. Many Muslim women experience discrimination because of the fact that they are not allowed to wear traditional hijabs. Perfectly explained by ali Rasheed “One of the most highly visible forms of religious expression by Muslim women is the wearing of the traditional head covering, known as the hijab. Many Muslim women reported experiencing prejudice and discrimination and consequently forced to remove the hijab after 9/11 especially in places of work” (Ali 146). With that being said, it highlights the mentality of the workers when dealing with Muslim acquaintances. Secondly, most Muslims will experience discrimination in the traditional clothing that they wear.

Having worked in various businesses and organizations throughout the years, religion has been a subject rarely discussed or even mentioned in the workplace. Moreover, I always regarded one’s religious background and beliefs as a personal matter of choice.

Religion in the workplace may always be a controversial topic to discuss. Many people have their own views and opinions regarding different religions. Christians cannot and should not force their personal views on co-workers, or anyone for that matter, but they can surely display Christ in the workplace. Healthcare professionals can represent Him in a variety of ways. These professionals can be a representation of Christ through sharing His word verbally, by way of non-verbal communication, or simply by the manner in which they conduct themselves. Representing Christ is not a difficult task for someone who is on fire for the Lord, and strong in their faith. Even still, it is important that the healthcare professionals embody Christ in a way

When the term business comes into one 's mind that individual thinks about profit making. However, this is not always true. Though a business 's one motives may be to earn profit, but on the other hand their other motives may be to serve the society. Those business individuals who have enormous faith in religion try to integrate their faith and business together and express their religious beliefs through their business. Some of the examples of such business are Mary Kay, Forever 21, Chick fil A, Hobby Lobby, Interstate Batteries and so on.

When in the workplace there are a few things that people try not to discuss and religion or spirituality is one of those. It is often a touchy subject because of differing beliefs and opinions. Does spirituality help or hinder productivity in the workplace? Will someone that is spiritual be a better leader than someone who is not? I will explore two articles Spirituality and Public Service and In the Study of Leadership, Spirituality Is the Unexpected Elephant in the Room. I will show how the authors relate spirituality to leadership. They tend to sway to the opinion that spirituality is

To solve this problem we see it as necessary to educate the workforce to be sensitive towards differences in beliefs. Workplaces could accommodate by recognising holidays, allowing prayer breaks and accommodate for dietary and dress requirements.

Today our world is brimming with diverse cultures, religions, and languages. Being diverse make each individual unique from others. According to the Isaak Sevensson article “religion has come to play an increasingly important role in shaping today’s world”. In general religion, conflicts are more about human nature than religion itself. People usually create problems and blame the God, saying my religion said it or it 's written in the holy book. God is not the one who created different among human, it 's human and their beliefs that create conflicts between religions. All religions holy books are man-made, so why blaming the religion or God? God never discriminate between human and national, it 's the human who thinks their religion is telling them right things and other religion are wrong. All religion teaches moral values, spiritual knowledge and respect for everyone. There is no doubt in my mind that religion teaches all individuals the same lesson of maintaining peace and non-Violence; however, we always misinterpret and create discriminate toward other religion.

Because religion or spirituality is important to many people, individuals in the working world need to be aware of the issues surrounding each so that they will be able to converse with others without causing turmoil. It is important to understand that prayer plays a large part in the lives of people and their everyday existence. In the following paper I will apply several ethical theories as well as perspectives to religion in the workplace. I will also provide example and elaborate on each. I will also provide history on the different theory and how they are similar to each other and how they differ.