Editor’s Note
Prof. Manas Chakravarty, teaches Human Resource Management at Globsyn Business School – which has always been considered to be one of the best MBA colleges in Kolkata placement wise. Prof. Chakravarty moved to academics following a distinguished career in the industry culminating in leadership roles. Prior to joining the faculty team at Globsyn Business School, he was the Associate Dean at ICFAI, Hyderabad and Dean at Unitedworld School of Business, Karnavati University, Gandhinagar. In addition to administrative and professional responsibilities, Prof. Chakravarty has delivered executive learning programs at leading corporate houses across the country and has been the program director of national and international conferences. Apart from academic writing, he also has a blog page in the Economic Times.
Long before IOT became popular as the acronym for Internet of Things, an empirical study published in Sloan Management Review in 1999 found that the single word best capturing the meaning of spirituality was “interconnectedness’ – the feeling of interconnectedness of things like “one’s complete self, others and the entire universe.”
Though interconnectedness of things is a common thread, the understanding and practice of spirituality has been approached over the ages in varied ways by different communities across the world. Many schools of thought have approached spirituality from the perspective of religion. There is indeed substantial overlap between the two in their avowed objectives. However, the scope of spirituality is wider. Religion is prescriptive; it provides answers and seeks conformity. Spirituality on the other hand encourages questions and promotes exploration. As a religion-neutral way of life, spirituality is becoming the preferred personal choice of many individuals, though not without criticism from organized bodies of religions.
The wide ambit of spirituality makes it particularly appealing to organizations including business entities desirous of fostering interconnectedness among its various stakeholders belonging to diverse faiths. Spirituality at the workplace enables employees to engage in their work with their whole being, be more mindful that colleagues depend on them for their cooperation in pursuing joint work, deal with clients and other stakeholders more ethically and move towards greater self-actualization.
In Globsyn Business School, a Spirituality Club has been established this year with the intention of helping students develop holistic perspective based on self-exploration and reflection in order to lead a balanced and peaceful life. On its maiden event in October, students made presentations articulating their thoughts on spirituality. In November, the club members were addressed by Swami Vedatitananda of Ramakrishna Mission Shilpamandira, Belur on Practicing Spirituality, Human Values, and Ethics in Institutions from an MBA Student’s Perspective. In the course of his talk and in answering questions following it, the speaker underlined the pathways for individuals and institutions to pursue non-religious spirituality. Enthusiastic participation of students in the activities of the club is reassuring of the mindfulness of today’s youth.
Practicing spirituality could indeed unlock boundless potentialities. However, it is not without pitfalls. A common tendency is “spiritual bypassing” – a term coined by the American psychotherapist John Welwood in his book Toward a Psychology of Awakening. It refers to situations where individuals and institutions bypass a problem by taking refuge in spirituality. For example, individuals not taking action on problems within their responsibility to resolve, citing them to be mundane and claiming that their focus is on sublime issues of higher spiritual order. Similarly, an institutional example could be employers wanting the employees to reconcile with unfair working conditions saying that they must look at the positives and count their blessings.
In any case, abandoning bounden worldly responsibilities in search of spirituality would be futile. Austrian Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl in his autobiographical work Man’s Search for Meaning describes how he held on to meaning of life to sustain the suffering of Nazi concentration camp. Though Frankl was criticized on the point that the short length of his incarceration could not have provided the experience for the long narration, there is profound wisdom in his opinion that specifically searching for meaning of life may be fruitless as it should rather emerge as the consequence of pursuing other goals.
Prof. Manas Chakravarty
Faculty – Human Resource Management
Globsyn Business School