Spirituality and Ethics in Management

Abstract

Since the first publication of our “Spirituality and Ethics in Management” business spirituality became increasingly visible as the subject of intellectual inquiry in many places throughout the world. Leading academic journals includ- ing the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Management Education, Journal of Organizational Change Management regularly publish papers on diverse aspects of spirituality in management. Since its establishment in 2004 the Journal of Management, Spirituality, and Religion has published more than 100 papers related to the relevance and relationship of spirituality and religion in management and organizational life. As an outcome of the publication of our “Spirituality and Ethics in Management” book the European SPES Forum was founded in 2005 in Leuven, Belgium. (SPES refers to “Spirituality in Economics and Social Life” but it is also the Latin word for Hope, the virtue that sustains our belief in a better future.) Founding members of the European SPES Forum include several authors of this book (Luk Bouckaert, Mike Thompson, Josep M. Lozano and me). The mission of the European SPES Forum is to open up spirituality as a vital source in social and economic life. The European SPES Forum has a focus on experience-based spirituality that succeeds in making a connection between day-to-day activities and the inner, pluriform quest for meaning. In 2005–2010 we organized five international conferences and pub- lished six books on diverse topics including spirituality as a public good, frugality in economics, business spirituality in Europe-Asia perspective, the spiritual roots of European identity, and European literature and the ethics of leadership. (http:// www.eurospes.be) The new edition of the “Spirituality and Ethics in Management” is a partially revised edition. Robert Allinson, Alpár Losoncz, Mike Thompson, Josep M. Lozano and Raimon Ribera revised and updated their papers. I hope that the reader finds the new edition inspiring