The Resacralization of Work Paper presented to the Passion of Organizing Stream, Critical Management Studies

The seepage of religion beyond traditional institutional boundaries and into formerly secular areas of everyday life has led to the emergence of various forms of non-aligned spirituality. One of these is workplace spirituality, proposed by some to be a means through which the individual can find meaning in paid employment. The work organization is portrayed as a source of spiritual growth that can enable the discovery of an interconnected purpose and innermost being. Current interest in workplace spirituality can also be seen as a reaction to the failure of management to resolve the ‘problem ’ of the meaning of work through rational methods. It thus reflects a broader inclination to question the values of scientific materialism. In this paper, we describe this recent interest as evidence of ‘new organizational spirituality’ in order to draw attention to its roots within the New Age movement. We suggest that new organizational spirituality relies upon an eclectic blend of values and beliefs characteristic of the 21st century ‘spiritual supermarket’. This can also be contrasted with Methodist and Quaker owned work organizations of the 19th century, where management was founded on a