Transpersonal business studies
Encyclopedia
Since the foundation of transpersonal psychology
by Abraham Maslow
in the late 1960s, other transpersonal disciplines
, considered by Boucouvalas (1999), have been considered. In view of the fact that some of Maslow's interests in psychology are related to the world of management, it is perhaps not surprising that transpersonal concepts have been applied to business studies
and to the world of management
, and transpersonal business studies is one of the disciplines considered by Marcie Boucouvalas (1999). This shows the practical utility of transpersonal themes.
Examples of how transpersonal concepts have practical utility in this field are considered by Cooper and Sauraf (1998), in their book on emotional intelligence
in the workplace, in which they draw reference to states of consciousness such as the flow experience discussed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
(see Flow
). Their book quotes from the Japanese business strategist, Kerichi Omhae: "Successful business strategies results not from rigorous analysis ... but from a process which is creative and individual rather than rational" (cited in Cooper & Sauraf,1998, p152). The work of Jean Henry in the management realm is also relevant to this field - her book includes a chapter by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
(Henry, 1991; 2001).
There is now widespread recognition of the importance of transpersonal concepts in business studies and related fields such as management. This is evident from considerably large and growing literature dealing with spiritual aspects of the business world, management and economics (Conger, 1994; Dehler & Paradigm, 1994; Fogel, 2000; Neck & Milliman, 1994). Boucouvalas cites Franklin (1981) and Pyle (1989) as examples of entrepreneurship with transpersonal themes. See also corporate social entrepreneurship
.
However, the term "transpersonal business studies" remains ambiguous, and it is not clear whether this term should be used for business that has conventional economic goals, such as profit, and employs transpersonal techniques, or business that is influenced by transpersonal values and spiritual, rather than economic, growth. Related to this is the area of transpersonal management, of which more can be found on the website http://www.phoenixinstitute.com.au/consultancy.html. Stretching things just slightly, although more relevant to humanistic psychology
than to transpersonal psychology
, the article by Schott (1992) on how the insights of both Abraham Maslow
and Carl Jung
can be applied to the field of management, organizations and leadership studies
could be said to relate to this field. Schott discusses self-actualisation in connection with management, noting Maslow's term "eupsychian managers" for managers who have reached self-actualisation, and also discusses why some self-actualising individuals may feel inhibited against aspirations to management positions. Schott also, in connection with Jung, discusses the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
in relation to management. The observation that self-actualisers may feel inhibited against moving into management positions has an especially acute implication for transpersonal management studies, since, in transpersonal psychology
, self-transcendence rather than self-actualisation is frequently viewed as the apex of psychological health; the extent to which self-transcendence is incompatible with desire for management positions is a topic that awaits further research.
A popular book on applications of intuition
in the business sphere has been provided by Robinson (2006), who notes how people may use prayer
to guide their decisions. Rigorous statistical empirical data germane to this field have been collected by Mirowsky and Ross (2007), including studies in creativity
, a topic of importance in transpersonal psychology
, in relation to health in an occupational setting. Their findings indicate that creativity "has an association with health
that exceeds those of education
and household income" (Mirowsky & Ross, 2007, p398) and underscores the differences between creativity and autonomy (it is the former which they found to be more closely related to health).
An example of a movement which links the areas of spirituality, business and management is the Spirituality, Leadership and Management (SLaM) Network, which has its own website on http://www.slam.net.au/. This movement lists its tenets on its website, stating that its members are guided by principles such as a belief in unconditional love
, the belief that different spiritual pathways are possible and the commitment to the view that everything in the universe is ultimately interconnected with everything else. The movement also refers to its journal
on its website.
Also of relevance to this field is the practice of Shariah banking. This is a banking practice which has been influential in Indonesia
, and combines the spiritual values of Islam
with good banking practice. Indication of the phenomenal growth (over 80%) in assets in Shariah banking since 2004 can be found by reading the website http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20050411.M05. Islamic Shariah banking is referred to on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banks_in_Malaysia#Syariah_Banks_.28Islamic_Banks_.28full_list.29.29
as in danger of having a materialistic face.
Transpersonal psychology
Transpersonal psychology is a form of psychology that studies the transpersonal, self-transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human experience....
by Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow
Abraham Harold Maslow was an American professor of psychology at Brandeis University, Brooklyn College, New School for Social Research and Columbia University who created Maslow's hierarchy of needs...
in the late 1960s, other transpersonal disciplines
Transpersonal disciplines
The question of whether transpersonal psychology should be considered one of a number of transpersonal disciplines appears to be answered affirmatively by Boucovolas...
, considered by Boucouvalas (1999), have been considered. In view of the fact that some of Maslow's interests in psychology are related to the world of management, it is perhaps not surprising that transpersonal concepts have been applied to business studies
Business studies
Business studies is an academic subject taught at higher level in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom, as well as at university level in many countries...
and to the world of management
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
, and transpersonal business studies is one of the disciplines considered by Marcie Boucouvalas (1999). This shows the practical utility of transpersonal themes.
Examples of how transpersonal concepts have practical utility in this field are considered by Cooper and Sauraf (1998), in their book on emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is a skill or ability in the case of the trait EI model, a self-perceived ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups. Various models and definitions have been proposed of which the ability and trait EI models are the most...
in the workplace, in which they draw reference to states of consciousness such as the flow experience discussed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a Hungarian psychology professor, who emigrated to the United States at the age of 22. Now at Claremont Graduate University, he is the former head of the department of psychology at the University of Chicago and of the department of sociology and anthropology at Lake...
(see Flow
Flow (psychology)
Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of...
). Their book quotes from the Japanese business strategist, Kerichi Omhae: "Successful business strategies results not from rigorous analysis ... but from a process which is creative and individual rather than rational" (cited in Cooper & Sauraf,1998, p152). The work of Jean Henry in the management realm is also relevant to this field - her book includes a chapter by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a Hungarian psychology professor, who emigrated to the United States at the age of 22. Now at Claremont Graduate University, he is the former head of the department of psychology at the University of Chicago and of the department of sociology and anthropology at Lake...
(Henry, 1991; 2001).
There is now widespread recognition of the importance of transpersonal concepts in business studies and related fields such as management. This is evident from considerably large and growing literature dealing with spiritual aspects of the business world, management and economics (Conger, 1994; Dehler & Paradigm, 1994; Fogel, 2000; Neck & Milliman, 1994). Boucouvalas cites Franklin (1981) and Pyle (1989) as examples of entrepreneurship with transpersonal themes. See also corporate social entrepreneurship
Corporate Social Entrepreneurship
A corporate social entrepreneur is defined as "an employee of the firm who operates in a socially entrepreneurial manner; identifying opportunities for and/ or championing socially responsible activity; in addition to helping the firm achieve its business targets. The CSE operates regardless of...
.
However, the term "transpersonal business studies" remains ambiguous, and it is not clear whether this term should be used for business that has conventional economic goals, such as profit, and employs transpersonal techniques, or business that is influenced by transpersonal values and spiritual, rather than economic, growth. Related to this is the area of transpersonal management, of which more can be found on the website http://www.phoenixinstitute.com.au/consultancy.html. Stretching things just slightly, although more relevant to humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective which rose to prominence in the mid-20th century, drawing on the work of early pioneers like Carl Rogers and the philosophies of existentialism and phenomenology...
than to transpersonal psychology
Transpersonal psychology
Transpersonal psychology is a form of psychology that studies the transpersonal, self-transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human experience....
, the article by Schott (1992) on how the insights of both Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow
Abraham Harold Maslow was an American professor of psychology at Brandeis University, Brooklyn College, New School for Social Research and Columbia University who created Maslow's hierarchy of needs...
and Carl Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
can be applied to the field of management, organizations and leadership studies
Leadership studies
Leadership studies is a multidisciplinary academic field of study that focuses on leadership in organizational contexts and in human life. Leadership studies has origins in the social sciences , in humanities , as well as in professional and applied fields of study...
could be said to relate to this field. Schott discusses self-actualisation in connection with management, noting Maslow's term "eupsychian managers" for managers who have reached self-actualisation, and also discusses why some self-actualising individuals may feel inhibited against aspirations to management positions. Schott also, in connection with Jung, discusses the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions...
in relation to management. The observation that self-actualisers may feel inhibited against moving into management positions has an especially acute implication for transpersonal management studies, since, in transpersonal psychology
Transpersonal psychology
Transpersonal psychology is a form of psychology that studies the transpersonal, self-transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human experience....
, self-transcendence rather than self-actualisation is frequently viewed as the apex of psychological health; the extent to which self-transcendence is incompatible with desire for management positions is a topic that awaits further research.
A popular book on applications of intuition
Intuition (knowledge)
Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without inference or the use of reason. "The word 'intuition' comes from the Latin word 'intueri', which is often roughly translated as meaning 'to look inside'’ or 'to contemplate'." Intuition provides us with beliefs that we cannot necessarily justify...
in the business sphere has been provided by Robinson (2006), who notes how people may use prayer
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
to guide their decisions. Rigorous statistical empirical data germane to this field have been collected by Mirowsky and Ross (2007), including studies in creativity
Creativity
Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs...
, a topic of importance in transpersonal psychology
Transpersonal psychology
Transpersonal psychology is a form of psychology that studies the transpersonal, self-transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human experience....
, in relation to health in an occupational setting. Their findings indicate that creativity "has an association with health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
that exceeds those of education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
and household income" (Mirowsky & Ross, 2007, p398) and underscores the differences between creativity and autonomy (it is the former which they found to be more closely related to health).
An example of a movement which links the areas of spirituality, business and management is the Spirituality, Leadership and Management (SLaM) Network, which has its own website on http://www.slam.net.au/. This movement lists its tenets on its website, stating that its members are guided by principles such as a belief in unconditional love
Unconditional love
Unconditional love is a term that means to love someone regardless of one's actions or beliefs. It is a concept comparable to true love, a term which is more frequently used to describe love between lovers. By contrast, unconditional love is frequently used to describe love between family members,...
, the belief that different spiritual pathways are possible and the commitment to the view that everything in the universe is ultimately interconnected with everything else. The movement also refers to its journal
Academic journal
An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...
on its website.
Also of relevance to this field is the practice of Shariah banking. This is a banking practice which has been influential in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, and combines the spiritual values of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
with good banking practice. Indication of the phenomenal growth (over 80%) in assets in Shariah banking since 2004 can be found by reading the website http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20050411.M05. Islamic Shariah banking is referred to on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banks_in_Malaysia#Syariah_Banks_.28Islamic_Banks_.28full_list.29.29
Criticisms of field
Ambiguity of what is meant by terms such as "transpersonal business" or "transpersonal management" can lead to criticisms of this field (cf. Boucovolas, 1999). It is not clear whether the term simply refers to conventional goals, such as economic profit, in business which are acquired by transpersonal techniques; or whether such a discipline really would mean a change of business aspirations, goals and values to become more spiritual and more altruistic. This relates to criticisms of the New AgeNew Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
as in danger of having a materialistic face.
External links
- Marcie Boucouvalas
- http://www.phoenixinstitute.com.au/consultancy.html
- http://gbr.pepperdine.edu/062/workplace.html