Dr. Eleanor Marschke, Nova Southeastern University

1. How Sales Personnel View the Relationship Between Job Satisfaction and Spirituality in the Workplace Dr. Eleanor Marschke, Nova Southeastern University Dr. Robert Preziosi, Nova Southeastern University Dr. William Harrington, Nova Southeastern University

2. Paper Presented to: Allied Academies Conference Spring 2010 International Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana Academy of Organizational Culture, Communications & Conflict (AOCCC)

3. Introduction • Research was aimed at the study of job satisfaction and spirituality in the workplace. • Design of the study was to interpret, develop, test and present research that explains the connection between workplace spirituality and a person’s perception to the relationship to job satisfaction. • Goal was of this research would lead to further growth in employee development, increased job performance, lower turnover rates, higher profits and employee retention as it relates to organizational goals and strategies.

4. Key Words:Leadership, Job Satisfaction, Sales Personnal and Spirituality • Why Spirituality and Job Satisfaction • Evolving American culture and an unreliable business climate are driving an infusion of spirituality to the workplace. • Corporate character, integrity, business ethics, human resource standards and financial issues have risen to the forefront since the late 1990’s

5. Spirituality, Job Satisfaction & Sales Personnel • The sagas of Enron and MCI in 2001 along with numerous other companies are examples where lack of character, arrogance, and immoral values among top management inflicted widespread emotional organizational and financial devastation to employees, customers and stockholders, as well as imprisonment for their morally bankrupt leadership (Aburdene, 2007)

6. Spirituality, Job Satisfaction & Sales Personnel • Spirituality in the workplace is about people who perceive themselves energized through work as spirited beings and experiencing real purpose and meaning at work beyond paychecks and performance reviews. • Spirituality is a continuing search for meaning and purpose in life; an appreciation for depth of life, the expanse of the universe, and natural forces which operate it --- it is a personal belief system.

7. Spirituality, Job Satisfaction & Sales Personnel • The core of spirituality is about people sharing and experiencing some common attachment, attraction, and togetherness within their work unit and the organization as a whole. (Mitroff & Denton, 1999, Harrington, 2004) • These research areas imply the necessity of incorporating spirituality into the workplace in order to enhance worker motivation, organizational performance, and job satisfaction (Krishnakumar & Neck, 2002). • Based on research of numerous authors it appears that working in an environment with leaders that support a higher purpose or spiritual sense of the individual than those who don’t are more satisfied and enjoy work more (Giacalone & Jurkiewicz, 2003)

8. Spirituality, Job Satisfaction & Sales Personnel • The varying perceptions and definitions of spirituality in the workplace make this phenomenon an interesting and significant research theory to investigate. • The need for this study is complex and diverse since there is currently limited knowledge and research about the relationship between the variables of workplace spirituality and job satisifaction as it relates to sales personnel.

9. Research Questions This study addresses the following two key questions: • Is spirituality among sales personnel in the workplace related to job satisfaction? • Are there variables that moderate the relationship between spirituality in the workplace and job satisfaction as it relates to sales personnel?

10. Review of Current Literature • Proquest provided 147 journal articles and 23 doctoral dissertations on the subject of spirituality. • The literature review presents a definition and an integral model of spirituality in the workplace in the following sections: • The Spirituality Movement of the 21st Century • Spirituality’s Impact on the Work Environment • A Model: The Interaction of the Spiritual Being in the Work Environment • Organizational Commitment

11. Themes that Apply to a Spiritual Workplace • Ethics Trust • Acceptance Truth • Kindness (bonding, compassion) Encouraging creativity • Belief in God or a higher power Team orientation • Encouraging diversity Respect • Few organizational barriers Being self motivated • Understanding A sense of peace & harmony • Interconnectedness Openness • Aesthetically pleasing workplace Honesty

12. Methodology of Study • Spiritual Perspective Scale (SPS) • This study used the Spiritual Perspective Scale (“SPS”) developed by Reed (1987). The response scale is a 6 point Likert scale with selections ranging from strongly disagree, to not at all, to strongly agree. All previous studies showed Cronbach alpha reliability estimates of > .70 (Jesse and Reed, 2003, Jesse and Allgood, 2002, Steven 1999, Reed 1991). This study yielded a Cronbach alpha of .921.

13. Methodology of Study • To measure the employee job satisfaction to the organization, a short version of the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) (Weiss, Dawis, England & Lofquist, 1967). • These twenty items on the MSQ were selected due to the fact is measures dimensions of job satisfaction that are not measured by other satisfaction instruments (Cook & Hepworth, 1981). • The instrument is composed of 20 items and is designed on a five-point Likert type scale with responses from “very dissatisfied” (1) to “very satisfied” (5).

14. Sample and Hypotheses • The sample for this population was conducted a a corporate regional sales meeting of a large manufacturing firm. • 125 surveys were administered in person and returned directly to the researcher. Return rate was 100 % and a 95% usability. • The target population of this study was sales manager in a active sales function. • Key demographic variables including gender and age were reviewed to further characterize the sample

15. Research Questions • Is spirituality among sales personnel in the workplace related to job satisfaction? • Are there variables that moderate the relationship between spirituality in the workplace and job satisfaction as it relates to sales personnel?

16. Hypotheses • H01: There is no correlation between spirituality in the workplace and Intrinsic Job Satisfaction. • HA1: There is a correlation between spirituality in the workplace and Intrinsic Job Satisfaction. • H02: There is no correlation between spirituality in the workplace and Intrinsic Job Satisfaction by gender. • HA2: There is a correlation between spirituality in the workplace and Intrinsic Job Satisfaction by gender. • H03: There is no correlation between spirituality in the workplace and Intrinsic Job Satisfaction in older respondents by age. • HA3: There is a correlation between spirituality in the workplace and Intrinsic Job Satisfaction in older respondents by age. • H04: There is no correlation between spirituality in the workplace and Extrinsic Job Satisfaction. • HA4: There is a correlation between spirituality in the workplace and Extrinsic Job Satisfaction. • H05: There is no correlation between spirituality in the workplace and Extrinsic Job Satisfaction by gender. • HA5: There is a correlation between spirituality in the workplace and Extrinsic Job Satisfaction by gender. • H06: There is no correlation between spirituality in the workplace and Extrinsic Job Satisfaction in older respondents by age. • HA6: There is a correlation between spirituality in the workplace and Extrinsic Job Satisfaction in older respondents by age.

17. Summary of Hypothesis tests

18. Summary and Conclusions • In the 21st century, corporate organizations must seek to develop organizational behavior that will result in a competitive advantage. • The literature and methodology demonstrates that applying the spiritual mindset in a workplace environment will encourage the creativity and innovativeness of employees, which in turn, enhances their productivity, leading to more efficient overall performance for and by the organization as it relates to job satisfaction and spirituality in the workplace.

19. Summary and Conclusions • The results in this research are congruent with other studies of spirituality in the workplace (Rego, 2007, Giacolone and Jurkiewicz, 2003, Moore and Casper, 2006, Kolodinsky and Giacalone and Jurkiewicz, 2007) suggesting that when people find meaning in their work activities and feel involved in a spiritual organizational climate, they become happier and healthy employees engaged in a collaborative manner, to apply the full potential to work and bring their entire selves to the organization.

20. Summary and Conclusions • The potentially groundbreaking nature of this research leaves no doubt that the intuitively positive relationships between spirituality in the workplace and job satisfaction have a relationship to transform individual and organizational life in ways unrestricted by natural laws.

21. Thank you for your time and attention www.spiriteducator.com Dr. Eleanor B. Marschke