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[interfaithsociety] Spirituality of Organizations


Delbecq challenges church leaders to conversation on
spirituality of organizations

(ECF) The decentralized business world of the future
highlights the need for leaders who are not just trained in
business techniques, but spiritually formed as well.

That's what Dr. Andre Delbecq told trustees and friends of the
Episcopal Church Foundation at the Church Divinity School of the
Pacific in Berkeley, California on May 2. Delbecq, professor at
the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, is also
a member of the advisory board of the Business Leadership and Spirituality
Network (BLSN).

"My experience with senior business leaders has taught me they
are both salt and light in their organizations," Delbecq said.
"They have accepted the Great Commission and are fulfilling it
where they work."

Delbecq described the business environment of the new global
economy as one where creativity and authority exists, not at the
center of a command and control hierarchy, but in the edges--on
the production line and at the junction of customer and customer
service. For the first time since the beginning of the
Industrial Age, he said, employers need employees who bring
"whole selves" to work--employees who are creative, who take
responsibility for the quality of products, and who care about
the mission of their organizations as much as they do.

Delbecq observed that 88% of the adult population spends the
majority of their time at work. "The contemporary workplace is
where one finds the neighbor Christ calls us to love," he said.
"It is the new neighborhood. People do not leave their faith at
home when they go to work."

Delbecq challenged the Episcopal Church Foundation to confront
the question of how the Church may enter into more meaningful
and constructive dialogue with business leaders who are seeking
guidance as they address the challenge of spirituality and
business leadership.

May 14, 2002
Episcopalians: News Briefs
2002-120

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