Workplace Spirituality in a Public Library: As Self and Community Fulfillment

 *  Kaustubh Nande (Ohio University)

Abstract:

This paper investigates workplace spirituality in a public library from a structuration perspective. Unlike previous research that sees spirituality as located in the self, this study provides a different, but a complementary approach to workplace spirituality as located in community fulfillment. In-depth interviews with nine members of a small public library located in Midwestern United States yielded two major themes amongst library staff. The first theme, library work as meaningful self-fulfillment is in line with previous research and confirms that individual’s self-fulfillment is an important aspect of workplace spirituality. However, the second theme, library work as community serving and community fulfillment suggests that, the locus of workplace spirituality does not lie only at the individual level, but also at the community level. Thus, adding a significant dimension to existing literature on organizational spirituality. This study also makes us break away from our conventional understanding that an individual uses his/her spirituality purely for self fulfillment. This study strongly supports previous studies where workplace spirituality and calling in community organizations is often linked (Smith, 2006). It demonstrates that organizational members draw upon a communicatively constructed community structure of values which act recursively onto each other. Thus, by emphasizing the importance of a communicatively constructed and shared reality, this study provides a different approach to spirituality as located not only in the self, but also in meaningful service of community fulfillment as well. This study concludes by recommending future researchers to compare and contrast different organizational and work contexts to further validate the findings of this study. (254 words)...full abstract in the paper.