Among other presentations and activities, the symposium will include an address by Professor Rafael Domingo Oslé on spirituality and business: key to a new economy. Rafael is a Professor of Law and holder of the Álvaro d’Ors Chair at the University of Navarra. He is also the author of more than 35 books, 125 scientific articles and 250 opinion forums. From 2013 to 2023, Domingo worked at Emory University in Atlanta on the influence of spirituality in society, especially in the field of law, but also in politics, business and health.
Domingo takes the idea that, if reality is one and is essentially spiritual, everything is connected: business, politics, quantum physics, health, religion, ethics, art, beauty.
How can spirituality be linked to the business world?
Our rationalist world has closed itself off to spirituality, but spirituality is important. Spirituality matters! This has been worked on for some time now. There are already manuals that are dedicated to this issue, such as Nandram and Borden's Spirituality and Business, or Luk Bouckaert and Laszlo Zsolnai's The Palgrave Handbook of Spirituality and Business, to name but a few, as well as journals, for example the Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion. Bringing spirituality and business together requires a mental paradigm shift by both employers and employees to include the spiritual dimension of the human being as a factor that needs to be considered. This has already happened very clearly in the area of health.
And you, personally, how do you link spirituality with business?
I explain the link between spirituality and enterprise through two triads. The triad that encompasses spirituality, essentially unitive, is composed of three elements: Love, communion and gift. The triad that explains business is made up of: abundance, interaction and resources. The two triads are intimately connected. Love is abundant. Interaction generates communion and resources must be seen as a gift, since they are given and received. As the business triad moves closer to the spiritual triad, companies substantially improve in employee well-being, sense of purpose, spiritual values and productivity. I will focus my speech at the 10th Symposium Companies with a Human Face on explaining this connection.
What are the main challenges companies face when integrating spirituality into their corporate culture?
Spirituality, which is the union with the divine (including God, if one believes in Him), other human beings, animals and the universe in general, must respect the diversity of faiths, beliefs and religions. Spirituality is essentially inclusive. The first challenge, therefore, is the utmost respect for the religious freedom of all workers. The second challenge is to overcome the resistance to change of those who consider spirituality irrelevant. The third challenge is to overcome the difficulty of assessing how spirituality impacts the company. This is the case with all intangibles (reputation, corporate culture, customer satisfaction, etc.). In short, we move in a complex but exciting area where short-termism kills us. It is in this field that performance measurement experts need to work.
What are these results?
A company with high spirituality tends to retain talent more easily, employees have a higher degree of job satisfaction, there is a greater sense of purpose, the vision and the mission are better understood, innovation and creativity are more driven, working relationships are healthier, commitment to the company's values is stronger, ethical issues are integrated into conflict resolution more naturally, the centrality of the person is defended, the end no longer justifies the means, corruption decreases to the point of disappearing, there is a greater social and environmental impact, employees' families are better cared for, etc. Beyond economic and financial indicators, which are basic, a spiritual approach can make a significant contribution to the long-term sustainability and growth of the company by building the business relationship on solid foundations, including a bomb-proof positive reputation.
What economic and social benefits can a spiritual perspective provide in the business world?
A spiritually high company is united, cohesive, and establishes much deeper bonds in the working relationships than a company that only seeks profitability. Spirituality affects the work environment, which becomes much more comfortable. This obviously decreases employee stress and increases productivity. These companies that take spirituality into account tend to attract more customers than others, given their ethical integrity, resulting in increased sales and loyalty. On the other hand, it is easier to create a company culture from spirituality, because culture is spirituality embodied in a human group. By caring for the human person and placing them at the centre of all activity, spirituality helps the professional development of employees.
