Society is becoming more individually oriented. More and more single occupancy homes are being sold. People are marrying less and later in life. They are also divorcing more. Single parent families are on the rise while birth rates are on the decline. Some couples opt not to have children. There is less social interaction between parents and children. Aldrich and Cliff (2003: 574) have argued that these changes are likely to have profound influences on entrepreneurship and the formation of family businesses. Further, they opine that while smaller families may mean that nascent entrepreneurs will perceive less risks in their start-ups, the small family size may hinder these because of the lack of family-based resources. Even the traditional Asian close family ties is rapidly changing. More families operate on a ‘nuclear’ level, with a lot of young people rejecting the custom of living with old family members or relatives and taking care of them.
Business ethics has moved into the study of how self-interest, personal interests, national interests, and fairness fit together in a business context. As our concept of what it means to be human is expanding, so does the development of management theories as well. With recent research studies on quantum physics and holistic medicine, people are beginning to accept that humans are also spiritual beings – that we are the sum of body, mind, emotions and spirit.
As crass as this may sound, spirituality is the new competitive edge. Most family businesses are physically efficient and they attend to the emotional and social needs of employees, to a certain extent. They have learned to tap their employees’ intellectual abilities and involved them in decision making. But how many have learned to tap the human spirit?
When I talk about spirituality and human spirit, I mean two things: first, a connection to something greater than ourselves and second, a sense of meaning and purpose that guides our lives. Many small family businesses start without even a manual on company policies and procedures much less a vision and mission statement. The management and the staff do not know which direction the business should go. Most people, when they hear the term ‘spirituality in business’ think that it is impossible for an organization, especially a family start-up, to do business based strictly on the principles of love, compassion, honesty and humility. Let’s use as analogy Roger Bannister’s feat: the 4-minute mile run. Before Roger ran a mile in less than 4 minutes, experts believed that it was humanly possible to do so. But once Roger broke that barrier, several people were able to replicate his feat the following year.
Although the term ‘spiritual dimension in business’ has increasingly gained popularity in recent years, there still seems to be confusion about it. This may be so because many business owners and managers confuse spirituality with religion. I believe that one can have a deepening of the spiritual experience in business dealings as well as in the workplace without having to shove a particular point of view down peoples’ throats. The key is to practise what you preach and walk the talk.
Values Contribution
More than providing excellent service for customers, the spiritual dimension indicates a larger sense of responsibility to contribute to the betterment of the world. While the small family business may not exactly provide the kind of products and services that consumers in the United States and other First World countries are accustomed to, entrepreneurs for that matter, basically understand that part of their role is to make the world a better place through the products or services that they sell. Today’s spiritual organization is deliberate in implementing a vision that is built around contributions to the betterment of mankind. It promotes work outside of the organization that contributes to and “gives back” to society through community and volunteer service. Spiritually aware managers and businesses consider themselves servants of employees, customers, and the community.
When a family business forms, it brings with it the spirituality (core values, beliefs and sense of purpose) of the founding members. The challenge faced by many family businesses is that of maintaining, growing and evolving that sense of spirituality as they build their culture, respond to market shifts, make operational decisions and create succession plans.
Some questions worth exploring, particularly during the Lenten season are:
• In a family business, what do you articulate as most important in a world that measures success primarily by growth and bottom-line profitability?
• How do we balance the internal need to successfully grow and manage the family business with our response to the many needs we see in the community and the world? Does our sense of spirituality call us to do both?
The world needs a desperate shift in business consciousness and every family business that takes steps towards a much wider spiritual dimension in their corporate structure is making a significant difference. The recent trend in businesses worldwide to reclaim and recognize the spiritual nature of people and the importance of incorporating the “whole person” at work will continue to change the face of how business is done for the foreseeable future.