INTRODUCTION:

In Spiritual Intelligence, intelligence plays a faithful role to spirituality and brings extraordinary results. An individual starts cultivating “Spiritual Intelligence” and influence many people by widening the scope of one’s emotional intelligence. At present jobs have transformed from mere routine to more creative ones in which the main components are the abilities, efficiency and competence of the human mind, thus satisfying their higher-order needs like self-esteem needs and self-actualisation needs.

It is important to realize how individuals perceive their environment, how they understand the background and meaning of events, and that they have the ability to imagine new steps and open up new possibilities.

To satisfy these needs, leadership must be based not on profits, but on values¹. Hence, leader should have a high degree of emotional and spiritual intelligence. Zohar and Marshal (2000)² defined spiritual intelligence as what we use to develop our longing and capacity for meaning, vision, and value. It allows us to dream and to strive. It underlies the things we believe in and the role our beliefs and values play in the actions that we take and the way we shape our lives. Spiritual intelligence allows individuals to ask themselves whether they want to be in this particular situation or whether they would prefer to change the situation and create another, more appropriate one. This means changing and moving the limitations, which allows us to self-direct our position. Spiritual intelligence links all of our intelligences by allowing us to recognize what is truly important (Schwartz, 1995; Vaughan, 2002)^3,4.

Wolman (2001)⁵ defined spiritual intelligence as “the human capacity to ask ultimate questions about the meaning of life and to experience simultaneously the seamless connection between each of us and the world in which we live”. Wolman (2001) identified seven factors that make up human spiritual experience and behavior: divinity, mindfulness, intellectuality, community, extrasensory perception, childhood spirituality, and trauma. Integrating ethics and spiritual values into the workplace can lead to higher productivity and profitability, happier employees, and more honest relationships with customers and can help build the organization’s reputation (Marques, 2006)⁶. Spiritually intelligent employees are more consistent with themselves, happier, and more deeply integrated and harmonious (George, 2006)⁷.

OBJECTIVE:

The main objective of the current study is

· To understand the concept of spiritual intelligence

· Identify the factors that contribute to develop spiritual intelligence among individuals.

· A Case study to investigate the relationship between spiritual intelligence and work satisfaction among both leaders and employees.

CONCEPT OF SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE:

According to Zohar, D. And Marshal, Ian. “Spiritual Intelligence” is the ability to find meaning, purpose and values in our life, connecting our actions and lives to a wider, richer, meaning-giving context. A person with “Spiritual Intelligence” understands well that he has infinite potential, but it is to be channelized for its manifestation. As one grows up higher and higher in one’s profession/career, one starts understanding the emptiness in the sheer materialistic approach, and one’s inclination moves towards universal principles prescribed by spiritual science. One starts cultivating “Spiritual Intelligence” and influence many people by widening the scope of one’s “Emotional Intelligence”. Immense benefits accrue to individuals when they apply spiritual principles to material world. They bestow on people economic benefits and a peaceful life, besides a harmonious society.

Perfection is not the destination, but only a journey. As individuals move forward on the way to perfection and attempt to go beyond “Emotional Intelligence”, they come across “Spiritual Intelligence.” This “Spiritual Intelligence” empowers people with abilities to face complex problems. While emotions play a supportive role to intelligence in “Emotional Intelligence”; in “Spiritual Intelligence”, intellect plays a supportive role to Spirituality. It is neither related to any particular religion nor to any particular God. It is neither a Spiritual practice nor a religious ritual when applied for obtaining material benefits. However when spiritual intelligence is applied on the spiritual plane, for the sake of obtaining self-realization, it leads to spiritual enlightenment. Ronel (2008)⁸ continued the idea, asserting that spiritual intelligence is a key capability that connects us to something bigger than ourselves and is reflected not only in the values, but also in the motivation, intentions, emotions, and personality structure of an individual. He described spiritual intelligence as the ability to understand, emote, evaluate, create, and administrate. He understood spiritual intelligence to be an ability that goes beyond the desires and motives of individuals; it is not present to serve their selfish interests, but to lead them toward spiritual meaning.

Wigglesworth (2012)⁹defined spiritual intelligence as “the ability to behave with wisdom and compassion, while maintaining inner and outer peace, regardless of the situation”. She asserted that people can develop the ability to hear the voice of their higher self and ego and then be guided by deep wisdom and compassion. No matter what kind of work we perform, it can always be done with heart and soul (Fairholm, 2000)¹⁰. The new paradigm of spiritual leadership focuses on vision, empowerment, risk, creativity, harmony, trust, honesty, and compassion.

In his lectures on Karma Yoga, Swami Vivekananda threw light on it; “no knowledge comes from outside; it is all inside. What we say a man ‘knows’, should in strict psychological language, be what he’ discovers’ or ‘unveils’; what a man ‘learns’ is really what he discovers’ by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge. We say Newton discovered gravitation. Was it seating any where in a corner waiting for him? It was in his own mind; the time came and he found it out. All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in your own mind. The external world is simply the suggestion, the occasion, which sets you to study your own mind. But the object of your study is always your own mind.” Emmons (2000)¹¹ took it a step further in presenting the evidence that spirituality meets the criteria for intelligence. He identified five components of spiritual intelligence: the capacity for transcendence; the ability to enter into heightened spiritual states of consciousness; the ability to invest everyday activities, events, and relationships with a sense of the sacred; the ability to utilize spiritual resources to solve problems in living; and the capacity to engage in virtuous behavior (to show forgiveness, to express gratitude, to be humble, and to display compassion).

CASE STUDY:

The study by Koražija, M., et al (2016)¹² aimed to investigate the relationship between spiritual intelligence and work satisfaction among both leaders and employees. To measure spiritual intelligence they used the Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale (ISIS) (Amram and Dryer, 2007)¹³. The reliability of the ISIS was high (i.e., Cronbach’s alpha = 0.97). This self-reporting instrument provides an overall measure of spiritual intelligence as well as scores for five dimensions of spiritual intelligence: consciousness, grace, meaning, transcendence, and truth (Amram and Dryer, 2007). Data were collected in one of the largest metal manufacturing companies in Slovenia, which employs 1,150 people. Surveys were sent to a random sample of 100 leaders and 100 employees (a total of 200 questionnaires). The results of their research showed a significant positive relationship between employees’ spiritual intelligence and work satisfaction.

The findings of the study suggest that human resource managers should formulate strategies for developing and increasing employees’ spiritual intelligence, because they found a significant positive relationship between employees’ spiritual intelligence and work satisfaction. These strategies could help increase employees’ work satisfaction, which can result in higher productivity, organizational commitment, and organizational efficiency as well as loyalty and reduce absenteeism and turnover. Therefore, the concepts of spiritual intelligence and work satisfaction need to be understood in greater detail by human resource managers and leaders. Human resource managers should assess the spiritual intelligence of their job applicants in order to recruit the best candidates. They should do the same throughout employees’ careers so they can adjust training and education to their spiritual needs. The development of spiritual intelligence could be a valuable part of an organization’s development strategy as a way to create similar objectives and goals among employees in relation to the objectives and goals of the entire organization.

Factors that contribute to nurturing spiritual intelligence:

People can use the following techniques to generate creative ideas. Fun is the greatest tool that increases the creative faculty. Those who have negative attitudes, those who do the work mechanically and those who feel that working is boredom cannot tap “Spiritual Intelligence” to generate creative ideas. The following factors are highly conducive for cultivating “Spiritual Intelligence”¹⁴ and thereby become a creative genius.

1. Light-heartedness: One should have light-heartedness to manifest “Spiritual Intelligence” (i.e. one should be jovial, joyful and cheerful, free of worry, and free of tension). Such a mind lives in the present and is capable of generating great ideas with the presence of mind. One can learn this attitude from Swami Vivekananda. He always took diversion by way of long chats and talking in lighter vein to obtain relief from his intensely serious life. It helped his spiritually-soaring mind to come down to the material plane and generate great thoughts that served as guiding principles for humanity.

2. Playing musical instruments or singing or listening to music: People who are well conversant with musical instruments or music can use this technique very well to generate creative ideas. Swami Vivekananda played many musical instruments and could sing very well with his melodious voice. He said ,“Music has such tremendous power over the human mind; it brings it to concentration in a moment”. He used to sing songs and get deeply absorbed in them, with tears flowing down his cheeks and thought of solutions for the poor people of the country. He generated most powerful ideas for uplifting the poor and implemented them for helping one and all. Dr. A. P.J Abdul Kalam, a multifaceted space scientist and 11^th President of India played the veena well. He was a great think tank and perceived great ideas. He played veena with absorbing concentration and such focus brought great ideas to his mind. The world famous theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein who developed the general theory of relativity was well known for his creative ideas. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics. He was a great think tank with abundance of Spiritual Intelligence”. He used to play the violin when he was wrestling with tough problems in his research works. Einstein said that creativity was intelligence having fun. Referring to the playing violin he used to say, “it is that most joy of my life has come to me from playing my violin....A table, a chair, a bowl of fruits and a violin what else a man need to be happy?”.

3. Going for a Walk or riding a bicycle: Those who go alone for morning walk or evening walk can get flashes of several new ideas. They should ensure that they do not go along with others for walking and do not waste their time in discussing trifle issues. They can think deeply while walking and explore the chances of getting great ideas. Albert Einstein use to ride a bicycle and while doing so he got many great thoughts.

4. Seating in vast open spaces and garden: In the present age majority of the people have to live in tiny accommodations and have to spend long hours of their lives in congested homes. This situation naturally causes limitedness in their minds and causes stress. If one can frequently visit vast spaces or large open gardens one’s mind gets a great relief and soars to great heights. Sitting on open benches or a big parks and getting immersed in deep thoughts in very conducive to generating creative ideas. Vast open spaces releases stress and thus open gates for creative ideas.

5. Looking at sky or watching see waves: A sky is infinite. Gazing at the sky for sometime reminds us of the infinite nature and opens our mind for great thoughts to rush in. Similarly the vastness of the sea reminds us of the infinite nature and opens our minds to great thoughts. When Swami Vivekananda went to the sea at Kanyakumari, his eyes fell on rock protruding from the sea. He swam across the sea to reach the rock. He sat on the rock and he was immersed in great thoughts. He saw America as a country of unlimited opportunities where people’s minds were free from the encumbrance of caste and classes. He perceived the idea of conveying the ancient wisdom of India to the receptive Americans and in exchange bring economic help and the knowledge of Science and Technology to India. His vision was transformed into a reality by virtue of his incessant work and people of the country were immensely benefited by his noble mission.

6. Practising meditation everyday: Practising meditation everyday is the most effective way to use spiritual intelligence for generating creative ideas for applications in the material world. Even if a person meditates for a few minutes in the morning or evening its effect works on him throughout the day. It is highly conducive for creative thinking. In the present age the practice of meditation is increasingly gaining the acceptance of many people as it facilitates divergent and convergent thinking that require application in day to day life. Convergent thinking is used when people have multiple ideas to solve a given problem by selecting the most optimum idea. Divergent thinking is used to find several creative ideas to solve a given problem.

7. Practising forgiveness : Letting go of blame is not an easy task for individuals . To practice forgiveness, one has to find the right perspective whether the feelings are coming from the actual experience of someone doing wrong to the individual, or whether the individual anger is intensifying as one rehash the situation. How those feelings are affecting the individual is important, and let go of what is not helpful. One should be gentle to oneself as well- an individual does not have to re-establish contact with the person who wronged him in order to forgive.

CONCLUSION:

Spiritual intelligence provides employees a sense of interconnectedness and community. Workplaces are places where people spend most of their lives, develop friendships, create value, and make their most meaningful contributions to society (Fairholm, 2000).

People with a higher level of spirituality are happier and more satisfied with life than people with a lower level of spirituality (Cohen, 2002; Perrone, Webb, Wright, Jackson, and Ksiazak, 2006)^15,16. Spirituality can have a tremendous impact on an individual’s life, such as by creating a better balance of work, family, and life satisfaction (Perrone et al., 2006).

Furthermore, companies that engage not just the minds, but also the hearts and emotions of their employees will be more profitable. An organization that earnestly treats its employees and leaders as part of its community and emotionally engages them in the organization’s purposes, which makes all the difference in the world and will attract a higher level of leaders and employees’ motivation and loyalty, ultimately leading to higher organizational performance (Brown, 1999)¹⁷.

SUGGESTIONS:

“Spiritual Intelligence” adds further sweetness by bringing love to work and the joy of doing it. When a work is carried out with love and joy, it ensures no stress and turmoil. “Spiritual Intelligence” ensures that one exercises one’s concern and sympathy for social causes without any bias for a particular caste, creed or religion.

It empowers one with equanimity and inner peace of mind so that one can effectively face the challenges of life. “Spiritual Intelligence” generates great thoughts which need to be translated into a reality by working them out on the material plane. This calls for coordinating one’s efforts with various people to get things done. To achieve this, we have the most evolved concepts of “Emotional Intelligence” to manage our intra-personal and inter-personal relationships. “Spiritual Intelligence” widens the scope of “Emotional Intelligence” when put to use while working the ideas into a reality- shifting focus from mere performance by hook or crook to value based performance; giving “Midas touch” to one’s self- confidence; steering journey from personal growth to community growth; equipping one with equanimity to effectively face one’s life-challenges; and adding a new dimension to inter relationships.

REFERENCES:

1. Fry, L. W. (2003). Toward a theory of spiritual leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 14(6), 693–727. Retrieved from http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2003.09.001

2. Zohar, D., and Marshall, I. (2000). SQ—Spiritual intelligence, the ultimate intelligence. London: UL copy.

3. Schwartz, T. (1995). What really matters: Searching for wisdom in America. New York: Bantam.

4. Vaughan, F. (2002). What is spiritual intelligence? Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 42(2), 16–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022167802422003

5. Wolman, R. N. (2001). Thinking with your soul: Spiritual intelligence and why it matters. New York: Harmony Books.

6. Marques, J. F. (2006). The spiritual worker: An examination of the ripple effect that enhances quality of life in- and outside the work environment. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 884–895. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02621710610692089

7. George, M. (2006). Practical application of spiritual intelligence in the workplace. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 3–5. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09670730610678181

8. Ronel, N. (2008). The experience of spiritual intelligence. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 40(1), 100–120. Retrieved from http://www.atpweb.org/jtparchive/trps-40-08-01-100.pdf

9. Wigglesworth, C. (2012). SQ21: The 21 skills of spiritual intelligence. New York: Selected Books.

10. Fairholm, G. W. (2000). Capturing the heart of leadership (spirituality and community in the new American workplace). Westpoint, CT, London: Praeger.

11. Emmons, R. A. (2000). Is spirituality an intelligence? The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 10, 27–34. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15327582IJPR1001_2

12. Koražija, M., Šarotar Žižek, S Mumel, D. (2016). The Relationship between Spiritual Intelligence and Work Satisfaction among Leaders and Employees. Naše gospodarstvo/Our Economy, 62(2), 51–60. DOI: 10.1515/ngoe-2016-0012.

13. Amram, Yosi and Dryer, Christopher. (2007). The Development and Preliminary Validation of the Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale (ISIS). Palo Alto, CA: Institute of Transpersonal Psychology Working Paper.

14. Sarma, A.R.K(2014). Spiritual Intelligence, Sri Sarada Book House, Vijayawada, India

15. Cohen, A. B. (2002). The importance of spirituality in well-being for Jews and Christians. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3, 287–310.

16. Perrone, K. M., Webb, K. L., Wright. S. L., Jackson, V. Z., and Ksiazak, Z. M. (2006). Relationship of spirituality to work and family roles and life satisfaction among gifted adults. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 28(3), 253–268. Retrieved from http://dx.doi. org/10.17744/mehc.28.3.81a1dlhwelblce0v

17. Brown, E. (1999). America’s most admired companies. Fortune, 1(3), 68–73.

Received on 25.02.2021 Modified on 17.04.2021

Asian Journal of Management. 2021;12(4):406-410.

DOI: 10.52711/2321-5763.2021.00061