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The Neglected Ethical and Spiritual Motivations in the Workplace

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Abstract

Understanding what motivates employees is essential to the success of organizational objectives. Therefore, properly capturing and explaining the full range of such motivations are important. However, the classical and most popular theories describing employee motives have neglected, if not omitted entirely, the importance of the ethical and spiritual dimensions of motivation. This has led to a model of a person as self-interested, amoral, and non-spiritual. In this paper, we attempt to expose this omission and offer a more complete taxonomy of motivations which include these dimensions. Although more work will need to be done to fully develop the ethical and spiritual dimensions of motivation, the expanded taxonomy will provide the foundations and serve as a guide for such further research. Furthermore, this new categorization of motivations brings out the full dimensions of being human, which promises to lead to improved management practices with regard to employees and foster greater human flourishing in the workplace.

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Notes

  1. Although some ethicists want to make a distinction between the terms ethical and moral, in this paper we are using them interchangeably.

  2. As Beadle and Knight remark, the question of meaningful work has been debated within both social psychology and ethics, but largely in isolation from each other (2012, p. 434).

  3. Most of the English versions of the Nicomachean Ethics do not use the term “moral” good, but they label it as “noble” good, or in some cases as “honest” or “honorable,” terms that probably fit better with the original Greek one (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, II.3, 1104b.30–32).

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Juan Nunez for his comment on the first version of this paper, presented by Professor Guillén at the Harvard University Real Colegio Complutense (RCC), in September 2011, with the title “Human motivations: are they really human?”. This first version did not include spiritual and religious motivations. The final draft is the result of many hours of cooperation and work among the three authors, and it would not have been possible without the stimulating support of the staff of the Center for Business Ethics (CBE) at Bentley University. The authors would also like to give special thanks to the members of the Institute for Ethics in Communication and Organizations (IECO) at the University of Valencia, for their suggestions and inestimable help. IECO and CBE are official partner organizations. As a way of giving thanks, the authors agree on calling this taxonomy: "The IECO Matrix of Motivations."

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Management Department, University of Valencia School of Economics and IECO, Avda. de los Naranjos, s/n, 46022, Valencia, Spain

    Manuel Guillén

  2. School of Economics, University of Navarra Campus Universitario, 31009, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain

    Ignacio Ferrero

  3. Center for Business Ethics, Bentley University (USA), 175 Forest Street, Waltham, MA, 02452, USA

    W. Michael Hoffman

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  1. Manuel Guillén
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  2. Ignacio Ferrero
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  3. W. Michael Hoffman
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Correspondence to Manuel Guillén.

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Guillén, M., Ferrero, I. & Hoffman, W.M. The Neglected Ethical and Spiritual Motivations in the Workplace. J Bus Ethics 128, 803–816 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1985-7

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