The Place and Role of Spiritual Leadership in Organizational Performance. Toward a Model for Public Service Delivery

Abstract

This paper is designed to offer insights on the place and role of spiritual leadership in organizational performance. By relying on a systematic review of literature, this paper draws on evidence from empirical and conceptual studies to make a case for the need of spirituality in leadership and how it enhances organizational performance. The theory of spiritual leadership offers important tenets (altruistic love, faith and hope) that are critical in the development of a model for public service delivery. This paper argues that spiritual leadership is the ultimate panacea for building healthy and \inclusive organizations given that spirituality in leadership overemphasizes the need for team/group effectiveness. Furthermore, this paper proposes the need to enhance the capability of employees to perform their functions by among others intrinsically motivating them and ensuring that they feel and experience meaningfulness in their duties. This paper recommends the need to design public service model based on the key tenets of spiritual leadership theory: hope, faith and altruistic love given that the three dimensions are critical in enhancing the capability of individuals to find meaningfulness in their work that in turn helps to foster organizational commitment and citizenship behavior which is sine qua non for improved organizational performance. Given that many studies found existence of positive and significant relationship between spirituality in leadership and organizational performance, the current paper proposes the need for organizations to leverage spiritual leadership in their dayto-day management. The paper relied on a systematic literature review approach and was conceptual in nature, which gives room for organizational leadership scholars, researchers and practitioners to critique its propositions.