Ethical Transformation of Individual Managers through Spirituality: A Sufi Perspective

Abstract

Business ethics literature appears to focus more on philosophy and seems to have overlooked spirituality. Though spirituality has started to be taken into consideration in the field of Management, the Islamic perspective is still neglected. In this paper we aim to address this knowledge gap in the field of business ethics through Sufism representing Muslim spirituality. We do so, by drawing upon the written works of a contemporary Sufi master, Etsko Schuitema, who is using his Sufi teachings to impact managers and their practices. From his writings we identify two key Sufi messages that are having a transformative impact on managers: the inward growth requiring a correctness of the self and dealing with one’s intention and the inner realm, and the outward growth requiring a transactional correctness and service to others, cultivating an awareness of the outer world. This paper shows how we can use these messages from Sufism to spiritually transform management practice. By introducing a Sufi perspective we start a much needed and overdue conversation in business ethics literature on ethical transformation of individual managers through spirituality (a hitherto neglected topic) and how we can approach it from Sufism (a hitherto neglected Islamic theoretical perspective).



Author Information
Rabia Naguib, University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Farzad Khan, Karachi School for Business and Leadership, Pakistan

Paper Information
Conference: ACERP2014
Stream: Ethics; Religion; Philosophy

This paper is part of the ACERP2014 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Naguib R., & Khan F. (2014) Ethical Transformation of Individual Managers through Spirituality: A Sufi Perspective ISSN: 2187-476X – The Asian Conference on Ethics, Religion & Philosophy 2014 – Official Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.22492/2187-476X.20140212
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/2187-476X.20140212


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Posted by James Alexander Gordon