Human Resource Management and Distress at Work: What Managers Could Learn From the Spirituality of Work in Simone Weil’s Philosophy

• Published in: Philosophy of management 2012-06, Vol.11 (2), p.63-83
• Main Authors: Noel-Lemaitre, Christine, Le Loarne-Lemaire, Séverine
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Business and Management; Education; International Political Economy; Philosophy
• ISSN: 1740-3812; 2052-9597
• DOI: 10.5840/pom20121125

Workplace spirituality deals with paradoxes. This concept has been taken on board since the late 1980s, but very few human resource managers have realised that workplace spirituality could make an essential contribution to a better understanding of workplace and corporate reality. Increasing numbers of academic papers are being published on this subject but mere remain many grey areas for researchers. The aim of this paper is to use Simone Weil’s philosophy as a reading grid to get an insight into workplace spirituality as a new paradigm of management. Initial studies attempting to apply Weil’s philosophy to management highlight the necessity for all the actors within the organisation to define their job tasks and contents according to their own way of thinking. Our interpretation of Weil’s philosophy also sheds light on the impossibility of dissociating thinking and acting and reminds us that work is done to nourish both the body and the soul. By concentrating on the spirituality of work, we can establish new links between ethics and human resource management.