A percepção de gestores acerca da espiritualidade como caminho para a sustentabilidade nas organizações

Abstract

Sustainability can be defined as a set of values (respect, harmony, justice, care for nature, cooperation, and others) that are transformed into actions aimed at preserving and maintaining life as a whole on the Planet. This preservation of life - sustainability mission - is directly related to spirituality - the search for the purpose of life - that is, the purpose of people's lives must be aligned with the preservation of life(s), based on responsibility for yourself and for others. Joining these two concepts and seeking to expand the concept of sustainability, the objective of this research is to understand, from the perception of managers, the concepts of spirituality and sustainability and how these themes are found in the context of organizations. In addition, a framework with implications for organizational management was proposed with a view to boosting spirituality and sustainability in organizations. For that, this work consists of a qualitative research that was realized through group interviews with 35 managers from different organizations (public university, private university, NGO, civil police, military brigade, private company, private educational institution, public educational institution). Eight theoretical propositions were elaborated and confirmed during the discussion of the results. In addition, of the nineteen spirituality categories, five were considered research findings: empathy, decision, leadership, strength and resilience/improvement; of the fourteen sustainability categories, seven were highlighted: concept, human sustainability/relationships, cultural sustainability, policies, system, care, good; the relationship between the two themes took place through eight categories: people and relationships, balance, good, organization, believing, individual and collective, values and care. The framework with implications for organizational management presents some ideas to be developed in the organization in order to align spirituality and sustainability, such as: employee training, promoting spaces for dialogue and trust between the organization/manager and employees, seeking to go in addition to what is stated, adequate allocation of employees, attention to the well-being of people (employee and manager), learning from positive and negative situations, and others. The expected contribution of this work to the organizational area is related to the performance of managers who realize the importance of spirituality within organizations and the connection of spirituality precepts in favor of sustainability and the construction of a better world.