Knowledge Sharing: A Link Between Organizational Wisdom and Organizational Spirituality

Spirituality is one of three paths to wisdom, together with experience and passion for learning. Wisdom currently appears in the literature about organizational spirituality (Bierly, Kessler and Christensen, 2000). Both wisdom and spirituality in management can be investigated at the individual and organizational levels. Spirituality has a third level, Workplace spirituality. Then, judgment and action are crucial to wisdom and spirituality. Social good, economic value, and innovation are its outputs. The dissemination of individual wisdom, towards organizational wisdom, depends on Knowledge Sharing. Exploratory empirical research was developed to comprehend the cumbersome relationship between organizational wisdom and organizational spirituality. The sampling was done by gradual selection with maximum variation and convenience. Fourteen managers from diverse organizations located in Portugal, Bulgaria, Serbia, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, China, and Angola were interviewed with a semi-structured script. The interviews were transcribed, early data coded, memos written, and several team meetings done. Codes were identified for the thematic analysis on both constructs: a) Organizational wisdom (Efficiency and continuous improvement; Emotional aspects; Knowledge Management; Leadership; Social Good and Ethics) and b) Organizational spirituality (Religion; Respect; Meaning of work; Knowledge sharing; Cooperation; Well-Being; Adaptation/Environment; Commitment; Feeling of belonging; and Performance improvement). The mimetic analysis of the interviews was done through the symbolic interactionism theory and interpreted by thematic analysis. The findings indicate that the interviewees perceive Knowledge Sharing as crucial to the diffusion of organizational wisdom and organizational spirituality. Although most of the interviewees do not know what organizational spirituality and organizational wisdom concepts are, they understand the relevance of sharing knowledge and spirituality to achieve wisdom. It predominantly at the individual level (wise leadership and individual spirituality). They also comprehend that there is a relationship between these constructs, its characteristics, and outputs. They likewise recognize organizational spirituality and organizational wisdom as the key to success. As interest in spirituality and wisdom continues to grow, this qualitative investigation is a step for further investigation on the comprehension and deployment of it in management.