Contemporary Report
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SPIRITUALITY AT WORK: AN EXPLORATORY SOCIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE FORD MOTOR COMPANY by Timothy James Bowman A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy The London School of Economics and Political Science 2004 Copyright © 2004 by Timothy James Bowman All rights reserved 1 ABSTRACT Spirituality in the context of work has become increasingly topical but there has been little empirical or specifically sociological research conducted to date. After reviewing this research, a case study is reported of a Benedictine monastery as an exemplar for a global and enduring organizational form that emphasises the integration of work with spirituality. Benedictinism is primarily explored through non-directive interviews. From its analysis the "spiritual-family", a new ideal type of spiritually informed social structure based on charismatic authority is proposed and compared against Weber's ideal type of bureaucracy. In their purest forms, the spiritual-family elects and Weber's bureaucracy appoints their superiors respectively. The essential structural difference between the two is the means for this selection. These two ideal types are then used to investigate the Ford Motor Company. This second case study, of a contemporary global industrial organization, is explored from two perspectives: a) the official pronouncements of its most senior spokespersons; and b) non-directive workplace-based interviews with grassroots level "knowledge workers" in conjunction with extensive participant observation over a three-year period. Analysis of these extremities reveals a shared aspiration for a radical reform of the underlying corporate authority structure from a type characterised by Weber's legal-rational type, typical of bureaucracy, to one more adequate described by his charismatic and contrary form. Finally, the investigation briefly considers the affinity of this new ideal type with broader social and workplace trends, and finds that it is high. However, a transformation from a bureaucratic to a spiritually informed organizational structure would require a paradigm shift that in present circumstances within the Ford Motor Company is improbable short of a major crisis. 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Firstly, I would like to express my special thanks to Michael Burrage of the Sociology Department at the London School of Economics for the guidance, opportunity and relatively free-reign he gave me to explore this topic, and for his ongoing support, even during his temporary "retirement" in Spain. Secondly, I would like to thank Eileen Barker of the same department for her thoughtful reading and critique of an early draft during her own hectic "retirement" schedule. Special thanks goes to David Lonsdale, Peter Askonas and Brendan Callaghan of Heythrop College, Nicos Mouzelis of the London School of Economics and Don McCormick of Antioch University Los Angeles, who encouraged me at the critical conceptual stage of this research, and to Rachael Armitage and Deb Yearsley who heartened me along the way. I need to thank Deb additionally for the ample insights she provided of professional life within a closely integrated occupational community from her position as general practitioner of medicine. Finally I am extremely grateful to the Ford Motor Company for sponsoring this work throughout its duration and especially to Ken Mortimer, formerly professor of its Training department (now retired) for his enlightened support and guidance, to Deborah Zemke, director of Corporate Governance, for her encouragement and interest early on, but also to Brian Cumming, Gordon Wright, Keith Jillings and all the other employees in Europe and the USA who helped make this research possible. Ford's support was notable for the "free-reign", remarkable on-going commitment and tremendous work-life flexibility it presented to enable me to complete a study of this nature. Ford was simply very open-minded, never breathed down my neck and always facilitated my proposals, where possible! I am equally grateful to all the monks at Douai Abbey and to Fr. Dermot Tredget especially, and last but by no means least to all the interviewees, both Ford and Benedictine who shared their innermost joys, sadness, aspirations and frustrations. 3 DEDICATION To my parents, and to Bill Ford for his inspiration 4 CONTENTS Chapter 1. A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW................................................................................10 1.1 The rise of the phenomenon.......................................................................11 1.2 Sociological research .................................................................................15 1.3 Towards defining spirituality.....................................................................17 1.4 Some notable institutionalised forms of spirituality .................................23 1.5 Spirituality in social thought......................................................................33 1.6 Conclusions ................................................................................................41 1.7 Overview of thesis......................................................................................42 2. DOUAI ABBEY: AN EXTREME TYPE ...............................................................47 2.1 The monastic community at Douai............................................................49 2.2 Primacy of the person ................................................................................51 2.3 Community life: an intentional surrogate family ......................................58 2.4 Integration...................................................................................................68 2.5 Social mission and the common good.......................................................73 2.6 Leadership ..................................................................................................76 2.7 Conclusions ................................................................................................78 3. IDEAL TYPES .........................................................................................................81 3.1 Authority structures: foundations of organizational forms.......................81 3.2 Bureaucracy: a dominant social structure..................................................87 3.3 The spiritual-family: an alternative ideal type...........................................95 3.4 Comparison of the two ideal types ..........................................................101 3.5 Conclusions ..............................................................................................105 4. FORD: THE CORPORATE VIEW.......................................................................108 4.1 Primacy of the person ..............................................................................111 4.2 Network of interdependent families ........................................................120 4.3 Integration and authenticity .....................................................................136 4.4 Social mission...........................................................................................153 4.5 Charismatic authority and servant leadership .........................................162 4.6 Conclusions ..............................................................................................178 5. FORD: GRASSROOTS WORKING AT DUNTON ...........................................181 5.1 The understanding of spirituality.............................................................182 5.2 Case study of an exemplar unit................................................................183 5.3 Primacy of the person ..............................................................................189 5.4 Network of interdependent teams............................................................207 5.5 Integration and authenticity .....................................................................225 5.6 Social mission...........................................................................................244 5.7 Two conflicting authority structures........................................................249 5.8 Conclusions ..............................................................................................268 6. OVERALL CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................270 6.1 Case studies at Ford .................................................................................270 6.2 A review of the overall investigation.......................................................274 6.3 Future work ..............................................................................................280 6.4 Affinity with broader trends.....................................................................283 5 Appendix I. Methodology............................................................................................................295 II. Contemporary bureaucratic organization compared with the spiritual-family ....309 III. Weber's bureaucracy compared with the spiritual-family ...................................311 Glossary.......................................................................................................................313 Bibliography................................................................................................................320 6 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Essential differences between the two ideal types - 23 variables..............103 Figure 2: Ratio