Towards a critical spirituality of organization

In contrast to the current tide of literature which predominantly emphasizes the integrative potential of spirituality in the workplace, this article explores the possibility that spirituality can act as a force of resistance in relation to management through the development of a practice-based morality. It focuses on two historical cases where a synthesis between Christianity and Marxism provided the basis for challenging organizational practice. The first involves the French worker-priests (1943-54) and the second concerns the role of industrial mission in the British coal miners' strike (1984-85). These two cases illustrate the potential for achieving a synthesis between Christianity and Marxism in the form of a practice-based morality that involves a concern with the exterior, political and social aspects of religion in addition to the preoccupation with the interior search for meaningful existence which tends to dominate managerial approaches.