From empty speech to full speech? Reconceptualizing spirituality in organizations based on a psychoanalytically-grounded understanding of the self

Abstract

Based on a psychoanalytic perspective, the article develops a new theoretical framework with which to examine organizational spirituality. Proponents of spirituality claim that it leads to the experience of an authentic self at work, one that is connected to others and a higher order, fully integrated, balanced, complete and ultimately fulfilled. This article suggests that these current definitions rest on conceptualizations of the self that capture little more than the imaginary function of the ego and the empty speech in which it engages. The article reconstructs core dimensions of spirituality in organizations as full speech, that is, as a discourse in which true subjectivity can emerge.