The development of a spiritual wellness framework for the work context

Abstract

Today's organisations are faced with changes such as increased competition and technological changes, not to mention the impact of globalisation on South African organisations. In a sense, the 21" century brought forth a more positive outlook and is described by some as the century of fortegenic living and wellness. Organisations today are searching for programmes that support strengths and wellness, as opposed to the historic employee assistance programmes. Spiritual wellness seems to be the antibiotic for these negative impacts. The objective of this study was to conceptualise spiritual work wellness and develop basic, generic guidelines for the implementation of spiritual work wellness programmes within .the diverse organisational context of South Africa. A qualitative method was applied as the approach that guided the research. The participants were recruited by making use of a combined purposive and network sampling. The sample size (N = 10) was determined by data saturation. Data gathering was done by means of a semi-structured interview with each of the participants. Where the need arose, the participants were afforded the opportunity for in-depth discussions and clarification. Data-analysis was done by means of cognitive mapping, followed by the transcription of data and the combined technique of content analysis. Data-analysis was also done by an independent co-coder. From the discussion of the research results and literature control, conclusions were made regarding spiritual wellness with specific reference to the workplace and to how spiritual wellness is conceptualised from the literature and also to the contribution of that conceptualisation towards answering certain essential questions. More conclusions concerning spiritual work wellness were made through the experts’ perceptions of how spiritual work wellness relates to the South African work force. Through further discussion of the results, guidelines were formulated for effective spiritual work wellness programme implementation within the diverse workforce of South Africa and were reflected in the recommendations of the research.