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Organizational moral learning by spiritual hearts: a synthesis of organizational learning, Islamic and critical realist perspectives

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Abstract

Learning and development are often linked in the organization studies literature. To understand the dynamics of organizational moral development, this paper utilizes the notion of organizational moral learning (OML). It is explored using three perspectives: organizational learning, Islamic and critical realist perspectives. The perspectives are then synthesized together to form a single framework, called the OML by ‘spiritual hearts’ framework. At the centre of the framework is the spiritual heart, the seat of profound understanding and moral consciousness. The heart plays a central role in organizational moral development, especially with regard to its potential to be ‘purified’ and corrupted. Two extreme parameters then are created: on one side is the ‘purified hearts’ with high moral consciousness contributing towards OML, and on the other is the ‘corrupted hearts’ with high immoral consciousness contributing towards organizational immoral learning. Between the two extremes are the ‘diseased hearts’, possessing a mixture of moral and immoral consciousness to various degrees, and have the potentials to contribute to both moral and immoral developments. The paper further suggests strategies to facilitate OML and simultaneously inhibits organizational immoral learning.

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Notes

  1. Maccoby’s definition of the heart is derived from Christianity, one of the Abrahamic religions. The author utilized Kierkegaard’s (1961) Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing, and posited that the purity of the heart would affect individual learning.

  2. Although Islamic scholarship is used to define the spiritual heart, this does not imply exclusivity. Rather, the work of Imam al-Ghazali is used for his concise elaboration on the topic.

  3. Kohlberg (1958, 1969) delineated three levels to cognitive moral development: pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional. Briefly, at pre-conventional level, individuals are mainly driven by personal gains. The drivers for individuals at the conventional level are societal roles and obedience to law. The post-conventional level is where individuals follow universal ethical principles, which is the aim of moral education. The author followed deontological tradition, running from Immanuel Kant to John Rawls, where the claim of an adequate morality is universally applicable to all

  4. Four paradigms are identified along the continuums of subjective-objective science and the sociologies of regulative-radical change: functionalist, interpretive, radical humanist and radical structuralist

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  1. Institute of Policy Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong, BE1410, Brunei Darussalam

    Iznan Tarip

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Tarip, I. Organizational moral learning by spiritual hearts: a synthesis of organizational learning, Islamic and critical realist perspectives. Asian J Bus Ethics 9, 323–347 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13520-020-00112-9

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