Leading without greed: A Vedantic lens on wholeness toward cultivating spiritual intelligence in leadership
type: CreativeWork
description: As the current civilisation grapples with existential grand challenges, it is suggested that old leadership paradigms furthering social injustice and environmental crises through greed, be examined. Greed was theorised in the literature as arising from a material ‘incomplete self' predicament of constant want. Vedānta posits such never-ending desiring to be consequential of a lack of spiritual intelligence. Systematic reviews into workplace spirituality studies identified a need for qualitative leadership research, specifically recommending Eastern spiritual lenses, due to rising interest. Wholeness is central to spirituality, considered fundamental to human flourishing, yet remains nascent. This study explored whether wholeness, as conceptualised from a Vedāntic lens, could be meaningful for cultivating spiritual intelligence in leadership outside a Vedāntic context. Applying a Vedāntic lens, three essential constructs of wholeness were identified, namely, Being, consciousness, and joy. Hermeneutical phenomenology was applied through semi-structured interviews with twentyfive purposively sampled leaders across diverse sectors and spiritual orientations. The findings were triangulated across two different focus groups comprising fifteen participants, thus totalling forty study participants. Data analysis was conducted through transcript coding and thematic categorisation. Wholeness, as conceptualised, was found both meaningful and relatable outside a Vedāntic context by both spiritually active and not so spiritually active leaders, who expressed cognitive and emotional resonance with the constructs in relation to wholeness. Moreover, the findings showed such wholeness to be holistically meaningful for spiritual intelligence in leadership, encompassing leadership of both self and others, with positive organisational and social macro-implications. Leaders felt that wholeness through Being, consciousness, and joyful contentment would evoke less greed in leadership, gre…
abstract: As the current civilisation grapples with existential grand challenges, it is suggested that old leadership paradigms furthering social injustice and environmental crises through greed, be examined. Greed was theorised in the literature as arising from a material ‘incomplete self' predicament of constant want. Vedānta posits such never-ending desiring to be consequential of a lack of spiritual intelligence. Systematic reviews into workplace spirituality studies identified a need for qualitative leadership research, specifically recommending Eastern spiritual lenses, due to rising interest. Wholeness is central to spirituality, considered fundamental to human flourishing, yet remains nascent. This study explored whether wholeness, as conceptualised from a Vedāntic lens, could be meaningful for cultivating spiritual intelligence in leadership outside a Vedāntic context. Applying a Vedāntic lens, three essential constructs of wholeness were identified, namely, Being, consciousness, and joy. Hermeneutical phenomenology was applied through semi-structured interviews with twentyfive purposively sampled leaders across diverse sectors and spiritual orientations. The findings were triangulated across two different focus groups comprising fifteen participants, thus totalling forty study participants. Data analysis was conducted through transcript coding and thematic categorisation. Wholeness, as conceptualised, was found both meaningful and relatable outside a Vedāntic context by both spiritually active and not so spiritually active leaders, who expressed cognitive and emotional resonance with the constructs in relation to wholeness. Moreover, the findings showed such wholeness to be holistically meaningful for spiritual intelligence in leadership, encompassing leadership of both self and others, with positive organisational and social macro-implications. Leaders felt that wholeness through Being, consciousness, and joyful contentment would evoke less greed in leadership, gre…
author: Maharaj, Nerisha
keywords: Business
date published: 2023
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:31Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Graduate School of Business (GSB)

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/39615