Walton College to establish centre in faith and spirituality in the workplace

Through a $2 million gift from the Tyson Family Foundation and Tyson Foods Inc., the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas is establishing the Tyson Centre for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace.

Judith A. Neal has been appointed the first director of the proposed Tyson Centre for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace. The $2 million gift was matched from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation in the University of Arkansas Campaign for the Twenty-First Century, creating a $4 million endowment for the proposed centre. The centre will focus on curriculum development; outreach programs to business, churches and civic organisations; and research program support. Neal reports to Don Bland, Walton College senior managing director of outreach.

Walton College Dean Dan Worrell said, 'Faith and spirituality are very important, yet underdeveloped dimensions of diversity in the workplace. The Walton College is very grateful to John Tyson for helping us become a top school in this emerging discipline, and we believe that Judith Neal is the right person to lead this effort. There is tremendous interest in this area of inquiry not only in academia but also in the business community.'

Neal holds a doctorate in organisational behaviour from Yale University. She came to the Walton College as a management professor at the University of New Haven and academic director of the master of arts program in organisational leadership in the Graduate Institute, Milford, Conn., which was established in 2005 to offer graduate programs in emerging fields of academic inquiry. She is also president of Judith Neal and Associates, a management consulting firm focusing on employee empowerment, leadership and team development and spirituality in the workplace.

Neal said, 'The creation of this proposed new centre by John Tyson and the Walton College is a very important event in the field of management. This is the first time a centre like this will exist in a state university, and it will send a powerful message to the business, academic and faith communities that faith and spirituality have a legitimate and valuable role in the workplace. The mission of the centre will be to advance the state of research, practice and teaching in the field of faith and spirituality in the workplace. We are looking forward to being a resource centre for business leaders, academics, spiritual and faith leaders, and practitioners. Our reach will be regional, national and international. I am very honored to have been selected for this position at the University of Arkansas.'

Alan Ellstrand, associate professor of management and director of the MBA program, headed the Tyson Centre director search committee, which included representatives from all college departments as well as Archie Schaffer III, senior vice president of external relations for Tyson Foods Inc.

Ellstrand said, 'We feel this new area of study is important for our students to help them understand what it is like to manage people with different faith and religious backgrounds. The subject is a source of inspiration for many employees, and business leaders have been discussing faith and spirituality in the workplace for several years now - although this means different things to different people.

'Within the Academy of Management, the Management Spirituality and Religion interest group is one of the fastest growing,' he added.

When it began the search for the centre director, the Walton College invited four well-know scholars and thought leaders to campus to discuss faith and spirituality in the workplace with faculty and staff, including Martin Rutte, president of Livelihood, a management consulting business in Santa Fe, N.M., and chair of the Centre for Spirituality and the Workplace, Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada; Robert A. Giacalone, professor of human resources management, Fox School of Business, Temple University; David Miller, director of the Princeton University Faith and Work Initiative, president of the Avodah Institute, and author of God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement; and Andre J. Delbecq, the Thomas and Kathleen L. McCarthy University Professor, management department, Leavey School of Business and Administration, Santa Clara University.

Neal was founder, president and chief executive officer of the International Centre for the Spirit at Work, a nonprofit membership organisation for people who are integrating spirituality and work. She was previously director of the Centre for Spirit at Work at the University of New Haven. She co-founded and serves on the editorial board of Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion. She co-founded and served as chair of the Management, Spirituality and Religion Interest Group at the Academy of Management. She was elected a fellow of the Eastern Academy of Management in 2001 and served as president in 1992. She has been widely interviewed by the business trade press on the subject of faith and spirituality in the workplace.

Neal authored Edgewalkers: People and Organisations that Take Risks, Build Bridges and Break New Ground and Creating Enlighted Organisations: A Practical Guide to Spirituality in the Workplace. Neal was consulting editor for The Virtuous Organisation: Insights from Some of the World's Leading Management Thinkers.

In addition to her Yale University doctorate, Neal holds a bachelor of science in business administration from Quinnipiac College, Hamden, Conn., where she graduated summa cum laude. She has hands-on business experience working as a manager in organisational development and training for Honeywell Defense Systems.