PRESENTATION

It is often said that some people shine. They glow with serenity, with an inner, spiritual force, with a wonderful joy for life. Other people feel them to be balanced and in full possession of their faculties. Their secret is found in periods of silence, reflection, and regular prayer. They seem to drink from a divine source and appear to be nourished by their freely chosen spirituality or religion because people cannot give what they do not have.

Is it possible, in absolute freedom, to strive for the same balance between spiritual and economic values in an organization?

Why not? Mr. J.-Robert Ouimet Sr, president and chief executive officer of OCB Holding Inc., which includes Cordon Bleu and Tomasso, defended a doctoral thesis in 1997 at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. There he proposed a management model that aims at fostering spiritual values inside an organization. This experimental approach has, since 1933, been known as Our Project. It is an attempt to “spiritualize” an organization in the same way that people are spiritualized.

In searching for meaning, people find that spirituality is fundamental. By introducing spirituality into the workplace, an organization can shine, and individuals can more deeply enroot themselves in the values which are alive in them and which motivate them. Just as people regularly feel the tension between their day-to-day activities and their spiritual aspirations, and seek a balance between the two, Our Project seeks, in an organization, to balance the tensions of the human and economic ISMA’s. Our Project highlights the fact that the human and economic ISMA’s are held together and helped by God Love, the Supreme Being or any self-chosen Transcendence or religion.

It is therefore quite possible—in the workplace and in a healthy climate of individual and collective freedom—to offer humanizing and spiritualizing values, and not only does this not cause bankruptcy but it ensures sustained and long-term growth in human development, well-being, joy for life, efficiency, and competitive profitability. Since 1933, experience has shown that the positive and very innovative synergy between the two ISMA’s, human and economic, has generated, and continues to generate, a cluster of very positive results. Reconciling the spiritualization of an organization with efficiency and profitability is a mission possible.

 Our Project: an alternative to be considered for 

• an organization that wants to stand out and shine.
  
  
• giving meaning to daily work: to management, efficiency, competitive profitability, and each person’s mission in any organization or company whether operating in the market economy or not.
  
  
• giving meaning to the sustained development of people’s lives, both individually and collectively.
  

What is the point of “spiritualizing” an organization?

It is very simple: so that it can shine, like a person.

How can this “spiritualization” be recognized?

First of all, the organization serves people and not the opposite [&&&]. People are valued as human beings and not as cogs in the production process; they are not resources or, worse, human capital. In practice, “spiritualizing” means that economic criteria do not come first, but second, when decisions have to be made. For example, when there is less demand for a product, a company often takes the easy way out and lays off some of personnel, but an organization that shines will consider every option capable of diminishing the impact on the personnel. Special projects dealing with training, cleaning or other matters as well as changes in the production schedule, etc. will be carefully looked at even if, as a result, running the company becomes somewhat more complicated. However, in certain very serious, economic situations, management will have to make layoffs for the common good of those who are stakeholders in the company: personnel, consumers, customers, suppliers, and investors.

In an organization that shines, the personnel is treated with respect and dignity. A dynamic esprit de corps is present, and it is obvious that everyone helps everyone. And even more important, a joy for life is seen in the faces of the people at work because they are proud of their organization and like to work in it. Personnel turnover is low; the people are dedicated and show a strong sense of belonging. Suppliers, like customers, enjoy doing business with an organization that shines because they see a healthy, dynamic company with sustained growth and development, both on the human and the economic fronts. The glow of such organizations often illuminates the families of the personnel and the surrounding communities.

Is it necessary, nonetheless, to sacrifice the company’s profitability? Not at all! The first responsibility of the company is to humans, but the second one is to efficiency and profitability. The two responsibilities must be balanced. The experiment that started in 1933 shows that reconciling the organization’s spiritualization with its efficiency and profitability is very possible. IT CAN BE DONE!

We want economic criteria to come second, not first, when decisions are to be made.

*** An organization that shines aims above all at human development, and profits are but one instrument to foster that growth. In “other” organizations, profits are the ultimate goal, and people are but instruments, resources, and capital.