Managerial psychology and religious leadership

Abstract

The process of interdisciplinary integration and application of psychology and religion has been operating for various branches in psychology: clinical, developmental, educational, social, and personality. These areas have all been explored in view of relating them to corresponding areas in theology. One branch of psychology, however, that has so far been neglected in this regard is the relatively young but rapidly expanding science of industrial/organizational psychology. Only recently attempts have been made to explore the new findings in organizational psychology and relate them to some aspects of religious behaviour. This reflection prompted me to embark on the challenging and interesting endeavour of examining an area of interest common to both disciplines. One such general area consists in the integration of organizational models into religious settings. How, and to what extent, I asked myself, could models derived from organizational psychology be adequately employed in religious institutions? More specifically: How, and to what extent, could principles and processes derived from managerial psychology be properly applied to religious leadership today?