The long voyage from business ethics to spirituality

This paper proposes the keys needed to be able to understand the process which has taken business culture from business ethics to considering spirituality-related terms. The author suggests four successive stages within this process: business ethics, corporate social responsibility, responsible leadership and spirituality. As regards the first three, the article highlights the factors in each which have helped raise and led to the question of spirituality. In terms of the growing demands for spirituality within the management context, the paper then examines its specific potential. However, from the perspective of the previous stages, it also underscores the need to address the term's ambiguity. What is understood as 'spirituality' in management has to be clearly delimited and defined to thus avoid the risk of it becoming a trend or subordinating its values to instrumental managerial requirements.