An Exploration Of Values Necessary To Motivate Catholic Priests Spiritual Leaders Intrinsically To Foster Effective Leadership Of Their Organizations

Today, many consider and view values as necessary for effectiveness in their organizations and values-based leadership is considered effective leadership. The literature review supports this notion of values and discusses that spiritual leadership is also effective leadership within organizations. Fry (2003) shared values of spiritual leadership as universal human values, Reave (2005) discussed spiritual values and spiritual practice for leadership effectiveness, and Fairholm (2011) emphasized core spiritual values. Similarly, the purpose of the study was: What are the values necessary to motivate Catholic priests intrinsically to foster effective leadership of their organizations? As a qualitative phenomenological research study, the researcher conducted eight in-depth interviews to engage Catholic priests in a discussion on their values from multiple perspectives; including their understanding of God, religion versus spirituality, religion and spirituality without love, and religion and spirituality with God, prayer, morality/the Ten Commandments of God, effective values/qualities of effective leadership of their organizations, motivation to values as priesthood/calling, satisfaction in oneself and in work as priests, service to God and fellow human beings, and community. Findings suggest that all the priests shared a strong connection to values from their religion to foster effective leadership and in other areas of their lives. Additionally, the priests discussed a strong commitment to their calling, a sense of satisfaction in their work, a sense of service to God and to their fellow human beings, and a sense of community with others in their organizations. Finally, the findings revealed that the priests utilized their values to foster effective work, leadership, and service in their parish organizations. Implications of this study suggest that the values the priest shared would help guide a sense of unity among individuals in their communities, encourage values-based education and learning in the training of seminarians and for the ongoing formation of priests.