Christian and Islamic Fundamentalism (Simon Western)

RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM: LOOKING AWRY AT THE MESSIAH LEADERSHIP DISCOURSE

Simon Western – Chapter 10

Messiah and Christian Fundamentalism - Setting

The messiah discourse seeks to explain by Transformational leaders rise so rapidly such as the phenomenon in 1980s.

In all societies, Transformational leaders exist but more easily accepted in individualistic societies (Jung, 1995) (e.g. – Japanese and pre-existing Asian collectivist

culture). Corporate success, loyalty, dependence ad company-

individual relationships prevalent in Japanese culture Attributes could not necessarily be embedded in other

cultures such as the USA

Messiah and Christian Fundamentalism (Key points)

Western associates the Messiah discourse to the rise of Christian Fundamentalism in the USA (Chapter 11).

claims that corporate leadership wanted to mimic the unusual new organizational forms, created by a highly successful transformational church leaders.

These prophetic leaders managed to create entrepreneurial and dynamic yet highly conformist cultures.

longer-term results can create totalizing and fundamentalist mindsets, with organizational cultures that resist critical reflection and difference.

Homogenized collectivist culture based on the leader’s vision

What is fundamentalism? “Fundamentalism in a disparate phenomenon – a

confused category.” (Hardt and Negri, 2001: 146)

Why Fundamentalism is an important study

Religion

Politics

Social

Financial

Attitudes are formed from the different society spheres by which though process influences actions.

What does a fundamentalist look like?

Islamic Fundamentalism

Modern movement which reconstructs a cultural brand or identity.

Often confused with a return to medieval society

“Radical Islamism” Al Qaeda

Challenging and undermining Western cultures Employs use of force to terrorize a population and

impose threat. Political underpinnings

The Fundamentalist Mindset

Authority and Truth

Militancy

Leadership

Anti-Modern

The chosen community

Social Change

The Fundamentalist mindset (p. 132)

Authority and truth – movement’s leaders have the divine authority – interpretation derives from thought process of leader.

Militancy – movement’s faith community condemning acts which go against fundamentalist faith.

Leadership – transformational, innovative and charismatic

Anti-modern – praising tradition and ‘idyllic past” and condemning modernity and liberal culture.

The chosen community – select group to employ “God’s will”.

Social change – Seeking to change the social codes of society to conform to their agenda and belief-systems. “New social order”

The Fundamentalist Mindset (continued)

Denial of difference – Gender issues. Diversity is feared.

Martyrs and persecution – idealized as a part of sacrifice

Millenarianism and perfection- belief in perfection from sin and “arrival of ‘kingdom’”.

Communities: a fundamentalist challenge of individualism

Reinvention of new forms while idealizing and defending traditional communities

Share collective identity and strong belief systems and values

Individualism stems from fundamentalist because the rhetoric from the individual can be integrated into the collective thought of the community with those shared ideas.

Individual freedom is the highest aspiration for most, but with fundamentalism this becomes a challenge.

Families, teams and clans

Team and family are metaphors for social organization

Employees in the workplace use their family in relation to their company

Family metaphor is essential for progressive organization and companies.

Counter-culture Church movements (house church Group movement became popular in 1960s and 1970s.

Cell churches and super-churches

Corporate fundamentalism

Religious agenda influences political and business spheres.

Corporate commercial advertising with possible fundamentalist underpinnings

Neo-liberalism ---individualism, intellectual left, anti-capitalism. - Economic political systems underscores the fundamentalist problem and benefits the concentrated few who own and operate media.

Corporations and multi-national companies led by Transformational leaders – collective actors Interdependent and dominant power elites Global and highly accountable

New social movement theory (NSM)

Understanding the leadership and organizing process in both religious and fundamentalist movements and among corporate organizations.

Shifting away from hierarchy, promoting dispersed leadership, self-managed teams and normative control.

Fundamentalism is the enemy or threat.

Sociologist Albert Melluci argues that understanding fundamentalism when examining leadership and organization is essential in allowing us to move past the grand narrative and single order systems thus opening up possibilities/understanding and move away from reductionist theory. (Melluci, 1989).

“Only when we can begin to the plurality of perspectives, meanings and relationships. Which make up any given collection action” (1989:25).

CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALISM AND CORPORATE AMERICA

Simon Western – Chapter 11

CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALISM AND CORPORATE AMERICA - SETTING

American Christian fundamentalism achieved what many corporate leaders sought.

Shared values of belief

High levels of cohesion

Loyalty and commitment

Southern conservative churches possessed entrepreneurial spirit

Differences between Christian Fundamentalism and Corporate Culture

God-Deity – fundamentalists follow a prophet, corporations make a profit.

Outputs – saving souls vs. maximizing profit

Voluntary membership and paid employee

Church identity - refuge

Similarities between Christian Fundamentalism and Corporate Culture

Transformational leadership – male oriented

Conviction of righteousness, certainty of the truth

Intolerance of difference, refuting plurality – “no other way”

Growth

Religious evangelizing zeal – new markets/new believers

Structural organization - hierarchies

The Transformational leader and Christian Fundamentalism in the USA

Christian fundamentalist revival of the 1970s.

“New Christian RIght” - “Kingdom of God” – no recession and no shortage – Jerry Falwell

Grassroots new-Conservatism

new formation of churches

Technology furthered agenda

Benny Hinn

The formation of a new leadership discourse

Isomorphism Occurs in Westernized culture Environment accepts and ‘selects” successful organization

forms. Most likely to occur between successful religious and

secular organizations where religion flourishes (e.g. USA).

Repudiation Challenging the secular world Formation of mega-churches

Leadership and fundamentalism

The leadership is from God, not the authority

“Where there is no vision the people will perish.” (Proverbs 29.8)

Transformational leadership paradox:conformism and dynamism

Secular transformative leaders seek to create strong conformist cultures just like their religious fundamentalist counterparts.

Challenge: How do you influence a diverse and dynamic multi-national group in a company.

Long term problems.

Totalizing corporate culture

Conclusion

The Messiah leadership discourse managed to create organization cultures which paved way for dynamic ideologies and conformity

Transformational leadership is still well-regarded and important in our study.

Unsustainable cultures exist when conformist and homogenous cultures are created (e.g. Hitler’s Mother Land, Bush’s Axis of Evil”

Sources

Western, S. (2008). Leadership a critical text. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.