Implementation of Spiritual Capital in Islamic Perspective to

Business Performance

Ziauddin Sardar

, Muhammad Nafik Hadi Ryandono

and Ririn Tri Ratnasari

Postgraduate School, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia

Department of Islamic Economics, Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia

Keywords: Spiritual capital, Islamic perspective, business performance

Abstract: This study aims to understand the spiritual capital in the Islamic perspective by conducting an underlying

virtuous key analysis as reflected in business performance. The general definition of capital is the amount of

money or material goods owned by the company. This kind of definition leads to the capitalism which is

always related to money and material wealth. Today it has been developed what is called spiritual capital.

Spiritual capital differs from other capital that generally has material resources. The value of religion cannot

go hand in hand with the goals and interests of the organization. Similarly, in business the value of religion

is only reflected when the rest time for prayer arrives and when it has come out of the mosque and back to

the office then the task as a servant of God seemed forgotten. Based on the description, this research leads to

the spiritual capital of business organizations as one of the important aspects of non-material in business

performance. The motivation of this research cannot be separated from the guidance of Islam as a religious

kaffah that has provided guidelines for human life in carrying the mandate. This research uses

phenomenology method, which explores about organizational culture nuanced ukhuwah Islamiyah through

interviews conducted. The study found some findings on the impact of Spiritual Capital-based ukhuwah

Islamiyah covering several aspects including: intention, taqwa, ihsan, mutual trust, etqan, honesty,

consultation, and patience as well as the role of spiritual leadership where for companies and individuals

who instilled spiritual capital in his performance actually never releases the role of religion in the activities

undertaken.

1 INTRODUCTION

The emergence of spirituality awareness in the world

of work has recently become a special concern in

various companies. This is because spirituality to

give meaning to the work that actually will create

love for work. When someone has loved his job, he

will work in totality and earnestly to give the best

results. If previously employees were given training

in the form of abilities and abilities, now the

company began working with training that led to

spiritual products. Spiritual capital now makes a lot

of interest from companies that will make the spirit

of spirituality of human resources.

Some companies still think that spirituality is a

matter of religion and far from the world of work.

Actually, spiritual awareness is needed to support

change in the context of organizational response to

increasingly complex challenges (Hendrawan,

2009). Anything that encourages spiritual awareness

in the workplace, must be understood from several

important things (Hendrawan, 2009). First, is the

tendency where someone begins to search for more

important meanings of life or strives to find greater

meaning from their own lives, building harmony

with the realities of the larger and higher universe.

Second, that someone in dealing with problems and

problems must be manifested in confidence and

dependent on God not on their own.

In the presentation of Zohar and Marshal (2004)

related to the spiritual meaning of capital that has

nothing to do with other religions or systems.

According to them, spirituality based on religious

values or other systems will be faced in a non-

universal or non-existent manner similar to those in

those who do not have a religious belief system.

Therefore, it is necessary that the spiritual capital

needed for the organization, society, and

participation in a global and pluralist society today,

to be deep capital has meaning in value, purpose and

Sardar, Z., Naﬁk Hadi Ryandono, M. and Tri Ratnasari, R.

Implementation of Spiritual Capital in Islamic Perspective to Business Performance.

DOI: 10.5220/0007539801810185

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference Postgraduate School (ICPS 2018), pages 181-185

ISBN: 978-989-758-348-3

181

passion for humans. In this case, universality

improves spiritual conditions on common values and

is not limited to the practice of certain religious

beliefs. Lowder (2005) explains that there is a

relationship between spirituality and religion. From

this it is known that spiritual capital is similar to

modality. But he said that the relationship that exists

between spirituality and vice versa makes

enthusiasm a problem in the workplace for

employees and management.

Spiritual values in the company will put

employees in the right position as humans.

Similarly, employees are able to interpret work as

worship and the realization of accountability to the

final stakeholder (Allah). This will have an impact

on high organizational commitment. Gozhali (2002)

found evidence that the construct of religiosity

dimensions of belief, dimensions of commitment,

dimensions of behavior, positive relationships and

work commitment. Furthermore, there is also

evidence that work commitment and involvement

have a positive effect on job satisfaction. This

religiosity construct is more directed at the quality of

appreciation and attitude of one's life based on

religious values in question. So it is clearer on the

substance of the noble values of religion and the

habit of turning away from religious formalism.

Kale and Shrivastava (2003) state that realizing a

value-spirituality workplace is not only able to

create harmonization in the work environment but

will also produce good benefits. Therefore,

companies need to always look for tools and

methods for spiritual needs and that can increase

morale in the workplace.

2 METHODS

This study belongs to the type of qualitative

research. Moleong (2007) provides a definition of

qualitative research. According to him that

qualitative research intends to understand the

phenomenon of what is experienced by the subject

of research such as behavior, perception, motivation,

action, word form and language, in a special context

that is natural and by utilizing various natural

methods.

The research method used in this study is

phenomenology. Moleong (2014: 14) explains that

phenomenology is a method of awareness from one's

main perspective. Phenomenology is often used as a

general assumption to refer to the subjective

experience of various subjects encountered.

Moleong (2014: 15) also explains that

phenomenology is a thinking view that emphasizes

its focus on subjective experiences experienced by

humans and interpretations of the world. So,

phenomenology tries to understand how the world

looks to others.

In terms of data collection methods, researchers

refer to the qualitative data collection strategies

described by Creswell (2007), among others are: 1)

Observations, 2) Interview, and 3) Documentation.

The object in this study is PT Maxima Jaya Perkasa,

a developer company located in Sidoarjo regency.

This company is well known as a company that

often holds religious activities. While the informant

from this research is Mr. Bakhtiar Rosyaduddin. He

is the director and owner of this company. Mr.

Bakhtiar was chosen as an informant based on the

consideration that he was the person who knew the

ins and outs of organizational culture and also for his

involvement in the implementation of Islamic values

in the efforts he led. The location of the interview is

in the office of PT Maxima Jaya Perkasa located in

Deltasari AN-40, Sidoarjo.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Spiritual Capital

Spiritual Capital (SC) is a new paradigm on the

foundation of current business philosophy and

practice. Spiritual is a derivative of the word

spirituality (from the word spirit) taken from English

which means "spirit" and from the Latin word

spiritus which means "to breathe". Spirituality

means something that is universal, namely the value,

meaning, and purpose of human life does not depend

on any religion adopted by someone (Zohar and

Marshal, 2005, p. 48).

Spirituality is considered multidimensional,

namely existential dimensions and religious

dimensions. The existential dimension focuses on

the purpose and meaning of life while the religious

dimension is more focused on worship or one's

relationship with God the Almighty, its neighbors

and the surrounding environment. Spirituality as a

two-dimensional concept. The vertical dimension is

the relationship with God or the Supreme Being

leading a person's life, while the horizontal

dimension is a person's relationship with himself,

with others and with the environment. There is an

ongoing relationship between two dimensions.

(Hawari, 2002)

According to Mr. Bakhtiar, spiritual capital has a

very important role in a company, besides of course

ICPS 2018 - 2nd International Conference Postgraduate School

182

capital in the form of material. Without spiritual

capital, the company and employees will run like

robots. They just walk to carry out their activities

and obligations as workers but not the added value

obtained by the company or employee. According to

him, if a company runs without being based on

spiritual capital, he believes that the company will

not be able to run for a long time, even if it is

capable it will tend to stagnate because of the

absence of added value. Spiritual capital in a

company is like a tree root. Without a root, a tree

cannot live much and less grow. That is why Mr.

Bakhtiar always puts forward religious activities in

his company and he also often talks directly both

personally and in groups to his employees so that the

spirituality of the employees and companies he leads

is maintained. Mr. Bakhtiar also says that someone

who has high knowledge will be in vain if he does

not have good spirituality.

3.2 Spiritual Capital in Islamic

Perspective

Spiritual capital arises because it is based on the

awareness that there is another form of capital that

must be in business. This view arises because of

errors that see that business organizations are

basically not bound to spirituality which results in

human behavior that is no longer humanistic and

transcendental. This is the end of secular core values

that make people separate and spread between souls

(nonmaterial) and physical (material). Muslim will

not be separated from their identity as Muslim

wherever they are and in whatever role they carry. In

the business world, they will always act on the basis

of divine value. Rice (1999) describes practices

related to Muslims that cannot be separated from the

principles of Islamic business ethics. These

principles include monotheism, justice, and khilafah.

All of these principles must be reflected in the

business practices of a Muslim. Submission and

adherence to the principles derived from God's

guidance is the capital that must be owned by a

Muslim businessman. Not having spiritual capital

can make people as people who are increasingly

stingy in accumulating their possessions and not

caring and sensitive to spiritual needs and also the

needs of those around them. When faith has been

abandoned then all means will be justified and make

matter as the peak of happiness. This is contrary to

the spirit of Islamic values that sees happiness as the

peace of the soul (muthmainnah). With the existence

of spiritual capital will make someone always try to

pursue not only the happiness of the world but also

the happiness of the afterlife and not only happiness

himself but also the happiness of his brothers.

The intention of a person to establish a business

will also affect how much spiritual capital can be

implemented in his company. For Mr. Bakhtiar, his

intention to establish a company was solely to

imitate the Prophet Muhammad and his companions

who were traders or entrepreneurs. Mr. Bakhtiar

believes that by imitating the profession of the

Prophet Muhammad, he will also get blessings from

Allah SWT. While the reason Mr. Bakhtiar decided

to become a businessman in the property sector was

because he saw that many Indonesians who had not

been able to buy a house even though the house was

a necessity due to the high prices of houses

circulating in the market. So from Mr. Bakhtiar to

establish a property business at an affordable price

so that the middle class can afford a home.

3.3 Implementation of Spiritual capital

and Its Impact to Business

Performance

In this research, researchers found the

implementation of Spiritual Capital owned by PT

Maxima Jaya Perkasa embodied in the daily

activities of the company. The motto of this

company is "Pray First and Then Safety". Every

morning the employees are gathered to read the

Qur'an together and understand its meaning. After

reading the Qur'an the employees are welcome to

perform the Dhuha Prayers. After Dhuha prayers the

employees perform their activities according to their

respective duties and responsibilities. In addition,

corporate leaders often say to the employees that the

success he achieved cannot be separated from how

the quality of the worship of the person. Chairman

of the company PT Maxima Jaya Perkasa carry out

the Daud fasting that he has done for years. This

indirectly gives an example to its employees so that

there are also some employees who begin to perform

Daud fasting to follow the habits of their leaders. In

an effort to improve employee performance, PT

Maxima Jaya Perkasa's management also rewards

employees if they can meet the annual targets set by

the company's chairman. The prize is to go umroh

with all employees and company leaders at the end

of the year. So this of course makes the employees

more enthusiastic in working in order to meet the

target and they can go umroh for free. This prize is

only implemented this year, years before the prize if

it meets the target company then the employees will

get additional incentives in the form of money.

However, it turns out the response of employees of

Implementation of Spiritual Capital in Islamic Perspective to Business Performance

183

the company to this umroh prize is extraordinary, it

is proven in June the annual target of the company

has been fulfilled so that the employees later this

year will go umroh together. When this is confirmed

to one of the employees, he says that his greatest

motivation to immediately reach the company's

target is that he can go umroh. According to him,

going umroh has a much more meaningful value

than just getting extra money incentives at the end of

the year.

The spiritual values that run within this company

are inseparable from the educational background of

the company owner. The owner of PT Maxima Jaya

Perkasa is a graduate of boarding school since junior

high school until senior high school. When he

studied at undergraduate, he took the Sharia majors

at the State Islamic University Sunan Ampel

Surabaya. He graduated from Master of Islamic

Economics at Airlangga University and majored in

Islamic Economics. The science of religion that he

got from an early age is always applied in his daily

activities and it succeeded in bringing him to

success.

CONCLUSION

Spiritual capital in Islam certainly will not be

separated from the Islamic spirituality itself Islam

kaffah (comprehensive) which covers all aspects of

life and is based on aqidah and tauhid. Spiritual

capital in the public view is already the beginning of

awareness in many business-related thinking that

spirituality is important and has an influence on

business as well as other capital (Malloch, 2010). In

this concept, tazkiyah (purification) is still needed as

Mulawarman concept (2009), where in this concept

is carried out continuous and dynamic purification

process so that orientation to God is always reflected

in the beginning of the process until the end of

company activity. In this case, spiritual capital in the

view of Islam must certainly align its intentions and

goals solely to obtain His blessing through our

submission and our love for Him which can be

realized also through organizational culture.

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