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Chapter 3 Worldview and
Religion
Managing Organizations in a Global Economy:
An Intercultural Perspective
First Edition
John Saee
Copyright  by South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning. All rights reserved.
Worldview (Weltanschauung)
 Worldview deals with culture’s
orientation towards a number of
philosophical issues such as God,
humanity, nature, the Universe.
 Worldview is shaped by religion.
Types of Religions
 Monotheism.
 Polytheism.
 Non-literate religions.
The most wide spread religions
Christianity – 32%
Islam – 17.7%
Hinduism – 13.3%
Buddhism – 5.7%
Judaism and its major concepts
(Porter and Samovar, 1995)
God is one.
No human will ever be divine.
Humans are free.
Humans are the pinnacle of creation.
Jews are chosen people in terms of
serving God.
Humans must be obedient to
Godgiven commandments in the
holy book Torah, and have personal
responsibility.
Christianity
Groups within Christianity:
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Roman Catholics
Eastern Orthodox
Protestants
Indigenous Christian
Major issues in Christian faith:
 The coming Kingdom of God.
 Salvation.
 Ethical system.
Islam
Islam is the youngest and fastest
growing religion.
Islamic philosophy:
 A feeling of dependency on God.
 The fear of God’s punishment on Earth
as well as hereafter.
 A deep respect for tradition and for the
past.
Five Pillars of Islam
 There are no Gods but one God
(Allah), and Mohammad is the
prophet of Allah.
 Prayer.
 Zakat.
 Fasting observed during Ramadan.
 Pilgrimage to Mecca (haj).
Hinduism
This religion believes in the existence of
more than one God. Hindus find divine
in everything.
The ideas of reality in Hinduism are
different from those in Christianity and
Islam.
Nirvana is the ultimate detachment
from the world when all the worldly
desires are renounced. It is achieved
through meditation.
Buddhism
Gautama, founder of Buddhism, and
his “mission.”
Buddha’s four truths:
• Existence is suffering.
• The suffering arises from a desire.
• Desire can be suppressed, and therefore
the suffering will cease.
• The process of suppressing the desire or
Eightfold Path: the role of morality and
techniques of mental discipline.
Buddhism does not encourage
austerities but teaches to control the
mind.
Confucianism
A public philosophy embodying
Chinese norms of social and personal
morality.
Major issues in Confucianism:

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JEN, love for mankind.
Respect for the past.
Respect for education.
Society is best run by virtue, not by law.
Responsibility of government to the
governed.
 System of hierarchy.
 Emphasis on social harmony and
obligation.
 Family institution is strongly
supported.
 Work is a moral virtue.
A Comparison of Worldviews
Mechanistic versus Non-mechanistic
 Reason and intuition.
 Science and religion.
A dualistic view
 Separation of mind and body.
 Does the world consist of separate pieces
or is it profoundly holistic?
Importance of Religion to
Managing Organizations in a
Global Economy
What have you learned today?