A theoretical study about spiritual leadership

In an era, in which technological facilities and scientific developments dominate every aspect of our daily lives, inevitably affect almost all dimensions of life, and news making us change in most cases appear, social structures, organizations and leadership, of course, should also undergo metamorphosis. Today, it is a reality that although people have financial opportunities and they can access the information needed with `a few clicks?, there is a questioning the `meaning? of what in hand and the `meaning and purpose? of organizations ?and life in general. Today, because the very essence and the spirit of organizations are human beings, it is envisaged leadership approaches to adapt to changing paradigms and to consider spiritual needs of human beings. Spiritual leadership, which focuses on both leader?s and followers? spiritual necessities beyond materialistic necessities and considers spirituality as a universal and unifying element, is one of these leadership approaches.The aim of the present paper is to scrutinize every aspect spiritual leadership and present research in literature by means of scientific analysis and synthesis. For this purpose, the domestic and foreign literatures on spiritual leadership were searched and data related to the spiritual leadership were analyzed to answer the sub-problems of the study. As the current situation with respect to the spiritual leadership is presented as it stands, this study is a descriptive one.As a result of the research, it is found that spiritual leadership was discussed in two different ways: religious leadership and secular leadership. The word `theory? does not exist in resources which discuss the subject within a religious perspective; but, there exist an expression of `spiritual leadership theory? in the resources which discuss spirituality and spiritual leadership in terms of organizations dominated by a secular management. When both approaches were analyzed / examined, despite the differences in definitions of leadership, characteristics of a leader has been found to include a lot in common.Spiritual leadership, which focuses on the spirit and spirituality to provide solutions to problems such as spiritual emptiness, psychological problems, isolation, depression, loneliness, meaninglessness, uncertainty and ego-centrism, is considered to be an applicable and beneficial approach in terms of student achievement, teachers? and administrators? job satisfaction, learning and finding meaning in learning and teaching activities for educational organizations.Based on the research findings, that basic resources on spiritual leadership ?a new concept for our country ? should be translated into Turkish, the present scales and questionnaires of spiritual leadership can be adapted to Turkish education system and Turkish culture, new studies can be carried out to measure spiritual leadership and new research to reveal the relationship between spiritual leadership and other organizational factors can be suggested.