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Read the Thematic Integration of Faith and Learning Paper drafts of at least 2 other students. Submit replies of 300–400 words each to at least 2 other students. Each reply must demonstrate a substantive discussion that meets grading rubric specification.
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Mieya Crosby
Forum 3 (Module 3) – Mieya Crosby
COLLAPSE
Integration of Keller Textbook into Cohesive Understanding

Keller and Alsdorf do an amazing job with helping readers/learners with understanding how God created work and how it intertwines with quality and productivity. Quality and productivity are key ideas that are expressed throughout the bible. God is the Master of Quality; nothing that he touches or creates is anything short of excellent. God is efficient and effective with his productivity. He knows how much is needed and when it needs to be produced.

Keller and Alsdorf are able to give perspective through stories and research that has been completed on other cultures and on those who do not believe in God. While there is great correlation between being a Christian, quality management, productivity, and the bible, people who do not believe in Jesus or God work in and through quality management and productivity as well. It is a Christian’s responsibility to bring God to their respective workplace through principles, actions, and attitudes that show God’s mercy and grace.

Quality Management

Quality management is the act in which an organization reviews procedures and activities that have been put into place to accomplish a high level of excellence. The quality management concept occurs across all industries but change in each organization based on their mission and vision. Unfortunately, only some organizations pride themselves with outstanding quality management, which also helps with customer service. Quality management practices can be found in most organizations and are used daily (de Menezes & Escrig, 2019).

God was the first creator and the first quality manager. God created the world as work and described how magnificent the invention was within the regular workweek of seven days (Keller & Alsdorf, 2012). The greatest responsibility that we read about in the bible is being a Christian. There are numerous bible verses that God gives us through his writers of the bible that provide a way for Christian to conduct quality management on themselves as Christians. 2 Corinthians 4:16, “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” God reminds us that we are excellence in our spirit and that spirit is renewed daily even though our body is aging and dying. Being an excellent Christian is not just about your outer appearance; it is about the heart and spirit you have for the Lord.

God finds what he has done beautiful (Keller & Alsdorf, 2012). Genesis 5:1, “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. We know we are beautiful because God created us in his image! God is an amazing, beautiful, and most of all – perfect. While we cannot be perfect, accepting Jesus gives us the pathway to salvation and eternal life. Philippians 1:6, “For I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Like all good and satisfying work, the worker sees himself in it (Keller & Alsdorf, 2012). Again, God mad us in his image and he continues to love his children and perfect the good work inside of them because he sees him in us.

Productivity

Productivity is an organization’s preferred measure of firm-level efficiency and perceived to reflect resource use rates (Webber et al., 2018). It can also be described as the ratio of output per unit of input. Productivity is specifically what a worker puts out, whether it is with or without machinery or assistance from technology. The validation of the best practices being shared with employees can improve worker productivity (Song et al., 2018).

In the bible, God does not give a specific formula for gathering the productivity of being a Christian. However, God did equip Christians with the procedures that they should follow so that they can be productive. Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men”. All the work that we do as Christians must be done in a manner that is pleasing for God without the thought of man’s feelings. The biggest and most relevant procedure that Christians must follow to be productive is to have faith as small as the grain of mustard seed. Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Keller and Alsdorf tell a story about a doorman who helps people with their luggage, knows the children who live in the building, and really goes all out to help the residents of the building. The man explained how it is a part of his job! His productivity is great because he cares about what he is doing. A part of his caring nature is because he is glad to be in the United States for the opportunities that they provide him (Keller & Alsdorf, 2012). Could you imagine being so productive that your output is thought of as amazing because of all of the input that you provide? The man in Keller and Alsdorf’s story does just that. He provides excellent productivity and customer service because he goes above and beyond to ensure that he meets all of his customers’ needs.

Work, productivity, and quality management are not only related to Christians. Keller and Alsdorf do an amazing job with reminding readers that God created work for everyone, not just for Christians. We should not be surprised at the great works that non-Christians complete since they can complete better work that Christians (Keller & Alsdorf, 2012). This is a reminder that quality managers could be without faith but manage those with faith. At the same token, employees who are producing could be Christian or not. The biggest takeaway from understanding that Christians and non-Christians both produce and manage quality is that all things no what should be done for the greater good. Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

References

de Menezes, L. M., & Escrig, A. B. (2019). Managing performance in quality management: A

two-level study of employee perceptions and workplace performance. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 39(11), 1226-1259. doi:10.1108/IJOPM-03-2019-0207

Keller, T., & Alsdorf, K. L. (2012). Every Good Endeavor. New York: Penguin Random House

LLC.

Song, H., Tucker, A. L., Murrell, K. L., & Vinson, D. R. (2018). Closing the productivity gap:

Improving worker productivity through public relative performance feedback and validation of best practices. Management Science, 64(6), 2628-2649. doi:10.1287/mnsc.2017.2745

Webber, D. J., Webber, G. A., Berger, S., & Bradley, P. (2018). Explaining productivity in a

poor productivity region. Environment and Planning. A, 50(1), 157-174. doi:10.1177/0308518X17735103