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By Kent Larsen
Iowa State Employees Question Use of Covey
DES MOINES, IOWA -- Mormon management guru Stephen R. Covey's book is coming
under criticism from some state employees who claim the book pushes a
religious message that shouldn't be paid for by the state. A recent article
in the Des Moines Register airs the complaint after Covey's seminars and
book were presented to state employees.
The book and seminars have been popular among West Des Moines city and
school employees and supervisors at Iowa's Department of Public Safety have
been trained in the Franklin-Covey seminars. Public Safety employees have
also been receiving the weekly "Covey Thoughts" message by email in an
effort to motivate state troopers, criminal investigators and other employees.
But public safety commissioner Penny Westfall received a complaint from one
employee who said Covey's book has religious overtones. This led her to
suspend sending "Covey Thoughts" temporarily and to make sure employees
could opt out of getting the weekly email message. Westfall did not identify
the employee.
But claims that Covey's program promotes Mormonism are not new. The Register
cites and Iowa State religion professor, Hector Avalos, who is an atheist,
as saying that Covey's program doesn't belong in government. "The government
should not be in the business of telling our state troopers that they should
develop their spiritual side." Avalos says that the seventh habit listed in
Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" and presented in Covey's
seminars encourages spirituality. Noting that some people are not spiritual
at all, Avalos says, "I wouldn't want someone telling me to develop my
spiritual side." In addition to the seventh habit, Covey ends the book with
a 'personal note' in which he tells about his own beliefs.
But Iowa State management professor Brad Shrader, an LDS Church member who
attended BYU while Covey taught there, calls the suggestion that Covey's
book is essentially a Mormon sermon preposterous. "That's a bunch of hooey,
to suggest there are religious overtones," he said. And Franklin Covey
spokesperson Debra Lund says that the book's success argues against any
overt religious message, "It's been the No. 1, best-selling business book in
Japan, Taiwan and Korea. If there were too many religious undertones, I
don't think we'd have that kind of success internationally."
Source:
Covey's regimen raises questions
Des Moines IA Register 25Mar01 B2
By Jennifer Dukes Lee: Register Staff Writer
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