Organizational Mindfulness Research Articles

Talent management in the context of mindful organizing and organizational mindfulness

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to show the unexplored relationship between mindful organizing, organizational mindfulness and talent management with regard to its outcomes. Methodology: The paper presents an integrative review of the literature available in relation to talent management and organizational mindfulness and provides the development of a theoretical framework based on integration and synthesis of this literature. Findings: The literature review revealed that organizational mindfulness and mindful organizing belong to the factors which may enhance individual level outcomes of talent management, such us: organizational commitment, motivation to work, extra-role behaviour and this, in turn, results in better organization’s performance. Practical implications: In order to enhance the individual level outcomes of talent management, the mindfulness needs to operate across all organizational levels. It should be create by top administrators and translate across organizations’ levels by middle managers for the front-line employees. Research limitations: This study is based on theoretical analysis and its assumptions should be tested empirically. Originality/value of the paper: Although the authors indicate many factors that may shape talent management process and its outcomes, the potential infl uence of mindful organizing and organizational mindfulness on talent management outcomes has not been analysed so far, meanwhile these phenomena’s have a lot in common with managing talented employees. Therefore, it is expected that mindful organizing (directly) and organizational mindfulness (indirectly) may enhance individual level outcomes of talent management.

Is there corporate mindfulness? An exploratory study of Buddhist-enacted spiritual leaders’ perspectives and practices

The majority of research on mindfulness reflects a secular viewpoint to the detriment of contextualized mindfulness approaches. We contribute to the literature on organizational mindfulness by arguing that mindfulness is a wisdom-based practice that has been exploited as an instrument for stress reduction or moment awareness techniques. We carried out in-depth interviews in Vietnam with 24 organizational leaders who are Buddhist practitioners, using thematic analysis to elucidate our argument. Our findings reveal that the practice of mindfulness is more effectively a personal and contextual choice rather than a universal “band aid,” thus departing from secular interpretations and applications. This choice is based on understanding Buddhist teachings and principles and the combination of the Buddhist qualities of wisdom, compassion, and non-attachment. We argue that this more effectively can enable and contribute to a wise, dynamic, and flexible approach to corporate mindfulness.

How can mindfulness be promoted? Workload and recovery experiences as antecedents of daily fluctuations in mindfulness.

While previous work on mindfulness has focused predominantly on the benefits of mindfulness and of mindfulness interventions, the present article addresses the question of how natural experiences of mindfulness can be promoted in the context of work. Accordingly, this article sheds light on day‐to‐day fluctuations in workload and recovery experiences (psychological detachment and sleep quality) as antecedents of state mindfulness. Furthermore, this study extends extant research that has documented beneficial effects of mindfulness on subsequent recovery experiences by arguing that the relationship between mindfulness and recovery experiences is reciprocal rather than unidirectional. Using an experience‐sampling design across five workdays and involving three daily measurement occasions, we found that sleep quality and workload were related to subsequent levels of mindfulness. While not displaying a significant direct relationship with mindfulness, psychological detachment was indirectly related to mindfulness via sleep quality. Fatigue was identified as an important mechanism explaining these relationships. Furthermore, findings confirmed that the relationship between mindfulness and recovery experiences is reciprocal rather than unidirectional. Taken together, this study contributes to an enriched understanding of the role of mindfulness in organizations by shedding light on factors that precede the experience of mindfulness and by pointing to the existence of gain spirals associated with recovery experiences and mindfulness.Practitioner points Organizations seeking to promote mindfulness among their workforce should try to keep workload to a manageable degree.Organizations may also pay attention to care for employees' day‐to‐day recovery as it has been shown to facilitate mindfulness.

Achieving Time-Sensitive Organizational Performance Through Mindful Use of Technologies and Routines

Organizational performance is often dependent on the timing of critical processes and the simultaneous use of both technology and routines. Existing publications emphasize the importance of time sensitivity but also reflect divergent, untested perspectives. Prior works do not clearly explain or examine how different mechanisms are associated with achieving time-sensitive versus general (or non-time-sensitive) performance. We build on concepts from organizational mindfulness and organizational routines to address these gaps. Specifically, this paper examines how the mindful use of information technologies and adherence to specified routines are associated with both time-sensitive and general organizational performance. We employ split-group structural equation modeling based on high and low levels of information technology adoption to account for potential technology contingencies in performance. We use time-sequenced data from 262 U.S. hospitals to analyze two categories of clinical care quality: time-sensitive care and general care. The results indicate that mindful use of technologies is associated with both time-sensitive and general performance in contexts with high technology adoption but not in those with low adoption. In contrast, adherence to specified routines is associated with time-sensitive performance in contexts with low technology adoption but not in those with high adoption. The results also clarify that high levels of technology adoption and mindful use may at times assume the place of specified routines in their association with time-sensitive performance. Finally, we find evidence that continuous improvement may bridge adherence to specified routines and mindful use of technologies.

Mindfulness Training Gets an Upgrade: Innovations in Mental and Emotional Self-Management (MESM) to Combat Stress in Organizations

Neuroscientists suggest that chronic stress diminishes cognitive ability, therefore rendering metacognitive exercises such as mindfulness training ineffective for many. An intervention was tested that incorporates tools to regulate the stress response prior to engaging metacognitive stress management techniques. A mixed-method study (N =147) compared business students with Amazon’s mechanical Turkers. After three weeks of practice, trainees scored higher in mindful attention and well-being and training explained 16% of test score variance, suggesting a moderate to large effect size. This pilot study exposes a potential shortcoming in current forms of organizational mindfulness training and offers a solution for future intervention design.

Sign of the times: Workplace mindfulness as an empty signifier

The rapid emergence of mindfulness programs within organizational settings reflects an amalgam of humanistic, spiritual, and managerial perspectives. While impact studies have focused on effects of mindfulness programs on employees, how such programs are implemented by trainers, managers, and employees and how the mindfulness concept operates within organizations are not well understood. In this study, we draw upon Laclau’s notion of the ‘empty signifier’ to argue that mindfulness programs work to encode oppositional organizational elements, drawing on competing discourses that shape, in practice, how mindfulness evolves within organizations. Through an empirical qualitative study of organizational mindfulness practitioners, we show how practitioners leverage heterogeneous meanings to represent oppositions within organizations, and that in the course of mindfulness programs, these oppositions are framed to align with dominant managerial perspectives. We discuss the ramifications of these findings to understanding the uses of mindfulness for ideological purposes while speculating on the emancipatory possibilities of mindfulness as a solidaristic and collective practice.

Leader Mindfulness and Employee Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Transformational Leadership

Previous research has demonstrated that employee and leader mindfulness play a significant role for well-being at work. Yet, we lack a sufficient understanding of how leader mindfulness translates into subordinates’ well-being. In this paper, we argue that transformational leadership serves as a mediating mechanism of the relationship between leader mindfulness and subordinates' well-being (i.e., positive and negative affect, job satisfaction, psychosomatic complaints, and emotional exhaustion) at work. Findings are reported from a cross-sectional multi-source study with 65 leaders and 153 employees from different industries. Multilevel mediation analyses showed that leader mindfulness was positively related to subordinates’ positive affect as well as job satisfaction and negatively related to subordinates’ psychosomatic complaints via transformational leadership. This study adds to the literature on mindfulness at work in underlining the importance of leader mindfulness for subordinates’ well-being introducing transformational leadership as a mediating variable. We discuss the importance of reconciling research on mindfulness and leadership, and of promoting mindfulness in organizations.

Quality Improvement in Healthcare: Personality Type and Mindfulness as Determinants

Background: The emphasis on “quality” in the design of a management system for an organization was originally introduced through the work of W. Edwards Deming [1] who initially developed his QI principles to help the Toyota Motor Company increase their sales by improving the quality of their product. However, he also saw that these ideas could be applied to management of other types of organizations, such as health care organizations. Review: When applied to a clinical practice, QI is implemented by evaluation of structured clinical and administrative data [2], producing a “mindfulness” about QI that gives attention to several key principles: (i) focusing on data, (ii) care of patients, (iii) team problem solving, and ( iv) healthcare delivery processes that are similar for both the organization and for individual physician-patient relationship. In all instances, the effectiveness of an entire QI program is compromised if any of these principles is missing or inadequate. Such a deficiency is avoided best through a functional knowledge of personality type that increases communication at all levels. This creates a critically important organizational mindfulness for more effective QI team function and also for a more effective physician-patient encounter. The result is increased quality of outcomes at the individual patient level as well as the organizational level. Conclusion: The trend toward inclusion of mindfulness in healthcare develops an improved awareness of how well procedures, medications, and advice are provided.

Commentary on Mindfulness in Action: Discovering How U.S. Navy SEALs Build Capacity for Mindfulness in High-Reliability Organizations (HROs)

Academy of Management DiscoveriesVol. 3, No. 3 Commentaries on Previously Published ArticlesCommentary on Mindfulness in Action: Discovering How U.S. Navy SEALs Build Capacity for Mindfulness in High-Reliability Organizations (HROs)Timothy J. Vogus and Kathleen M. SutcliffeTimothy J. VogusVanderbilt University and Kathleen M. SutcliffeJohns Hopkins UniversityPublished Online:28 Apr 2017https://doi.org/10.5465/amd.2017.0047AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsDownload CitationsAdd to favoritesTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail View articleREFERENCESBraun D. E., Prusacyzk W. K., Goforth J. H. W., & Pratt N. C. 1994. Personality Profiles of U.S. Navy Sea-Air-Land (SEAL). Personnel, ▪▪▪: 94–22363 [San Diego, CA: Naval Medical Research and Development Command.]. Google ScholarCrum A. J., Salovey P., & Achor S. 2013. Rethinking stress: The role of mindsets in determining the stress response. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104: 716–733. Google ScholarFraher A. L., Branicki L. J., & Grint K. 2017. Mindfulness in action: Discovering how U.S. Navy SEALs build capacity for mindfulness in high-reliability organizations, Academy of Management Discoveries. Google ScholarJackall R. 1988. Moral Mazes: The World of Corporate Managers. New York: Oxford University Press. Google ScholarMcDonald D., Norton J., & Hodgdon J. 1988. Determinants and Effects of Training Success in the U.S. Navy Special Forces. (NHRC 88-34). San Diego, CA: Naval Medical Research and Development Command. Google ScholarRochlin G. I., LaPorte T. R., & Roberts K. H. 1987. The self -designing high-reliability organization: Aircraft carrier flight operations at sea. Naval War College Review, 40: 76–90. Google ScholarSchulman P. R. 1993. The negotiated order of organizational reliability. Administration & Society, 25: 353–372. Google ScholarSchön D. A. 1983. The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. New York: Basic Books. Google ScholarScott C., & Myers K. K. 2005. The socialization of emotion: Learning emotion management at the fire station. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 33: 67–92. Google ScholarVogus T. J., & Iacobucci D. 2016. Creating highly reliable health care: Reliability-enhancing work practices affect patient safety in hospitals. ILR Review, 69: 911–938. Google ScholarWeick K. E. 2006. The role of values in high-risk organizations. In E. D. HessK. S. Cameron (Eds.), Leading with Values: Positivity, Virtue, and High Performance: 55–67. New York: Cambridge University Press. Google ScholarWeick K. E., Sutcliffe K. M., & Obstfeld D. 1999. Organizing for high-reliability: Processes of collective mindfulness. In B. M. StawL. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior, 21, 81- 123. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, Inc. Google ScholarORIGINAL ARTICLE:Fraher A.L., Branicki L.J., & Grint K. 2017. Mindfulness in action: Discovering how U.S. Navy SEALs build capacity for mindfulness in high-reliability organizations, Academy of Management Discoveries. doi:10.5465/amd.2014.0146 Google ScholarFiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 3, No. 3 Permissions Metrics in the past 12 months History Published online 28 April 2017 Published in print 1 September 2017 Information© Academy of Management DiscoveriesDownload PDF

Commentary on “Mindfulness in Action”

Academy of Management DiscoveriesVol. 3, No. 3 Commentaries on Previously Published ArticlesCommentary on “Mindfulness in Action”Karlene H. RobertsKarlene H. RobertsUniversity of California, BerkeleyPublished Online:2 May 2017https://doi.org/10.5465/amd.2017.0049AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsDownload CitationsAdd to favoritesTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail View article"Commentary on “Mindfulness in Action”." Academy of Management Discoveries, 3(3), pp. 327–328REFERENCESDenzin N. K. 1978. The Research Act: A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods. New York: Praeger. Google ScholarLefler D.(September 14, 2016) “Hunter Troop is the world’s first all-female special operations unit. Task and People Google ScholarSeck H. H. (February 17, 2017) “A year in, no female SEAL applicants, few for special-forces.” Military.com Google ScholarTilghman A. November 13, 2016. Will Donald Trump’s Pentagon reverse Obama’s women-in-combat rule? Military Times. Tysons, VA: Regent Companies. Google ScholarORIGINAL ARTICLE:Fraher A. L., Branicki L. J., & Grint K. 2017. Mindfulness in action: Discovering how U.S. Navy SEALs build capacity for mindfulness in high-reliability organizations, Academy of Management Discoveries. doi:10.5465/amd.2014.0146 Google ScholarFiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 3, No. 3 Permissions Metrics in the past 12 months History Published online 2 May 2017 Published in print 1 September 2017 Information© Academy of Management DiscoveriesDownload PDF

Commentary on ‘Mindfulness in Action’

Academy of Management DiscoveriesVol. 3, No. 3 Commentaries on Previously Published ArticlesCommentary on ‘Mindfulness in Action’Karl E. WeickKarl E. WeickUniversity of MichiganPublished Online:31 Mar 2017https://doi.org/10.5465/amd.2017.0037AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsDownload CitationsAdd to favoritesTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail View article"Commentary on ‘Mindfulness in Action’." Academy of Management Discoveries, 3(3), pp. 322–323REFERENCESBarton M. A., & Sutcliffe K. M. 2009. Overcoming dysfunctional momentum: Organizational safety as a social achievement. Human Relations, 62: 1327–1356. Google ScholarCollins R. 1981. On the microfoundations of macrosociology. American Journal of Sociology, 86: 984–1014. Google ScholarDewey J. 1938. Experience and education. New York: Simon and Schuster. Google ScholarFine G. A. 1991. On the macrofoundations of microsociology: Constraint and the exterior reality of structure. The Sociological Quarterly, 32: 161–177. Google ScholarFraher Amy L. 2011. Thinking through crisis: Improving teamwork and leadership in high-risk fields. New York: Cambridge University Press. Google ScholarJames W. 1996. Some problems of philosophy. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. Google ScholarScher J. M. 1962. Theories of the Mind. Glencoe, IL: Free Press. Google ScholarTaylor James R., & Van Every Elizabeth J. 2000. The emergent organization: Communication as its site and surface. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Google ScholarWeick K. E., & Sutcliffe K. M. 2006. Mindfulness and the quality of organizational attention. Organization Science, 17: 514–524. Google ScholarWeick K. E., & Sutcliffe K. M. 2015. Managing the unexpected: sustained performance in a complex world, John Wiley & Sons. Google ScholarWeick K. E., Sutcliffe K. M., & Obstfeld D. 1999. Organizing for high reliability: Processes of collective mindfulness. In R. Sutton & B. Staw (Eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior: 81–123. Greenwich, Conn: JAI. Google ScholarORIGINAL ARTICLE:Fraher A.L., Branicki L.J., & Grint K. 2017. Mindfulness in action: Discovering how U.S. Navy SEALs build capacity for mindfulness in high-reliability organizations, Academy of Management Discoveries. doi: 10.5465/amd.2014.0146 Google ScholarFiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 3, No. 3 Permissions Metrics in the past 12 months History Published online 31 March 2017 Published in print 1 September 2017 Information© Academy of Management DiscoveriesDownload PDF

Sociotechnical System Safety: Hierarchical Control versus Mindfulness

Both the hierarchical control model of organizational processes in a sociotechnical system and organizational mindfulness have been promoted, largely through independent lines of argument, as having potential to improve safety in large-scale sociotechnical systems. We review the arguments to assess the confidence we might place in these claims and to assess whether these views are necessarily incompatible or could be complementary. Our analysis reveals a lack of consistency in the arguments for hierarchical control. It remains unclear whether application of this model to sociotechnical system design will enhance safety or will even degrade it by promoting micromanagement. We conclude that the type of mindfulness that bolsters important safety-related cognitive processes is just what is missing from the hierarchical control model. The safety of large-scale sociotechnical systems with catastrophic potential poses an enormous challenge. A functional model with some hierarchical properties, when complemented with insights relating to organizational mindfulness, offers an innovative way of working toward resolving that challenge.

Jochen Reb and Paul W. B. Atkins. Mindfulness in Organizations: Foundations, Research, and Applications. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2015, 438 pages, $99.99 hardcover.

Jochen Reb and Paul W. B. Atkins. <b>Mindfulness in Organizations: Foundations, Research, and Applications</b>. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2015, 438 pages, $99.99 hardcover.

Business model innovation and organisational mindfulness as determinants of corporate sustainability: an empirical study

The aim of this paper is to study the influence of the determinants such as business model innovation (BMI) and organisational mindfulness (OM) on the corporate sustainability (CS) and organisational effectiveness (OE) with special reference to select pharmaceutical firms in India. The survey which was adopted and designed on five-point Likert scale was disseminated both via web-based and manual channels. Multivariate multiple regression analysis (MMRA) from the family of general linear model (GLM) is used to observe the explained variability of both the dependent variables by the independent variables individually. Key findings of the study underlines that an organisation which is highly sensitive to perception and depicts the flexibility in its behaviour by responding to diverse changing stimuli and those organisations who innovate by leveraging the internal resources would contribute to the enhancement of CS and OE. This study has implications for both practitioners and academicians.

Business model innovation and organisational mindfulness as determinants of corporate sustainability: an empirical study

The aim of this paper is to study the influence of the determinants such as business model innovation (BMI) and organisational mindfulness (OM) on the corporate sustainability (CS) and organisational effectiveness (OE) with special reference to select pharmaceutical firms in India. The survey which was adopted and designed on five-point Likert scale was disseminated both via web-based and manual channels. Multivariate multiple regression analysis (MMRA) from the family of general linear model (GLM) is used to observe the explained variability of both the dependent variables by the independent variables individually. Key findings of the study underlines that an organisation which is highly sensitive to perception and depicts the flexibility in its behaviour by responding to diverse changing stimuli and those organisations who innovate by leveraging the internal resources would contribute to the enhancement of CS and OE. This study has implications for both practitioners and academicians.

Mindfulness in Action: Discovering How U.S. Navy Seals Build Capacity for Mindfulness in High-Reliability Organizations (HROs)

This study of US Navy Sea Air and Land (SEAL) commandos contributes to research investigating mindfulness in high-reliability organizations (HROs) by identifying the individual and collective influ...

Achtsamkeit im Unternehmenskontext

Summary Mindfulness in organisational life Mindfulness has arrived in the business world. Numerous studies have shown that mindfulness has a positive impact on the brain and our ability to regulate emotions and attention. But why do companies care about this? What are the demands placed on leaders in this ever-quickening world? The Kalapa Academy is focused on bringing together research, mindfulness, and leadership. A study in 2013/2014 has shown how mindfulness has helped participants manage stress better, reduce felt demands, and improve attention regulation in objective tests. An increasing number of companies are expressing interest in these kinds of trainings.

Sustainability-oriented innovations: Can mindfulness make a difference?

The concepts of sustainability and innovation represent a fundamental conflict of objectives. This fact may help explain why the management literature has been ambiguous in its approach to sustainability-oriented innovation. The main purpose of this article is to develop an analytical framework to further study the influence of mindfulness. Mindfulness can support the development of the cognitive abilities, attitudes and behaviors of individuals who work within organizations. It can help them identify and utilize creative solutions that can lead to sustainability-oriented innovation. This paper presents a theoretical study that has been designed to support future research in sustainability-oriented innovation in the organizational context. A systematic literature review provides empirical evidence that mindfulness training can promote changes in individual cognition mechanisms that favor creativity and ecological concerns. As an isolated training technique, mindfulness can be used as a tool to reduce the stress that is caused by efficiency-driven business models. To help influence management actions in favor of sustainability-oriented innovation, this paper offers a research agenda that combines the following five fields of study: sufficiency-driven business models, inclusive capitalism, sustainability-oriented innovation capability, mindfulness in organizations and interdisciplinary and qualitative mindfulness.

BigPromises: using organisational mindfulness to integrate big data in emergency management decision making

Many governmental agencies are currently engaged in activities to improve access to information which are encouraging recent Big Data (BD) trends. However, determining and demonstrating the benefit to emergency management information systems (EMIS) users has yet been realised. EMIS are critical to navigating a complex network of disparate IS used for real time, coordinated decision-making among agencies. Two significant challenges to incorporating BD analytical, visual, and predictive capabilities are mutual acceptance and system integration. This paper looks at the underlying principles of organisational mindfulness (OM) demonstrated in the convergence of EM processes, systems, and organisations in decision-making. The investigation proposes a design science research in information systems (DSRIS) approach to build an IS artefact for EMIS evaluation. Critical immediacy of information and decisions require adherence to processes which build capabilities to support EMIS users. This adds a layer of complexity to ISDT for EMIS, yet may equally lead to broader BD acceptance and integration.

Tempering the normative demands of professional learning communities with the organizational realities of life in schools: Exploring the cognitive dilemmas faced by educational leaders

This work explores how mindful leadership practice can inform school and district leadership specifically as it occurs in professional learning communities (PLC). When school and district leaders create PLC cultures that encourage rich thinking and intentional practice, individual and organizational mindfulness is present. As leaders work to craft informed responses to the demands before them, it is argued that such mindfulness places them in a position to maximize learning from the experiences of the moment. As an organizational structure, the PLC provides school members with a location for the practice of mindful leadership. Yet, the PLC can become an end in itself, a structure that organizes participants but lacks the necessary goal orientation for actors to engage in motivating and purposeful work and create meaningful outcomes. We assert that the mindful institutionalization of PLCs orients the school toward cultural change embodied in a collective attention that orients the work of its members. We argue that to do so requires attention to deeply developed explanations of activities within the school setting, opportunities for formative, substantive data use, and on-the-ground real-time orientation to communal learning. We argue that attention to these themes would further enhance the knowledge and skill set available to PLC members.