Mindfulness and its role in organisational behaviour
Purpose
After an extensive study of the literature, this theoretical paper reports how ‘mindfulness’ can be used
to achieve positive organisational behavioural outcomes.
Method
This paper is primarily a theoretical paper. Thus, a literature search in academic journal papers, and
listening to audios of academics in the field of mindfulness are the main sources of data collection.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is a universal skill that can be learned and mastered to achieve great benefits in our
personal and professional life. Although they are hard to differentiate, there are two main approaches
to mindfulness. These are the ‘Eastern approach’ and the ‘Western approach’. The Eastern approach
has its roots in religious philosophies and some kind of meditative element to it. According to the
Eastern approach, mindfulness is the wakeful awareness and an attempt to understand the nature of
physical, emotional and mental phenomena around us. It is an unbiased, conscious moment-tomoment awareness of how things arise and cease, how these things change our mind, how we react
and how these things impact on us and others. Researchers suggest that a trained mind is able to keep
this momentary awareness for a longer period and meditation is central when training the mind. In the
1970s, Harvard professor Ellen Langer introduced the Western approach to mindfulness. This is
defined as the process of actively noticing new things, relinquishing preconceived mindsets, and then
acting on the new observations. As per Langer, mindfulness can be achieved without meditative
techniques. Although there are some fundamental differences between the two approaches as to how
mindfulness is conceptualised, the benefits of mindfulness are the same. It is more likely that we are
using two different paths to reach the same destination.
Benefits of mindfulness in an organisational context
For many decades, organisational behavioural researchers have been trying to examine ways in which
organisational effectiveness can be improved; it may be by appointing leaders with charisma to drive
the organisational vision, managing conflicts before they can negatively impact the bottom line,
setting effective communication channels, motivating and retaining high-performing employees,
managing organisational politics and emotions before reporting high employee turnovers, or even by
creating strong organisational cultures that promote employee well-being. However, the use of
‘mindfulness’ in achieving organisational effectiveness is still underutilised.
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Though it is under-researched in the Australian organisational context, when analysing the existing
literature, it can be said that mindfulness provides a number of personal and professional benefits if
cultivated consistently. It is found that mindfulness enhances interpersonal behaviour. In any given
moment, mindful employees have a greater tendency to show a high level of emotional intelligence as
they attempt to understand their own and others’ emotions, and they have the ability to control their
own and others’ emotions by consciously selecting their reactions based on present moment
awareness. For instance, if they experience negative emotions, they are aware of this as they arise,
thus they are able to manage their emotions by consciously selecting how to react. This situation helps
to maintain positive interpersonal behaviours and manage bad conflicts within organisations.
In addition to this, there are strong evidences that high emotional labour is a factor that increases job
dissatisfaction. Mindfulness can be used as a strategy to support employees in high emotional labour
occupations. Any technique that is used to develop mindfulness supports reflective behaviour; as
described above, a trained mind can see the nature of passing phenomena. Therefore, this unbiased
and open awareness may be helpful in managing their mood swings. Researchers also have stated that
mindfulness helps to release stress and anxiety and directly links with personal happiness and overall
well-being among employees.
Mindful leadership is comparatively more researched than other areas. Mindful leaders create mindful
organisations. Self-awareness and self-regulatory qualities that are cultivated through mindfulness
support leaders in being more charismatic and candid. It is also evident that mindfulness develops
authentic leadership qualities that help to maintain positive leader–member relationships. Mindfulness
is a non-judgemental observation. Therefore, mindful leaders are more open to new ideas, receptive to
disagreements and are able to handle conflicts without being defensive and without bias. They have
the ability to see market challengers in advance, thus mindful leaders are better prepared for future
challenges.
Limitations
As the current research is in its early stages, the role of mindfulness in the organisational context is
yet to be examined empirically.
Implications
Researchers have placed confidence in mindfulness as a personal transformation quality as well as a
powerful tool that can transform organisations. Mindfulness can be used as a self- and-organisational
development tool. Creating mindful organisational cultures (from writing an e-mail to addressing a
meeting with high-profile executives, practising mindfulness in the middle of a heated argument,
using mindfulness to manage difficult co-workers, identifying new business opportunities), practising
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mindful breathing techniques, mindful behaviours such as yoga, meditation, mentoring employees to
get into the habit of mindfulness, conducting mindful development programmes, and allocating a
space to practice mindfulness are some of the strategies that organisations can implement to achieve
the myriad benefits that mindfulness has to offer.
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