A Model to relate Mindfulness to Performance in Organisations

Víctor Alastuey R. - Full Time MBA Student, Cranfield School of Management

Supervisor: Dr Jutta Tobias, Cranfield School of Management

• The main purpose of this literature review was to produce a document that would offer a simple and

straightforward interpretation of how the systematic practice of mindfulness is related to improvement in organisations’ performance.

• This literature review summarises into a model the main thoughts of 19 articles related to the link between mindfulness and performance.

• Since theory simplifies reality, this model takes into account only the links that were researched in the articles under study; and not the whole and complex link between these two concepts.

External Reactions

Attention Awareness

Reduced Mind Wandering,

Rumination, and Absentmindedness

Internal Processes

MINDFULNESS

Outcomes

Increased Self-Regulation

Higher Cognitive Flexibility

HEALTH (Lower Turnover

and Absenteeism)

TASK PERFORMANCE

This model suggests that the systematic practice of mindfulness may affect some internal processes in the individual that is performing the practice; these internal changes may affect some external reactions of the individual that may generate visible outcomes related to the organisation’s performance in which he/she is

involved.

Logic behind the Model

Changes in Internal Processes • The focus of mindfulness on the present moment helps

the practitioner to remain attentive to the particular situation he/she is involved in, without diverting his/her attention to other concerns.

• A second internal process that relates to mindfulness is awareness: the ability to notice that one is doing, feeling, thinking, perceiving, or sensing something. This should allow individuals to respond more effectively to challenging and changing situations.

Changes in External Reactions • With mindfulness practice, individuals tend to enhance

their cognitive flexibility and also decrease behaviours like wandering, rumination and being absentminded.

• Cognitive flexibility could be defined “as the human ability to adapt cognitive processing strategies to face new and unexpected conditions”.

• Mind wandering refers to the time when the individual’s attention shifts and moves frequently among different thoughts and goals.

• Research also suggests that these changes in internal process may improve self-regulation of thoughts, emotions, and behaviours; enabling people to react to stressful situations with more equanimity.

Outcome: Task Performance • Research on mind wandering shows that it actually reduces

task performance. On the other hand, awareness should allow individuals to respond and perform in a better way to changing scenarios, since this awareness makes them more receptive to the environment.

• Processes such as rumination or being absent-minded also have a negative impact on performance; since they take the attention of the individual away from the task he/she is performing.

• Different authors define cognitive flexibility as instrumental to performance across a range of tasks and also suggest that it has a positive influence on individual performance, especially for complex and dynamic tasks.

Outcome: Health - Turnover Intention and Absence Rates • The ability to cope with stressful situations and appraise

events with equanimity should lead people to feel less compelled than others to permanently depart from such an environment (Turnover Intention).

• A person that has better cognitive flexibility is less emotionally disturbed and has better attentional resources; this allows him/her to respond more effectively to goal associated opportunities that exist in the present. This characteristic may critically influence absenteeism and mental health at work.

Víctor Alastuey R. - for more information, email valastuey@gmail.com