1 - Introduction

Summary

Hardly a day goes by without a new media report on the benefits of mindfulness. In the corporate world mindfulness training programs are becoming increasingly popular. This trend is fuelled by highly visible organizations such as Google offering mindfulness-based programs for their employees. At the same time, many leaders, human resources and wellbeing professionals in organizations are probably still wondering what mindfulness is and whether mindfulness training would work in their organization. Organizational scholars, having taken note of research on mindfulness conducted mostly in medical and clinical psychology, are also wondering whether mindfulness is a valid research area for the organizational sciences or some wishy-washy, esoteric, or religious topic not qualifying for serious scholarship.

It is for these reasons that this edited volume on mindfulness in organizations is needed. Now that we have assembled all the contributions, we know that this book provides a treasure trove of information, knowledge, and insights into the role of mindfulness in organizations. And perhaps even more importantly, the contributors raise fascinating questions about mindfulness, thus providing countless valuable directions for future research and exploration.

To our knowledge, this is the first edited, scholarly book on mindfulness in organizations. We think this book will be useful for three main audiences. First, if you are a scholar, or Ph.D. student, interested in mindfulness, particularly in organizations, you will find this volume valuable because the chapters provide the most contemporary account of empirical and theoretical research on mindfulness in organizations, as well as providing helpful suggestions for promising areas of future research. Our hope is that this volume will help scholars who are thinking of starting research in this relatively new area.

Second, and just as importantly, this volume will also help organizational practitioners and leaders who may be trying to incorporate mindfulness into their (work) lives or who may wonder whether they should make mindfulness training programs available to their employees.