Wahab Shahbaz
Massey University, New Zealand
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Clin Exp Psychol
Statement of the Problem: In
simplest terms, mindfulness
is a state of being present
in a particular way. In the
organizations, the employeeâ??s
state of mindfulness can provide
workplace benefits in terms
of employeeâ??s well-being,
relationships, and performance.
Although the literature on
mindfulness has focused on
the workplace benefits of
mindfulness but relatively
limited is known about the
individual and work-related
factors that might facilitate or
hinder the state of mindfulness.
In other words, it is not clear
how specific context can
impact the state mindfulness
of employees. The purpose
of this study is to explore the
individual context to identify the
factors associated with the state
mindfulness of employees.
Methodology: The study
adopts a phenomenological
approach as a research strategy
to understand the influence
of context on the employeeâ??s
mindfulness from the
perspectives and experiences
of individuals in the workplace.
The study intends to interview
30 professionals including
faculty and staff of different
Universities in New Zealand.
The academic professionals will
have a diversity of mindfulness
experiences in terms of training
and/or practice of mindfulness
meditation. The interviews will
be tape recorded after taking
consent from the participants.
The interview data will be
analyzed using thematic
analysis.
Significance: The findings of
the study will expend literature
on the context of mindfulness
by underlining the individual
and organizational factors that
might impact the employeeâ??s
state of mindfulness. Practically,
the study may benefit the
organizational leaders to
foster the state mindfulness
of employees by incorporating
the favorable and impeding the
unfavorable contextual factors
in order to obtain workplace
benefits.
Wahab Shahbaz is a Ph.D. student at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand. His research interests include training and development of employees in the organizations. In particular, he is looking at the phenomenon of mindfulness and its application in the organizations. He intends to develop a mindfulness-based training program for organizations to improve the performance and well-being of employees.
E-mail: w.shahbaz@massey.ac.nz
