Mindful leadership as a predictor oforganizational resilience

Abstract

In recent years, organizations have faced the challenge of constant change. Organizational resilience refers to the characteristics of organizations that enable them to be able to plan for, respond to, and recover from emergencies and crises. Mindfulness is associated with the ability to cope with unexpected events and developing situational awareness, a core factor of organizational resilience. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between executives' levels of mindfulness and organizational resilience. A mixed methods approach was used to conduct the research. In the first stage, the qualitative method of the critical incident technique (CIT) was used to evaluate the executives who focus on mindfulness in organization confirmed the relationship between mindfulness and organizational resilience in the conceptual model. The second step involved a quantitative method, namely a regression analysis using the Statistical Analysis System (SAS), to test the relationship. The Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale (PHLMS) was employed to quantify mindfulness. The shortened version of the benchmark resilience tool (BRT-13b) was used to test organizational resilience. Fifty executives experienced in making critical decisions that determine the survival of organizations were asked to respond to a questionnaire. The results of this study show that mindfulness in an awareness subscale has an impact on organizational resilience. A leader's mindfulness can lead to the development of organizational resilience and thereby guide the survival of their business.