Developing consciousness in organizations: The transcendental meditation program in business

Abstract

ABSTRACt. This paper reviews retrospective, prospective, and case research on workplace applications of Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation technique for developing consciousness and human potential. The distinctive psychophysiological state of restful alertness produced by the Transcendental Meditation technique appears to improve employee health, well-being, job satisfaction, efficiency and productivity, in turn influencing organizational climate, absenteeism, and financial performance.Observers of the contemporary business scene are reporting remarkable changes in business principles and practices, such as transformations from hierarchical structures with unempowered employees to team-based structures that empower employees, from analytic justification to creative problem solving, from competition to cooperation, and from an emphasis on physical assets to an emphasis on human resources as a company's most valuable resource. In their search for ways to explain these phenomena and to trigger them in companies where they have not yet occurred, leading consultants and writers have begun to speak of growth of consciousness as a key element underlying these

Impact of adoption of yoga way of life on the emotional intelligence of managers

“…Previous case studies suggest that large proportions of organisation members practising the TM technique contribute to improvements in organisational performance (Schmidt-Wilk, Alexander, & Swanson, 1996). Parde and Naidu (1992) report empirical evidence to show that people with a strong orientation to working sincerely without being preoccupied with the outcome experience less work-related stress.…”

Strategic corporate responsibility: a theory review and synthesis

“…While the intrinsic responsibility orientation has not been explored in great depth in the field of strategic corporate responsibility, related perspectives have already appeared in other fields. Schmidt-Wilk et al (1996), for instance, obtained interesting results studying developing consciousness in organizations by means of meditative practice. Pandey and Gupta (2008) delineated a collective consciousness view of business organizations and their progress, while in a comparable fashion, Young (2002) applied Ken Wilber's spectrum of consciousness in the organizational context.…”

Spiritual behaviour in the workplace as a topic for research

“…Mystical spirituality is an important facet of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, and the use of the concept has made an important contribution to the understanding of some Eastern spiritual traditions, such as Taoism. A number of business enterprises have been founded on these principles and theoretical and empirical links have been posited and/or found between this type of spirituality and a number of desirable organizational outcomes, such as task effectiveness and lowered stress (Schmidt-Wilk et al 1996). Although, there is as yet no consensus on the distinction and relationship between the concepts of religion and spirituality (Gibbons, 2002), Gibbons takes religious spirituality to mean a spiritual path as it is laid down in scripture, such as Christ's exhortations in the Sermon on the Mount or the Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism.…”