Moral Development at the Workplace through Buddhist Mindfulness Meditation

From Business Perspectives and Research

How spirituality is related to workplace ethics is a commonly asked question in MSR (Management, Spirituality, and Religion) circles. Scholars have claimed that spirituality promotes ethical behavior by motivating people to be authentic and other-oriented. Besides, it increases their ability to resist the organization’s pressures that impede ethical conduct.

Ethics is central to Buddhist spiritual traditions as well. The current literature has shown that Buddhist spiritual principles and practice can enable ethical practices at the levels of leadership and organization. However, how Buddhist mindfulness meditation affects individual workplace ethical behavior is still unknown. Our study aims at identifying the elements of Buddhist mindfulness meditation and see how they enable individuals to behave ethically at their workplace.

Approaches to teaching and promoting mindfulness devoid of Buddhist ethical and philosophical foundations. Many studies have followed this approach and showed the outcomes relevant to the workplace. There are also concerns raised about this approach and the need to propagate and research mindfulness along with Buddhist philosophy, spirituality, and approach of ethics intricately associated with it since its inception. This line of research can be strengthened by examining the role of Buddhist spiritual and ethical frameworks in enabling ethical workplace behavior. The knowledge about this process will help individuals to adopt a holistic mindfulness practice and promote a more ethical workplace environment.

This study aimed to identify how Buddhist mindfulness meditation promotes ethical behavior at the workplace. The findings showed that mindfulness is a complex spiritual practice with interdependent elements: developing awareness, maintaining equanimity, noticing impermanence, applying the moral framework, cultivating loving-kindness, and making continuous efforts. These elements promote ethical behavior by enhancing one’s moral identity, moral reasoning, moral courage, and other orientation. The study findings extended the literature on Buddhist spirituality and workplace ethics and strengthened the claim that the Buddhist spiritual framework is vital for workplace mindfulness programs. Since this grounded theory study is based on the meditators trained in the Burmese Theravada Buddhist tradition, scholars are encouraged to examine mindfulness meditation based on other Buddhist traditions and contexts such as groups and teams.

Excerpt from the article 'Moral Development at the Workplace through Buddhist Mindfulness Meditation: A Grounded Theory Study'