<p> The field of management’s growing interest in mindfulness appears to stem from the increasing need for new ways to deal with the complexities of ambiguous and uncertain environments. This dissertation examined the context of middle managers faced with the heavy burden of making an increasing number of decisions under difficult conditions and the intervention of mindfulness for improved decision outcomes. By means of a systematic review, with a realist synthesis approach, evidence-based research was carried out to address the research question: <i>How does mindfulness affect middle managers for improved decision making?</i> The findings identified the middle manager context as one characterized by a lack of knowledge, involvement, and understanding of the firm strategy. They are expected to act with strategic agency without awareness of strategic plans. This leads not only to frustration but a reliance on intuition rather than reasoning for decision making. The mindfulness findings showed increased cognitive [mindful] awareness and increased cognitive flexibility enabling a highbred <i>mindful rationality</i>, where increased strategic awareness and reduced negative affect improved decision making. The implications from this research suggest mindfulness may provide both the cognitive and emotional states necessary for middle managers to improve their decision making. </p><p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10640356 |
| Date | 23 March 2018 |
| Creators | Larson-Garcia, Carolynn |
| Publisher | University of Maryland University College |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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