The effects of meditation on the performance and well-being of a company: A pilot study.
Gioacchino Pagliaro, Renato Pelati, Domenico Signorini, Giulia Parenti, Francesca Roversi
Explore 2020 DOI: 10.1016/j.explore.2019.07.014 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Pilot study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 229 |
| Population | Employees of an Italian surface coating company |
| Intervention | Tibetan Meditation |
| Duration | 3-month intervention |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | A daily group Tibetan Meditation practice by 5% of employees was associated with improved company performance and modest well-being improvements in non-meditating coworkers. |
Abstract
The positive effects of meditation on individual well-being have been extensively investigated in the last few decades. The impact that meditation can have on the surrounding environment, including on the well-being of nearby non-meditators, has been mainly studied in regards to Transcendental Meditation and, more recently, through the purported phenomenon of "distant healing". The aim of the present study was to observe how a corporate environment would be affected when a small percentage of their employees meditated together. In an Italian surface coating company of 229 employees, 12 workers (5%) were trained in a Tibetan Meditation technique, which they practiced together daily for a period of 3 months. The effects of meditation were measured both in terms of company performance and in well-being of the non-meditators, the latter by using the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and Short Form 36 (SF36) questionnaires. In terms of company performance indexes, the experimental trimester compared to the previous trimester showed improvements in the quality of production (+6.6%), nonconformity of critical products to standards due to human factors (i.e. mistakes) (-42.6%), and in quarterly productivity (+10.5%). Comparing pre to post meditation periods, psychological well-being measures for non-meditators (N = 217) showed significant improvement in the SF36 sub-scales of social activities (t = -2.76, p < 0.05) and limitations in emotional roles (t = -2.44, p < 0.05), and they showed modest decreases for the POMS subscales of depression (t = 1.92, p = 0.06) and hostility (t = 1.88, p = 0.06). These results are in alignment with the hypothesis that meditation beneficially influences aspects of the local environment, warranting further investigation of this phenomenon.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Undergraduate students | 2006 | Observational cohort | |
| Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders Patients with generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder with or without agoraphobia | 1992 | Observational cohort | n = 22 |
| Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Participants with extensive Insight meditation experience and matched controls | 2005 | Observational cohort | n = 20 |
| Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls | 2011 | Observational cohort | |
| Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Long-term Buddhist practitioners and controls | 2004 | Observational cohort |
Citations in the library
Cites 4
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- Focused attention, open monitoring and automatic self-transcending: Categories to organize meditations from Vedic, Buddhist and Chinese traditions. Consciousness and Cognition December 2010
- Time series analysis of improved quality of life in Canada: social change, collective consciousness, and the TM-Sidhi program. Psychological Reports June 1, 1995