Mindful Change: A Concept for Social Sustainability at Organizational Level

Economic globalization places increased competitive pressure on economic organizations. The latter more often respond to unpredictable socio-economic environments by change initiatives of permanent reorganization. However, permanent change can induce unintended and often detrimental effects in respect to organizational effectiveness, the quality of work and to social integration at organizational level. It is argued that the concept of organizational mindfulness – originally developed related to ‘high-reliability organizations’ – can facilitate mindful and sustainable change. In this chapter, this concept is re-conceptualized with regard to organizational change. Organizational mindfulness is viewed as an organizational capacity of action to anticipate and to constructively deal with unintended effects of permanent reorganization. Moreover, organizational mindfulness intends to uncover unnoticed innovation potentials in organizational change. Organizational mindfulness is comprised of an infrastructure of dialogue and organizational routines, and six core principles facilitating mindful change. The latter is assumed to contribute to the regeneration of economic organizations’ social-resource base, thereby promoting social sustainability at organizational level.