The fundamental need in businesses today is creativity which starts with eliminating worries or any kinds of anxiety from the mind. The challenge faced by almost every company today is to be able to increase performance and improve results without increasing the stress and pressure on the workforce with all the accompanying costs and problem. Many companies are responding to that by looking after the quality of life and health conditions of their employees so they can develop flexibility, motivation and adaptability.

Case study : HA Montgomery Co

Meditation certainly causes improvement in physical and mental state. However, R.W. Montgomery, former CEO of HA Montgomery Co, a manufacturing firm in Detroit, found that meditation had significantly improved the health of his company. He instituted this in his firm in 1983. Within three years, 52 out of the 70 workers of the company - from upper management to the production line- were meditating for 20 minutes before they came to work and in the afternoon, on company time. The effects of the regular practice of meditation, over three years were something like this:

 

Areas Affected	Accounted in Percentage
Absenteeism	-85%
Productivity	+120%
Quality Control	+240%
Injuries	- 70%
Sick days	-76%
Profit	+520%

He attributed the improvements solely to the meditation exercises. Meditation helped to relieve stress and made the company's employees more relaxed. As a result, they enjoyed their work and were more creative and productive. He added, “The most vital resource in a business is its workforce. If the employees in your company become exhausted, depressed, if they do not find any interest in their job and if they think that there is no creativity in their work then no matter how much modern technology your company provides, it will be nothing but a waste of time.”

Meditation is Valued Throughout the Business World

Meditation, once considered the preserve of Himalayan yogis, has proved to be very successful in a number of organizations as well. Many companies throughout the world are turning to meditation in order to improve the competence of their executives and staffs. Thousands of companies and business institutions including Toshiba, Sony, Toyota, Sumitomo, Volvo, General Motors, Samsung and IBM are achieving tremendous success by applying meditation. The Samsung Company even established meditation training center of 17 acres near Seoul for their employees. General Motors announced to bear all the expenses regarding meditation courses if an employee is interested to do it. Even Google is to be included amongst them. Chade-Meng Tan, a widely celebrated Silicon Valley meditation teacher, has been teaching his specially designed unit, ‘Search Inside Yourself’, to more than 1000 Google employees- and describes the objective as cultivating "emotional intelligence," or EI.

You must be wondering why is mediation so popular in this corporate world! Hundreds of researches were conducted by leading academic and research institutions and published in top-grade journals like Academy of Management Journal, Science, Psychosomatic Medicine, Hypertension, American Psychologist and American Journal of Managed Care; and the outcome of the research revealed that meditation is helping these companies achieve incredible success by enabling them to use their human resource to the maximum extent. As discussed in the following sections, meditation reduces stress and anxiety and promotes creativity and intelligence; increases job satisfaction and consequently reduces absenteeism and turn over; promotes health; improves relationships and teamwork, leading to a significant increase in company profits.

Job Stress: the Most Essential Issue Confronted by the Current Business World

A research by ILO(International Labor Organization) shows that around 200 billion of dollars are wasted for medication due to work stress, in America. Allen Price is a business stress consultant and runs his consulting firm in Minneapolis. He teaches his clients to apply meditation in daily and corporate life. The usage of computer has complicated people’s life rather than simplifying. That’s because the introduction of computer has increased expectation from employees, at the same time, its application has vastly altered the requirements of eligibility and qualification of the potential candidates. As a result the current organizations are urging to maximize their efficiency through reducing their cost by introducing technology and decreasing the number of employees. And this system is preying on the executives, managers and employees by increasing their stress and resulting in other health issues. A research performed by University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) revealed that the people working under tremendous work pressure and stress are 5 times more inclined to suffer from colon or rectal cancer. He added, the negative impact that takes place within an employee are: his self esteem is reduced, he starts facing difficulties regarding relationships with his boss, colleagues or subordinates, he becomes depressed and impatient. As a result their efficiency is reduced, increasing their health expenses. An unhappy and unfit employee can never employ his maximum potential.

Meditation Competing with Job Stress

It was shown in an issue of Alternative Therapy Journal that 54% of the reason for absenteeism is chronic pain, hypertension and headache, which are caused by mental stress. And this is where meditation provides help. Researches performed by National Institute of Health, Massachusetts University and Harvard University revealed ‘Meditation improves the capacity of brain, by enhancing its ability to take decision and increasing focus’ which was published in Business Week Magazine under the title ‘Companies are Battling Employee Stress with Mediation’. Similarly, employees are frequently affected by issues like this, which are healed by meditation. Hence, many large corporations have adopted meditation as a part of their system- encouraging workers to meditate and/or arranging free classes accordingly; since the benefit is way more than the cost incurred resulting in profit. Therefore, it is quite obvious, that meditation is the most efficient way to increase productivity and reduce anxiety.

Puritan-Bennett Corporation is the world's leading manufacturer of respiratory care products. It offered the Transcendental Meditation Corporate Development Program at its corporate headquarters in Kansas City in August 1993. In the project design, a research component was included to evaluate, the effects of the program on 38 meditating executives compared with 38 matched controls, objectively. Over a 3-month period, the result, on the subject group that meditated, showed reduced psychological and physical symptoms of stress, reduced total blood cholesterol, gained vitality, and enhanced mental health and well-being. But no changes were noticed for the group that didn’t meditate. The programs available to employees are as varied as the individual philosophies of their employers, but they share one basic understanding: Stress is an expensive threat to the balance sheet. And mindfulness is an antidote to stress.

A Weapon for Battling Competitions

Meditation enhances intelligence, creativity and the ability to take proper decisions; which are very essential for a business. The chairman of Puritan Bennett, A. Dole, said “ the key to success in current world of business is to provide better service with better quality products than the competitors. And you need to have the creativity to think of new and different ideas to achieve that goal, which is assisted by meditation.”

The director of Ericson Company in Sweden, Eva Solomonson, said, “I meditate from 1974, and more than hundreds of colleagues are meditating now. I utilize meditation to achieve and realize new ideas regarding the products of my company.” National institute of Industrial Health of Japanese Ministry of Health and St. Mariana Medical Institute, arranged a combined research regarding this topic. 447 industrial workers of Sumitomo Heavy Industries were taught a meditation technique and their performance was reviewed after 5 months. The meditation group showed significantly decreased physical complaints, decreased impulsiveness, decreased emotional instability, decreased neurotic tendencies, decreased anxiety and decreased insomnia.

Steve Jobs, Co-Founder, CEO and Chairman of Apple Inc. was a strong believer in mindfulness, as well. "If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is," he continued, "If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there's room to hear more subtle things ' that's when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before."

At the Tower Companies in Bethesda, after a majority of a real estate firm’s employees began meditating, the employees' hospital admissions and physician visits dropped so much that the firm's insurer, reduced the company's premium by 5 percent and agreed to pay 80 percent of the meditation course costs.

The former executive vice president of Procter and Gamble, Sir John Harvey Jones, had a heart attack within 36 years of his career in this company and had to go through an open heart surgery. After the operation he started meditating as prescribed by his cardiologist. Jones said, “I start and end my day by allowing some time to myself. Therefore, I’m healthier physically and mentally, than before. I don’t suffer from anxiety or tension anymore, and my creativity and memory has improved. I could have lived a better life if I had learnt meditating before”

Application of Meditation in Developing Countries

Not just the western or developed countries but other developing countries like India are also becoming exposed to the risk of health of business executives. According to report published by India Today – Every 5th executive in India is suffering from depression. More than half of the coronary heart disease patients are the mid-level executives; as a result the career span of the executives are dropping from 10-15 years to 5-7 years. This records have caused the corporate world of India to take proper actions against stress.

Deepak Chopra, the USA based ayurveda proponent and best-selling author, commented that the first signs of New Age consciousness in India first appeared in the corporate sector. Corporations are acknowledging the fact that the stress is the vital issue causing various health problems and other which needs to be dealt with. And, hence, along with improved working condition and flexibility, they are also considering the ancient art of yoga and meditation to be incorporated for inducing peace and relaxation within their organizations.

As a result, few organizations like ‘Vipasana Meditation Course’ and ‘The Art of Living’ involved in setting meditation courses and programs, has set an exceptional separate program only for corporate staffs and executives for stress relief and improving performance.

And within all the corporate sectors, it is mostly the leading edge electronics and telecommunications companies that are adopting the approach of inducing yoga and meditation in their systems. For example: Weston Electronics chief Sundar T. Vachani is not only personally committed to yoga, he had employed full time yoga instructors for the staff at his Kalkaji Headquarters in Delhi, India.

Another transformed company is Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd. (HFCL), and not just because of the volume of team service business it has bagged. As the company grew rapidly, so did the volume of employee stress. Three years ago, Vinay Maloo, a promoter of HFCL, introduced the meditative technique of preksha dhyan, devised by the Jain Guru Acharya Tulsi, in the company.

Along with other companies adopting this meditation in their corporate structures include- TATA Group, Pepsi, NTPC , ABB, Indian Railways Intel, Snapdeal, Jabong, Infosys and Maruti Suzuki and also Mahindra and Mahindra.

Numerous Government officials in India, both at centre and various states, including Department of Personnel & Training, Ministry of Home Affairs, External Affairs, Finance, Defense, Railways, Civil Aviation, Youth Affairs, Mines, Power, Road and others; Many Training Institutes, PSUs, Police Forces, Paramilitary Forces, Army, independent bodies like CVC, CEC etc, Parliamentary and Assembly Secretariats- have also expressed their benefits from this programs. The results revealed from various surveys and internal reports were-

• More than 90% participants feel more energetic, stress-free and achieved greater mental focus and clarity.
• The impact on working environment is evident from the fact that more than 90% participants report higher awareness to take new challenges and improved efficiency and interpersonal relationships.
• A significant 80% feel that the program creates a positive work environment, which is likely to lead to more ethical behavior and contributes to organizational growth

Meditation in Corporate World of Bangladesh

Even Bangladesh has incorporated this method of meditation, though it isn’t a new concept for them. The concept/knowledge of meditation is in our route. But it is just introduced in a new manner complying with the present world- so it would me more acceptable and applicable by the society. It was re-introduced in our society with the intention to help others with induction of peace through meditation into our lives- personal as well as professional. The task was initiated by Silva Method’- introduced by Mahee Quazi in Bangladesh named after its Founder Jose Silva, in 1990s, and around that time, in 1993 Quantum Method was also established, which is the optimum combination of Yogi, Vipasan and Sufi- that is eligible to be applied in all kinds of people and religions, hence, widely accepted and appreciated.

A lot of service holders and businessmen have participated in more than hundreds of courses organized by Quantum Method in last 2 decades. They also include doctors, engineers, lawyers, bankers along with chairmen and CEO of conglomerates, and executives and businessmen of various public and private firms. They all were benefitted personally and professionally, by the regular practice of meditation. Many organizations arranged for seminars and workshops in collaboration with Quantum Foundation for giving a basic idea about meditation and providing initiation for induction of meditation within their corporate system.

They include:

1	Grameen phone	2	Banglalink
3	Sk F Bangladesh	4	Bangla CAT
5	Reve Systems	6	Skynet
7	Janata Bank	8	Agrani Bank
9	Pubali Bank	10	United Commercial Bank Limited
11	City Bank	12	Dutch Bangla Bank Ltd
13	Prime Finance	14	Keya Cosmetics
15	Mousumi Group of Industries	16	Women Entrepreneur Association
17	Financial Management Academy (FIMA)	18	Islami Bank Limited
19	UNDP Bangladesh	20	Epcot Group
21	Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTCL)	22	Avery Dennison Corporation
23	Ananta Group of industries	24	BPATC and NAEM

Along with that they also encourage their employees to participate in the meditation course- providing benefits like paying part of the course fee, allowing ‘leave’ days for the duration of the course, arranging a space or room in the office premises for the staffs to meditate etc. Individual personnel have also expressed their achievements in their professional lives, their health, as well as their personal lives.

The Managing Director of Ananta Group of industries- Md. Enamul Haque Khan dedicates the success of the company to meditation and Quantum Foundation, which turned the sinking company into a huge success. It was meditation which helped him stay calm and take wise decisions for the company and organization, as a whole. After performing the course he encouraged his colleagues and employees, and set a separate room for meditation. According to him, he learnt to set a particular target to be achieved from here, through meditation. He also expressed- the employees he encouraged for doing the course have become assets for the company- assisting to reach the peak of success.

Apart from that, even the government officials are getting associated/accustomed with the idea of meditation and showing interest in participating in the course. Institutes like Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre(BPATC) and National Academy for Educational Management (NAEM) has also provided consent to encourage for performing the course and, hence, organizes seminars and workshops on a regular basis. NAEM has even established this course as part of their curriculum of the training program for their candidates.

Besides that, few organizations have arranged workshops for achieving better employee performance. Among them, BRAC Centre for Development Management (BCDM), Bank Alfalah, Police Training & Research Academy (Bangladesh Police) are mentionable.

A research report published in a bulletin in November-December 2004 regarding this topic, in the journal “The Cost and Management” of the ‘Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh(ICMAB)’, named “The Influence of a Meditation-Relaxation Technique on Executive Performance”, included the experiences of 20 businessmen and managers who participated in Quantum Method Course- which revealed a significant improvement in their overall performance.

Conclusion

The fact that it is useful for cure and success in not new. But at the same time, it is useful for achieving and earning monetary benefits along with all others like controlling negative emotions, improved relations with family and colleagues and health benefits. That probably is the reason, that the president of mind/body medical institute of Harvard medical school, Dr. Herbert Benson said, “if the owner of the business are intelligent enough, they would provide a separate room for the employees to meditate regularly, as per their own convenience.”