Table Of ContentBusiness, Management, and Administration
Learn how behavior anaLysis can Lead
to additionaL positive changes in the workpLace
Despite more than 40 years of empirical and conceptual research,
the contribution of behavior analysis to the world of business remains
limited and organizational behavior management gets less attention
than it deserves both from the academic and professional communities.
Acceptance and Mindfulness at Work presents a behavioral analysis of
human language that's ready to use, with applied extensions proven
to have a significant impact in organizational settings, that may help
change that picture. The leading experts in the field examine how
these ongoing developments can help broaden the exploration of the
psychological issues relevant to organizational behavioral management
in the workplace.
Acceptance and Mindfulness at Work presents conceptual and empirical
articles, and reviews of working examples of Relational Frame Theory
(RFT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) applied to
organizational behavior management. The book examines goal setting,
feedback, task descriptions, and workers’ ability to learn as examples
of how to affect positive change in organizations through increased
productivity and improved quality of life in the workplace. The possibilities
presented by RFT and ACT can lead to advancements in employee safety
and training, stress and health management, employee evaluation,
managing absenteeism, tardiness, and turnover, and self-management.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7890-3479-3
www.routledgementalhealth.com
Acceptance
and Mindfulness at Work:
Applying Acceptance
and Commitment Therapy
and Relational Frame Theory
to Organizational Behavior
Management
Acceptance and Mindfulness at Work: Applying Acceptance and
CommitmentTherapyandRelationalFrameTheorytoOrganizational
Behavior Management has been co-published simultaneously as
Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, Volume 26,
Numbers1/22006.
212x152 PB
Page Intentionally Left Blank
Acceptance and Mindfulness at Work:
Applying Acceptance
and Commitment Therapy
and Relational Frame Theory
to Organizational Behavior Management
Steven C. Hayes
Frank W. Bond
Dermot Barnes-Holmes
John Austin
Editors
Acceptance and Mindfulness at Work: Applying Acceptance and
CommitmentTherapyandRelationalFrameTheorytoOrganizational
Behavior Management has been co-published simultaneously as
Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, Volume 26,
Numbers 1/2 2006.
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Acceptance and Mindfulness at Work: Applying Acceptance and
CommitmentTherapyandRelationalFrameTheorytoOrganizational
Behavior Management has been co-published simultaneously as
Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, Volume 26,
Numbers 1/2 2006.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Acceptanceandmindfulnessatwork:applyingacceptanceandcommitmenttherapyandrelational
frame theory to organizational behavior management / Steven C. Hayes . . . [et al.], editors.
p. cm.
Co-publishedsimultaneouslyasJournaloforganizationalbehaviormanagement,volume26,
numbers 1/2, 2006.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7890-3478-6 (hard cover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-7890-3478-6 (hard cover : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7890-3479-3 (soft cover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-7890-3479-4 (soft cover : alk. paper)
1. Organizationalbehavior–Management.2. Acceptanceandcommitmenttherapy. I.Hayes,
Steven C. II. Journal of organizational behavior management.
HD58.7.A266 2006
302.3'5–dc22
2006024797
Acceptance and Mindfulness at Work:
Applying Acceptance
and Commitment Therapy
and Relational Frame Theory
to Organizational Behavior Management
CONTENTS
Expanding the Scope of Organizational Behavior Management:
Relational Frame Theory and the Experimental Analysis
of Complex Human Behavior 1
Steven C. Hayes
Kara Bunting
ScottHerbst
Frank W. Bond
DermotBarnes-Holmes
Psychological Flexibility, ACT, and Organizational Behavior 25
Frank W. Bond
Steven C. Hayes
DermotBarnes-Holmes
RelationalFrameTheoryandIndustrial/OrganizationalPsychology 55
Ian Stewart
DermotBarnes-Holmes
Yvonne Barnes-Holmes
Frank W. Bond
Steven C. Hayes
When Knowing You Are Doing Well Hinders Performance:
Exploring the Interaction Between Rules and Feedback 91
Joseph R. Haas
Steven C. Hayes
The Ability of Psychological Flexibility and Job Control
to Predict Learning, Job Performance, and Mental Health 113
Frank W. Bond
Paul E.Flaxman
Goal Statements and Goal-Directed Behavior:
A Relational Frame Account of Goal Setting in Organizations 131
DenisO’Hora
KristenA.Maglieri
Index 171
ABOUT THE EDITORS
StevenC.HayesisNevadaFoundationProfessorattheDepartmentof
Psychology at the University of Nevada. An author of twenty-eight
booksand370scientificarticles,hiscareerhasfocusedonananalysis
of the nature of human language and cognition and the application of
thistotheunderstandingandalleviationofhumansuffering.In1992he
waslistedbytheInstituteforScientificInformationasthe30th“highest
impact” psychologistintheworldduring1986-1990basedonthecita-
tionimpactofhiswritingsduringthatperiod.Dr.HayeshasbeenPresi-
dentofDivision25oftheAmericanPsychologicalAssociation,ofthe
AmericanAssociationoftheAppliedandPreventivePsychologyandof
theAssociationforAdvancementofBehaviorTherapy.Hewasthefirst
Secretary-Treasurer of the American Psychological Society, which he
helped form. He has received the Don F. Hake Award for Exemplary
Contributions to Basic Behavioral Research and Its Applications from
Division 25 of the American Psychological Association and was ap-
pointedbyUSHealthandHumanServicesSecretaryDonnaShalalato
a 5-year term on the NationalAdvisory Council on Drug Abuse in the
National Institutes of Health.
Frank W. Bond is Professor of Work Psychology at Goldsmiths Col-
lege, University of London, and he trained both as a clinicaland work
psychologist.Hisresearchexaminestheorganisationalandpsychologi-
calfactorsthatdetermineproductivityandemployeementalhealth.He
alsodevelopsandteststheory-driveninterventions(mostlybasedupon
AcceptanceandCommitmentTherapy)forimprovingtheseoutcomes.
Professor Bond is Associate Editor of Work & Stress, and he is on the
ExecutiveCommitteeoftheEuropeanAcademyofOccupationalHealth
Psychology.
Dermot Barnes-Holmes is foundation Professor and Head of the De-
partment of Psychology at the National University of Ireland, May-
nooth. He studied under Professor Julian Leslie at the University of
UlsterbeforetakingupateachingpositionatUniversityCollege,Cork,
where he founded the Behaviour Analysis and Cognitive Science re-
search unit. After nine years at Cork he was appointed to his current
post. Dr. Barnes-Holmes has published over 180 scientific articles,
bookchapters,andbooks,andhewasrecentlyrankedasthemostpro-
lificauthorintheworldintheExperimentalAnalysisofHumanBehav-
ior during the period 1980 to 1999 (Dymond, 2002).
John Austin is currently Associate Professor in Psychology in the In-
dustrial-Organizational Psychology and Applied Behavior Analysis
programsatWesternMichiganUniversity.Dr.AustinreceivedhisBA
fromtheUniversityofNotreDame,andhisMSandPhDfromFlorida
State University with a strong record in organizational consultation,
teaching and research before joining the faculty in the Department of
Psychology at Western Michigan University in 1996. He is currently
Co-EditoroftheJournalofOrganizationalBehaviorManagement,and
on the board of editors for three other comparable journals, including
theJournalofAppliedBehaviorAnalysis.Intheareaofimprovinghu-
manperformancehehaspublishedmorethan60articlesandchapters,
delivered more than 120 presentations at regional, national, and inter-
nationalconferences,andhaspublishedtwobooks,OrganizationalChange,
andHandbookofAppliedBehavioralAnalysis(availablethroughCon-
textPress).Hehasconsultedwithorganizationstoimprovesafetyand
productivity in the public and private sectors including government,
construction, health care, glass and plastics manufacturing, chemical,
utilities,retail,foodservice,highereducation,andotherindustries.He
currently teaches organizational and behavioral psychology, perfor-
mancemanagement,behavioralsafety,andconsultationatthegraduate
andundergraduatelevel,andtrainsgraduatestudentsinorganizational
consultation.
Expanding the Scope
of Organizational Behavior Management:
Relational Frame Theory
and the Experimental Analysis
of Complex Human Behavior
Steven C. Hayes
Kara Bunting
Scott Herbst
Frank W. Bond
Dermot Barnes-Holmes
SUMMARY.Behavioranalysisingeneralandappliedbehavioranaly-
sis in particular requires a well developed, empirically supported, and
useful approach to human language and cognition in order to fulfill its
mission of providing a relatively adequate comprehensive account of
complex human behavior. This article introduces a series of articles in
whichthepossibilitiespresentedbyRelationalFrameTheory(RFT)are
StevenC.Hayes,KaraBunting,andScottHerbstareaffiliatedwiththeUniversity
of Nevada, Reno.
Frank W. Bond is affiliated with Goldsmiths College, University of London.
DermotBarnes-HolmesisaffiliatedwiththeNationalUniversityofIreland,May-
nooth.
[Haworthco-indexingentrynote]:“ExpandingtheScopeofOrganizationalBehaviorManagement:Re-
lationalFrameTheoryandtheExperimentalAnalysisofComplexHumanBehavior.”Hayes,StevenC.etal.
Co-publishedsimultaneouslyinJournalofOrganizationalBehaviorManagement(TheHaworthPress,Inc.)
Vol.26,No.1/2,2006,pp.1-23;and:AcceptanceandMindfulnessatWork:ApplyingAcceptanceandCommit-
mentTherapyandRelationalFrameTheorytoOrganizationalBehaviorManagement(ed:StevenC.Hayes,
FrankW.Bond,DermotBarnes-Holmes,andJohnAustin)TheHaworthPress,Inc.,2006,pp.1-23.Singleor
multiple copies of this article are available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service
[1-800-HAWORTH,9:00a.m.-5:00p.m.(EST).E-mailaddress:[email protected]].
Available online at http://jobm.haworthpress.com
© 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1300/J075v26n01_01 1