The human cost of chronic mindfulness in U.S. law enforcement: toward a more nuanced understanding of HRO theory

ABSTRACT High-reliability organization (HRO) research has nearly always presented HRO theory positively, causing a skewed perspective that favors implementation of these principles without adequate understanding of the costs to HRO members of chronic mindfulness. This paper presents some of the costs to workers of implementing HRO theory. Without proper management, mindfulness can be exhausted when workers experience protective distortion. A phronetic iterative approach identified five consequences of protective distortion: compulsive hypervigilance, complexity avoidance, mental fatigue, jadedness, and a pathological assumption of responsibility. Contrary to unequivocal calls from HRO researchers for all organizations to implement these principles, organizational leaders should exercise mindfulness regarding how they implement mindfulness-promoting practices. We also identified four coping strategies employed by participants: avoiding, reframing, seeking professional therapy, and cathartic expressing. Those officers who were best able to avoid the costs identified above, were those who had means of testing their sensemaking through open communication with trusted others.