The Worldly Mindset Focus Paper
The Worldly Mindset
GM 504-01
Introduction Today’s business world is becoming increasingly globalized. For managers, it is important to develop their worldly mindset to effectively manage teams. There are several ways that worldliness supports and facilitates organizational effectiveness and change skills.
The Worldly Mindset
The worldly mindset as described by Gosling and Mintzberg (2003) focuses on managing context. “To manage context is to manage on the edges, between the organization and the various worlds that surround it - cultures, industries, companies.” (Gosling and Mintzberg, 2003, 59) The worldly mindset involves getting into worlds outside one’s own. They contend that worldly managers get out of their offices to spend time where products are produced, where customers are served and where environments are threatened. (Gosling and Mintzberg, 2003, 59) To gain a worldly perspective, managers should immerse themselves in another context so they can see their own world from a different view and enable themselves to be more reflective. They note that variety and tension occurs at the edges of cultures, so managers must be worldly because they have to mediate where organizations meet context.
In studying companies that have been successful in global management, Karl Moore has found that companies in smaller countries tend to excel in this area because they are diverse and must pay attention to the views of the other bigger countries. “When working on global teams or in other countries, the ability to think outside your own culture and see an issue through the eyes of another is critical to success.” (no author, 2003, 59)
Oswald’s 2008 article “Global Personality Norms: Multicultural, Multinational, and Managerial” notes the growing importance of managers who can be successful in internationally diverse interpersonal and situational contexts. This is occurring due to the rise of globalization in the
GM 504-01
Introduction Today’s business world is becoming increasingly globalized. For managers, it is important to develop their worldly mindset to effectively manage teams. There are several ways that worldliness supports and facilitates organizational effectiveness and change skills.
The Worldly Mindset
The worldly mindset as described by Gosling and Mintzberg (2003) focuses on managing context. “To manage context is to manage on the edges, between the organization and the various worlds that surround it - cultures, industries, companies.” (Gosling and Mintzberg, 2003, 59) The worldly mindset involves getting into worlds outside one’s own. They contend that worldly managers get out of their offices to spend time where products are produced, where customers are served and where environments are threatened. (Gosling and Mintzberg, 2003, 59) To gain a worldly perspective, managers should immerse themselves in another context so they can see their own world from a different view and enable themselves to be more reflective. They note that variety and tension occurs at the edges of cultures, so managers must be worldly because they have to mediate where organizations meet context.
In studying companies that have been successful in global management, Karl Moore has found that companies in smaller countries tend to excel in this area because they are diverse and must pay attention to the views of the other bigger countries. “When working on global teams or in other countries, the ability to think outside your own culture and see an issue through the eyes of another is critical to success.” (no author, 2003, 59)
Oswald’s 2008 article “Global Personality Norms: Multicultural, Multinational, and Managerial” notes the growing importance of managers who can be successful in internationally diverse interpersonal and situational contexts. This is occurring due to the rise of globalization in the
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