(Assignment from my Principles of Management class)
Here is a link of the full article: https://hbr.org/2003/11/the-five-minds-of-a-manager
The article, “The Five Minds of a Manager” by Jonathan Gosling and Henry Mintzberg explores the true meaning of being a manager. They take a look at the modernization of today’s organizational structures and translate what that means for managers now. Gosling and Mintzberg compiled five aspects of the managerial mind to help managers become more insightful as we reach an age of continuous change. The authors explain the facets of all five aspects and how all of them overlap with another. Finding a balance between all of the 5 key mindsets are key to managing successfully. This article is original, informative and well written as it successfully tackles a profound topic that managers struggle with.
The main ideas in the article provide valuable information that managers can utilize. The first point the authors make is that there are many demands for a manager that may seem contradictory. Managers need to listen closely but act fast, and to think locally but also globally. Gosling and Mintzberg explain that the five aspects help assuage this stressful and continuous pull on managers. This point creates value for managers because it puts managers at ease and tells them that it is perfectly fine to not satisfy all these demands.
The second point the authors make is that there is a mindset that best suits each task. For example, when managing relationships one needs to have a collaborative mindset.
The third point is that the mindsets are not exclusively independent. One aspect of a mindset it needed for another, and so on. This point provides value because it tells the manager that everything comes into a full circle. Each point of the article serves as a step in the many processes that the manager has to go through to reach their goals.
Gosling and Mintzberg messages are very effective at conveying their ideas because they utilized metaphors and rephrased complex topics to help their audience understand their main points. For example, they used a metaphor to explain how each of the five aspects overlap each other. They had the audience imagine the five aspects as threads and the manager as a weaver. A successful manager is able to weave the threads together to create a sturdy piece of cloth, and when managers come together and combine their skills they can create a garment that is useful. This metaphor helps the audience visualize these five profound topics of the managerial mind. By creating visualization, the author’s are able to simplify and further reach their intended audience.
The authors also simplify their research by rephrasing statements that can be more generalized and applicable. For example, when explaining the aspect of a reflective mind, they said, “Saul Alinsky makes the interesting point that events, or “happenings,” become experienced only after they have been reflected upon thoughtfully.” (Gosling and Mintzberg, 2003). By including this citation, they were able to find the perfect statement to help summarize the concept of reflection and the importance of it to a manager.
The article gives value to both american business and global businesses alike. The differences between the two is culture, and communication. As a business that has to deal with different cultures, the managers need to understand how to communicate. For this situation, having a worldly mindset and a collaborative mindset is most needed for this task.
As an American business, the managers need to realize the amount of power we have over other countries. Many countries around the world need our collaboration in order to increase their outreach. As a global powerhouse, the U.S. needs to maintain relationships with other countries to further our agenda also. Both countries need a collaborative mindset to manage these relationships so that both sides can flourish.
American and global businesses can also benefit from having a worldly mindset. A worldly mindset gives managers the ability to look at the big picture, in all its glory. A worldly mindset forces managers to think outside the box. To think of the outside world as opportunities and not as constraints. Once managers know how their business runs on a local scale and global scale, they can then strategize better and achieve the organization’s goals.
The article is a whole overview of the materials we have gone over in class. The topics that we have learned about in class can be grouped in to each mindset. For example, in Chapter 4, managers are tasked with planning. Planning involves taking all factors into consideration. Environmental scanning forces managers to look outside their own organizations and focus in on everything else. This involves the worldly mindset. The worldly mindset helps managers look at the big picture and the juxtapositions of other organizations.
Chapter 11 of our textbook talks about the Motivation. A question that always seems to pop up for managers is, “How can I motivate my employees?”. The book defines Motivation as, “the process by which a person’s efforts are energized, directed, and sustained toward attaining a goal. This definition has three key elements: energy, direction, and persistence.” (2016). Managers need to tap into the collaborative mindset since this mindset allows the manager to focus in on relationships. There are multiple theories of Motivation in which a manager can look at. Such as, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which explains that once a need is met, it no longer satisfies, and the Goal Setting Theory, which Managers can set specific goals to motivate their employees. In order to identify employee motivation the manager need to actively engage with them and listen to their needs and desires.
In Chapter 6, the textbook explains organizational design. To understand organizational design, an analytical mindset is needed. The analytical mindset, means to “loosen up complex phenomena by breaking them into component parts- by decomposing them”. (Gosling & Mintzberg 2003). Managers need to analyze the structure of their organization by considering the six elements of organizational design, such as specialization, departmentalization, and authority.
In conclusion, In the article, “The Five Minds of a Manager” by Jonathan Gosling and Henry Mintzberg, the authors talk about the intricacies of managing. Managers are expected to consider all aspects of an organization which can get convoluted and puzzling. Managing an organization is both complex and demanding. Each mindset provides the best lense in which to view a problem. This article flawlessly tackles the complex intricacies of the mind of manager by providing valuable information that is widely applicable to american and global business organizations, and relevant to the Principles of Management coursework. In this article, I learned the importance of insightfulness. When there is so much demand and stress being put on one person, it can be overwhelming and can cloud the mind leading to ineffective decisions. Being able to solve a complex solution involves a process. Depending on the challenges, we have to be able to change our lenses/perspectives to ultimately lead us to the best solution possible.
Comentarios