Evolution Of TechnologyPrimitive men cleaved their universe intofriends and enemies and responded with quick, deep emotion to even themildest threats emanating from outside the arbitrary boundary. Withthe rise of chiefdoms and states, this tendency became institutionalized,war was adopted as an instrument of policy of some of the new societies,and those that employed it best became – tragically – the most successful. The evolution of warfare was an autocatalytic reaction that could not behalted by any people, because to attempt to reverse the process unilaterallywas to fall victim. -E. O.
Wilson, On Human NatureAs every day passes we are become moreand more a globalized society. With this ongoing cycle we come acrossa vast multitude of impasses. One of the main ideas leading towardthis “global paradox” is the concept of global mindset. In this paperwe will discuss all of the aspects of the global mindset: what it is, howit helps people live productively and successfully in the globalizing society,and how to develop an effective global mindset. Having a global mindset is a crucial competenceof most businesses futures.
What crucial competence means is themost sought after characteristic. Any level of manger that does notact with a global strategy will be left in the dust in today’s globalizingmarkets. So what is a global mindset? Before we discuss whata global mindset is we must look at the reasons why we need a global mindset,so we can get a clearer picture of what we actually need. The world is becoming more interconnectedand there have been recent changes in the world political systems. Incidents such as the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the SovietUnion; as well as revolutionary advances in communication technology. The implications for higher education in this changing world scene aresignificant as the new global workplace, driven by the up and coming informationtechnology (IT) area, has made communication in daily life increasinglymultinational and multicultural (Kim 617).
Informal education isalso a way to start. By this we mean that you don’t have to go toformal classes to learn. Just by paying attention to people fromother cultures in every day life we can enlarge our global mindset. In a class offered at the University ofRhode Island, BUS/COM 354, International Business Communication Exchange,students work in teams and individuals with students overseas.
In an article written by Professor Chai Kim, who teaches this class, itis stated, “More than ever, students must be trained to work with partnersacross cultural and natural borders. To adequately prepare each studentfor the next century, educators must develop strategies to assure not onlythe mastery of abilities in functional areas of business and technologybut also the command of intercultural communication skills. Accomplishmentof this goal is one of the biggest challenges facing institutions of highereducation today. (Kim 617).
This quote exemplifies the need for theglobal mindset and gives a concise outline of what it is. This semester in Professor Kim’s BUS/COM354 class, students engaged in an e-mail debate with students from BraunschweigUniversity in Germany and also engaged in an e-mail discussion with studentsfrom Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. We found a lot of information on globalmindset, however, we did not find a concrete definition. But we did finda definition of mindset. “Mindset is the perception filter throughwhich we see the world” (Chen and Starosta). So whatwe did was pool all of our individual information and try to come up witha definition in our own terms.
What we came up with is, “global mindsetis the ideology that one must take with him/her into today’s society. Not necessarily business, but life in general. It incorporates interculturalsensitivity, intercultural awareness, and cultural diversity knowledge. It reduces ethnocentrism and eliminates parochialism, moreover, using abroad range of vision so you can view yourself not as a part of a singularnation among many nations, but a member of one global nation. So now we have a definition we can go backto the reasons that we need a global mindset. The global mindsetis possibly most widely seen in an institution like the World Trade Organization.
The WTO in short is responsible for reducing taxes and tariffs, which inturn opens up global business markets. Here’s a brief lookat some statistical information that shows how the world is financiallydiverse and how money distribution is very unequal. The gap betweenthe rich and the poor is ever-widening. In 1960, 20 per cent of theworld’s population living in the richest countries had 30 times the incomeof the poorest 20 per cent.
By 1997, the richest were 74 times richer(Balls and Peel 1). The World Trade Organization attempts toshorten this gap by opening up trade barriers. However, there aremany people out there with closed mindsets who do not want these tradebarriers opened. Surprisingly many of these people are in the UnitedStates.
It is probably true that as the World Trade Organization’sgoals become more attainable there will be some U. S. jobs and money lost. One must realize though, that the amount of world wide jobs and incomeearned by the lifting of these barriers will exceed the amount of U.
S. loss ten fold. There were demonstraters at the WTO conference lastweek in Seattle, WA. People dressed up as sea turtles in revolt tothe fact that if things go as planned for the WTO one of the trade resultswould be the U.
S opening seafood trade with Malaysia. Malaysian shrimpfisherman have nets that kill sea turtles. The important questionis: In the grand scheme of things what is more important, the lifeof a sea turtle or the Malaysian fisherman being able to put food on hisfamilies table. These demonstraters, although their cause is verynoble, they are not looking at this issue through globalized eyes.
The example just written about shows usa possible future look at a globalized society, but there are many moreintricacies needed to give us a global mindset. A lack of communismmust occur for a real step to be taken. China is one of the few communistnations left on earth, however its population is tremendous. Thereare well over one billion people in China.
As of now, or shall wesay three weeks ago, the U. S. did not trade with China, and vice versa. The Chinese market is one with such tremendous potential and capability,it just needs to be tapped. The U. S.
and China talked trade and cameto an agreement. One that hadn’t been able to be reached in thirteenyears of on and off negations (Eckholm). So what does this have todo with global mindset? One might say what the heck does Malaysianshrimp fishing have to due with global mindset. These examples areof real life events taking place now that show very clearly the path anddirection our society is traveling in.
You need concrete examplesto show you some sort of idea how to get on this path. This leadsus into the next part about what it takes from you, me, or a top-level,corporate manager to have a global mindset. The first and definitely the most importantthing to have when trying to begin or expand your global mindset is “open-mindedness. “It seems too simple to be the most important detail in such a complex topic,however, you can’t get anywhere without being open-minded. Once you’vebecome open-minded you must put all of your ethnocentric beliefs asideand totally eliminate parochialism. By this we mean that everyonehas ethnocentric beliefs.
For example, if you have a valid driver’slicense in the United States, you drive on the right side of the road. However, in the United Kingdom you drive on the left side of the road. You may think that your way is the best way, but in order to function inthe United Kingdom, you must drive on the left side of the road. This is a mild example of ethnocentrism, the belief that my way is thebest way. Unfortunately, parochialism exists. This is the beliefthat, my way is the only way.
The person who used this attitude wouldrefuse to drive a car in the United Kingdom. Secondly, we need experience. Thisis key to developing a global mindset. You don’t develop a globalmindset by sitting on your couch in Nowheresville, USA.
Get out thereand interact with other people. A good example of this experienceis through education, like we discussed earlier pertaining to the cross-culturalcommunication experienced in the BUS/COM 354 at URI. Another very important aspect of definingyour global mindset is job experience. Almost all of us who are workingAmericans work with someone from a different culture. Not only canyou work with them, you can learn from them.
If you are in a employmentsituation where you do work with someone from a different culture, do youwork well together? If they don’t speak English can you still communicatewith them? These are things that we need to think about in all workingsituation. If you get a job and realize that many of your co-workersare from different cultures it is important that you act in a culturallysynergistic fashion. Or at least make an attempt to interact withthem on a daily basis by using part of their culture. If you arethe first one to take this step often times they will follow you and aculturally synergistic level can be reached. If they make the firststep then it is up to you as a well-rounded person with a global mindsetto follow in their footsteps.
It is important for us now to take a lookwhy it is important to have a global mindset in today’s business world,then examine some managerial tactics to define this mindset. Thenumber one thing is that you don’t want to be left behind, while othermore “globalized” individuals take the jobs and money that you could have. Michael Hick is a speaker on globalization and the importance of a globalmindset. We are going to take a brief look at some of the ideas heposes and these can be found on his website at www. michaelhick. com.
He first states the importance of a business global mindset, “Having GlobalMindset is the crucial competence of your business future. Any level ofManager who does not act with a Global strategy will be left in the slipstreamas business hurtles across national frontiers in the decades ahead. “This statement is nothing closer to the truth. It is very obviousto see how without the global mindset your business will not function intoday’s market. Michael Hick also has this to say about how he feelsabout the global economy, “Your people need to have awareness of Globalissues to understand the events which will affect them and their familiesin the future.
The Global Age is here. We are all linked now. Businessis going global at break-neck speed and suddenly our lives, attitudes,belief systems and jobs depend on our having ‘Global Mindset’. ” Wedefinitely agree with Michael Hick on this topic and see the world marketgrowing at an exponential rate. Expanding your global mindset will atthe same time give you effective cross cultural communication skills.
Not all cultures have the same meanings for all the words that are in theEnglish language. Moreover, the United States is a low-context cultureand communication tactics can vary tremendously from a high-context culturesuch as Japan (Deresky). The difference between high-context andlow-context cultures is that in a low-context culture words are used toexplain, however in a high-context culture the explanation of many thingsare left up to body language and what the sender thinks the receiver willthink. This concept goes hand in hand with uncertainty avoidance. In the United States w/ have a high uncertainty-avoidance (Deresky).
This means that we like to know all there is to know about certain thingssuch as a business contract. Germany is like this also, however,many Middle Eastern countries have a low uncertainty-avoidance (Adler 56). This means that they don’t need everything written on paper and many agreementsmay be verbal. Just having a minor grasp on these concepts, suchas you would pick up from this class, gives you a much bigger global mindset. “Employee communication is becoming increasingly important to global corporationsin their quest for efficiency and effectiveness. But it is proving evermore difficult as they grow and change shape.
Companies face a numberof deeper issues in deciding how best to communicate with staff acrossborders and at different levels (Kessler 1). The fact that you may possess some of thisglobal knowledge can make you a more marketable person. After allthat should be one of your main goals; to make yourself as marketable aspossible. By this we mean as stated above, if you were going to abusiness negotiation in Saudi Arabia and you showed up with ten pages ofyour policy, you may look foolish.
That could be the worst possiblething to have happen. However, if you know that in Middle Easternculture, many policies are unwritten, you could show up to the negotiationwith all of the information in your head and greatly impress your soonto be business partners. You need this global mindset to keep yourself”one up” on everyone else. Although it may be true that the UnitedStates dominates, the global business society, it is a very poor practiceto have the attitude, “that I’m an American and they’ll do business myway and in my language. ” To think like this is using a closed minded,ethnocentric approach to business.
Although your partners might verywell be prepared to work under American terms, the globally minded personwould say to himself, “I know that they will probably be prepared to dobusiness American style, however, I am going to present myself with thebest combination of both styles, in a culturally synergistic fashion, andthat might impress them. “There are very little standardized methodsof using the global mindset, because it is a relatively new field. Moreover, it is growing tremendously and tactics change ever so quickly. It is good though that some people are coming up with new ideas.
According to a student at DePaul University who studies international business,a global mindset has levers:· Boards must be a mix of nationalities· Members must have two or morelanguage skills· There must be cross-boarder businessteams· Reward international experience· Optimize local and foreign performance· Develop global marketing managers(www. ibs. depaul. edu)The items stated here are very precise,however, items like these are almost never expected from entry-level businessemployees. It is good to take a look at because it can show whata corporate international management team might have on its skills list. Company like, IBM, Microsoft, and Xerox have international management andmarketing teams with skills like these listed above or even more advanced.
We have discussed in detail the reasonswhy it is important to have a global mindset, but there are those out therewho fear the globalization of the United States. Also there are thosethat think many will get hurt in this globalization process. In thebook Global Village or Global Pillage, it is discussed in depth that theglobalization of the world will leave those who are poor and sufferingright now, even poorer and more suffering as the globalization grows (Bretcherand Costello, 142). This goes along with the Darwin’s theory of thesurvival of the fittest. It seems easy to talk about this when youare discussing animals, but it is a lot tougher to rational when humanlives come in to play.
In another book, American Patriotism ina Global Society, we see examples of how many Americans want just Americato be on the top pillar of the global network. This book argues thatthe transformation of our world into a global society is causing a resurgenceof tribalism at the same time that it is inspiring the ideology of politicalholism – the under-minding of human society as an evolving global systemof interdependent individuals, cultures, and nations (Craige 5). To simplify this books main idea is to say that there is an underlyingbattle going on between not necessarily the nations to be the best, butinside the individuals, most of whom have tribalistic instincts. It is hard to do things and participate in things that you don’t feel accustomedto which drives us into the conclusion of this paper. Those who want to succeed in today’s globalsociety, yes, have to have a global mindset, but it is much bigger thanthat.
One must excel in what he or she does and give one hundredand ten percent effort all of the time. Of course, some people getlucky and get jobs handed to them, but for the vast majority of us it isa race. One race to the end of the path that we decide to take. Not everyone wins that race, and maybe that is not important. Intoday’s globalizing society it is hard to feel like you are even part ofthe race.
You may feel like you are doing well and then someone runsright past you and you don’t even know what happened. We can’t controlthe rate at which the global society is growing at and we wish we couldsay that everything and everyone will turn out a winner or at least happy. Yet this is untrue.
