The Unbounded Mind: Breaking the Chains of Traditional Business Thinking
Ian I. Mitroff and Harold A. Linstone
Abstract
Global markets, Japanese competition, the service economy, the sophisticated consumer — American business today faces challenges undreamed of just a few decades ago, and traditional approaches to corporate problems are becoming increasingly less effective. And yet MBA programs still preach — and thousands of American firms hold sacred — an antiquated system of business thinking that is wholly inadequate to the problems they face. In this book, the authors pinpoint the profound changes that must occur in the way business executives think, make decisions, and solve problems, if America is to rem ... More
Global markets, Japanese competition, the service economy, the sophisticated consumer — American business today faces challenges undreamed of just a few decades ago, and traditional approaches to corporate problems are becoming increasingly less effective. And yet MBA programs still preach — and thousands of American firms hold sacred — an antiquated system of business thinking that is wholly inadequate to the problems they face. In this book, the authors pinpoint the profound changes that must occur in the way business executives think, make decisions, and solve problems, if America is to remain competitive. They put forth a radically new approach — “new thinking” — and show executives exactly how to employ these special critical and creative tools to clear the hurdles businesses now face. Varying perspectives, multiple realities, and openness to multiple solutions are the secrets of contemporary problem-solving, and lead us to the cutting edge of innovation. In illustrating how “new thinking” differs from the usual ways in which American firms have handled problems, they analyze a wealth of examples including the decline of the American auto industry and the consequences of this country's blind exporting of technology. They also revisit and interpret some of the gravest crises corporate America has faced: the Bhopal disaster, the Tylenol scare, and the accident at Three Mile Island. This book argues that if we are to produce products and services that can compete in the information age, we must challenge the very foundations of our thinking, and learn how to approach decision-making in a truly creative way.
Keywords:
business thinking,
American business,
corporate problems,
decision-making,
new thinking,
problem-solving,
Bhopal disaster,
Tylenol scare,
Three Mile Island
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 1996 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780195102888 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195102888.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Ian I. Mitroff, author
University of Southern California Center for Crisis Management
Harold A. Linstone, author
Portland State University
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