In Praise of Managerial Narrow-Mindedness

Abstract

Dunbar, Garud, and Raghuram (this issue) claim that managers must discredit their interpretive frames when these beliefs no longer match environmental circumstances. Extending this argument, they conclude that business schools should teach deframing skills to help managers periodically destroy old beliefs and create new ones. In contrast, we argue that managerial frames are neither accurate nor inaccurate and that a frame's fit with the external environment is largely irrelevant. Instead, we suggest that a firm's success is a function of its ability to impose frames on the environment and that consistency of purpose and a focused mindset are the keys to competitive advantage. Finally, we suggest that business education's primary task is to teach managers how to develop strategies that are based upon their firm's unique skills and to pursue these strategies relentlessly.