Critical Thinking in Management

Course objectives

Upon completion of the programme, you will be able to:

• Understand the importance of critical thinking in practice
• Improve your decision making skills
• Apply correct problem solving techniques
• Improve your negotiation skills

Course modules

Day 1

Module 1

Concept of Critical Thinking

In this module, the participants will learn

• What is Critical Thinking? (What is the definition of critical thinking, the importance of critical thinking.)
• What are the characteristics of a critical thinker?
• Why should we care about critical thinking?

Module 2

Reasoning in Critical Thinking

• What is an argument with reason; premises?
• Why is it important?
• Deductive reasoning
• Inductive reasoning
• Using argument mapping to evaluate argument

Day 2

Module 3

Clarity in Critical Thinking

• Clarity
  – What is it
  – Why is it important?
  – How does it relate to critical thinking?
  – How to achieve clarity in thinking and sense making.

Module 4

Credibility in Critical Thinking

• Classical management theory such as the few mentioned but not limited to:  
  – Scientific management (Taylorism)
  – Administrative principles (Fayol)
  – Bureaucratic organisation (Weber)

How management theories and research provides the necessary credibility and establishment of rigor and soundness of critical thinking

Day 3

Module 5

Reflections in Critical Thinking

Bounded rationality and cognitive biases

• Persuasion techniques
  – Reciprocation
  – Commitment and consistency
  – Social proof
  – Liking
  – Authority
  – Scarcity and loss aversion

How can we use our knowledge of bounded rationality to improve our critical thinking

Module 6

Summary of the unit

 A concise and coherent conclusion for the student to know, understand, apply, analyse, and evaluate their critical thinking skills.

The students will do presentations in teams demonstrating their skill in critical thinking.