Beyond Critical Thinking And Decision Making: Teaching Business Students How To Think

Abstract

Teaching students how to think is a universal goal of educational institutions. Business schools have addressed this goal by injecting critical thinking activities into their programs, and by offering courses on managerial decision making. This paper reviews these efforts, and concludes that they are not adequate to the challenge of teaching business students how to think effectively. It proposes a comprehensive thinking skills program that includes critical thinking and decision making content, but also addresses the many other thinking tasks managers perform. The paper discusses programmatic issues and provides pedagogical advice pertaining to the teaching of thinking skills in business schools.