Article Review On Decision-Making And Critical Thinking Assignment
Question
Task:
The purpose of this task is for you to demonstrate your ability to critically
analyse, synthesize and evaluate information and present that information in a written format. A
list of articles will be available on the unit’s Moodle site for you to choose from. You will then write a critical article review based around your responses to the following questions. Critical Analysis
• What is the background of the research? (Background)
• What is the research objective?
• What are the core research questions the article addresses? Why are they important to address? (Research questions)
• How was the research conducted? (Methodology)
• What where the major findings? (Findings)
• What are the significance of the findings for future research or management practice? (Significance/implications)
School of Business and Law CQUniversity CRICOS Provider Code: 02219C
Page 2 of 2 Critical Evaluation
• Critically state what you agree and do not agree about the article and explain why? (with specific examples from the article)
• What are its strengths and weaknesses?
• In your view, what is the overall value (e.g. contributions, advances, impacts, etc) of the article? Please do not simply list the questions and your response to them. The questions are to be used simply as a means for you to critically think about your chosen article. Your review needs to contain answers to these questions, but they need to be in essay format, that is, containing introduction section, body paragraphs and a conclusion section.
Answer
The role of Critical thinking illustrated in the sections of critical thinking assignment is essential to business education since it helps in formulating strategies thereby assisting the improvement of decision-making skills among students. Allen (2018) opines that students enrolled at courses pertaining to business studies should be encouraged to engage in critical thinking activities that would help them in honing their managerial skills in the near future. Critical thinking skills would help in undertaking proper decisions to help the business concern attain a better competitive edge in the given markets. The following critical thinking assignment reviews an article that discusses the importance of critical thinking in terms of decision-making skills in business. The critical thinking assignment argues the importance of educating students in terms of critical thought processes and decision-making skills in the business contexts. The critical thinking assignment analyses and reviews an article to emphasize on the importance of critical thoughts and decision-making capabilities in business studies.
Critical thinking skills as have been observed by business leaders and managers assist in the development of the concern in the global markets. The students enrolled in business studies should be encouraged to deal in improvement of their decision-making capabilities in order to help the organisation in gaining a competitive edge in the international markets. Whitten and Brahmasrene (2011) in their article discusses the importance of including the critical thinking discourses into the curriculum for the business courses. The article highlights the issues as have been discussed in the existent literature regarding the involving critical thinking to solve problems or make decisions.
The article by Whitten and Brahmasrene (2011) used to develop this critical thinking assignment aimed at evaluating the determinants of the performance of students on the CCTST examinations. The research objective of the article was to shed light on the impacts of college curriculum on total critical thinking score of the students pursuing higher educational courses in business studies. The article emphasized on the ways in which the educational classification of the students affects their abilities to improvise on their critical thinking skills. This would assist them in making decisions and solving problems that they might face in their future lives as leaders or managers serving internationally active business concerns.
Whitten and Brahmasrene (2011) in their article implements a hypothesis that is tested against the existing data as well as the data that was collected from the California Critical Thinking Skills Test or the CCTST conducted during the 2004-2006 sessions. The hypothesis discussed the impacts of gradation of students and other academic achievements on development of skills for solving problems and making proper decisions. The study by Whitten and Brahmasrene (2011), however, does not highlight a proper research question unlike other studies. The hypothesis discussed by the authors aid in the understanding of the ways in which education standards help students in their future job roles.
The hypothesis formulated by Whitten and Brahmasrene (2011) was tested based on the Ordinary Least Square method or the OLS method. The data collected from California Critical Thinking Skills Test or CCTST conducted during the 2004-2006 sessions alongside the data from the existing literature were reviewed and tested with the help of statistical tools. The collected data was based on the 300 forms that could be used for analysis revealing that participants were performing properly on an individual level as well as on the team levels. This was highlighted through the critical thinking score that was measured to be around 44.82%. The authors implemented regression analysis method to analyse collected independent variable data against the hypothesis. The dependent variables, on the other hand, were analysed with the help of Pearson Correlation tool.
The findings of the article by Whitten and Brahmasrene (2011) utilized in this segment of critical thinking assignment are supportive of the hypotheses put forth at the onset of the article. The article further highlights that the critical thinking skills of an individual experiences growth with advances in educational development. The article further reveals that the increase in educational qualifications helps in improving inductive and deductive skills of the individual. The racial identity of a person is also observed to have been affecting the critical thinking abilities of the person.
The critical thinking assignment examines the results of the study by Whitten and Brahmasrene (2011) that could find an implementation in both setting academic curricula and business operations. The article further highlights that students should be encouraged in diversification of their thinking processes during several presented situations. The article further emphasizes on the collaborative learning processes, which would help students to enhance their skills for solving problems and making proper decisions. The article further helps in developing assessment measures that would assist the educators to assess the students based on their merits and skills.
Whitten and Brahmasrene (ever2011) in their article highlights the importance of education in developing critical thinking capabilities among students. I would like to agree to the findings of the article. The analysis of the data as discussed in the article highlights the fact that the students develop their critical thinking skills with the advancements in their educational levels. The inductive and deductive skills of individuals especially students generally tend to gain an improvement with the improvement in their mathematical and reasoning skills (Perry, Paulsen & Retallick, 2018). The academic scores earned by students are thus considered to be predictive of their critical thinking capabilities as well.
Whitten and Brahmasrene (2011) further mention that the racial identity of students could also be used to predict their critical thinking skills. However, I would like to disagree to the idea. The authors highlight that the Caucasian students gain a better access to the libraries as compared to other students. However, the derivation has been drawn based on the data collected from the CCTST conducted during the 2004-2006. Thus, it can be stated that the article is composed on a particular set of data and thus cannot be implemented on a generalised contexts.
The major strengths of the article explored within the critical thinking assignment lie in the proper analysis of the data that is pre-existent in the field. The article provides insight into the usefulness of academic skills in prediction the critical thinking skills of the concerned individuals. The strengths of the article lie in the fact that the article highlights the collaborative learning skills as of the individuals thereby enhancing their skills for solving problems and making decisions at certain given scenarios. The article further highlighted the fact that the academic parameters could help in predicting the abilities of the individual for thinking in a critical manner.
On the contrary, the article has certain weaknesses as well. The article is dependent on the data collected from the existing data as well as the data that was collected from the California Critical Thinking Skills Test or the CCTST conducted during the 2004-2006 sessions. The findings of the article highlighted the fact that the data set is inadequate for the implementation in the generalized content. The discussion of the impact of the academic predictors need to be researched further in order to understand the critical thinking abilities of the individual.
The article used in this critical thinking assignment is observed to have a great contribution towards the development of the educators and their critical thinking skills. The article highlights the inductive and deductive skills of individuals especially students generally tend to gain an improvement with the improvement in their mathematical and reasoning skills. The academic scores earned by students are thus considered to be predictive of their critical thinking capabilities as well (Arslan & Demirtas, 2016). The findings from the article helps in understanding the role played by the academic scores in predicting the critical thinking and analysis skills of the individual. The article further highlights the fact that the students should be encouraged in diversification of their thinking processes during real-life scenarios. The collaborative learning processes help students to enhance their skills for solving problems and making decisions at certain given scenarios (Lovelace, Eggers & Dyck, 2016). This in turn helps the students to gain a better insight into business operations that would assist the increase in the competitive edge maintained the organisation in the global markets (Eggers, Lovelace & Kraft, 2017). The findings of the article would deal in the understanding of the importance of critical thinking capabilities of individuals in solving problems and making decisions for the greater good of the business concern.
In lieu of the above discussion provided within the critical thinking assignment, it can thus, be pointed out that the ability of an individual to demonstrate critical thinking is essential for the proper decision making capabilities of the person. The critical thinking assignment reviewed an article that discusses the importance of critical thought in terms of decision-making skills in business. The following critical thinking assignment argued on the importance of educating students in terms of critical thought processes and decision-making skills in the business contexts. The critical thinking assignment established the importance of academic courses in the development of the capability of an individual to make proper business decisions and solve the issues that arise at any given point of time during the operations of a business concern. Thus, it can be concluded that the critical thinking skills of an individual are influenced and can be predicted by his or her educational and academic careers.
References and Bibliography
Allen, A. (2018). Teach like Socrates: Encouraging Critical Thinking in Elementary Social Studies. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 31(1), 4-10.
Arslan, S., & Demirtas, Z. (2016). Social emotional learning and critical thinking disposition. Critical thinking assignment Studia Psychologica, 58(4), 276.
Cadotte, E. R. (2016). Creating value in marketing and business simulations: An author’s viewpoint. Journal of Marketing Education, 38(2), 119-129.
Eggers, F., Lovelace, K. J., & Kraft, F. (2017). Fostering creativity through critical thinking: The case of business start?up simulations. Creativity and Innovation Management, 26(3), 266-276.
Feola, R., Parente, R., & Rassega, V. (2017). Emerging sectors and entrepreneurial players: The case for Internet of Things technologies. International Journal of Technology Management & Sustainable Development, 16(2), 141-155.
Lovelace, K. J., Eggers, F., & Dyck, L. R. (2016). I do and I understand: Assessing the utility of web-based management simulations to develop critical thinking skills. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 15(1), 100-121.
Mareque, M., De Prada, E., & Pino-Juste, M. (2019). Creativity among business and tourism management university students: determining sociodemographic factors. Critical thinking assignment Creativity Studies, 12(2), 258-279.
Perry, D. K., Paulsen, T. H., & Retallick, M. S. (2018). Differences in Critical Thinking Ability According to College Entry Pathway. NACTA Journal, 62(2), 115.
Tarighat, S., Rashtchi, M., & Khoii, R. (2019). The Bilingual Advantage in Thinking Critically: The Roles of Age of Onset and L2 Proficiency. The American Journal of Psychology, 132(3), 281-292.
Van Laar, E., Van Deursen, A. J., Van Dijk, J. A., & De Haan, J. (2019). The sequential and conditional nature of 21st-century digital skills. International journal of communication, 13, 26.
Whitten, D., & Brahmasrene, T. (2011). Predictors of critical thinking skills of incoming business students. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 15(1), 1.
Živkovi?, S. (2016). A model of critical thinking as an important attribute for success in the 21st century. Critical thinking assignment Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 232, 102-108.
