Mccrimmon

Hi everyone and welcome to the third Podcast in our series Essential Competencies for the 21st Century Manager--a weekly Podcast that features discussions and interviews with industry experts, up-to-date news about UMUC’s Business and Executive Programs, and other events of interest to students of business. Thank you for joining us. I’m Rosemary Hartigan, Professor and Director, Business and Executive Programs, and course manager for the first seminar in the MBA Program, The Role of Managers in Organizations and Society. Today's topic is critical thinking, and I'm going to define it, discuss why it’s core competency at UMUC and in our MBA curriculum, and why it’s important to managers and leaders in today's organizations.

Confucius said that learning without thinking is useless. Critical thinking is a very fundamental skill that is increasingly recognized as vital to student learning and achievement, in all disciplines. UMUC’s institutional definition of critical thinking is: ”to demonstrate the use of analytical skills and reflective processing of information." Critical thinkers do not just accept everything they see, read, and hear at face value. They approach information from a particular mindset and attitude of asking questions, such as where does the information come from; what are the issues and conclusions; what are the motivations and values of the people or organizations supplying the information; is the information credible; is it supported by other sources; are there alternative conclusions? Critical thinking doesn’t come naturally, it’s an acquired skill and discipline that needs to be developed and practiced.

But, despite the importance of critical thinking, it’s widely recognized as a major area of weakness for students across the United States. For this reason, UMUC has taken steps to make sure critical thinking is a major part of all programs, and we’ve begun to assess critical thinking across the university.

In 2005, the Center for...