...Critical thinking is making logical judgments that are reasonable and well thought out. It involves wanting to understand what indications are involved to support an argument or decision. Critical thinking can be distributed into the three fundamental skills: curiosity, skepticism, and humility. Critical thinking involves the desire to learn more and be open to new ideas, asking questions about new information, and being capable to admitting that your opinions and ideas are wrong when confronted with facts that state otherwise. It is essential that learners be prepared for thinking their way through challenges that life will present. A targeted goal of education is to produce learners who are well informed. Another objective is to create...
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...University of Phoenix Material Strategies to Develop Critical Thinking Now that you identified your current stage as a critical thinker, it is necessary to adopt strategies to develop your thinking. Of the nine strategies you read about this week, choose three that you can begin to practice. Identify the strategies and describe how you can implement each strategy in your daily life. |EXAMPLE | |Strategy: Deal with my emotions. | |Implementation Plan: | |When I am faced with a decision, I will examine the positive and negative emotions associated with my decision. This will help me | |limit the influence of my emotions on my decisions. | |Strategy 1: | |Get in touch with my emotions | |Implementation Plan: | |When I notice myself getting...
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...Strategies For Decision Making: Definition Of Critical Thinking Definitions Conceptualizing- If you have an idea for something, or if you understand something fully, you conceptualize it. Analyzing-Is to study or examine something carefully in a methodical way. Synthesizing- The combining of two or more things to create something more complex. Definitions in My Own Words Critical Thinking- When an individual can analyze a situation or problem gathers all information and makes an informed decision. Conceptualizing- Thinking of an idea or concept. Analyzing-To thoroughly look over something. Synthesizing- When more than one idea is combined When I applied this type of thinking in my own life Conceptualizing- I fully understand the process for the issuance radio equipment to the Afghanistan government. In order for the Afghanistan military and police units to receive radio equipment they must, first submit a formal request to the Afghanistan Ministry of Interior (MOI), if approved the MOI sends request to the Afghanistan Ministry of Interior (MOI) Logistics Officer, who review to see if he have requested equipment on hand. If equipment is on hand at his/her level they will issue equipment to the requesting unit. If, equipment is not on hand the MOI Logistics Officer will forward request to the U.S Military at Resolute Support Headquarters, who will review request and either approve or...
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...A Critical Thinking Analysis of Penn-Mart’s Health Care Strategy Revisions Dennis D. Puskas University of Maryland University College DMBA 610 September 21, 2014 Abstract The following paper will use a set of 10 critical thinking steps recommended by Browne & Keeley to objectively analyze the memorandum sent by Salvador Monella who is the Senior Vice President of Human Resources to the Board of Directors at Penn-Mart. Mr. Monella has conducted a review of Penn-Mart’s healthcare strategy involving a number of issues including cost to the company and employee involvement, to name a few. The purpose of the review, findings, discussion and recommendations will all be analyzed using critical thinking skills in an objective manner. As discussed in Browne & Keeley, the three dimensions of critical thinking will be used identify the best decisions available. Each of the 10 critical thinking steps and questions will be thoroughly explored and examined in a logical and systematic approach (Browne & Keeley, 2012). The final goal of the following analysis is to provide the reader with concrete examples of how to view the Penn-Mart business memo regarding their healthcare strategies. Question 1: What are the Issue and Conclusion? The issue and conclusion can be found both implicitly and explicitly in the last sentence of the memo contained within the “Purpose” section. Mr. Monella states that after their internal review of the matter at hand, he recommends that...
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...a Culture That Encourages Strategic Thinking Ellen F. Goldman1 and Andrea Casey1 Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 17(2) 119–128 © Baker College 2010 Reprints and permission: http://www. sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1548051810369677 http://jlos.sagepub.com Abstract The ability to think strategically is critical for leaders and managers at multiple organizational levels. Specific work experiences can contribute to the development of an individual’s strategic thinking ability. Culture, among other organizational factors, can either encourage or limit those contributions. Leaders, as culture constructors and transformers, can act to maximize the relationship between organizational culture and the process of learning to think strategically. A cadre of formal training, developmental activities, and self-directed learning initiatives can provide leaders with the skills to enhance the strategic thinking of those they lead. Keywords strategic thinking, management learning, leadership development, organizational culture “Culture eats strategy for lunch.” This management truism is linked to examples of how strategy failed, acknowledging that actions attempted were inconsistent with the organization’s values, beliefs, and assumptions (Weeks, 2006). The strategy-eating potential of culture has been used as the basis for recommending that leaders initiate large-scale change efforts to align culture with strategy. However, it has long been recognized...
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...What is Strategic Thinking? “It is a blue-print to create, formalize, plan and execute a vision for the future by managing the present and learning from the past.” Strategy come from two Greek words : ‘stratos’ – army & ‘ago’ – leading/guiding/moving to, referring to a military commander. A strategy is typically an idea, a style of thinking, which sets a course of action that promises a winning future position. Systematically using all the available resources to achieve success is termed as ‘Strategic’. Any thinking in line with the goal or mission to achieve ‘that’ success is called ‘Strategic thinking’ Other sources have quoted it little differently. • “Formulates effective strategies consistent with the business and competitive strategy of the organization in a global economy. Examines policy issues and strategic planning with a long term perspective. Determines objectives and sets priorities. Anticipates potential threats or opportunities.”1 • “Strategic Thinking is a broader and more innovative way of thinking on a daily basis about the overall goals of your job, team, and organization. It is longer-term oriented with a more systemic and holistic view of your environment.”2 • “Strategic thinking is defined as the generation and application of business insights on a continual basis to achieve competitive advantage.”3 • “Strategic thinking involves thinking and acting within a certain set of assumptions and potential action alternatives as well as challenging existing...
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...Strategic thinking is a process that determines the way we think, assess, view, and create the future for ourselves and others. In a business context, strategic thinking is used to address issues, reach decisions, and inspire innovation. Strategic thinking can also be used in our personal lives to help guide us in the direction we want to go, and enhances our abilities to achieve our life goals. I had never given much thought about strategy and strategic thinking in my personal and work life, but I now see the many benefits of practicing strategic thinking in my daily life. Effective execution of a new strategy is widely believed to be more important than even the strategy itself, and therefore, it is extremely important for management to skillfully lead a strategy’s implementation. There are many components involved in successfully enacting a strategy, most crucially active communication. Many complications arise in the process of implementing strategies due to the lack of complete understanding from everybody involved. Implementations often fail when there are unclear roles and responsibilities, and as a result of conflicts and misunderstandings. Successful managers are great communicators and ensure that the vision of the company and the strategic goals in the project are clear and well-defined in order to increase understanding and create alignment within the organization. They must also regularly share ideas, information, outcomes, and reasons so that everybody...
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...1998). It implies the opening of local and nationalistic perspectives to a broader outlook of an interconnected and interdependent world with free transfer of capital, goods, and services across national frontiers. Drivers in the business concept are critical forces which can be built within business strategy to enable a company to attain its set goals (Gilbert, 1994). Barriers to industry development are forces that deters the business organization from attaining the desired goals and these are encountered both in the internal as well as external business environment (Hough et al 2011) It is therefore imperative to evaluate key drivers and barriers affecting development in a bid to craft strategic tools that can stimulate strategic thinking, generate strategic foresight, provide a basis for testing existing strategies, explore and understand complexities of the future (Trompenaar et al, 2003). This can aid decision making and contribute to preparation for the future. As such, this essay seeks to explore key issues in strategic management and key theoretical models in the South African (SA) Wine Industry and that of the United Kingdom (UK) in order to stimulate strategic thinking and conversations, pave the way for new ideas and approaches and encourage innovation. This can prepare both the industry and wine producers for possible challenges that they may face in the future. Globally the wine industry consists of more than 1 million winemakers who produce about 2.8 billion...
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...I am an essay -Main bullet points • Transforming thinking into action, failing the 3Cs (might be practical), paralysis by analysis, politics and resistance and environmental uncertainty. 1. Formulation and implementation are separate. • Strategic planning, role of CPA, 7-S model, performance management, reward systems, information systems, managing teams, managing culture, managing across cultures, organisational design, managing the politics of strategy implementation. • Leading the implementation, importance of leader, style, transformational leadership, role of leader in ( thinking, analysis, direction, development and implementing) • Overcome resistance. • Future challenges, pace of change, globalisation and technology. -Review • Ongoing the dynamic process to implement strategy, constant planning and monitoring and adjustment. • Flexible and adaptive, comfortable with ambiguity and complexity, remember strategy planning is a routine, not a one off. • Wildly used method for the implementation, 7 S and eight S model. They set out the key variables that must all be managed and aligned. • Balance scored card as a key performance management tool. • Reward and information system etc. • Techniques for developing a strategy supportive culture, and advantages of strong culture. • Global focus, for cross culture issue, must understand a culture before entering. Globalization brings...
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...Assess and critically comment on the idea that strategic planning systems can stifle innovative thinking in organisations It is debatable whether strategic planning systems can stifle innovative thinking in organisations. Although strategic planning systems are used in order to make companies work more efficiently, they may restrict organisations from showing their true potential by stifling innovative thinking. There are other theorists that state that listening to closely to markets and strategies can create a barrier to commercialising new technology and lead to reduced competitiveness. (Ferrell and Lukas 2000). In order to truly understand and analyse whether innovative thinking is being constrained by strategic planning systems, it is essential to understand which strategic planning systems are being used, whether their implementation limits the allowance to new and different approaches to organisations, and whether companies in real-life are being affected by this constraint. Before analysing whether innovative thinking is oppressed by strategic planning systems, it is important to define what a strategic planning system is. According to the BNET Business Dictionary (2007), strategic analysis is ‘…the process of conducting research on the business environment within which an organisation operates and on the organisation itself, in order to formulate strategy’. There are many different tools and analytical methods that are used by companies but there are three main...
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... I Romela R.Veracis a second year HRS student of St.Aloysius Institute of technology have abided by the academic honor policy on this assignment. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: In this report I have tried to l INTRODUCTION With the continual evolution within the business market, it is apparent that companies need to develop and improve their strategies to remain afloat. Lager companies typically pay competitive salaries to hire a Chief Executive Officer who will develop a plan to accomplish its goals. This plan is commonly referred to as “strategic management.” According to Wheelen and Hunger (2010), strategic management refers to decisions and actions taken to establish the long term performance of a company. Undoubtedly, without a well formulated strategy any company will set to fail. It's a key strategic initiative that drives employee performance, accomplishment, and continuous improvement all year long. It's the outcome from how your organization interacts with people to drive business results. Just as I do not believe that organizations can create employee empowerment, employee motivation or employee satisfaction...
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...question’s answer wrong. 1) The most basic question(s) in strategy is (are) A) Is strategy important? B) Why do firms succeed or fail? C) Why do firms have varying levels of performance? D) Is strategy important? and Why do firms have varying levels of performance? E) Why do firms succeed or fail? and Why do firms have varying levels of performance? Answer: E Diff: 2 Page Ref: 2 Topic: Explain Why Strategic Management Is Important AACSB: Reflective Thinking Objective: Define strategic management and identify its basic components 2) Bases for understanding strategic management are all of the following except A) managing strategically makes a difference in an organization's performance. B) all organizations encounter changing situations. C) single approaches to strategy development are superior to multiple approaches. D) All of the answer choices are correct. E) None of the answer choices is correct. Answer: C Diff: 3 Page Ref: 3 Topic: Explain Why Strategic Management Is Important AACSB: Analytical Skills Objective: Define strategic management and identify its basic components 3) Strategic management is defined as A) those decisions and actions where organizational members analyze the current situation and develop appropriate strategies. B) putting those strategies into action. C) evaluating and changing those strategies as needed. D) developing appropriate strategies. E) All of the answer choices are correct. Answer: ...
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...the six day workshop was to get the top brass of the Indian Railways to develop competencies and skills that focus on three objectives - developing strategic thinking, developing crossfunctional perspective, and managing complexity and uncertainty in their current roles. The course structure was geared to develop a general manager's perspective - decision making; develop understanding of own department's role within Indian Railways' overall goals; long-term thinking and planning; how to lead change, moving from ideas to implementation; financial evaluation of projects, etc. Participant Sanjay Gehlot, chief commercial manager, passenger services, Eastern Railways said, "This programme gave us a good idea of where we stand and where we are heading for. We acquired a theoretical framework as to what we should be aspiring for." He also pointed out a session that he found particularly interesting . "It was about how in order to have happy customers you must first have happy employees, and that employee orientation is equally important as customer orientation ," he said. The workshop comprised sessions like one on operations and supply chain/IT strategies mentored by Medini Singh, customer focussed marketing strategy by Nirmal Gupta, leadership and change management by S Ramnarayan, and finally a session on strategic thinking and implementation by Atul Nerkar. All the...
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...department. TOC consists of Problem Solving and Management/Decision-Making Tools called the Thinking Processes (TP). TOC is applied to logically and systematically answer these three questions essential to any process of ongoing improvement: “What to change?” “To what to change?” “How to cause the change?” (science of business) The first principle of Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints is that the primary goal of every business function—every department, every workflow, every system, every process, and every policy—is the same: to earn revenue for the business. (agileattorney) In addressing the questions above, Powder decided that with proper planning, he could maximize revenues, reduce wastage and solve several problems at once. Looking at his current capacity to produce, he realized he needed to change the level of work flow passed on to him by the Construction Department. His idea hinged on loaning the Construction Department the assistance they needed by allowing underutilized SD crews to assist with construction related tasks. Powder scheduled his staff to ensuresufficient coverage for his own workload. The remaining staff was appointed to “Construction”. Stage 2: Adopt Best Practice The lean synchronization approach calls upon resources to work smarter rather than harder. Lean thinking is all about adding value, where value is defined by the customer. Whilst lean thinking has its roots in manufacturing, there are numerous examples of its impact on operations...
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...August 20, 2010 Abstract My research topic on how implementing a differentiation and cost leadership strategy in parallel will facilitate mortgage companies to design a competitive advantage making industry conditions irrelevant within San Bernardino County is a quantitative analysis requiring a comprehensible methodology approach. In this paper I will discuss my research topic and provide sample research questions and hypotheses. Within the body of the analysis I will include a literature review and a draft methodology outlining the participants involved in my research, describe the purpose of sampling and the techniques I will use. Finally, I will illustrate the significance of my study and the anticipated findings as result of my research endeavor. Assignment 7.1 This detailed analysis will provide both depth and breadth vis-à-vis my research topic utilizing various research techniques and approaches. My research problem focuses on how implementing a differentiation and cost leadership strategy in parallel will facilitate mortgage companies to design a competitive advantage making industry conditions irrelevant within San Bernardino County. My research topic is designed to uncover the current strategies real estate companies are using to remain profitable and increase market share within San Bernardino County. This research problem will indentify generic strategies and uncover how focusing on both differentiation and cost leadership can create new market space or...
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