8607-503 Developing Critical Thinking

Unit Overview

8607-503 Developing Critical Thinking is a unit within the ILM Level 5 qualifications in leadership and management that focuses on creative solutions to problems. The modern workplace is characterised by diverse challenges which require leaders to effectively develop solutions that are applicable within their organisational context. This involves being innovative and creative in developing solutions to other problems that they face in their daily engagements.

8607-503 Developing Critical Thinking is a unit that focuses on building the ability of the learners to develop an effective analysis of issues to ensure that they are able to identify the root cause and most relevant solutions to problems. The process of critical thinking is important for leaders who are responsible for examining situations or problems within the organisation, to develop effective motivation for the individuals they lead to embrace solutions applicable in different cases. Critical thinking helps to conduct a logical analysis of a case and devise innovative and creative solutions that are most appropriate for a specific context.

8607-503 Developing Critical Thinking is a unit that focuses on building the abilities of learners to think figuratively and analytically. The unit has the main purpose and aim of developing the ability to think and reflect creatively, which is an important skill set for the leaders in the organisation. Practising and potential middle-level managers benefit from developing these skills, which promote the accomplishment of their tasks and duties as well as improve their professional performance. The unit is taught in 18 hours of guided learning and contributes 4 credit values towards the completion of the ILM Level 5 qualification in leadership and management.

Suitability of the Unit

All stakeholders within the organisation need to be able to effectively evaluate situations or problems they face. This involves being able to develop behaviours, attitudes and values that revolve around being able to effectively analyse a situation and develop the best solutions to the issues that they face. As such, v is a unit that helps the learner to ensure they can think contextually and develop solutions based on their immediate context within the organisation. This unit is, therefore, important and sustainable for stakeholders within the organisation asked with pursuing different tasks which could require analysis of the situation to benefit the team of the organisation.

The unit is designed with the learning needs of middle managers in focus. It creates solutions that can be used within the organisational context to improve the performance of middle managers within the organisation. These are leaders responsible for developing operational plans and strategies. They should be able to evaluate the position of their teams or areas of responsibility and develop strategies that, once implemented, focus on aligning the performance of the organisation to the team activities. The unit is also suitable for other leaders within the organisation, such as junior managers, team leaders and executive management. Employees and team members can also pursue the unit to ensure they understand principles applicable in developing pollutions to their professional and personal problems hence improving professional and personal capacities.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the unit, the learners should be able to:

• Show understanding of the differences between beliefs, attitudes and values

• Assess the impact of beliefs, attitudes and values on personal behaviours

• Identify the management theories that are applicable within their areas of responsibility

• Assess the impact of personal beliefs, values and attitudes on a management theory that they find relevant in their roles as learners or managers

• Conduct a critical assessment to identify the beliefs, attitudes and values of a different person and the role that these different aspects impact their interpretation of the theory of management

Key Learning Areas

8607-503 Developing Critical Thinking is a unit that focuses on analysing the impact of personal attitudes, behaviours and beliefs on management and leadership abilities and processes. As such, it covers critical concepts that relate the management styles and models to personal beliefs, attitudes and value systems. Some of the key learning areas that this unit covers include:

Beliefs, Attitudes and Value Systems

This area of learning helps to understand the principles of logic. It helps to relate the beliefs, attitudes, and values of an individual to develop behaviours. In this area of learning, the learners are helped to appreciate the use of logic in developing causal relationships that contribute towards accomplishing fo specific duties within the organisation. The learners are also guided in appreciating reflection as a support to the learning process. This includes being able to use structured reflection to make sense of experience and resolve problems that may arise within the workplace.

The learners are guided to understand emotions and beliefs and their impact on rational discourse. These are factors that could cloud judgment, and hence learners who are being prepared for leadership positions must understand how these factors affect them. Lastly, the learners are introduced to inductive and deductive reasoning as well as the techniques of testing theories such as experimentation, observation and empirical studies. The information in this area contributes to developing the theoretical understanding of the principles and models associated with critical thinking.

Management Theories

This area of learning focuses on models that are applicable within the workplace in influencing the practices of leaders. Learners are introduced to different theories of management and guided to understand the strength and weaknesses of each model. This helps to ensure that they understand situations where each theory is applicable and hence polish their ability to develop personal management theories. They are also taught the significance of beliefs, attitudes and value systems in shaping human behaviour. The learners are guided to establish the relationship between these systems and cultures/ norms which impact management theories.

Evaluation

On completion of the unit, the learners are taken through an evaluation to determine the effectiveness of the learning process in accomplishing learning objectives. The learners are required to complete a written assessment where they respond to questions in a template on the unit. Learners are also required to complete a supervised practice, which helps to determine their ability to apply concepts learned in practical practice.