Thinking Critically Simulation

Summary of "Thinking Critically" Simulation

A critical thinking simulation is an effective tool to teach the basic decision making steps which include framing the problem, making the decision, and evaluating the decision. The University of Phoenix devised such a simulation where the participant was directed to make the decisions that would normally be associated with the highest management level of a company. Specifically, the participant is placed in charge of an electronics store plagued with a number of problems, including declining sales, disgruntled sales associates due to a variable pay scale, and imminent legal actions.

In analyzing the problems in the simulation, a number of decision-making tools and techniques can be employed. The decision-making tools used by this participant included cause and effect, importance weighting, influence diagram, value analysis, brainstorming, and visualizing. These tools were used because the simulation was primarily directed to the participant as a sole decision-maker, as opposed to a group think situation.

The specific application of each of these tools allows the participant to more clearly distinguish between the problem, the symptoms, possible fallacies, and the solution. For example, a new store has opened in the area which has caused a negative effect on the sales volume of the target store. In using the importance weighting tool, the decrease in sales problem is classified as both a critical and urgent issue to be addressed. Upon further analysis, the reason for the high volume of sales at the new store is twofold: first, the new store launched an aggressive advertising campaign; and second, the new store has a different product mix which better fits the current market trends of the consumer. In comparison, the target store has no current ad campaigns in place and the warehouse is stocked with high priced ticket items which do not appear to be in line with current market trends. By isolating this cause and effect phenomena, a decision can be made to directly address this core problem. In the end, a decision was made to institute an aggressive advertising campaign, offer significant discounts on large ticket items in the warehouse, and change the product mix being offered at the target store. The problem has now been isolated and a corrective decision has been made. To know if a correct decision has been made, the value analysis tool can be called upon to fully analyze the impact of the decision.

The simulation focused on reinforcing four key points to the participant. First, decision-making consists of a series of steps from framing the problem, making the decision, to evaluating the decision. The most important step in the process is framing the problem. In most cases, issues will arise that are either fallacies or symptoms of the real problem. Regardless, a manager must be able to effectively isolate the core problem in order to proceed any further in the decision-making process. Second, managers