A Postmodern Framework for Developing Critical Thinking Skills

Abstract

MBA education has historically focused on the acquisition of knowledge about existing business arrangements and functions at the expense of how to generate or acquire new knowledge. In this paper we argue that acquiring new knowledge without having adopted a critical perspective is insufficient preparation for MBAs entering a work world of unprecedented change and novelty. We put forth a model for teaching critical thinking skills that help students begin to identify and examine the underlying value structures of knowledge. In so doing, they examine whether existing value arrangements and assumptions are currently appropriate and valid. A critical pedagogical framework, namely postmodern theory, is used to teach critical thinking skills in an international business course. The term, postmodern, is used here as an epistemological approach to re-conceptualizing how the world is seen and explained. This critical framework is then applied to the International Monetary Fund to exemplify the power of the model to critically examine this institution, although any major international business topic can be evaluated as well. Deconstruction is the primary postmodern technique. To deconstruct is to look for marginalized “voices” of those underrepresented to explain their position in contrast to the mainstream socially accepted voices. In doing so those previously marginalized are brought into the mainstream to allow for a more diverse perspective and the involvement of all those who are impacted by the object of study. Students learn to question existing institutional arrangements and to think more critically about their learning.

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