Date of Conferral
2022
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Management
Advisor
David Gould
Abstract
Organizations advance and grow by solving problems one at a time, and management graduates should possess critical thinking and problem-solving capacities to be effective business managers and creative engineers. The problem was that critical thinking and creative problem solving are operationally ill-defined in engineering and management education. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to discover how, if at all, the engineering and management scholar-practitioner community in British Columbia, Canada, perceives the concepts of critical thinking and creative problem-solving. A three-prong critical thinking conceptual framework was used as template for defining and relating the two key concepts of the study. Research questions asked about operational definitions of critical thinking and creative problem solving and any relationships between them. Data were collected by interviewing eleven participants, with experience as educators and practitioners, and thematized into concepts for developing a theory that describes the perceived meanings of critical thinking and its relation to problem-solving. Findings included that employer’s expectations can be better met through critical thinking employees’ contributions to find the right problems and solve, or manage, them effectively. Finally, it was illustrated that positive social change ensued from improving the critical thinking and problem-solving capacity of graduates, as they support to their organizations in delivering products and services of value to elevate the living standards of society at large.
Recommended Citation
Amouzgar, Baher, "Critical Thinking to Creative Problem-Solving in Engineering and Management" (2022). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 13161.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/13161
