Critical Thinking for Business and Beyond

Faculty member: Chris MacDonald
Type: Learning Objects

Description: The first 5 modules here cover key topics in critical thinking, and could easily be used as part of a one-term course in Critical Thinking, especially one aimed at business majors (or students majoring in another workplace-oriented discipline). These modules essentially introduce the array of fundamental concepts that would be covered in a one-term course in Critical Thinking. These core modules cover fundamental topics such as the nature of critical thinking, argument structure, inductive and deductive reasoning, and basic argument critique, all taught through the lens of business and workplace decision-making. Each module includes vignettes portraying concrete, practical problems, and then introduces conceptual tools that will allow improved analysis and decision-making. Every module includes brief self-test questions to help learners assess their own understanding of the material.

The last 5 modules are tailored to the needs of specific applied disciplines. Instructors from those disciplines might choose to use, ‘à la carte’, the module aimed at their own discipline plus one or more of the first 5 “core” modules. These practically-oriented modules cover the following topics:

• Critical Thinking for Nurses
• Critical Thinking for Journalists
• Critical Thinking in Accounting
• Critical Thinking in Entrepreneurship
• Critical Thinking in Marketing

Each of these practical modules will focus on the particular need for critical thinking in an applied field of practice, and will put skills from the core modules to practical use.

Chris MacDonald, BA, MA, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Business Management 

Chris MacDonald, Ph.D., is Director of the Ted Rogers Leadership Centre and Founding Director of the Jim Pattison Ethical Leadership Education and Research program, at Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Management. He is also a Nonresident Senior Scholar at Duke University’s Kenan Institute for Ethics. He is the author of more than 30 peer-reviewed publications, and is co-author of The Power of Critical Thinking (external link) , a best-selling textbook published by Oxford University Press. MacDonald is also author of the highly-regarded Business Ethics Blog (businessethicsblog.com (external link) ).