The evaluation of the outcome of a thinking skills programme for middle management in a financial services industry organisation

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The globalisation of business is probably the most important topicof discussion in business around the world. Globalisation impacts onbusiness processes, and changes in the processes of economic andpolitical liberalisation signify a radical shift in thinking about howthe world works and how it should be organised. The process ofchange consequently means having to deal with increasingcomplexity. It is the complexity of change that prompts the urgencyto improve the thinking of management in an organisation. Asadult learners, managers need different competencies to operate; inaddition their thinking skills need to be developed, as they are thekey drivers in an organisation going through transformation.In a needs' assessment in a financial services organisationoperating in the global environment, a need for training of middlemanagers to help them improve their thinking skills in order tobecome more effective thinkers was determined. The need to trainadults to develop cognitive skills prompted a specific thinking skillsintervention and the facilitation thereof. A Thinking SkillsProgramme aimed at teaching thinking dispositions and thinkingskills was implemented as a programme to teach the managers tobecome effective thinkers. The study was approached from aprogramme evaluative perspective. The purpose of the programmewas an improvement-orientated evaluation and was designed toevaluate the outcomes of the programme.Qualitative data was collected through a pre- assessment and postassessmentprocess. Open-ended questionnaires as well as other qualitative methods were used in the assessment to capture thedata. The data analysis was done through content analysis. In theprocess of determining the patterns and processes in the preassessment,observations, semi-structured interviews, field notesand post-assessment, the researcher looked for themes orinterconnections that emerged in the units, sub-categories andcategories. The sub-categories that emerged were derived from thefrequency of appearance in the answers of the participants in thequestionnaires.The post-assessment feedback categories indicated that a shift ineffective thinking had taken place in the participants. The mostsignificant difference in their thinking was the awareness of theirthinking.They reflected on their thinking while solving problems, which isevidence of effective thinking. They used the thinking tools to helpthem solve problems. The intervention influenced the participantsto be more creative in solving problems, which was not evident inthe pre-assessment.The evaluation of the outcome of the programme through theapplication of a Thinking Skills Programme was successful. This wasdemonstrated by the fact that in the measurement of the outcomeof the programme it was evident that the middle managers hadbecome more aware of their thinking and that they applied thethinking dispositions and thinking tools in their daily managerialactivities. They had become more effective thinkers.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University