Title: A critical thinking challenge for the chief of staff: a case study

Authors: Kenneth Long; Eric Morrison; Melanie Lawler

Addresses: US Army Command and General Staff College, ATTN: ATZL-LSG-S, 100 Stimson Ave., Rm. 2156, Lewis & Clark Center, Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-2301, USA. ' US Army Command and General Staff College, ATTN: ATZL-LSG-S, 100 Stimson Ave., Rm. 2156, Lewis & Clark Center, Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-2301, USA. ' School of Business & Entrepreneurship, Truckee Meadows Community College, 7000 Dandini Boulevard, SIER 203 Reno, Nevada 89512-3999, USA

Abstract: A military college for organisational-level leaders identified the improvement of the critical thinking (CT) curriculum as a high priority. The first cycle of design, development and implementation was not successful due to a lack of time and assembling a team that did not have representation from all teaching departments, curriculum developers, and operations staff. After conducting a detailed after action review and an appreciative sharing of knowledge (ASK) project to understand what had happened, the college's chief of staff had to develop a strategy to plan for a second cycle of design to develop a critical thinking course that could be successfully integrated into the year-long academic programme of each teaching department within the college. The chief of staff was faced with a complex social and technical challenge with many different stakeholders. This case study examines those challenges.

Keywords: critical thinking curriculum; appreciative knowledge sharing; strategic planning; organisational culture; complexity; Chief of Staff; military colleges; leadership; curriculum design.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2012.050366

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2012 Vol.9 No.3, pp.260 - 274

Published online: 20 Aug 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article