ways of thinking

Ways of thinking --
There are several types or ways of thinking. Each of these ways of thinking comes with its own set of assumptions, or paradigms, that, while making the thinking process work efficiently, also constrains the process to a particular view of causality, organization, and management's and members' roles in an organization. These types of thinking have their roots in natural sciences, social sciences, and philosophies. They can become so pervasive and dominant in management discourse that they become invisible, being applied without consideration for their assumed causality. Clearly identifying and classifying types of thinking raises awareness of what thinking is actually taking place, and at the same time challenges management to improve their thinking based on this knowledge of thinking.

Thinking by type of underlying organization causality --
Organization causality addresses why organizations become what they become. These causalities are embedded in the thinking of every member of management, whether they consciously realize it or not. The idea of describing this type of thinking explicitly is to expose the thinking used to scrutiny and validate or modify it based on what is best for meeting the needs of the organization.

• Ways of thinking by organization causality
• rationalist -- a type of thinking about organization, and autonomous humans choice, based on Kantian philosophy. It is also referred to as rational choice thinking and is based on the Kantian rationalist causality.
• mechanistic -- mechanistic refers to a type of thinking based on the Newtonian view of nature and nature's organization. It is also referred to as part-whole thinking or analytical thinking. It is based on the natural or efficient causality of natural systems.
• systemic process -- systemic process refers to a view of organizational dynamics and a way of thinking about those dynamics. This view and related thinking are based on systems science and the Kantian philosophy of organization as formative causality. This type of thinking is also referred to as systems thinking, systemic thinking, system-environment thinking, and holistic thinking.
• responsive processes -- responsive processes refers to a view of organizational dynamics and a way of thinking about those dynamics. This view and related thinking are based on complexity science and the Hegelian philosophy of organization as transformative causality. This type of thinking is also referred to as complex responsive processes thinking and identity-difference thinking.

See organization for a discussion of these ways or types of thinking.

Analytical vs. systems (synthetic) thinking --
Often the only two types of thinking that are compared are analytical vs. systems or holistic thinking. In this paradigm, the analytical thinking is the same as the mechanistic or part-whole thinking noted above. See analytical thinking for more detail. Systems, holistic, or synthetic thinking, as in synthesis, is the same as the systemic process thinking noted above. See systems thinking for more detail.

Inside-out and outside-in thinking --
Inside-out and outside-in thinking are analogous to analytical and systems thinking. As related to strategy, inside-out thinking considers the organization purpose and core strengths, exploration of marketplaces and competitive positioning, and a look at the broader geopolitical, economic, social, and technological shifts that might matter. On the other hand, outside-in thinking begins with the external changes that might, over time, profoundly impact the firm's market and organization and encourages more open and imaginative thinking about a full range of potential changes that might matter most to the firm's future. (This sounds a bit like scenario planning).

Strategic thinking --
Strategic thinking is a competency required of management in order to strategically guide the organization -- to improve strategic results, thinking about organizational behavior, capability, and competency, thinking about organization evolution, thinking about competitive advantage, thinking about ways of seeing what you need to see in order to have insight and intuition, thinking about the formation of strategy, thinking about decision making, thinking about the paradox of exploration and exploitation.

• strategic thinking, thinking about --
• purpose
• value of offerings
• competency
• configuration of the business organization
• improving performance results
• thinking about organizational behavior
• personnel capability
• organization evolution
• competitive advantage
• ways of seeing what you need to see in order to have insight and intuition
• forming strategy
• decision making
• strategy deployment
• the paradox of exploration and exploitation

See strategic thinking for further elaboration