Thomas

Hi Thomas, your understanding of critical vs analytical thinking was informative. However, I would like
to further add to highlight the difference between the two. To me, analytical thinking is when you
break down the given problem into small facts, apply logic to the same and arrive at a logical
conclusion. Critical thinking is more where you interpret a given information using the knowledge at
your disposal and your experiences thus far, and draw conclusions. So basically for a given problem,
you first apply your analytical thinking to break down the problem into smaller pieces, use logic to
arrive at the most likely solutions and then apply critical thinking to interpret the problem, pieces and
likely solutions and blend them with external knowledge and experiences to derive solution.

I completely agree with you that presenting an income statement was the best way to arrive at an
answer as the difference between a profitable situation and a loss making situation could be a matter
of just a few percentage points and only when you put things down in a calculation with reasonable
numbers that you can arrive at a more realistic answer.

Angela

Hi Angela, I completely agree with your definition of critical and analytical thinking. By definition,
critical thinking requires us to step into the shoes of a critic, question the information served and use
our own experiences and external data to further evaluate the problem and arrive at a sound
judgment. Your application of critical thinking in your own job is an excellent example that helps us
understand this concept better.

You are right when you say that Sam’s approach was analytical as he broke down the problem into
smaller parts and objectively evaluated each. However, in my opinion, there was an element of critical
thinking to it as well, as he did compare it with his own real life experiences and added conditions that
the results were possible if it was a high footfall area near a central location for e.g.

Archana

Hi Archana, your explanation of analytical and critical thinking through examples in W8 Q2 and 3 were
really effective in bringing out the difference between the two. Clearly by using external data points
one is bringing in his experience and other factual knowledge to critically analyze the given data and
make a sound judgment. Taking the example of your own work area further, I believe when we see the
data points around patient’s tests in conjunction with the doctor’s past experience with a wide variety
of cases as well as apply the knowledge from the new research and reports getting published in the
same field, one will always end up applying critical thinking to arrive at a more accurate diagnosis

Micheal

I completely agree with you Micheal on your understanding of critical and analytical thinking. This
definition is beautifully illustrated when you describe its application to your own personal experience.
When holding conferences, the past data is your available data. You used it to logically evaluate your
options and make an informed decision, while you would need to use a lot of external information and
critically evaluate the pros and cons of each option before making a final call in case of new business
expansion.

I also agree with you that the professor didn’t have to explicitly mention that one needs to use
numbers to arrive at a decision. One needed to arrive at an informed decision and any decision based
on qualitative analysis alone would definitely have huge margins for error. The case demanded a
quantitative analysis and it was upto the student to use all means possible to arrive at an accurate
solution, and if it required a numerical calculation of income statement along with reasonable
assumptions, so be it.