ADMS 1010
Week 1. Welcome and course overview
Learning objectives…
By the end of this week, you should:
• Understand how this course section will be delivered
• Be familiar with the course contents and assignments
• Access/gather all required course materials
• Complete and submit your first weekly writing assignment
By the end of this week, you should be able to:
1. Be able to describe critical thinking
2. Outline characteristics of critical thinkers
3. Explain why critical thinking is important to business
4. Explain why “experts” cannot always be trusted
5. Describe some criticisms of business schools and business education
Checklist…
Notes:
․ Items are listed in suggested order of completion
․ Due dates are only listed if applicable and are subject to the due dates listed elsewhere (e.g.,
course outline)
․ Week 2 readings and the Week 2 assignment are included here because they must be completed
before the Week 2 lecture day (i.e., during Week 1)
Item
Course Outline – read and review carefully!
Readings:
Dyer, L. (2019). Critical Thinking for Business Students. Captus Press.
(Chapter 1: What is critical thinking?)
Parker, M. (2018: April 27). Why we should Bulldoze the Business School.
The Guardian.
Watch: The Trouble with Experts (CBC Doc Zone): 0-4:03, 10:55-16:19,
20:29-24:58. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S9vbMkp_8U
Course Policies and Academic Integrity (required to access weekly
Assignment Dropboxes)
Create a course folder/binder (physical or digital) to keep everything
organized for this course.
Collect all readings for the term. If you spend a few hours now, you’ll
save much effort later. Be sure to follow the instructions provided in the
video above.
Course dates. You will do well to keep a term calendar (physical or
digital) to track important dates (assignments, exams, etc.) for ALL your
courses. If you don’t have one already, create one now and enter all the
relevant dates for this course. You’ll find the schedule in the course
outline.
Readings (for week 2 class):
Mintzberg, H. (1990). The Manager’s Job: Folklore and Fact. Harvard
Business Review, 68(2), 163–176.
Drucker, P. F. (2005). Managing Oneself. Harvard Business Review, 83(1),
100–109.
Week 2 Writing Assignment. How self aware are you?
E X T R A ,
E X T R A
~ for the truly motivated, curious, and inspired ~
1. Sample exam article… This is an example of the type of article you will need to critically analyze on the
midterm and final exams. I will provide the actual exam question soon to give you plenty of opportunity for
practice, but for this week, just have a read through…
․ Business schools get a bad rap – but a closer look shows they’re often a force for good (The
Conversation)
2. In the news… (If a link does not work, you should be able to find it in the library resources)…
․ The danger of over-relying on experts or experience (Globe and Mail)
․ Time to end populism's war on expertise (Boston Globe)
․ Our shared reality – and the knowledge that undergirds it – is being assaulted (Globe and Mail)
․ Warning: HUMOUR AHEAD!! We must learn not only the true part of science but also the
contending perspectives (The Washington Post)
3. A book of lies …
․ Levitin, D. J. (2016). A field guide to lies: Critical thinking in the information age. Dutton.
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