Critical Reasoning and Systems Thinking

One particular course we had in the 3rd module called ‘Critical Reasoning and Systems Thinking’ was a subject I had not expected to ‘learn’. In fact, it is a subject which is not taught in many business schools. It was a course that involved questioning and challenging the status quo and the commonly held assumptions and facts. It was something so different that it took us a while to grasp the concept behind it. But once we got the hang of it, it was extremely intriguing and challenged our mental faculties.

We learned that it is important not just to focus on ourselves to survive in the long run, but to consider others in our propositions as well. Soon we realized how this subject was integrated with every other subject we were doing or had done.

An interesting case we did in this course was that of the 26/11 terror attack which took place at the Taj hotel. We learned that none of the staff members of Taj left the scene during the terror attack. They knew all the paths and alleys which could have been used to get out and save themselves but not even a single person left the scene. Every person stayed back to help the guests staying at the hotel.

They helped saved many lives by putting their own lives in danger and some lost their lives as well. It gave us a glimpse into what an essential role organizational culture plays in the life of people and what taking the road less traveled entails. The ethical dilemma which we face many times in our lives was addressed in this case.

This was a course that taught me a lot of things and changed the way I looked and thought in many situations. The guest faculty, Prof Saji Gopinath, is the Dean of IIM Kozhikode and did a brilliant beyond the brilliant task in facilitating this mindset.