Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Intellectual ...

Constantin Bratianu et al.
Integrating <strong>the</strong>se above ideas we get <strong>the</strong> following sequence: a) people develop different thinking
patterns, through education and personal efforts; b) strategic thinking is a pattern needed especially
to managers and leaders in a dynamic business environment; c) <strong>the</strong> new knowledge economy is
stressing <strong>the</strong> value <strong>of</strong> intangibles, and <strong>the</strong> need <strong>of</strong> processing knowledge using advanced thinking
patterns, like strategic thinking; d) university programs in economics, management, marketing and
business have an important contribution in developing strategic thinking. The purpose <strong>of</strong> this paper is
to present <strong>the</strong> main dimensions <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> strategic thinking, <strong>the</strong> main components <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> strategic
thinking pattern, and what could be <strong>the</strong> main contributions <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> university education in developing
<strong>the</strong> strategic thinking <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> future economists, managers, marketers, and business people.
2. Thinking patterns
Strategic thinking is <strong>the</strong> fundamental thinking pattern for strategic management. If <strong>the</strong> operational
management deals with <strong>the</strong> day-to-day decisions, <strong>the</strong> strategic management deals with <strong>the</strong> future
possible business <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> company (Carpenter & Sanders, 2007; Johnson, Scholes & Whittington,
2008; Warren, 2008). However, <strong>the</strong> future does not exist in <strong>the</strong> real world. It exists only as a possible
development in our minds. Moreover, we may anticipate a complex business environment that can be
handled only by creating new solutions. That means that strategic thinking must have at least four
dimensions: time, complexity, uncertainty, and innovation. On <strong>the</strong> time dimension we considered three
main thinking models: inertial thinking, dynamic thinking and entropic thinking. On <strong>the</strong> complexity
dimension we consider <strong>the</strong> linear and nonlinear models. On <strong>the</strong> dimension <strong>of</strong> uncertainty we deal with
deterministic and probabilistic models. Finally, on <strong>the</strong> innovation dimension we are looking for
intelligent and creative thinking models. These above models may co-exist as components <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
aggregate thinking pattern, but <strong>the</strong> dominant models will contribute mostly to <strong>the</strong> managerial decision
making. Thus, one <strong>of</strong> our research objectives was to identify <strong>the</strong> dominant thinking models used by
our students, and <strong>the</strong>n to learn what is necessary to improve in our university programs in order to
reach <strong>the</strong> specific levels <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> strategic thinking pattern. Before analyzing <strong>the</strong> quantitative research it
is necessary to present <strong>the</strong> main characteristics <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> thinking models defined for <strong>the</strong>se four
dimensions.
2.1 Time dimension
The simplest time model is inertial thinking. In this model time is not an operational variable, and
events have <strong>the</strong> tendency <strong>of</strong> maintaining <strong>the</strong>ir status quo due to <strong>the</strong> inertia force. The inertial thinking
is timeless. It is very attractive for many people since it <strong>of</strong>fers stability and safety. However, any event
development in life or any phenomenon in nature involves change, and change can occur only in
time. There is no possible change in a static or inertial environment (Burnes, 2009; Kotter, 1996;
Senior & Swailes, 2010). As a result <strong>of</strong> this situation, an inertial thinking model cannot accept change
and it cannot explain change.
Dynamic thinking model does incorporate time as a fundamental variable. All events and processes
develop in time since <strong>the</strong>y generate change. “Change is happening everywhere; its speed and
complexity are increasing; and <strong>the</strong> future success <strong>of</strong> our organizations depends on how successful
leaders are at leading that change. In today’s marketplace, change is a requirement for continued
success, and competent change leadership is a most coveted executive skill” (Anderson & Anderson,
2001, p.1). When a process can develop from an initial state to a final state and <strong>the</strong>n can develop in
<strong>the</strong> reverse direction going through all same intermediate equilibrium states until it reaches <strong>the</strong> initial
state, it is a reversible process. Science education in schools is based mostly on reversible
processes. Time is considered only as a quantitative variable, measurable in seconds, minutes, hours
etc. Dynamic thinking allows us to understand change, but only associated to reversible processes.
Entropic thinking model constitutes an advanced dynamic model since it is able to deal with
irreversible processes. All processes we know in life, society and nature are irreversible processes.
Biologically, we grow and get older and we can never reverse our life into childhood. Time means
more <strong>the</strong>n just intervals elapsed between different moments or stages <strong>of</strong> some considered processes.
Time has direction, from past toward present and from present toward future. We may say that real
processes have orientation or direction in time. Irreversibility can be measure by using entropy, a
concept introduced first in Thermodynamics and <strong>the</strong>n generalized in many o<strong>the</strong>r fields <strong>of</strong> science and
engineering (Handscombe & Patterson, 2004). Actually, <strong>the</strong> entropy measures <strong>the</strong> degree <strong>of</strong>
irreversibility for a given process and not its absolute irreversibility. Since irreversibility generates a
kind <strong>of</strong> history <strong>of</strong> developing different processes, scientists say that entropy is a kind <strong>of</strong> time arrow. It
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