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V.R. Dubrie and K.F. Pun: Assessing Critical Thinking Capabilities of Project Management Practitioners: An Exploratory Study 35

ISSN 1000 7924The Journal of the Association of Professional Engineers of Trinidad and Tobago

Vol.41, No.1, April/May 2013, pp.35-42

Assessing Critical Thinking Skills of Project Management Practitioners: An Exploratory Study

Viddur Rakesh Dubrie a, Ψ and Kit Fai Pun b

a BPTT, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies; E-mail: [email protected]

b Department of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, The University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies; E-mail: [email protected]

Ψ - Corresponding Author

(Received 28 October 2012; Revised 14 January 2013; Accepted 24 May 2013)

Abstract: Critical thinking (CT) is the art of raising what is subconscious in one’s reasoning to the level of conscious recognition. This paper reviews the concepts of CT, and discusses various variables (including age, gender, academic performance, experience, training and development) that help assess people’s CT skills and competency. It reports the findings of an exploratory study based on a selected group of project management (PM) practitioners in Trinidad and Tobago. Results showed that there were positive relationships between these variables and practitioners’ CT skills and competency. Several dominating indicators were CT dispositions, practitioners’ experience, training and development and academic performance. This study contributed to assessing PM practitioners’ CT competency based on a sample group at Trinidad and Tobago. Future research would be conducted with larger sample size and different organisations and countries to improve the generalisation of the research. Besides, further quantitative empirical studies are needed to assess the reliability and validity of variables.

Keywords: Critical thinking (CT), skills, competency, project management (PM) 1. Introduction Effective project management (PM) is governed by the triple constraints of managing time, cost with a specific quality (Dubrie, 2011). PM practitioners need to manage projects whilst working with multiple people, and each person has his own unique thoughts, feelings, opinions and agenda. They are not only required to possess a range of skills, but an aspiration to use the skills in complex situation. Frank and Harold (2009) argue that the application of strategies by project managers to gain commitment from others, transforming creativity into practical business solutions, and leveraging a range of qualitative and quantitative tools to manage resources and implement solutions, possession of high critical competencies are obligatory. CT is required to anticipate problems, plan, resolve issues, and to ensure that team members know what to expect and what to do (Forsberget et al., 2005). Richard (2008) advocates that CT employs logic (either formal or informal) and broad intellectual criteria, (such as clarity, credibility, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth and significance).

CT is an essential skill for implementing a project from award approval to project closure (Lee, 2010). Though this skill may come more naturally for some projects than those for others, it is one that can be continuously developed and strengthened through

application and exposure (Dubrie, 2011). There is always evidence of lacking CT in managing projects that is attributable to project failures, for instance, costly errors, repeated mistakes, bad decisions, failed systems, in action when action is needed, the giving of bad advice, and inaccurate assumptions (Insight Assessment, 2012). In such context, this paper reviews the concepts of CT and discusses several variables that would affect one’s CT skills and abilities. It reports the main findings of an exploratory study on assessing CT skills of PM practitioners in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). 2. Notion of Critical Thinking The term “critical thinking” is used in place of other types of information processing that are very similar to problem solving. According to Meador (1997), problem solving is a linear process of evaluation, while CT refers to an overlying set of abilities that allow the inquirer to properly facilitate each stage of the linear problem-solving process (see Table 1).

Cottrell (2005) advocates that CT is meta-thinking skill developed based on intellectual traits, exposure, educational subjectivity and the disposition to use it. Cuizon (2008) regards CT as a higher-order thinking or cognitive processing. The constituents of CT stress the importance of asking and answering questions. This


requires careful reflection on good principles of reasoning and making a conscious effort to internalise and apply in daily life. Gill et al. (2004) contend that this is hard to do and often requires drawing different dimensions of acquired experiences. Mastery of any skills requires the accomplishment and possession of a range of traits. CT is not only a matter of exploiting skills, but it involves the accruing and processing of information within one’s memory (Dubrie, 2011). Based on their evaluation of the various potential answers, critical thinkers would choose one answer as the most likely to be correct, communicating in some conventional manner (Comeaux, 2005).

Table 1. Critical Thinking versus Problem Solving

Critical Thinking Problem Solving Identifying, formulating, and solving problems

Recognising a problem situation

Recognising and using inductive reasoning; and solving problems

Defining the problem

Comprehending, developing and using concepts and generalisations

Comprehending, developing and using concepts and generalisations

Distinguished between fact and opinion

Testing hypotheses and gathering data Revised hypotheses and testing revised or new hypotheses

Drawing a reasonable conclusion from information found in the various sources (written, spoken, tabular, or graphic) and defending one’s conclusion rationally.

Forming a conclusion

Source: Taken from Meador (1997)

There are eight (8) areas of intellectual abilities, namely 1) Linguistic, 2) Logical-mathematical, 3) Musical, 4) Naturalistic, 5) Bodily-kinesthetic, 6) Spatial, 7) Inter-personal, and 8) Intra-personal intelligences (Gardener, 1943; Dubrie, 2011). The art of elevation and sustenance for a critical thinker requires effective interface, rigorous standards of excellence and maximum mindful usages (Walker, 2003). Richard and Elder (2009) contend that an individual’s disposition to think critically is a necessary pre-condition for CT, and greatly affects its capability. According to Irani et al. (2007), dispositions have generally been considered as an integral part of CT, or as a separate but overlapping concept. Engagement, Maturity and Innovativeness (EMI) constitute the three constructs of CT disposition. A person with a high disposition in Engagement (E) would be able to anticipate situations where good reasoning would be needed. Maturity (M) addresses cognitive maturity and epistemic development, whereas people who have a high Innovativeness (I) disposition are consistently looking for new knowledge (Irani et al., 2007).

Giancarlo (2000) argues that CT skills are positively correlated with the consistent internal motivation to think.

Describing the CT process has challenged individuals from a diversity of academic disciplines. Deutschman (2005) suggests that inspiration for changes must arise from visions of the future. Heaslip (2008) adds that CT includes adherence to intellectual standards, proficiency, commitment to use intellectual abilities and the competent uses of abilities for clinical judgments and decision-making. CT enhances language and presentation skills, improves comprehension abilities, and promotes creativity (Richard, 2008).

Moreover, CT has many variables such as people’s age, gender, experience, education, training, and academic performance (Cottrell, 2005; Dubrie, 2011). Irrespective to ages, PM practitioners do not appear to be dramatically different in terms of their assertiveness and reflective thinking (including their epistemic assumptions and the way they justify their beliefs in the face of uncertainty). The question of whether these differences extend to reasoning patterns and CT abilities remains unresolved (Dyer, 2006).

Similarly, the question of gender differences in CT remains a topic of controversy among scholars. Henderson and Stackman (2010) confirm the importance of gender and its interrelationships with role, location, technology, and cost. Hence, many studies found that gender is a predictor of CT, while some argue that the influences of gender and age are insignificant (Dubrie, 2011). Furthermore, Archibald (2004) contends that one’s experiences, education and training would determine the levels of the CT skills acquired. Dyer (2006) argues that there is a significant relationship between CT skills and academic performance (in terms of Grade Point Average (GPA)). 3. An Exploratory Study In an attempt to assess the levels of CT skills of PM practitioners, an exploratory study was conducted. with the adoption of a delphi method for convenience sampling, a group of 38 practitioners were invited to participate in an interview. These practitioners were graduates of the Masters’ Degree Programme in Project Management in the 2008 cohort at The University of the West Indies (UWI). The invited group of participants comprised of 22 females and 16 males. The interview focused on the intent and understanding of CT adoption and verification of CT variables in their PM practices in Trinidad.

A host of independent variables (including one’s age, gender, academic performance, experience and training, and CT dispositions) and dependent variables (such as CT skills and sub-skills, intellectual abilities, and the EMI parameters) were used. Three (3) hypotheses were derived for this study. These are:

H1: There is a relationship between practitioners’ age, gender and academic performance and the levels of CT skills attained.


H2: There is a relationship between practitioners’ training and experiences and the levels of CT skills attained.

H3: There is a relationship between practitioners’ CT dispositions and the levels of CT skills attained.

A set of questionnaire, comprising five (5) parts with CT skills and sub-skills, was designed to acquire respondents’ views on the levels of CT skills attained. Part 1 of the instrument measured the three sub-skills of CT (such as Analytical, Inference and Evaluation skills) of practitioners. In Part 2, the multiple intelligences (MI) test was used to measure their intellectual abilities. The third part tested their specific skills in managing projects. Respondents were asked to rate their ability in some of the basic attributes and proficiency identified. In Part 4, the practitioners’ CT disposition inventory (i.e., the EMI parameters) was examined. Lastly, the last Part addressed the relevancy of practitioners’ age, gender, GPA, experience, and training components to assessing their CT competency. 4. Findings and Analysis In total, twenty-seven (27) practitioners participated in the study, yielding a 71 percent of response rate. The studied group comprised of 16 females and 11 males. All interviewed personnel were involved directly in managing projects in a wide range of public and private sectors organisations in T&T. 4.1 Practitioners’ CT skills level Literature suggested that one’s CT level would be governed by his/her CT competence and intellectual abilities (Irani et al. 2007; Dubrie 2011). For this study, the results for analysis, inference and evaluation skills are showed in Figure 1. Based on the computation of mean scores, 44% of participants scored in a middle range of the CT skills. The mean score of their analytical skills was 61.11 out of 100 (with a standard deviation, SD = 9.01) followed by inference skills (i.e., Mean = 48.15, SD= 8.58), and then evaluation skills (Mean = 33.33, SD = 16.91). Results show that those participating practitioners were generally weak in their evaluation skills and analysis skills. Besides, the practitioners’ MI scores were in the upper ranges. Their average MI score was 69.43 (SD = 6.19) out of 100. A score in this region advocates an ability of being relatively simple in using accessible methods to understand and explain people’s preferred ways to learn and develop.

Each level of CT skills level contains specific characteristics and elements. Findings show that practitioners scored just above the lower range of the CT skills test and the average score was 58.67 (with SD = 6.69). It is showed in Table 2 that the higher scores in the CT skills were consistent and reflective with higher scores in MI. Participants had an average CT skill score of 58.67. Most practitioners have the average ability of assessing the credibility between statements, examining

ideas, identifying arguments, and analysing those arguments. This carved the pathway for inquires on relationship between practitioners’ CT skills and multiple intellectual abilities. Certain problems have been in presence amongst the practitioners. The avenues are to be explored for CT development and continued improvement.

Figure 1. Practitioners’ Scores of Analysis, Inference and Evaluation Skills

Table 2: Practitioners’ Scores on Multiple Intelligences and CT

Skills Participants Multiple Intelligences Scores CT Skills Scores 1 73.80 86.90 2 82.60 78.80 3 71.00 69.00 4 69.50 63.75 5 65.60 62.30 6 64.60 61.30 7 63.30 60.65 8 63.00 60.50 9 61.30 60.15 10 68.90 59.45 11 63.30 56.65 12 62.30 56.15 13 63.30 56.15 14 61.60 55.80 15 60.30 51.15 16 60.00 51.00 17 59.70 50.85 18 58.70 50.35 19 57.70 49.85 20 54.40 48.20 21 59.70 46.50 22 59.00 46.15 23 58.70 46.00 24 61.00 43.00 25 51.10 38.05 26 49.50 37.25 27 48.90 36.95 Mean 69.43 58.67 SD 6.19 6.69

V.R. Dubrie and K.F. Pun: Assessing Critical Thinking Capabilities of Project Management Practitioners: An Exploratory Study

38

4.2 Analysis of Practitioners’ Gender, Age and Academic Performance

1) CT Skills and Gender By examining the CT skills, male practitioners ranged the scores between 34 and 71, while females ranged the scores between 33 and 89. Male practitioners had higher scores in ‘Analysis’, whereas the females were dominant in other skills. The computation of the SD for males and females practitioners were 9.66 and 3.73, respectively. It was distributed on score range to show the variation or dispersion (see Table 3). Female practitioners demonstrated a higher mean score of 4.4% than that of male practitioners. The results conveyed the existence of a low positive relationship between CT skills and gender, and female practitioners have a minimal CT skill level better than male practitioners.

This study consisted of 18% more females than males. The findings showed that male practitioners were more analytical and scored higher in their ability to evaluate than female practitioners, whereas Female practitioners had a better ability to infer. For the MI assessment, female practitioners scored higher than male practitioners. Overall, higher CT skills scores of female practitioners were observed. Hence, result showed a low percentile difference between males and females. It is thus to confer that gender would have a little difference to the relationship of CT skills level of the practitioners who participated in this study. 2) CT Skills and Age Results showed the average age was 31-40 with the youngest between 21-30 and oldest 41-50. All participants fell within these three age groups (see Table 4). It was found that respondents of age group 21-30 scored the highest in the specific CT skills, whereas age group 31-40 scored the highest in MI skills. By analysing the results, no significant conclusion could be drawn with age differences. For the age group 21-30 (with SD = 7.09), the best score was in analysis and weakest area was in evaluation. The age group of 31-40 (with SD = 7.89) was weak in evaluation but showed their highest scores in musical. Hence, the age group of 41-50 (with SD = 4.36) had high scores in being Logical/Mathematical but their

lowest scores were in inference and evaluation. The results showed that there was no increase in

scores for younger age group versus older age group indicating no relationship for age relating to level of CT skills attained. Older age did not mean higher CT skill scores. Younger participants were good at examining ideas, identifying and analysing arguments. However, their ability to evaluate by being systematic and assessing information to provide useful judgments was poor. The younger age group showed lower scores on evaluation skills, whereas the older age group had good scores in being logical/mathematical but also was poor in evaluation skill. 3) CT Skills and Academic Performance The participants were asked to rate their academic performance (measured in terms of GPA). Results showed that the upper scores for CT skills were comparable to practitioners who had higher GPA. The highest average was 79.41 (SD = 7.56) obtained by participants with the “A” GPA versus the lowest average of 58.28 (SD = 5.48) by participants with the “C” GPA. Table 5 shows the distribution of scores for participants based in GPA. The results showed that a positive relationship exists between CT skills and GPA. The higher the GPA is, the higher the CT skill scores will be.

Academic performance had an affirmative relationship with CT skills level. Participants who had superior performances (in GPA) reflected high CT skills levels. A 41% difference was noticed between the highest and lowest scores, conveying that GPA is related to CT skills level. GPA is important to practitioners because of the assumptions that could be made about a practitioner with a sound grade point average. This finding is important because it solidifies GPA being a key variable to predict the level of CT skills.

With respect to the Hypothesis H1, there existed a positive relationship between student academic performances (measured by GPA) and CT skills level. Higher GPA irrefutably reflected higher CT skills scores. A low positive relationship existed for gender, with females scoring a mere 4.37% higher than males. This is an area recommended for future research.

Table 3: Score Distribution Among Participants Based on Gender

1) Male participants Score Range <27.50 27.51-37.17 37.18- 46.83 46.84-66.15 66.16-75.81 >75.82

N = 11 0 1 1 8 1 0 2) Female participants

Score Range <49.67 49.67- 53.40 53.40-57.13 57.13-64.59 64.59-68.32 >72.05 N = 16 5 0 0 9 0 2


Table 4: Scores Distribution Among Participants Based on Age

1) Age between 21-30 Score Range <35.76 35.77- 42.85 42.86-49.94 49.95-64.12 64.13-71.21 >71.22

N = 3 0 0 0 2 1 0 2) Age between 31-40

Score Range <38.39 38.40- 46.23 46.24-54.12 54.13-69.90 69.91-77.79 >77.80 N = 20 3 3 1 11 0 2

3) Age between 41-50 Score Range <42.40 42.41- 46.76 46.77-51.12 51.13-59.84 59.85-64.20 >64.21

N = 4 1 0 1 2 0 0

Table 5: Scores Distribution Among Participants Based on Academic Performance

I) GPA between 50-59 Score Range <27.06 27.07- 32.54 32.55-38.02 38.03-48.98 48.99-54.46 >54.47

N = 13 1 2 1 5 1 3 2) GPA between 60-70

Score Range <38.05 38.06-44.45 50.85-63.65 63.66-70.05 70.06-76.45 >76.46 N = 11 0 1 9 1 0 0

3) GPA between 70-100 Score Range <52.03 52.04- 59.59 59.60-67.15 67.16-82.27 82.28-89.83 >89.84

N = 3 0 0 0 3 0 0

4.3 Analysis of Practitioners’ Training and

Experiences Table 6 depicts the results for CT skills and the relationship between PM skills, training and development (T&D). The participants’ scores were distributed around a mean of 57.34 for PM skills. The acquired score ranged between 28% and 75% out of 100. Participants who scored in the upper ranges for the PM skills had similarly higher CT skills scores than others. This indicates a positive relationship between CT skills and PM skills. Similarly, the results show that those who indicated a greater number in T&D units had generally higher CT skills. In the area of PM T&D, participants average 12.15 units where the highest number of T&D components was 25 and the lowest was 4. Therefore, the relationship between PM skills and T&D displayed a positive relationship.

Forsberg et al. (2005) argue that practitioners’ PM skills and T&D play an important role continuously improving performances and CT skills level. This study assessed the key skills in analysing PM practices. It incorporated basic management skills; communication, decision making, teamwork, conflict resolution, motivation etc into this assessment and the results showed an averaged score. Practitioners must understand the essential to have a high level of PM skills and possess a certain level of dexterity. The ability to apply CT is to 1) develop creative solutions to problems and 2) influence others to win team member and stakeholder support. This significantly enhances a project manager's value as a leader within an organisation, but with average scores in PM system, it is an area of concerns.

Table 6: Results among CT Skills, PM Skills, PM Training and Development

Participants CT Skills PM Skills PM T&D 1 55.00 45.30 8.00 2 64.50 60.00 18.00 3 51.15 46.70 10.00 4 69.00 76.00 28.00 5 62.35 66.70 17.00 6 58.15 52.00 14.00 7 59.45 60.00 12.00 8 66.45 62.70 13.00 9 65.50 61.30 14.00 10 68.75 70.70 14.00 11 49.00 40.00 4.00 12 65.55 56.00 9.00 13 53.85 53.30 8.00 14 58.00 56.00 14.00 15 63.75 72.00 16.00 16 53.00 54.70 8.00 17 48.15 50.70 9.00 18 55.00 54.70 11.00 19 36.95 44.00 5.00 20 49.85 49.30 5.00 21 49.75 40.00 6.00 22 65.50 58.70 13.00 23 49.85 49.30 9.00 24 50.85 54.70 12.00 25 86.95 76.00 23.00 26 49.00 37.30 3.00 27 78.90 100.00 25.00 Mean 58.67 57.34 12.15 SD 6.68 13.50 6.20


Participants have little exposure in the area of PM T&D, where the highest component by a practitioner was 28 and the lowest 4, with an average of 12.15 components. This area had a positive relationship, because participants who had an increased number of components directly portrayed higher CT skill scores.

With an average score the practitioners’ gap between theoretical versus practical achievements was identifiable. Lee (2010) emphasised that PM skills in relation to CT skills level is essential for successfully implementing a project from award approval to project closure. PM skills and T&D are two (2) variables that could be used to assess and predict CT skills level for practitioners. The relationship between PM skills, T&D and CT skills demonstrated that participants who had upper results in these areas reproduced high scores in CT skills. The results concluded that the practitioners scored at about average on their CT performance.

It was found that a positive relationship between CT skills level and PM skills, T&D components (i.e., Hypothesis 2). The practitioners’ averaged 57.34 out of a maximum of 100% in their PM skills. Adversely, the higher PM skills and more exposure to PM T&D resulted in higher CT Skills scores. The practitioners

had an average of 12.15% PM T&D components. 4.4 Analysis of Practitioners’ CT Dispositions According to The Critical Thinking Community (2012), one’s disposition to think critically is a necessary precondition for CT, and greatly affects the capability. The objective was sought to determine relationship between the CT skills level and CT dispositions of practitioners. The CT disposition tested participants in three areas of Engagement (8 questions), Maturity (7 questions) and Innovativeness (8 questions). Participants were assessed on their CT dispositions and the results are summarised in Table 7. As shown, the relationship between participants’ CT skills and EMI was on the positive side. Scores for CT skills levels improved slightly as the overall EMI CT disposition scores increased. Total EMI scores ranged from as low as 37% to as high as 86%. This confirms that there is a positive relationship. Generally, the participants showed consistency in their dispositional factors. Although the variance between the highest and lowest scores was marginal, the overall CT disposition was closely distributed to the mean.

Table 7: Results among CT Skills, EMI skills and CT Disposition

Participants Gender CT Skills Engagement Maturity Innovativeness CT Disposition 1 M 55.00 70.00 60.00 67.50 65.83 2 M 64.50 77.50 77.14 80.00 78.21 3 M 51.15 65.00 62.86 67.50 65.12 4 M 69.00 87.50 80.00 80.00 82.50 5 M 62.35 65.00 74.29 50.00 63.10 6 M 58.15 62.50 71.43 62.50 65.48 7 M 59.45 77.50 74.29 77.50 76.43 8 M 66.45 60.00 80.00 60.00 66.67 9 M 65.50 80.00 82.86 80.00 80.95 10 M 68.75 80.00 74.29 80.00 78.10 11 M 49.00 52.50 57.14 60.00 56.55 12 F 65.55 62.50 60.00 67.50 63.33 13 F 53.85 52.50 51.43 55.00 52.98 14 F 58.00 75.00 62.86 65.00 67.62 15 F 63.75 75.00 77.14 65.00 72.38 16 F 53.00 52.50 54.29 55.00 53.93 17 F 48.15 60.00 57.14 40.00 52.38 18 F 55.00 57.50 60.00 55.00 57.50 19 F 36.95 45.00 20.00 45.00 36.67 20 F 49.85 47.50 48.57 50.00 48.69 21 F 49.75 47.50 48.57 47.50 47.86 22 F 65.50 70.00 80.00 72.50 74.17 23 F 49.85 50.00 54.29 62.50 55.60 24 F 50.85 57.50 51.43 65.00 57.98 25 F 86.95 85.00 91.43 82.50 86.31 26 F 49.00 55.00 25.71 57.50 46.07 27 F 78.90 82.50 82.86 85.00 83.45 Mean 58.67 64.91 63.70 64.26 64.29 SD 6.68 12.72 16.96 12.44 12.99


The disposition to think critically is a consistent willingness, motivation, inclination and an intention to be engaged in CT, while reflecting on significant issues, making decisions and solving problems (Facione, 2001; Dubrie, 2011). Based on the analysis of empirical findings of the study, the relationship between CT skills and CT dispositions was on the low positve side. It was shown in Table 8 that a record of 6.24% between Engagement and CT skills, 5% between Maturity and CT Skills, and 5.6% between Innovativeness and CT skills was obtained. The EMI dispositions scores were high, and the overall average was 64.29%. Practitioners exhibited some behaviour for their EMI dispositions. This revealed that many practitioners would attempt to

pre-dispose the practice of engagement, maturity and innovativeness. This approach would profusely affect their ability to think critically, and there has been a need to encourage CT.

Results showed some consistency with these dispositional factors averaging 64.29%. The disposition scores in engagement were the highest and maturity being the lowest, but they were in the upper scale, 64.29% and 63.70%, respectively. Overall, these disposition factors demonstrated a low positive relationship to CT Skills level (i.e., Hypothesis 3). This is an indication that once the practitioners’ dispositional score increased, it would reflect a higher CT skills score.

Table 8: Summary of Results Among Assessing Variables

Participants

Gender

Age

GPA

CT Skills

PM Skills

PM T&D

CT Disposition

1 M 31-40 50-59 55.00 45.30 8.00 65.83 2 M 31-40 60-69 64.50 60.00 18.00 78.21 3 M 31-40 50-59 51.15 46.70 10.00 65.12 4 M 21-30 70-100 69.00 76.00 28.00 82.50 5 M 31-40 60-69 62.35 66.70 17.00 63.10 6 M 41-50 60-69 58.15 52.00 14.00 65.48 7 M 31-40 60-69 59.45 60.00 12.00 76.43 8 M 21-30 60-69 66.45 62.70 13.00 66.67 9 M 31-40 60-69 65.50 61.30 14.00 80.95 10 M 31-40 60-69 68.75 70.70 14.00 78.10 11 M 31-40 50-59 49.00 40.00 4.00 56.55 12 F 41-50 60-69 65.55 56.00 9.00 63.33 13 F 21-30 50-59 53.85 53.30 8.00 52.98 14 F 41-50 60-69 58.00 56.00 14.00 67.62 15 F 31-40 60-69 63.75 72.00 16.00 72.38 16 F 31-40 50-59 53.00 54.70 8.00 53.93 17 F 31-40 50-59 48.15 50.70 9.00 52.38 18 F 31-40 50-59 55.00 54.70 11.00 57.50 19 F 31-40 50-59 36.95 44.00 5.00 36.67 20 F 31-40 50-59 49.85 49.30 5.00 48.69 21 F 41-50 50-59 49.75 40.00 6.00 47.86 22 F 31-40 60-69 65.50 58.70 13.00 74.17 23 F 31-40 50-59 49.85 49.30 9.00 55.60 24 F 31-40 50-59 50.85 54.70 12.00 57.98 25 F 31-40 70-100 86.95 76.00 23.00 86.31 26 F 31-40 50-59 49.00 37.30 3.00 46.07 27 F 31-40 70-100 78.90 100.00 25.00 83.45 Mean 58.67 57.34 12.15 64.29 SD 6.68 13.50 6.20 12.99

5. Conclusion Critical thinking comprised of multi-dimensional perspectives, and is related to almost every aspect of thinking. The skill has been considered important in managing projects because it enables one to analyse,

evaluate, explain, and restructure his/her thinking, thereby decreasing the risk of adopting, acting on, or sustaining or thinking with, a consistent failure. Practitioners adamantly need to improve their disposition of thinking. Measuring their CT skills level has been a challenging process. This study focused on the PM practitioners, and provided good


insights and empirical base to explore the use of gender, age, academic performance, EMI dispositions, PM skills and T&D in assessing practitioners’ CT skills level.

In the nutshell, CT skills scores for practitioners were average at 58.67, and the CT skills level for females was higher than males. There was no relationship for age relating to level of CT skills attained. Hence, the academic performance (measured as GPA) was positively related to CT skills level. Higher GPA’s was symbolic of high CT skills scores. Moreover, PM skill and T&D scores were positively related to CT skills level. Higher scores reflected upper CT skills scores. CT dispositions, measured by the EMI are considerably correlated with CT skill level. A low positive relationship existed between CT skills level and EMI. However, measuring one’s CT skills will only be conclusive or valid once it is aligned to their academic background as it relates to their career path. Practitioners’ overall level of CT skills requires some immediate re-focus, concentration and paradigm towards progressive improvement.

The study, however, has some limitations. Even though the sample size is acceptable for a Delphi technique, the study could benefit from a larger sample size. Future research would be conducted with larger sample size and different organisations and countries to improve the generalisation of the research. Besides, further quantitative empirical studies are needed to assess the reliability and validity of variables.

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Authors’ Biographical Notes:

Viddur Rakesh Dubrie is presently an activity planning functional scheduler at BPTT. Before joining BPTT, he has substantial work experience in construction, energy and public utility sectors for more than 10 years. Mr. Dubrie graduated in 2005 with a first degree in BSc Electrical Engineering from the University of Houston, and obtained an MSc degree in Project Management in 2011 with a distinction from The University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago. He was the recipient of two awards for best overall research paper and top student in the 2011 graduating class. Mr. Dubrie was also a registered Project Management Professional accredited by the Project Management Institute. Kit Fai Pun is presently a Professor of Industrial Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering and the Chair and Campus Coordinator for Graduate Studies and Research at The University of the West Indies. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in Australia, Europe, Hong Kong, and The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Professor Pun is a member of Caribbean Academy of Science and a Fellow/member of several professional bodies and learned societies. Professor Pun is also the Chairperson of the Technology Management Council of the IEEE Trinidad and Tobago Section (2003-2013), and was the past chairman of the Mechanical and Industrial Division of the Association of Professional Engineers of Trinidad and Tobago (2004-2009). His research interests and activities include industrial engineering, engineering management, quality systems, performance measurement, innovation, and information systems.

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