Submitted To:

Dr. Abdul Basit

Submitted By:
Liaqat Ali
145
2-408077
EMB
A- MIS
Fall
Quarter 2008

Submission
Date:
20th October,
2008.

Instructors Remarks:
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Question:
Write a note on the guidelines for effective thinking.
Answer:

THINKING: We can say that thinking is a process because it is

not static like something written on a piece of paper (which cannot be
changed) or it is not an end product in itself rather it is dynamic (which
can be changed at any time) or it is path to guide you to the end
product which you want to have. Lets take an example to understand
this process of thinking in more detail. We can take thinking as the
process of cooking something for dinner, firstly we have to decide what
to cook (either it will be meat or it will be vegetables or something
else) selection at this stage will effect the complete process. Secondly
we have to look for the available items which we shall need for cooking
selected course. Thirdly to take care of the ingredients we are using by
selecting the appropriate or discarding extra or expired ones. After
going through all the three stages now we are ready for the
preparation of our dinner.
On the basis of above example we can break this process into three
sub parts which are:

1. Selecting what to cook (Be ware of your assumptions).

2. Selecting available items (Draw valid conclusions).

3. Selecting or rejecting the ingredients (Avoid logical defects).

1. Beware of Your Assumptions:

It is very obvious to say that assumptions are the basis for

all of the thinking process. We plan or think to do many of the things
just on the basis of our assumptions i.e. if this happened I will do that,
or if that happen I will do this etc. If you assume something knowingly
only then you will be in the position to question it (think about its
practicality & implementation) and by this ability of questioning you
can be aware of its merits & demerits and think in a broader way. The
other benefit of knowing the assumptions is that when communicator
is aware of the assumptions he/she has the option of expressing them
explicitly or not. This option will help him/her a lot in the
communication process of convincing the audience about anything if
communicator had already worked on these assumptions and know
about their practicality & approach.

Assumptions are the basis for all the rest of

Thinking Process

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2. Draw Valid Conclusions:

Conclusions are the end product or results of your thinking

process which you have started by assumptions. Your planning of
achieving any goal or completing any task cannot be practical unless
until you have not conclude the plus and minuses of that task. The
experts use to refer towards two methods for drawing valid conclusions
and they are

I.) Deduction: In deduction we start with a main assumption or

principle, apply it to any given specific case and draw some
conclusion on its basis. The selection of correct main assumption
or principle is very crucial in thus deduction method. Example we
can start with a main principle of Marketing our product properly
is important to gain high profits applying a specific case will be
Place your product prominently in the market on the basis of
this specific case implemented on the principle assumption we
can conclude that Proper placement of product in the market is
important for gaining good profits.

II.) Induction: In induction we start with one or a lot of specifics

cases evaluate them and on their basis we can come up with our
conclusion. The reliability and correctness of theses specifics is of
crucial importance in whole process. Example we start with a
specific case of Product selection/requirement is important to
gain maximum profit. So as another specific case will be pricing
of the product will also affect the profit margins. We have
another specific which is Placing the product properly in the
market is also related to maximizing or minimizing the profits.
Now on the basis of these three specific cases we can say that
Marketing the product properly is very important for the profit
generation (Product, Pricing and Placement are three Ps out five
basic concepts of marketing).

Assumptions and Facts are the starters of

Thinking Process, while the Conclusions are

3. Avoid Logical Defects:

After the phases of assumptions & conclusions the only

thing left in your process of effective thinking is avoiding any logical

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defects or logical fallacies These defects or fallacies can very easily
be ruled out only by remembering the following three main rules;

I.) Dont Jump to Fast to Conclusions: The basic defect

resulting from this is to jumping to any conclusion which is
based on very little evidences. For Example, Saying that the
new sales team is working extra ordinarily because they have
raised the sales 55% in just three months. By giving all the
credit for increased sales to new sales team we are jumping
over the facts that are advertising campaigns, marketing
team efforts, countries economic conditions & many other
relevant factors. After analyzing all the other relevant factors
we might change our sentence like the new sales team is
working fair enough, after all they have increased the sales by
15% in two months on their own

II.) Dont Hide your Ideas and Dont Hide Behind False
Ideas: In this we should not try to i) hide the questionable
assumptions. The assumptions which can be simplified or
questioned can open new doors for conclusions. ii) Avoid
hiding the main point and focusing on the minor one. Hiding
the main point will never result in a successful thinking
process no matter how many minor ideas you worked on.
iii) Avoid hiding from a false analogy that is if two things are
alike in some way they will be alike in other ways too. iv)
Avoid hiding behind exaggerations or exaggerating the point
try to look at all the points as they are never imagine a small
point as very big one so that it will be hard to find solution for
such big problems.

III.) Dont Oversimplify: In this never fix the

alternatives/assumptions as they are the only factors behind
any problem/conclusion in other words do not isolate the
factors for any thinking process. Always try to search for all
possible assumptions for a good and proven conclusion to
have a successful thinking process.

Watch for & get rid of any defects in the

thinking process is called Avoiding Logical

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