The business of critical thinking

One of the most valuable lessons I learned in college in New York was how to give and, in turn, receive a critique of one’s work. After each long pose at figure drawing class, the teacher would ask all the students to tape their work on the wall for all to see and to critique. I will never forget the fear I felt the first time I had to receive criticism about my drawings. But practice builds immunity especially when I realized the feedback was nothing personal and meant solely for my own growth. After a while, I started to look forward to it. This continues to be a standard practice. In my son Patrick’s boarding school, English papers are corrected by peers, with classmates making harsher comments than teachers would.

I did not think much about this until a friend of mine from Hong Kong shared her experience of Filipino labor. She said she found Filipino workers excellent, loyal and hardworking. "I have only one complaint. Why is it so difficult to find good managers out of the rank and file, people who are ambitious to rise above the rest? Why did one of our newly promoted managers ask for a downgrade?" Another friend, a multinational executive, further observed that our labor is great at repetitive work, but does not feel confident to act when a situation needs leadership. It is rare to see someone stand out to suggest how a problem out of the ordinary can be fixed. As a matter of fact, it is difficult to draw one out of a group to excel over everyone else.

Is this a failure of management to empower the worker? If not, why is it difficult to promote someone from a group to a position of responsibility and power over the rest? Does our social structure encourage such strong group dynamics that makes it too risky to stick out as an achiever? Are we breeding future generations of under-performers?

A 1988 study called "A Moral Recovery Program: Building a People-Building a Nation" prepared after EDSA I gives an important clue. "Schools are highly authoritarian with the teacher as the center of focus. The Filipino student is taught to be dependent on the teacher and to record verbatim what the teacher says and give this back in the original form with little processing during examinations. Teachers reward well-behaved and obedient students and are uncomfortable with those who ask questions and express a different viewpoint. The Filipino student learns passivity and conformity. Critical thinking is not learned in school."

It also says, "The Filipino is raised in an environment where we have to depend on our relationships with others in order to survive. In a poor country where resources are scarce and where the systems meant to respond to people’s needs can be insensitive, inefficient or non-existent, the Filipino becomes very dependent on kinship and interpersonal relationships. Our sensitivity about hurting established relationships controls our behavior. We are constrained from making criticisms no matter how constructive, so standards of quality are not imposed... We are inhibited from exerting more effort to improve individual performance because trying to get ahead is not considered acceptable.

The struggle for survival and our dependence on relationships make us group oriented."

Since globalization will require a new set of global values and standards for labor and management, it has become imperative that we reassess how we are educating the youth. Television and movies will play a vital role in portraying achievers, people who speak up, give constructive opinions, and dare to be different from the group, as the "good guy."

In the meantime, our greatest challenge under this complex set of circumstances is to develop a level of skill in our organizations that will give courage to talented people to risk stepping outside the group. Applying the power of group "critiques" to assess a project, a performance or a specific activity, gives members of an organization the opportunity to practice how to de-personalize criticism and how to jump in and out of the group until the momentum and energy created, propel the great ones to the next level.

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Thanks for your critiques at dorisho@attglobal. net.