On the morning of March 4, the Human Resources Department of the University of the Pacific Ocean (UPO) organized a training workshop titled “Critical Thinking in the Workplace.” The session was attended by leaders of departments, faculties, and centers, along with the university’s lecturers. Notably, the workshop was directly led by People’s Teacher, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ho Thanh Phong – President of UPO.
The training was organized in the context of the education sector accelerating comprehensive reforms, promoting digital transformation, and standardizing professional teams. According to People’s Teacher, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ho Thanh Phong, developing critical thinking skills is not only essential for students but also an urgent requirement for administrators, lecturers, and management staff to improve work efficiency in the modern educational environment.
During the workshop, People’s Teacher, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ho Thanh Phong emphasized the importance of critical thinking in today’s environment of multidimensional information and rapid change. The program focused on three main areas.
The first focused on identifying barriers in thinking, particularly cognitive biases that may influence the way work is handled. Drawing from research, personal experiences, and professional expertise, he analyzed common situations in educational settings such as subjective judgments, assumptions without sufficient evidence, or the tendency to defend personal opinions while overlooking factual data.
The second area addressed systematic methods for identifying the root causes of issues. Through practical examples, participants were guided on how to ask the right questions, break down complex problems, and trace root causes instead of merely addressing surface-level symptoms. This approach is considered essential for minimizing errors in thinking and improving the quality of decision-making in management and teaching.
The third area emphasized applying critical thinking in daily work, helping faculty and staff develop habits of analyzing problems based on data, constructing logical arguments, and verifying information before making decisions. This approach contributes to improving the effectiveness of task implementation within the higher education environment.
Through the training session, faculty members and staff had the opportunity to reflect on their own approaches and adjust their problem-solving methods toward more objective and scientific practices. In a higher education context that increasingly emphasizes quality and professionalism, investing in the thinking capacity of staff is considered a practical step toward improving the university’s overall effectiveness.
The workshop “Critical Thinking in the Workplace” was not only a thematic sharing session but also an opportunity for faculty and staff at the University of the Pacific Ocean to reassess their working approaches, strengthen their intellectual foundations, and move toward improving quality in each specific task.
According to the plan, similar training sessions will continue to be organized in the coming time to deepen the content, increase practical application, and expand the scope of implementation across the university. This initiative is considered an ongoing professional development activity aimed at building an increasingly professional faculty and staff team capable of meeting the university’s development requirements in the new stage.