This can be achieved through brainstorming. Starbursting can help to identify customer needs in the marketplace, again helping with new product development. Logical thinking is used to help solve problems in the workplace. For example, if FedEx loses money for the year, management must try to use inductive reasoning to understand how this observation came to pass. Management would consider what key variables it may wish to study, such as revenues or jet fuel costs. In a deductive manner, FedEx could observe that the economy is expected to recover in 2010 and from this premise build a conclusion with respect to how many new employees they will need to add in order to meet the added demand that will come to their business.

In the workplace, scientific thinking can be used to determine the source of problems. If a product is selling poorly, the company can change the price points multiple times over the course of a year in order to test the price elasticity of demand. In doing so, the company is starting with an observation of poor sales and a hypothesis that the price is too high....

By testing a variety of price points, scientific thinking is used to test that hypothesis. If the hypothesis holds, the company can adjust the price downward. If the hypothesis does not hold, the company will need to formulate another hypothesis with regards to the product's poor performance.
Each method can be used by business in order to achieve its objectives. The type of thinking that is best will vary from situation to situation; management that understands the value of each of these different types of thinking will be better positioned to take the optimal approach to problem-solving.

Works Cited:

Yang, S. & Lin, W. (2004). The relationship among creative, critical thinking and thinking styles in Taiwan high school students. Journal of Instructional Psychology. Retrieved April 3, 2010 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCG/is_1_31/ai_n6143324/

Paul, R. & Elder, L. (2003). Scientific thinking. The Foundation for Critical Thinking. Retrieved April 3, 2010 from http://www.cos.edu/ImageUpload_Links/ScientificThinking-DC.pdf