Effectual thinking and causal thinking are two style of thought used by entrepreneurs and society in general to work and deal with issues. When used when starting a business or a new venture is it the mindsets on how you are starting and continuing to grow. Effectual thinking starts their business with the resources they have on hand and for the most parts work to let things grow. Causal thinking is for the most part have a plan in place to get from start to finish (Mortensen, D., 2020)
Effectual thinking starts with what is available to the entrepreneur as resources. They then determine what can be created with it. They do not a set an outcome or outline to their strategy. They rely on thinking about possible alternatives that can be generated from their resources (Hisrich, 2020).
Causal thinking is more of a structured process. This is the one that is usually taught in schools. You have a start and a finish to your business strategy and plan. The have a vision, mission, and how to finance, in place on their plan.
This is in contrast to an effectual thinker using the resources they currently have and growing wherever it takes them. This may seem like a simple explanation but it really is a matter of strictness and a defined process versus a use what you have and grow from there.
It is important to think effectually when starting your business from the ground up. This effectually thinking of starting with what you have and know allows you to learn and make changes on the fly. The important part of making changes allows you to take your project down a different path and tailor it to what you need to succeed. I have not had the opportunity to start my own business but I would have to say that an upgrade we are currently doing at my work has allowed me to work effectually. The system is in place and I have to use it for the business. As I am the subject matter expert on this system, I have had to work to get the system to work for me. I have made changes to the process and the setup to allow the business to run better using this system. When the system was integrated, the project managers were thinking causal and had a plan and an outcome. As we did not receive what we thought we were getting from the vendor, it has not worked like it was supposed to. Thinking effectually has allowed me to make changes to provide us what we need.
References
Hisrich, R., Peters, M., and Shepherd, D. (2020) Entrepreneurship (11th ed). McGraw-Hill.
Mortensen, D. (2020, August 14). The basic principles of effectuation -How to use what you already have to become more innovative. The Interaction Design Foundation. Retrieved 2021, from https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/the-basic-principles-of-effectuation-how-to-use-what-you-already-have-to-become-more-innovative#:%7E:text=She%20found%20that%20a%20large,available%20to%20you%20right%20now.
