Critical Thinking and Decision Making - Essay Example

? Critical Thinking and Decision Making Task Introduction Critical thinking is a process of analyzing the information gotten through communication in a skillful manner. This is aimed at making decisions that would reflect understanding of a topic or a matter being discussed in general. It would also be termed as a scientific method of conceptualizing ideas and applying them for the purpose of guiding ones beliefs. The process of critical thinking involves eleven steps, which are discussed below. Step 1 Identification of Issue and Conclusion One of the requirements of critical thinking is the identification of the issues and the conclusions made by an individual. This forms the basis of arguments in critical thinking, an aspect that is the backbone of the process. According to Ford M. the issue that is of concern is privatization of the information system management (ISM) function by the current governor. According to the governor, the move would lead to the state saving approximately $250,000 annually. Privatization would involve outsourcing of similar services from either a local or foreign company, and would enable the state save some amount that would go into providing same services (Ford M. Personal communication, January 30, 2012). Step 2 The Reason The reason in this memo is that the proposed transition would save the state about $250,000 annually. This would be the extra amount that the personnel would be paid for the whole year. Privatization would ensure that a given company is given the responsibility to provide the same services as those provided by the current employees. In addition to this, state would still manage to save about $250,000 per year that would be used for other purposes. This seems a viable idea that the state would go for as it would be profitable in the long run. Supporting this is that the government or the state would provide its employees in the company with “similar” posts in other departments within the state. Step 3 Ambiguous Phrases An ambiguous phrase has no supporting evidence and may be just a claim. In her discussion, she used the phrase, ‘an attempt to drive out experienced workers’ which she does not support with evidence. This is just a claim and would not be true unless supported by evidence. Another term used is,’ most likely’. This simply shows that an occurrence has higher chances of occurring but has not been confirmed to occur. There is no certainty when the writer says that most likely their members would be out in the streets with no jobs. She says that outsourcing, public services to private companies would cause “instability”. This is ambiguous because she does not explain how it would cause instability within the state. Again, one company such as the one mentioned would not be the one controlling the whole economy. Therefore, this would still be a claim with no evidence to give support. All these terms are used for the main purpose of convincing the union members not to agree with the governor. Her aim is to gain support from the union members by supporting facts with unclear evidence for the purposes of personal gains. Step 4 Value Conflicts and Assumptions This would be indicated by the idea of offloading people who worked in qualified position within a firm. Conflict comes up when the state retrenches individuals or offloads them and assigns others to carry out their work. This would be by outsourcing from even outside the countries or foreign countries. This would not be ethical because a state would be denying its citizen an opportunity to work at an expense of making savings by the use foreign countries. This indicates that such a country does not even care for its own citizens. This would be because such a country would be giving privilege to outsiders in preference to its citizens. The main reason for this action would be that there would be saving to be made to the state. Again, there is an assumption that attrition would occur within other government departments that would result in arising of work opportunity for the retrenched individuals. There is also an assumption n that the outsourcing company would not benefit from the activity as much as the foreign investor country. This is not the case; in fact, such companies make a lot of money at the expense of the hosting country. They make a lot of profit that they send back to their mother country. It would even be better if a country made losses, or failed to save any capital but, its citizen be working than having unemployment among its citizens. This would indicate that a country does not love its people. In the rightful minds of individuals, such a thing would not be acceptable because it is unethical. This would be an indicator of employees not being considered in decisions regarding them. This would be the issue regarding outsourcing. Step 5 Descriptive Assumptions The governor assumes that privatization would be an achievement but forgets that such a move would cause instability within the state. This is an implication of driving out the old workers who would not be ready or even willing to be trained at their age. The whole idea of outsourcing would be to enable the state save close to $250,000 annually. This seems a reasonable idea for a country but would not be practical for employees. For instance, the employees would result to mass action if the move is achieved forcefully. In the memo, it is clear that the governor’s intentions are to downsize people, and she covers this saying that they would be given similar jobs in other departments. She assumes that, by outsourcing, she would save the state some amount but forgets that such a move would cause employment to many citizens. Step 6 Fallacies in Reasoning Within the memo, there are two issues that would occur; unemployment and employment within the state. To some extent, there exists a trick in the whole idea of privatization by the state. Though it will lead to the saving of revenue to the state, it will also lead to unemployment to some individuals while creating the same to some individuals. The second aspect has not been mentioned to the individuals. This is covered up by mentioning that the individual would be allocated similar positions in other government departments when chance would arise. There is no certainty of this aspect, and this brings that trick. It may be a plan by the state for future reduction of salaries and wages in the work force. There is an indirect attack on the employees that would be achieved if privatization came into being. This would be like an insult as their jobs would be given to other individuals and they would be promised of similar posts. This would be contradicting in the sense that there would be no reason of downsizing people at the expense of employing others. Step 7 How Good Is The Evidence? The writer of the memo gives an example about how his brother in law was downsized. This is evidence that is discussed in the memo. The writer confirms that the brother in law was downsized the previous year, and he is still unemployed. This is a good evidence that reflects what would happen if the current proposal come into being. Such evidence, is appropriate as it portrays a person who had been given a promise of being rehired, but the promise was not fulfilled. This indicates that those who are downsized remain jobless and the authority concerned does not assist them. Being a victim of downsizing, he outlines how management downsizes people; it makes use of the promise to rehire so as to gain union support. This is good evidence as it has explanations and is practical. It is affecting an individual who has been reached and has provided first hand information on the same. Step 8 Rival causes The writer writes to the members of the union informing them of what the state governor proposes. This confirms the powers bestowed on her by these members. The writer wants to remind them that she still holds office. In this context, she portrays herself as representing the union members. This is her position, and she is exercising her powers, and right to communicate to the members. She may also have hidden agenda such as those of seeking reelection. This would be a perfect way of portraying her skills of fighting for the minority within the state. She would be fighting for the union members but, this would be aimed at personal gains that would follow later. For instance, it would be the benefits associated with the post and related allowances. This would have prompted the writer to present her views concerning the memo to the union members. Step 9 Analyzing Whether Statistics Are Deceptive For instance, she says that about 80% of such promises to rehire are not fulfilled. Those downsized; remain without employment for the rest of their lives unless they search for other jobs. The statistics would not be deceptive as they are given to reflect an example of a person undergoing the real situation. This would act as a factor that would convince people not to support the government. This would be possible because it has already happened to a known individual within the state. The other example on statistics is that of the state paying an extra 20% of the contract price for overseeing such contracts. This would not be deceptive because the writer gives the article that was used to obtain information. Since such an article would be accessible, the writer would not give deceptive statistics in it because people would find out the same. The fact that evidence is documented in a magazine and the other was given by a person in such a situation, make these two realistic, and genuine forms of statistics. Step 10 Omission of Significant Information This is information that would affect an individual’s reasoning. It is that information that would convince a person to do something they were not prepared to do concerning a given situation. This can be determined by carrying out scrutiny of the memo that was used to pass the information. For instance, it is not clear how the arising of job opportunities would be achieved; it is just mentioned. The issue on the employees receiving similar post in other departments is not fully explained in the memo. How would this be achieved? Moreover, information on outsourcing is not available. Subsequently, the process of savings is not explained in details and the whole affair looks to be deceiving individuals. This process as a whole seems to be initiated by an individual who would want to gain personal benefits. Omission would also be indicated by the absence of supporting documents such as research work or studies conducted to give the basis for quoting of figure. Information on how the whole transition process would occur is not clear. As such, level of confidence in employees would be lost and this would result in them rejecting the proposal when presented to them. According to Ford, information that would change people’s beliefs and their ideas are missing. This is a significant omission that ought not to have been left out regarding this issue. Step 11 Possible Reasonable Conclusions It would be concluded that privatization of the information system management, requires transparency and easy transfer of employees form one department to another by the state. This would perhaps encourage individual to support such moves as they would ensure their job security. Another possible conclusion would be that provision of evidence would be necessary in convincing individuals to change their beliefs regarding a given issue or subject. This would be a foundation to base their actions on that would involve making decisions. Conclusion Information from the memo would only be true if it would be supported by evidence such as research work and other documentation. This is because people would want to have evidence and not just mere claims. These claims would not be fundamental for outsourcing for the required goods and services by the firm. Again, the whole thing would be directed towards personal gains and not the state. This can be determined by checking on the credibility of the whole process. For instance, it is not known the person to select the private companies for outsourcing process and the criteria for the process. Reference Browne, M., N., & Keeley, S., M., (2011). Asking the right questions: A guide to critical thinking. Boston: Pearson. 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