The Use of Critical Thinking - Essay Example

All companies and professional organizations depend on its employees or workforce to achieve business success. Blue chip stock companies such as Microsoft were able to separate themselves from the completion because its leaders utilized critical thinking to achieve higher levels of performance. Critical thinking can be defined as disciplined, self directing which exemplifies the perfections of thinking appropriate to a particular mode or domain or thought (Paul, 1990). The use of critical thinking is useful in all aspects of life. Its application has greater value in the business world. “A leaders own strength in critical thinking and decision making is the central platform on which their influence transcends through other managers in the business” (Hilliwell, 2000). The management career requires the use of critical thinking because this job entails making operation and strategic business decisions. The purpose of this paper is to analyze critical thinking and its applications in the workplace. The utilization of critical thinking is something every human has performs hundreds of times during their lifetime. Critical thinking can be classified as a core competency. Not everyone has the same aptitude and skill level. According to scholars there is a direct correlation between a person critical thinking ability and their coefficient of intelligence. In the managerial field critical thinking abilities are imperative due to the fact that managers are responsible for the overall performance of the company and its employees. In the workplace in general employees that have critical thinking abilities have a higher probability of achieving success. Personally I consider myself an individual with pretty good critical thinking skills. As a working professional I have applied my critical thinking abilities in the workplace. A few years ago I worked at a start-up company. I was not officially a manager, but I was involved in the decision making process which implies my job duties were similar to a managerial position. The company had a new innovative product. The two functional areas I worked were finance and research and development. In the research and development department the engineer in charge would meet with me once a week to discuss product improvements ideas and production methodologies. When I started meeting with him he told me that he liked the way I process and interpreted information and that the feedback she received from me was very useful. The engineer would talk to me and tell about different issues associated with the design and utility of the product. Then she would give me different alternatives or problem solution she had brainstorm on how to solve the problem. I would give her feedback on each alternative. Before I gave her the written report on each alternative the primary tool that allowed me to perform the task was critical thinking. I’m not really an engineer, but the feedback I provided based on analytical thinking and sound business logic help the company in the decision making process. The second business function at that company in which I utilized critical thinking in order to perform job was in finance. There was not any real income coming in since the company was not producing yet. From a technical standpoint my job duties simple accounting task any person with a few credits in accounting could perform. Those duties only took me 10 to 15 hours a week to complete. The rest of my eight hour shift each day my job was involved the constant utilization of critical thinking. I participated in every managerial meeting as a silent observer. I would take notes on the key issues discussed during these meetings. My supervisor told me that after each meeting I should think about the discussion for a few days to then contact one of the managers to talk for a 10 minutes brainstorming session. In this meeting I was the manager would listen and would talk. In order to avoid miscommunication and ensure my analysis was unbiased I always tried to stay away from assumption based on data I had not educated myself or researched prior to the meeting. To be effective critical thinking one has to consider the different elements or reasoning. The six are purpose question, information, inference, assumption, point of view concepts, and implications (Elder & Paul). Prior to the meeting I would read the information and analyze it from different perspectives. After reading over the data I would ask myself how this decision affects the stakeholders of the corporation. My frame of thought was to question the impact the alternative had on the external environment of the corporation. My business instincts always tell me that the customer is the top priority in any business decision. They are the group that provides corporation with income, thus a basic assumption is that a product must be design in order to meet the needs of the marketplace. Making a decision always has implications. For example when a company violates environmental laws their actions are hurt earth’s ecosystem. The use of critical thinking requires determining the implications the decision and the associated path that must be followed to accomplish the task at hand. I once was presented with an opportunity to purchase a small food stand. The owner claimed that he made over $70000 in sales each year. The selling price was $25000. At first glance I thought this might be a good business proposal. Then I perform at an analysis utilized critical thinking based on business reality and economic concepts. The materials cost were high and the permits the zone the stand was located were abusive. Then I had to consider the opportunity cost of leaving my jobs to spend more than 40 hours working the stand. After the critical thinking analysis my conclusion was that I would be making the income per year or less and working an extra five to ten hours a week. Obviously I did not invest. People have to educate themselves in order to achieve progress in life. An ability that can help workers make better decisions in the workplace is critical thinking. This core competency is extremely important. Our educational institutions both at high, undergraduate, and graduate level have to prioritize critical thinking in their curriculums. Students need to learn how to evaluate situation using critical thinking in the process. The higher is in the corporate hierarchy a person is, the more important critical thinking becomes. The use of critical thinking by humans is going to guide mankind towards a better future. References Elert, G. Volume of World Petroleum Reserves. The Physics Factbook. Retrieved December 2, 2009 from http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2000/EvanAbel.shtml Elder, E., Paul, R. (2002). Critical Thinking: Distinguish between Inferences and Assumptions. Journal of Development Education, 25(3). Paul, R. (1990). Critical Thinking: What Every Person Needs To Survive in a Rapidly Changing World. Center for Critical Thinking and Moral Critique. Sonoma State University. Read More