Enhance Your Critical Thinking Skills With Our Managerial Decision-Making Course

What is critical thinking?

Question:

Write a reflective essay on critical thinking and managerial decision making.
 

Critical Thinking is a process of thinking out of the usual everyday thinking (automatic thinking), a “Headscratcher.” This Critical Thinking and Managerial Decision-Making course are an amazing and proven tool to enhance the thinking and decision-making skills, change the personality and future career of any student as well as an employee or businessperson. Critical thinking can also be defined in many other terms such as innovative, outside the box, not taking things for granted, purposeful, non-emotional, examining, exhaustive, physical geography, methodical, probing, scientific and procedural thinking (Wolf, Stanton & Gellott, 2010). We commonly practice many of these words in our daily life; but did we ever guess the accurate significance of these words regarding applying them with thinking? Critical thinking and managerial decision-making is a manual, non-automatic thinking; thinking which uses a tool or a set of process and purpose. Thinking smarter is nothing but using our brain more sharply and intelligently. It is not tough, but critical thinking takes discipline and practice (Toner & Moran, 2016). 

Critical thinking is an essential element of almost all the academic disciplines and professional fields. The course of critical thinking engages the careful interpretation and acquisition of information and its use to arrive at a good reasonable conclusion. Since birth, I have been taught to complete the task within the given period or at the earliest and not to think about it for its best outcome or my better performance (Schwarz, 2005). I have learned a lot from this course, which could be applied in my future career or in regular life. This course taught me that we do not think “anything different” to conclude, take action and decide; however, we do the tasks without enough thinking just for the requirement of its completion on time. Critical thinking will assist me to be confident and visionary in my actions as well as will create a positive, creative thinker in me (Schraagen & Ven, 2008). I am usually confused with the conclusion and decision that means I do not conclude and leads to the decision early and appropriately. For example, whether I should buy a red shirt or a blue shirt is what I decide in automatic thinking, however, I have concluded to buy a blue shirt, whether I want to buy it or not is a decision in critical thinking. I also learned that automatic thinking always has a puny foundation for resolution, less time being understandable and more time to decide. Whereas, critical thinking has powerful foundations for decision, bit more time on being clear and little time to decide (Kallet, 2014).

Critical thinking has a set of tool or a framework for its best consequence, which says to get clarity on the issue, conclude for the solution and decide (take action) on the conclusion for the best resolution. There are plentiful critical thinking techniques and tools to direct our thinking in each framework mechanism of clarity, conclusion and decision. As we practice and apply these tools, the decision-making and problem-solving ability will improve automatically. The tools will honestly yield superior quality decision-making, problem-solving and inventive results (Koch, 2011). This course motivated me to understand more about myself; improve my skills and way of my thinking. I learned from the course that I should start thinking critically from small tasks like I used to write big emails for better understanding, but I learned that short emails with clarity are more appreciated and are responsive with positive outcomes. Critical thinking is measured important and necessary in the academic fields as it enables the students to explore, evaluate, clarify, and streamline their thinking, thus decreasing the threat of acting on, adopting or thinking by way of false beliefs and attitude. However, yet with an understanding of the processes of logical reasoning and inquiry, mistake happens due to a student /thinker’s incapability to apply the techniques or due to character personality such as egocentrism (Borger, 2014). It will help me to invent and implement creative ideas in my career in the Advertising or an Event Company.

Importance of critical thinking in academic and professional fields

DISC personality test helped me a lot to understand and identify my personality, strengths and weaknesses regarding Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness (DISC). This course of Critical thinking will help me a lot in overcoming my flaws and limitations and will extend my capabilities and efficiency to freedom of deep purposeful thinking. It will help me in my employment to take effective managerial decisions and motivate, promote and assess my colleagues for the better outcome of their roles and responsibilities. Critical thinking will also let me assess the behavior and nature of my team by the observation of their efficiency that can be improved with the training sessions of the course and sharing this knowledge with them. It will help me in organizing my thoughts as well as incorporating other’s thoughts also in the meetings and business reviews that further will help the organization with better effectual thoughts, conclusions and decisions.

Pursuing this course led me to understand different thinking methods and the development of a new knowledge, which may lead to being more effective and meaningful life. It helps with the clarity of day-to-day situations and problems; it will gain me different knowledge of fast, accurate, richer and opportunist decisions. The new knowledge of critical thinking says if I can, sit and discuss (think critically) with somebody else, questioning each other and listening to the answers that reproduce new queries and ideas. Then, I can also think critically by myself alone, so long as I am restricted enough to respond to the hard questions. As discussed above, critical thinking is based on three steps execution clarity, conclusion and decision; this three-step process is also surrounded by another three concepts that are informative, discovery and ideas, which includes conducting research, exploring ideas, listen to responses and asking questions.

“For every multifaceted problem, there is always a simple solution” My highly sensitive critical thinking expertise will go a long way in making an impression on a potential manager. Today, all of us are required to think critically, innovate, solve problems, communicate and collaborate more effectively. We must do extremely well on the concept of “four Cs”: Creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communication.” Critical thinking is not un-complimentary, faultfinding, disparaging, derogatory or judgmental. However, often in the professional world, it commonly observed in a plan meant to explain that someone has found the flaw in something (Dwyer, Hogan & Stewart, 2014). Critical thinking developed a new knowledge, challenges and the courage to face those challenges with a positive attitude and strength in me. I am feeling a very different person, who I used to be, before joining this course. This course really enhanced my assurance to out-perform in my future career along with the organization as a whole implementing the tool set and framework of my new knowledge and thinking skills. 

Conclusion

Critical thinking is self-discipline, self-guided thinking that attempts to rationale at the uppermost level of excellence in an open-minded way. People, who imagine critically, always attempt to breathe reasonably, rationally and empathically. They are intensely conscious of the inherently imperfect nature of individual thinking (Lee & Paradowski, 2007). I have discovered a new me from this critical thinking and managerial decision-making course. I have also learned that critical thinking is also not everyone’s cup of tea; few people who do not have the desire to grow potentially and socially will not attempt to gain the actual understanding and meanings of it (Glassner & Schwarz, 2007). I believe that implementing all the core concepts, tools and ways of critical thinking in my professional career will lead me to a much better place where I could reach without it, in terms of knowledge, communication with colleagues, identification of issues, conclusions and the best of all is timely, appropriate and calculative decision-making.  

References

Borger, A. (2014). A Different Way to Think. Journal Of The Dermatology Nurses’ Association, 6(5), 237-238.

Dwyer, C., Hogan, M., & Stewart, I. (2014). An integrated critical thinking framework for the 21st century. Thinking Skills And Creativity, 12, 43-52.

Glassner, A. & Schwarz, B. (2007). What stands and develops between creative and critical thinking? Argumentation?. Thinking Skills And Creativity, 2(1), 10-18.

Kallet, M. (2014). Think smarter. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley.

Koch, C. (2011). Think Different. Scientific American Mind, 21(6), 16-17.

Lee, M. & Paradowski, M. (2007). Group Decision-Making on an Optimal Stopping Problem. The Journal Of Problem Solving, 1(2).

Schraagen, J. & van de Ven, J. (2008). Improving Decision Making in Crisis Response Through Critical Thinking Support. J Cogn Engng Dec Making, 2(4), 311-327.

Schwarz, N. (2005). When Thinking Feels Difficult: Meta-Cognitive Experiences in Judgment and Decision Making. Professional Decision Making, 25(1), 105-112.

Toner, J. & Moran, A. (2016). On the importance of critical thinking: A response to Wulf’s (2015) commentary. Psychology Of Sport And Exercise, 22, 339-340.

Wolf, J., Stanton, M., & Gellott, L. (2010). Critical Thinking in Physical Geography: Linking Concepts of Content and Applicability. Journal Of Geography, 109(2), 43-53.