Critical Thinking Application Paper
Harmony Harris
December 8, 2008
University of Phoenix
Professor John Paul Warren
"Critical thinking is that mode of thinking - about any subject, content, or problem - in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them" (Paul & Elder, 2001, p. xx). Critical thinking involves identifying the problem, identifying cause, effect and possible alternatives of the problem and implementing the decision. Critical thinking when used will lead to a well trained mind and more knowledge for future decisions.
When a person is considered to be “thinking outside the box” they are using critical thinking. This involves asking questions, being open-minded, judgmental of credibility of sources for alternatives and explanations and reasonable. Critical thinkers use multiple different processes to come to their decisions. Many different models direct people in the right process to train the critical thinking process. The models have different steps and stages but the overall concept of identifying, analyzing and evaluating the problem is common with them all. “To be skilled in critical thinking is to be able to take one’s thinking apart systematically, to analyze each part, assess it for quality and then improve it” (Elder & Paul, 2002)
My personal experience as a manager involves critical thinking everyday. From the smallest decisions to the largest critical thinking has to be used. I have to make the most thorough decision within all my decisions. There can be no regrets or questions whether I chose the right solution or not. The company I work for invests a great deal of money and manpower towards the training of their management staff in the use of the critical thinking process.
The process that is taught to us involves three parts: identifying the problem, analyzing the problem and...