What is critical thinking? According to Michael Scrivens and Richard Paul from the
National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking Instruction (2008), “Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.” Critical thinking is useful in situations where problems need to be solved. Critical thinking is the process that one takes in order to find a solution and or the truth about something. Training our minds to use critical thinking gives us a better understanding of information when we have to make quick decisions to problems. This paper will describe critical thinking, give an example from my personal experience in applying critical thinking to a work related decision, and the importance and benefits of critical thinking in the decision making process.
Critical thinking is not a set of skills that can be deployed at any time, in any context. It is a type of thought that even 3-year-olds can engage in and even trained scientists can fail in (Michael Scrivens and Richard Paul, 2008). Critical thinking is a judgment and is important, it enables one to analyze, evaluate, explain, and restructure the decisions we make and thereby decreasing the risk of acting on a false or wrong decision. It enables us to think clearly and rationally, it allows us to rely on reason rather than emotion. It allows us to weight the influences of motives and bias, and helps us recognize our own points of views. Critical thinking can also be considered a discipline; one must discipline themselves to be precise and avoid making snap judgments that can cause a bad decision. Critical thinking allows you to challenge beliefs and investigate all evidence.
As a store manager I come across many situations where critical thinking...