...Utilizing Critical Thinking in the Workplace David Zoltun MGT 350 September 27, 2010 Utilizing Critical Thinking in the Workplace Critical thinking is an essential general skill that can be universally applied. Critical thinking is unlike typical methods of thought as critical thinking demands a person remove themselves from issues and approach problems or debates objectively. The author will examine the critical thinking process as applied to University of Phoenix’s nine decision making steps in one of the author’s recent workplace experiences (Decision Making Step, 2010). Utilizing Critical Thinking and Decision Making Steps to Assess a Workplace Decision In August 2010, the author, acting as an assistant manager with a retail auto parts store was faced with a workplace situation that required the utilization of critical thinking. Identify the Problem Identifying the problem is the first step in the decision making process. Critical thinking removes biased thoughts and emotions from the identification process in order to establish a factual statement of the problem (Kirby & Goodpaster, 2007). In the author’s case, a problem was identified: a subordinate was disrupting store functions and affecting local public image. Define Criteria, Goals, and Objectives The second step in decision making processes is to define one’s intent. The criteria, goals, and objectives of a debate will guide one’s debate by determining what should be accomplished. Once...
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...Critical Thinking in the Workplace Critical Thinking in the Workplace There is an art and craft to critical thinking and understanding the process can be very overwhelming. According to Paul & Edler, “Critical thinking is the art of analyzing and evaluating thinking with a view to improving” (p. 4). Retaining employees who use critical thinking skills in the workplace is vital for an organization to be successful. Critical thinking helps to improve the decision making process that occurs in the workplace. When staff use critical thinking skills they are better equipped to rationalize the situation presented and deal with it accordingly. When a person can identify, analyze, and evaluate a problem before creating a solution they are thinking critically. This paper will explore critical thinking in the workplace and how thinking challenges can obscure the process of critical thinking. Most people process their thinking based on how and where they were raised, their religious beliefs, values, and ethics. Critical thinking involves analyzing and evaluating ones thoughts while eliminating all the biases one may have acquired overtime. When critical thinking skills are practiced in the workplace mistakes are normally at a minimal. Critical thinking allows employees to make decisions in a clear and concise manner. In the workplace today, most organizations are successful as a result of employing personnel who possess critical thinking skills or by training staff on...
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...Caledonian College of Engineering, Sultanate of Oman Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Submitted to HOD for Approval | Purpose | Funding Support for Level 4 Technical Project | Title of the work | Anaerobic co-digestion of food waste along with slaughter house fat | Student Number | 11273 | Student Name | Ms. Inshirah Ahmed Al-Maskari | Department | MIE | Program | POM | Level | FT | Preamble | With the increase in population, wastage of food products keeps increasing as well and creates storage problem. Using anaerobic co-digestion process, these wastes can be converted into biofuel. The idea of this project is to convert biomass of food waste as well as slaughterhouse fat to biofuel by using anaerobic co-digestion technology. Fermentation of food waste will produce CO2 and CH4 gas through batch reactor under controlled temperature over a period of time. This project will be useful as it provides a new source of renewable energy and solves waste management problems. | Objectives | The objective of this project is find possible solution for waste management in Oman as well as to study new source of renewable energy. This can be done by: 1. Collecting literatures of anaerobic co-digestion of food waste. 2. Design the Experiment. 3. Procurement and Fabrication of the experiment. 4. Testing with food waste and slaughter house fat. 5. Write report. | Drawing | | Material requirement list | • Threaded removable PVC• Heating...
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...Critical Thinking Application Paper Laura Jones Mgt 350 January 10, 2010 Bill Shell Critical Thinking Application Paper A person uses critical thinking daily without realizing what he or she is doing. Critical thinking helps people make decisions, small or large. A person will use critical thinking on a personal level, such as buying a house or a car or even down to whether he or she should buy a shirt. In the business world, people will use critical thinking skills to make decisions that impact the company. As this paper progresses, I will be discussing what critical thinking is, the steps that are taken when using the critical thinking process, an example of how I used critical thinking in the workplace, and the benefits and importance of using critical thinking when making a decision. What is Critical Thinking? According to Dictionary.com critical thinking is defined as “the mental process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion” (2010). Critical thinking in the ideal form is based on broad intelligent values that surpass situational division. By this I am meaning to make use of good critical thinking, one must use accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance to the situation, good reasoning, facts, and clarifying the situation (National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, 2009). University of Phoenix has nine...
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...Critical Thinking and Decision Making Inessa Arutunyan Linda Iacoboni Anisha Lalwani Dan Sarbu MGT/350 November 7, 2011 James Chatterton Critical Thinking and Decision Making Critical thinking is thinking comprised with careful judgment. One gathers facts and evidence then analyzes the data to come to an objective conclusion. Decision-making is the process of arriving at an agreement through careful analysis without bias. When applying the process of critical thinking sound and solid decisions evolve. Several types of thinking can enhance or inhibit critical thinking when one is moving toward a decision. For example, emotional thinking or, sometimes referred to as emotional intelligence. Emotions are "a state of consciousness having to do with the arousal of feelings” (Webster’s New World Dictionary). Feelings can be pleasant or unpleasant that one can react to when in action or thinking. Intelligence is a measure of the amount a person can favorably (or unfavorably) apply sound judgment and reason to a situation while deciding their feelings to the situation (Elder, 1996). Critical thinking is the ability to advance ones thinking toward logic and the capacity to analytically reason. Emotions can cause a defect in critical thinking. Emotions are one’s internal gauge, letting one know how he or she is doing in any...
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...Critical thinking is a process that many people use on a daily basis. The website Criticalthinking.org defines critical thinking as 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 ( Scriven, Paul, 2007). Critical thinking helps in making rational and better decisions in life. When used correctly the process of critical thinking can, among other things, help solve problems, help make minor choices, and help make major life changing decisions as well. The more that an individual uses critical thinking, the better that the individual will improve and develop in their critical thinking skills (Carter, Bishop, Kravits, 2007). When issues and conflicts arise the use of critical thinking can give a great help and be a huge benefit in finding the best way to successfully handle and resolve the problem. Critical thinking has been a tremendous benefit to the writer over the years especially at the workplace, which is currently at a recreation center. The writer must use critical and rational thinking almost every single day at the workplace. Tasks such as coming up with productive, entertaining and appropriate activities for children of all different age ranges, takes much in depth and thorough thought. Through observation and fairness, which are two...
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...Critical Thinking Application Pamela Devold MGT/350 August 15, 2011 David Grier Critical Thinking Application Critical thinking is the approach of thinking, about any topic, matter, or dilemma, which the thinker enhances the feature of his or her thinking by capably taking charge of the formations characteristic in thinking and impressive intellectual morals upon them. This information explains the meaning of critical thinking. The information also provides explain of a personal experience one has with utilizing critical thinking to a work-related outcome. Finally, one explains the significance and advantages of critical thinking within the decision-making methods. Critical thinking is a rich perception, which has been developing over the past 2500 years. The word "critical thinking" has its backgrounds in the late 20th century. Critical thinking is the knowledgeably well-organized process of skillfully and actively intellectualizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and applying; evaluating information collected from, or created by, communication, observation, reasoning, experience, and reflection, as an example of action and belief. In its standard form, it is constructed on universal knowledgeable values, which go beyond subject matter divisions: objectivity, breadth, depth, good reasons, sound evidence, clarity, truthfulness, precision, consistency, and significance (Paul & Elder, 2006). Critical thinking requires the examination of those elements or structures...
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...the receiver. The readings in Communicating in the Workplace focus on the basics of communication including the various roles, channels, and the importance of the message. The readings in Critical Thinking provid background for the concepts of persuasion, arguments, and critical thinking that are involved in much of communication. This week’s topic, the communication process, is the foundation for the remainder of the course. The Communication Process OBJECTIVE: Explain the steps in the communication process. Resources: Ch. 1 of Communicating in the Workplace, Ch. 1 & 2 of Critical Thinking, and University of Phoenix Material: Communication Process Content • Ch. 1: Communication Concepts of Communicating in the Workplace o Communication Is Important o Communication Defined o Communication Process Model • Sender/Receiver • Encoding • Decoding • Message • Channel • Feedback o Communication Principles • Communication occurs within a context • Communication is unavoidable • Communication occurs at different levels • Communication requires ethical choices • Communication has its limitations o Communication Barriers • Noise • Gaps o Communication and Technology • Ch. 1: Critical Thinking Basics of Critical Thinking o What is Critical Thinking? o The Basics: Claims, Issues, and Arguments ...
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...play when writing one of those things is critical thinking. Critical thinking is the skill and propensity to engage in an activity with reflective skepticism. Also is a disciplined, self-directed thinking which exemplifies the perfection of thinking appropriate to a particular mode or domain of thinking. Thinking about one's thinking in a manner designed to organize and clarify, raise the efficiency of, and recognize errors and biases in one's own thinking. Critical thinking is not hard thinking and is not directed at solving. Critical thinking is inward directed with the intent of maximizing the rationality of the thinker. You do not use critical thinking to solve problems you uses critical thinking to improve the process of thinking. There is many different ways that critical thinking comes into play with how your emotions will affect decision making, and can affect your profession. Critical thinking is essential in the workplace. The main area it is effective is for those employees that are in management rolls. The decisions that those in management rolls make can affect anyone from the smallest employee to an entire department or even the entire workplace. Those in high positions and even those in the lower positions must always have a clear head before making a decision and make sure you are in the right place. Also you must think about the effect it can have to the good and the bad and weigh both options. Therefore, critical thinking skills are looked for professional characteristics...
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...Critical Thinking Application An average person’s mind is constantly thinking and functioning whether consciously or unconsciously. Basically, the things we think about are highly limited and biased relative to what our brain has been exposed to. Take for instance, the regular thinking we do in our daily interactions with our external environment, the memories we make, the hobbies and practices only out of routine. When we brush our teeth, we don’t really think too hard about that, our minds are just conditioned to do it. Our mind functions faster than we could ever imagine, but the tasks or output of the minds processes may be acted out by our body or senses in a slower way, and sometimes we may not even be aware of it. Critical thinking, on the other hand, is the extreme opposite of spontaneous thinking. It is referred to as disciplined thinking as it requires thorough analysis, comprehension and evaluation of a certain situation or idea to make sure that the output is flawless (Scriven & Paul, 2011). Critical thinking is also one of the important ingredients for a company’s success. Most of the time, critical thinking is only developed one a person is exposed to the workplace, especially those who are assigned in higher positions where their decision can greatly affect the entire organization. The executive members of a company including the directors and managers all engage in a planning stage wherein they discuss all the necessary strategies they should take in order...
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...communication process and understanding the roles of the listener and the receiver. The readings in Communicating in the Workplace focus on the basics of communication including the various roles, channels, and the importance of the message. The readings in Critical Thinking provid background for the concepts of persuasion, arguments, and critical thinking that are involved in much of communication. This week’s topic, the communication process, is the foundation for the remainder of the course. The Communication Process OBJECTIVE: Explain the steps in the communication process. Resources: Ch. 1 of Communicating in the Workplace, Ch. 1 & 2 of Critical Thinking, and University of Phoenix Material: Communication Process Content • Ch. 1: Communication Concepts of Communicating in the Workplace o Communication Is Important o Communication Defined o Communication Process Model • Sender/Receiver • Encoding • Decoding • Message • Channel • Feedback o Communication Principles • Communication occurs within a context • Communication is unavoidable • Communication occurs at different levels • Communication requires ethical choices • Communication has its limitations o Communication Barriers • Noise • Gaps o Communication and Technology • Ch. 1: Critical Thinking Basics of Critical Thinking o What is Critical Thinking? o The Basics: Claims, Issues, and Arguments • Claims • Issues • Arguments • What Arguments Are Not o Further...
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...Thinking and Decision Making Paper MGT 350 Barak Morton Jason Fynewever, Miranda Snyder Tia Fraser Tammy Wilson The world is a very diverse place made up many different cultures which would lead to many different look at a situation. With the diverse country we live in we have to take into account all the different thinking styles as well as different decision making processes to come to a decision that is best. With all of the different thinking styles we are able to make decisions in both our professional and personal life in which would be based on many the many aspects of our life. Throughout this paper we will be examining similarities and differences between three thinking styles: emotional, logical and optimistic. As a team we will compare and contrast these three different types of thinking styles as well as comment on how each affects the critical thinking process. We will also apply critical thinking to the decision-making process by discussing workplace examples. These examples will highlight each of the three different thinking styles we chose for this paper. Emotional Thinking Style In times of high emotion one is quick to respond rather than to use critical thinking to consider the situation and the possible consequences of the response. Emotional Thinking refers to the ability or inability to distinguish emotions and thoughts, or how one successfully (or unsuccessfully) applies sound judgment and reasoning to situations...
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...Thinking Versus Critical Thinking Paper Terri Jones CJS/225 August 3, 2015 Carol Thomas Thinking Versus Critical Thinking Paper Thinking is the foundation of everything we do. Every action, every solution, and every decision we make is the result of thinking. Thinking skills are the mental processes that we apply when we seek to make sense of experience. Thinking skills enable us to integrate each new experience into the schema that we are constructing of the way we view things. However, critical thinking is thinking but in a different way. Critical thinking is a process. Critical thinking is manual rather than automatic thinking. Critical thinking is purposeful. Therefore, the thoughts must elevate to a higher meaning. Also, critical thinking means that we are aware of the partiality of your thinking. There are various levels of critical thinking skills, such as knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluating. Knowledge in critical thinking means to remember, recall, or retrieve information. Comprehension in critical thinking means to understand or grasp the meaning from information. Also, comprehension means to state the problem or concept in a new situation. Application in critical thinking is using the studied information, or implementing the material. Analysis in critical thinking is separating or breaking down material or concepts into components in order to understand the structure better. Synthesis in critical thinking...
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...Critical thinking is making logical judgments that are reasonable and well thought out. It involves wanting to understand what indications are involved to support an argument or decision. Critical thinking can be distributed into the three fundamental skills: curiosity, skepticism, and humility. Critical thinking involves the desire to learn more and be open to new ideas, asking questions about new information, and being capable to admitting that your opinions and ideas are wrong when confronted with facts that state otherwise. It is essential that learners be prepared for thinking their way through challenges that life will present. A targeted goal of education is to produce learners who are well informed. Another objective is to create...
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...Critical Thinking Means Business: Learn to Apply and Develop the NEW #1 Workplace Skill By Judy Chartrand, Ph.D., Heather Ishikawa, MA, & Scott Flander Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. 3881-09 Table of Contents Introduction to Critical Thinking Means Business ...................................................... 1 Too Little Critical Thinking = Big Problems .................................................................. 2-3 Critical Thinking in the Workplace ................................................................................. 4 How Critical Thinking Works: Introduction to the RED Model .................................. 5 Using the RED Model in Decision Making: A Case Study ........................................... 6 For Trainers - Developing Critical Thinkers and Problem Solvers Using the RED Model: A Sample Training Program ................................................... 7 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 8 References .......................................................................................................................... 9 Critical Thinking Means Business Introduction When more than 400 senior HR professionals were asked in a survey to name the most important skill their employees will need in the next five years, critical thinking ranked the highest – surpassing innovation...
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