...Critical Thinking University Of Phoenix Mgt 350 March 25, 2008 Critical Thinking 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. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness. It entails the examination of those structures or elements of thought implicit in all reasoning: purpose, problem, or question-at-issue, assumptions, concepts, empirical grounding; reasoning leading to conclusions, implications and consequences, objections from alternative viewpoints, and frame of reference. Critical thinking in being responsive to variable subject matter, issues, and purposes is incorporated in a family of interwoven modes of thinking, among them: scientific thinking, mathematical thinking, historical thinking, anthropological thinking, economic thinking, moral thinking, and philosophical thinking. I work for a company that manages properties (Timeshare Industry), on the first week of my employment; I was asked to evaluate the goal of improving the property’s competitiveness in the marketplace...
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...University of Phoenix Critical Thinking: Strategies in Decision Making MGT/350 Critical Thinking Critical thinking is a way to process information that can be developed by people to gain a better sense of their own position in relation to their environment and the actions of those around them. It can be used to either clarify or cloud the information being processed depending on the level of development of the critical thinking skills. It can be said that everyone uses critical thinking but the degree which it is used will vary depending on the individual. A comparison between weak sense thinkers who do not have well developed critical thinking skills and fair minded thinkers that do illustrates this point. A weak sense thinker will ignore, rationalize, manipulate and sometimes lie to establish that their view is the correct one. This is because the individual does not utilize all of the tools to develop a more refined ability to process information and as a result they will not consider all of the viewpoints, questions and subsequent challenges that will arise. This is exemplified by radio talk show hosts who use rhetoric and in some cases insults and sheer volume to disparage and diminish their opponent’s views or politicians who will resort to cheating to win at any cost. These types of thinkers are also referred to as sophists. “Sophistry is the art of winning arguments regardless of whether there are problems in the thinking being used, regardless of whether relevant...
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...Critical Thinking Application Paper Name MGT 350 Instructor Date Campus Critical Thinking Application Paper How do you think? How you think can be as important as what you think. When a person is faced with a problem, it is how a person thinks and acts on those thoughts that determine the outcome. To stay competitive organizations need to change or modify their methods of doing business as needs require. Everyday business professionals are presented with situations and problems, mundane and difficult, each requiring the person to use critical thinking. How that person analyses the situation can either benefit or hinder the organization. The decision making process is an important function of any business, critical thinking is the key to this process. What Is Critical Thinking? “Critical thinking is the art of thinking about thinking while thinking in order to make thinking better. It involves three interwoven phases: it analyzes thinking, it evaluates thinking, and it improves thinking” (Paul & Elder, 2006, p. xvii). This tells us to think about the problem, analyze the problem, and solve the problem. To understand critical think a person must understand how to think. Analysis allows the person to view a problem from different points of views, to study it and question it. When analyzing a problem the person must try to set aside any preconceived bias and view the problem objectively. The analysis step of critical thinking is the beginning...
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...Critical Thinking Application Paper University of Phoenix MGT 350 Oretha Johnson The purpose of this paper is to provide an example from personal experience in applying critical thinking to a work-related decision, and the importance and benefits of critical thinking in the decision-making processes. Using a work related decision and personal experience, conveying the importance of critical thinking in this decision-making process will reveal itself in the form of a question, and an opinion (Wilder, 2001). Critical thinking is the mode of thinking about a problem, subject or content 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, 2006). The court system is a demanding industry and requires a great deal of critical thinking. I retired in March 2012 as the Administrative Coordinator of Operations for the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office. This job had high-level responsibilities and authority as well as tough decision making. I used critical thinking as a measuring rod and a means of making effective decisions. There was an employee on my team that was not performing her job duties. She was a likable person and was favored by the boss. On another note, she was experiencing challenges at home and with her health. I had to find a logical reason for the cause of the problem, in terms of her work performance. My findings...
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...foundation is designed to bridge the gap between theory and practical application, while examining the areas of accounting, critical thinking and decision-making, finance, business law, management, marketing, organizational behavior, research and evaluation, and technology. Students are required to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the undergraduate business curricula through an integrated topics course. The Human Resource Management Concentration helps students develop an understanding of the fundamentals of human resource management and its strategic relevance in business. The concentration addresses the legal and ethical components of the decision making process involved in the human resources environment. The Human Resource Management Concentration introduces students to the basic concepts of human resource management, and allows further study in the areas of employment law, risk management, recruitment and selection of employees, international HR, change management, compensation and benefits, employee development, and performance management. Students will also develop an understanding of the critical business implications for human resource professionals today and in the future. HR practitioners and managers must be equipped with a solid understanding of the fundamentals of human resource management, along with strong skills in the areas of systems thinking, problem solving, influencing, negotiating, communications, and leadership. In the Human Resource Management Concentration...
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...Week Three: Decision Making Details Objectives 3.1 Describe tools and/or techniques used in decision making. 3.2 Examine decision-making models and influences. 3.3 Apply a decision-making technique to a situation. Readings Read Ch. 14 of Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Learning and Your Life. Read Ch. 1–3 of Smart Things to Know About Decision Making. Read Ch. 4, 12–26 of Decide & Conquer: Make Winning Decisions and Take Control of Your Life. Read this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings. Participate in class discussion. Respond to weekly discussion questions. W3 8 2% Participation Discussion Questions Nongraded Activities and Preparation Decisions in Paradise Business Scenario For Weeks Three through Five, you will work individually using the Decisions in Paradise Business Scenario located on your student website as the basis for these three assignments. In this scenario, you will play the role of Nik, and your current employer is the organization represented by Alex, Nik, and Chris. You will also use the mission of your current organization to assist you in decision making in discussing this business scenario. There are three phases to this assignment which will be cumulative, meaning that each part will build upon the next. You will use this paper and feedback from your instructor as input to improve your Week Four and Week Five assignments. The three deliverables for this project are: Week Three: Decisions in Paradise Paper, Part I Week Four:...
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...Critical Thinking Application Paper Critical Thinking Application Paper University of Phoenix April Armstrong Instructor Karen Amabile Date August 3, 2009 Critical Thinking Application Paper Critical thinking can be described as identifying and challenging assumptions and exploring and imagining alternatives. The idea of not having critical thinking would be to believe everyone no matter what they are saying. Everyone would believe all the commercials on television, any politicians who are giving his or her election speeches, all reading material that is read, and it must be correct if certain organizations are doing it. Critical thinking has eight main components that are known as perception, assumptions, emotion, language, argument, fallacy, logic, and problem solving. Perception is the how an individual receives or explains our personal experiences and how it is received interprets what that person thinks about a certain situation. This can vary from individual to individual. Assumptions in critical thinking are ideas about human nature that are evidence without proof of argument. The assumptions are what people believe to be true and make a person feel comfortable in his or her beliefs. Presenting the choice between two possibilities is an important feature of thinking critically. Emotion is another component in critical thinking that should not be involved even though it is always there. Emotions help individuals to understand all the issues...
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...Barriers to Critical Thinking One barrier to critical thinking is self-serving biases. Our actions do not need to be rationalized if the motives are good. But, even good motives can lead us into other thinking mentalities that can lead us to undesirable consequences and even pose a threat to our self-esteem. The characteristics of others even post a threat to our self-esteem. These ego threatening situations can cause us to form cognitive biases called self-serving biases. These biases reside in our thinking and perception, which help protect and enhance our self-esteem. Unfortunately, people lean towards seeing what they want to see and what they need to see to keep good positive feelings for themselves as people (Kirby, G. & Goodpaster, J., 2007). Another barrier to critical thinking is emotional influences. There are many aspects of emotional influences such as depression, anger and passion. Many studies of depression aid to the idea that irrational cognitions are correlated with depression. If an individual lets depression take over, the effect can alter their expectations and even cause a negative mentality to occur. Also, anger tends to alter emotional influences. Anger causes many negative relationships with others. It can show many irrational behaviors and thoughts. If anger leads to this we must lessen the impact it can cause. Having passion will aid if it is a positive impact of feeling. If the source of our passion is positive, then we...
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...PATRICIA PINNOCK MGT/350 February 15, 2012 MR. PITTER The purpose of this paper will be to describe critical thinking and examine how critical thinking skills can be used to foster solutions to universal problem solving. Michael Scriven & Richard Paul define 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” (Critical Thinking Community, para. 3, 2009). Using critical thinking skills allows people to construct the best solution in all circumstances. Critical thinking skills are developed by analyzing conscious thought to develop rational solutions to problems. Most decisions are with immediate gratification in mind, long term decision-making requires reflection and critical thought (Paul & Elder, 2006). People who make irrational decision fail to use critical thinking to devise solutions. Using critical thinking skills allows people to make decisions that yield the best possible solution based on a given set of alternatives. Thinking critical requires the development of specialize thought processes. Critical thinkers are able to evaluate, reason, and identify the best solution. Personal Critical Thinking Experience Two days ago, I was faced with situation that required me to come forth with the management team to make...
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...Running head: Thinking and Decision Making 1 Thinking and Decision Making Paper Learning Team B MGT/350 Critical Thinking: Strategies in Decision Making Donna Rumrill, Eboni High, Portia Mack, Wesley Wendtland February 12, 2012 Instructor Michelle Malone Thinking and Decision Making 2 Decisions will have to be made as people go through life. In some cases, our decisions are big and then there are some cases where our decisions are small. When making decisions, there is a process that a person goes through. There are different types of thinking styles and thought processes. The way someone feels, believes, attitude, and associate ideas can contribute to their thinking style. There are numerous thinking styles and methods of thinking which usually makes thought processes individualized to where people think and make decisions differently. This paper will discuss and analyze three different types of thinking styles. The thinking styles that will be discussed in this paper are the persuasive, scientific and the pessimistic thinking style. This paper will compare and contrast the three different styles and discuss how each affects the critical thinking process. This paper will also incorporate critical thinking to the decision making process by including the discussion on workplace examples that involve the three different types...
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...Thinking and Decision Making Joshua Bustos, Markethia Hughes, William Huntzinger, Gabriella Nava, and Patricia Williamson MGT 350 February 27, 2012 Courtney Wilson Thinking and Decision Making Logical Thinking Everyone is born with the ability to reason, even on a primary level. Logical thinking is a process in solving problems that requires reasoning. The word logic is from ancient Greek. Logic is a science that studies the principles of correct reasoning. There are two types of logical reasoning induction and deduction. Inductive reasoning is also known as inductive logic is the process of reasoning for specific evidence, observation, or experimentation. Inductive reasoning individuals do every day in his or her lives. Deductive thinking is also known as deductive logic the process of reasoning based on common knowledge. A logical thinker needs to recognize illogical thinking. Critical thinkers will ask questions to determine if the issue is logical or illogical for instance; do the pieces fit together logically? Are you really sure this makes sense? Are you certain it is in the publication? It is imperative the questions that are asked needs to be specific and precise to the situation or issue. If there is any inconsistences exist when finish asking the questions it is more likely the thinking path is illogical. It is important for logical thinkers to follow the facts for creditability to the situation or issue. In another words “When the combined thoughts...
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...Critical Thinking Applications Michael E. Murphy University of Phoenix Online Critical Thinking: Strategies in Decisions Making MGT 350 Bridget Peaco July 12, 2010 Human beings tend toward selfish pursuits. People rarely act in a rational and an objective manner (Kurland, 2000). To set aside these traits, it takes an applied effort, which can lead to different options and intellectual improvement. Critical thinking can help people to take control of their own thinking. They learn to distinguish between what is opinion and factual reality. Simply put, the process of critical thinking helps a person to assess what others either write or speak, and ascertain the validity of his or her comments. Critical thinkers have certain attributes that permit them to observe conditions around themselves and then make educated choices that can solve either problems or dilemmas. Some of these attributes are: * asks pertinent questions * assesses statements and arguments * is able to admit a lack of understanding or information * has a sense of curiosity * is interested in finding new solutions * is able to clearly define a set of criteria for analyzing ideas * is willing to examine beliefs, assumptions, and opinions and weigh them against facts * listens carefully to others and is able to give feedback * sees that critical thinking is a lifelong process of self-assessment * suspends judgment until all facts have been gathered and considered ...
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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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...Business Scenario Vikki Matamoros MGT/350 Critical Thinking February 14, 2011 Ken Rath Business Scenario Expanding operations into a foreign country requires careful planning and key decision making. Southwestern Cardiovascular Associates wants to extend the medical services it provides to the country of Kava. Facing natural disasters and other health concerns the doctors see an opportunity to open a clinic to aid Kava. This company will have to address several issues and obstacles before opening the doors of the new clinic. These include community involvement, backing from government agencies, and religious group help. Outlining and organizing key decisions in order of importance will help address the most important ones first. Recognizing the stakeholders and enlisting their support will help the organization succeed. Preliminary Considerations Southwestern Cardiovascular Associates operates in the United States with the primary focus in surgery tending to patients with heart and lung trouble. Providing services to countries in need is a part of the mission of this organization and after recent travels to Kava the doctors discover that there is a need for a health clinic. Chris Morales, the founder, believes in doing the right thing and helping people in need. Kava is a country in the South Pacific which is the center of many natural disasters, prevalent HIV and AIDS, and high risk for Avian Flu (Axia College, 2011, Week Three Assessment). Providing medical care...
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...Decisions in Paradise Kava Karen Brown MGT/350 August 16, 2010 University of Phoenix Abstract What is paradise, some people would view it as a place with beautiful white beaches, gentle cool breeze, blue water and gorgeous palm trees. A peaceful home away from home destination, but that is not the case on the island called Kava. It is currently having difficulty with disasters in the country. The Healthcare Management Company which I will be employed with has to see what role it will play in the developing of this stricken down nation. The focus of this paper is to identify the problems, define the issues, goals, the objectives and then evaluate the effects. Within the two weeks I have left before receiving my degree in health management, I was offered a position as an assistant to the senior director of strategy development and planning for the company. Now this job requires that I do some traveling to different parts of the world, one place is the country named Kava, which is in the South Pacific. I pictured a beautiful island paradise and my job would be very joyful, could not wait to arrive there. After landing on Kava, I received the shock of disappointment. My perception of the island was not what I had pictured in my mind; the property I viewed was in a mess and that was what it looked like on the drive to the office. Now it is evident that things did not look like paradise on this South Pacific island. When I finally arrived to the company site and...
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