Thinking Logically
Thinking logically is a vital part of critical thinking. When using logic, a person can make a decision based on the facts and not on his or her emotions. To reach a decision through logical thinking, both inductive and deductive reasoning can be used.
Inductive reasoning usually begins with a general observation about a person, thing, or event. From this observation someone draws a conclusion about other people, things, or events (cite book). Managers use inductive thinking in business. For example, a district manager may receive a report that shows that profit is down in a specific region. That manager may come to the conclusion that salespeople in that area are not working at capacity. Although this may be true, further research may show that there are other forces behind the profit loss in that region. For this reason, inductive reasoning can be both strong and weak.
Deductive thinking is reasoning that begins with two or more premises and derives a conclusion that must follow from those premises, a conclusion that is in fact contained or hidden in those premises (Kirby & Goodpaster, 2007). Deductive thinking is formed by using a syllogism. A syllogism is a sequence of three propositions such that the first two propositions imply the conclusion ("Syllogism," 2010). A syllogism contains three premises: major, minor, and conclusive. An example of a syllogism would be that all humans need food and water to survive. John is human. Therefore, John cannot survive without food and water. Deductive thinking is only accurate when the first two premises create a valid point (the conclusion). If management uses this type of thinking in business, the goal should be to create a syllogism that contains three premises that are all true.
Scientific
The scientific method of thinking is another important part of critical thinking. To use this mode of thinking, a person will take any subject or problem and impose scientific standards on it. Scientific thinking involves four major steps: observation, hypothesis formulation, experimentation, and verification. Observation involves people wondering about the cause-and-effect relationships around them. When we acknowledge the cause-and-effect relationships, these observations lead us to question what conditions are surrounding this relationship. To take a scientific approach, a person should identify all the factors involved in what they have observed. Observation then leads to hypothesis formulation. A hypothesis is a tentative statement about the relationship between two variables (Kirby & Goodpaster, 2007). This statement is used as a prediction, but has not yet been proven to be a fact. Once a hypothesis is created, it needs to be tested. This leads to experimentation. Experiments are done to help support the hypothesis. Broad testing is done through various research methods including comprehensive study and experimentation. The last step involved in scientific thinking is verification. This step involves analyzing all of the data collected during the experiment phase and checking to see if it supports the hypothesis. The verification process may show results that are inconclusive or that may dispute the hypothesis entirely. When this happens, the process needs to be done over to look for previously missed observations and cause-and-effect relationships.
Managers can use the scientific method of thinking to help them understand the cause and effect relationships surrounding the business, including relationships among employees. This method forces managers to observe their surroundings and ask why things may be or not be working out the way they were intended. Because this method involves testing theories, a prediction cannot be taken as a fact and testing (and possibly retesting) must be done to backup that theory. This method helps managers get to the root cause of an issue and assists them in finding more efficient and accurate ways of solving a problem.

References:
Kirby, G.R., & Goodpaster, J.R. (2007). Thinking (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Syllogism. (2010). In Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=39034891&site=ehost-live