When it comes to critical thinking standards,
the ones that are most significant to me are clear reasoning, importance/relevance,
and being accurate. Often times in life,
we go about making decisions without truly knowing why we make those decisions.
For instance, when I was eighteen and a recent high school graduate, I
decided the join the U.S. Army. I’m not
sure how I arrived to that decision but I know that I didn’t weigh the
alternatives (reason) i.e. another career
field, college, etc. Furthermore, I didn’t
know to what my goal was (importance/relevance)
in life. I suppose my immediate goal was
earning a steady paycheck. Lastly, I was
not accurate in my beliefs. Did I have wishful thinking that this decision
would provide the best outcome? Fortunately,
for me, it turned out to be a good decision.
I found overall success in the Army.
However, that does not mean I did not experience failure. Therefore, I have come to realize that success
is the difference between all the “right” and “wrong” decisions I have made in
my life. This belief applies to anything
– faith, family, personal relationships, school, work, and so on. This is where critical thinking becomes important,
in that it helps me in decision-making. Of
course, my standards of critical thinking slowly developed over time, through
my life experiences and maturation.
When
it comes to decision making, I first ask myself, “How do I go about making the
right decision?” I consider that there
are six general steps in decision-making.
They are 1) clearly define the problem, 2) list all possible
alternatives, 3) identify the possible outcomes or states of nature, 4) list
the payoff for each combination of alternatives and outcomes, 5) select a
decision theory model, and 6) apply the model and make your decision (Render, Stair, Hanna, & Hale, 2015) . The first step is the most critical. I ask myself, “What is the problem?” However, the problem may not be a problem at
all but a goal I seek. After retiring
from the Army, a goal I sought after was earning a college degree. I clearly
reasoned that this was a necessary step in achieving long-term career
success. Second, I believed that it was important/relevant because it allows me
to provide a better quality of life for my family. Lastly, I need to be accurate in my steps towards completing my degrees (I am now
pursuing an MBA after earning my Bachelor’s degree). Accurate means using the existing body of knowledge
i.e. works/references or my professors’ knowledge to challenge my own beliefs
and learn “truths”.
However,
as with any decision, I must consider the inputs I provide. Am I clearly defining my problem or goal (an
input of honest self-reflection)? Am I
putting in the effort necessary to solve my problem or achieve my goal? This reminds me of an adage, “Garbage in, garbage
out”. Once again, my successes will be
determined by the sum of rights outweighing the sum of wrongs. I must use critical thinking to tip the scales
in my favor.
References
Nosich,
G. M. (2012). Learning to think things through. Boston, MA: Pearson
Education.
Render, B., Stair,
R., Hanna, M., & Hale, T. (2015). Quantitative analysis for management .
Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
No comments:
Post a Comment