Critical Thinking: Thinking About Thinking In Order To Think Better

Critical thinking has three dimensions: an analytic, an evaluative and a creative component. According to Webster (2007) 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". I will attempt to show you the importance of applying the skills required to be a critical thinker

Thinking critically requires that we "rethink" the manner in which we think. We no longer go through our days by just thinking, we actually think about thinking. We must constantly analyze and assess each situation and when we do analyze and assess we are using second-order thinking, which is first-order rose to the level of conscious realization. Rising to the second-order of thinking allows us to establish new habits of thought or to modify our thinking.

Not only is critical thinking essential in making decisions in management, but everyday life as well. The tools that we use to think critically could be and should be used to assist us in making better decisions and minimize the bad decisions in anything that requires thought. I believe that this includes decisions in work, marriage, family, church, etc.

When we analyze our thinking we break down its purpose, question, information, assumptions, concepts and point of view. Critical thinking is based on concepts and principles, not on hard and fast, or step-by-step procedures. Critical thinking is principle but not procedure based (Wikipedia, 2007, What is and is not universal in critical thinking Ð'¶10). Analyzing allows us to ensure that concepts such as love and freedom do not become so intertwined in our thinking that we begin to misthink. When we begin to misthink, we can make terrible decisions or come to erroneous conclusions. Allowing concepts such as love and freedom to become intertwined in our thinking causes emotion to creep into our decision making.

When we assess our thinking we check for clarity, accuracy, relevance, significance and fairness. In order to be successful, we must continually analyze and assess our thinking because "much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed, or downright prejudiced."(Paul & Elder, 2006, Exhibit 1.3) There is nothing worse than employing vague information when trying to make an informed decision.

One of my oldest and dearest friends was in need of a job and I felt honored that I was in a position to offer him employment. Although I knew that there was a possibility that the situation could end badly I offered him a position to work directly for me. We sat down and discussed the situation in depth and both decided that we were both adult enough to work together.

Everything was fine for the first few weeks; unfortunately my friend was not catching onto the technical aspects of his position as quickly as I require. I spoke with him on a few occasions outside of the office and hinted at the fact that he needed to "step it up" some at work. This continued for about 6 months. Every few weeks we would sit down outside of work, have a beer and talk about how he was not catching on quick enough.

With each "meeting", we would come up with a game plan for him to improve. He would try his hardest, but he just did not understand what was entailed. Each meeting just delayed the inevitable. I just did not have the heart to tell my oldest friend that I was going to have to let him go. He had done his best, but it just was not good enough. I had to let him go.

I called him into my office, sat him down and began the