Critical Thinking

Introduction

Critical thinking is the process of analyzing a problem in order to come to the best possible conclusion. In short it is the process of analyzing, evaluating, and improving a situation (Paul and Elder, 2006). A critical thinker is more productive as an employee and as an individual. Critical thinking is necessary in a business environment in order to eliminate hasty decision making. Having good critical thinking skills allows us to make well-informed decisions. Critically thinking allows us to identify the problem and the basis for the problem. Once the problem has been identified, we can utilize critical thinking in order to come up with likely solutions. The decision-making process allows you to look at each resolution and conclude which resolution will best work to resolve the problem.

My position and the use of critical thinking

One area that I know within my position that I use critical thinking is in the hiring process. All of our employees begin as temporary employees. They come in through a staffing service. The amount of time that the employee works through the staffing service varies but is anywhere from eight weeks to six months, depending on numerous factors such as attendance and job performance. After an employee meets attendance and job performance criteria, he or she is up for review for full time employment with our company. Our goal is to have high production with minimal turnover all the while maintaining a safe and healthy work environment. At times employees can have numerous skills that benefit the company but have other issues that overshadow these benefits. I have to be able to judge the character of employees and determine if the employee will be a valuable asset to the company. Safety I have noticed in the past that there are certain employees that Ð''know' the workers compensation system too well. They know exactly what to say and when they should say it. I also will attempt to foresee if an employee seems to be accident prone. We have a department that handles metals continuously and that is a high incident area for us. When employees start to recite when they have last received their tetanus shot that sends a signal that they have previously been to the emergency room to receive a tetanus and since been back to recall when they received the it the first time.

Health

We are a company that promotes a harassment free environment. It is essential to protect other employees from being victims of workplace harassment. Critical thinking skills here are to assess the employee and the work environment that they maintain. I have to ask myself questions such as; does the employees lead person attempt to transfer them, is there any sign that the other employees are not comfortable working with this