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Critical Thinking & Decision m

 

            Critical Thinking and Decision Making: An Important Relationship.
             The term critical thinking refers to reasonable, reflective thinking that is focused on making a decision on what to do, or what to believe. Decisions are often made or selected from a choice of many alternatives. What happens in-between is both esoteric and profound in terms of human skills and abilities. The actual process of applying critical thinking principals in making sound decisions is an essential skill for successful individuals. While the relationship between critical thinking and decision-making is evidently necessary in a professional setting, it also has great importance in more personal arenas like education, building arguments, and construction of personal belief systems.
             Individuals who exercise critical thinking are aware of their own biases, and regularly incorporate the practices of being logical and objective. Critical thinkers use specific aspects of this skill, such as analyzing arguments carefully, viewing the perspective of others, and looking for additional or alternative information. .
             Decision-making is basically selecting a course of action or belief from more than one alternative. In the book "Whatever It Takes - The Realities of Managerial Decision Making," the authors list the six steps to critical thinking and decision making as: "1) a problem is defined and isolated, 2) information is gathered, 3) alternatives are set forth, 4) an end is established, 5) means are created to achieve the end, and 6) a choice is made." (McCall). Although this list may appear to be a checklist of things to do, the authors state that "executive decision-making is not a series of single linear acts," and when applied in a professional environment, these six steps are likely to be ineffective. The combination of countless other factors (such as unclear information, personal biases, and multiple problems occurring at once) makes the technical study of decision-making in real-life situations problematic.


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